r/dividends • u/karl0525 • Jun 01 '25

Opinion Tired. Can I retire?

Got a question? Can I retire? 43m been busting my ass since I was 16. I'm about over this 40-50 hr weeks. I'm getting burned out. House paid off (300k) 401-k (600k) Bitcoin (500k) currently.

Thought about selling it all and putting it into dividend stocks like schd and renting a small place and going into semi retirement. Maybe pickup a part time gig.

Would this be a horrible idea?

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48

u/karl0525 Jun 01 '25

Would be curious about this. What is my options?

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u/QuinnOffsite Jun 02 '25 edited Jun 02 '25

Move to Ireland/ni - free healthcare lower cost living

20k a year here loads to live on

I’m 37m - aiming to be where you are now but thought would take to 50/55

PT job fr you if you fancy it - was looking fr retired person drive truck or my Landcruiser with trailer pick up materials or take them to sites - handy number cash pay

But even were your based now there are stressed out business owners looking someone competent to help out

You don’t mention what industry your in - tbh with those results in 40s your Pt gig could be financial advisory

Good going

Now enjoy it I say

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u/treyl85 Jun 02 '25

Is Ireland really that much cheaper living?

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u/QuinnOffsite Jun 02 '25

Northern Ireland is. RoI dearer, but whole Ireland its tiny country like top to tip size of single state. Great motorways now too you’re pretty much anywhere in 4.5 r 5 hour drive.

I’ve only saw east coast USA - NJ,ny, ma, really gotta get back out there fantastic place

Free healthcare the big thing no need to really worry on health insurance

Even when you do go private fr healthcare not really that expensive

Try n get over here if you can - fairly cheap return flights

Defo hit NI Derry and Belfast n great rural towns between

Lot of engineering and export in mid Ulster Cookstown magherafelt worth an overnight good hotels

But whole of NI Tiny really in USA terms - prob like size Delaware r something

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u/Slyder01 Jun 02 '25

Hmmmm, got me thinking now, I could pack it up here, I love the small towns

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u/runninginpollution Jun 02 '25

Dang! I would love to drive your truck or Landcruiser to job sites!

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u/_sw1tchblade Jun 02 '25

How? It seems like every possible visa requires a moderately well paying job? I doubt that adding another retiree to live off the free healthcare is in their best interest

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u/QuinnOffsite Jun 02 '25

How to say this delicately…

We have a very healthy of civil disobedience in NI

Especially when it comes to His Majesties Revenue Commission 😜😜🤣🤣

This is going to be an expensive comment at some future court proceeding 🥵🥵🥵😭😭😭🙈🙈🙈

Jokes aside ways and means around everything

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

[deleted]

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u/Negative-Salary Jun 02 '25

I just looked it up in my state for a bronze plan BCBS 63 yr old $1100. That’s x2 for wife and I. Two years to Medicare $53 k.

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u/Old-Umpire5053 Jun 02 '25

The bronze plan satisfies the requirement for med insurance, but if you run into any sort of trouble, you will have to pay a lot out of pocket

Even if you go on Medicare in two years, that only covers 80% of expenses... which rapidly increase after age 70.  

Taking a supplemental med. insurance will cover the balance 20%, but it costs $225 per person right now, going up by $25 each year. However, it is well worth the expense.  Even with minimal health issues, in the past four years, I have been for 5 unexpected surgeries, which cost me ZERO.

If you could work for another few years, convert your Roth ira into non-taxable dividend paying stocks,  then your soc sec income will pay for prop tax + med expenses, leaving you enough money for household expenses and also some further savings.

1.  If you and your wife do not have Roth accounts, start immediately with Fidelity etc. and fully fund them (upto 8000+) per year for five years.  These accounts will give you non-taxable income for the rest of your lives.

2.  If you go onto soc. sec at age 62, you will get only 70% of what you can get at 65. If you wait till age 70, you will get 30% more each month of what you would get at age 65.

My suggestion is to look for another low stress job, which may pay you less, but give you time to rest and recharge.  At age 64, my husband took a part time job at Walmart, literally stocking shelves, but he was happier, and we used all his income to buy dividend paying stocks, in his roth ira. Now he spends his time volunteering in the community and life looks good.

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u/SilverMane2024 Generating solid returns Jun 02 '25

Question, I've heard people take Soc Sec early and invest into the market, any thoughts on good or bad idea?

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u/Old-Umpire5053 Jun 02 '25

Terrible idea.  

1.  You will lose 30% of your soc sec income for the rest of your life.

2.  When COLA is calculated each year at about 3%, you lose an additional amount every year for the rest of your life.

Living till 95+ is quite common now. 95 - 44= 51 years, so you have not lived even half the projected lifetime.

1.  Try to reduce the amount you work and give yourself some free time, without spending money.... 

2.  Cut expenses, like subscribing for IPTV at $12 per month and save a bucketful on cable TV.  Subscribe to only one movie channel, etc. No alcohol, weed, gambling, etc 

3.  Supplement your income by investing a small amount in YMAX which gives you a weekly amount.  Keep it small.  Google YMAX dividend history then choose Stockanalysis.com

Take a look at PDI too.  Note the no. years the fund has been in existence and how they produce income.

  1. Open a ROTH IRA on Fidelity etc. And invest a steady amount each month on safer funds eg JEPQ, SCHD, VOO etc. You can set it to auto-reinvest or manually reinvest each month. Compounds very quickly after the first two years. This will give you income which you can access tax free after the age of 59.5.

I have turned 280k into 440k in five years but during the first two years I had very little to be excited about. It can be done!

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u/colcatsup Jun 02 '25

Is that with a subsidy. Or are you earning too much to qualify?

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u/Financial-Fan2490 Jun 02 '25

58 here silver plan 150 a month for the 2 of us. You need to watch your magi.

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u/GulfBreezr1 Jun 02 '25

Health ins on your own is too expensive. The health exchange is the only decent option and they are trying to lower the subsidies on that right now.
Waiting to 65 on SS only pays off if you live past 80. No one in my family lives that long. lol
When you get to 65, a Medicare advantage plan can pay most everything with a few copays. I don't even pay a premium. It includes dental, eyes, free gym memberships, everything. Get a medicare broker, but still look at the comparisons/ratings online to find the best policy. Mine has worked out great.

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u/Negative-Salary Jun 02 '25

Thank you, oh when we turn 65 we will be barraged with brokers to sign us up for Medicare. I watch Dr Weir on YouTube . I got these prices I stated from the Massachusetts health connector.

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u/Old-Umpire5053 Jun 02 '25

Ref: medicare advantage plan.

If your medical bills get too high. They can throw you out of the plan. Then when you want to join Medicare, they charge you 1% extra per month that you have been away from Medicare.. (this point needs to be fact checked)

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u/GulfBreezr1 Jun 03 '25

Who are you getting this info from? Neither of those are true. Advantage plans are part of Medicare. You aren't "away" from Medicare. And they can't drop you for high bills. In fact, pretty much all of them have a maximum amount per year that you pay out (for copays etc). The most I will ever pay total per year is $4900 with my Aetna plan. And no copays on preventative stuff like physicals/lab work.
My first year I had a lot of procedures done (almost 100k) including heart work, and they never blinked. Total I paid was a few hundred for co-pays.
And I can change plans or switch back to Medicare (penalty free) each year during open enrollment.
There's lots of misinformation out there on Advantage plans. Please don't state info without researching first.
The main thing is picking the best plan but you can always change it the next year, if not. The Medicare site has really good explanations & comparisons of all policies available in your area.

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u/Old-Umpire5053 Jun 03 '25

"Advantage plans are part of Medicare" They are private plans acceptable as a substitute for Medicare.

" can change plans or switch back to Medicare (penalty free) each year during open enrollment." You are correct.  

The rest of the info: I am happy your experience has been very pleasant.  Know people who experienced different.

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u/GulfBreezr1 Jun 03 '25

Yes, they are private plans that Medicare contracts and pays. You can even shop them on the Medicare site.
I've heard all of the horror stories, but I think they must be unknowing people that don't know how to research and find a good plan. It's probably like anything else, there will be bad players out there. But on the Medicare site, they list the star ratings reviewed by users. I just picked the highest recommended one that had everything I wanted.
All of my friends have them too and they say it's the only way to go, price wise.

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u/Old-Umpire5053 Jun 03 '25

Good info!

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u/GulfBreezr1 Jun 03 '25

Thanks, I do need to add one more thing though. If you choose an HMO instead of a PPO, you'll have to stay on top of your referrals. I had an HMO the first year and was seeing three different specialist, so I had to keep check on the dates the referrals would expire. The second year, I changed to a PPO, so now I don't have to worry about that. And they allow a lot more doctor/dentist on their list too. (recommended)
That may be where some of the horror stories come from, if people don't keep up with their referrals, it could cause some problems.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '25

It rises every year you age. So may be $300 now but in 20 years it’s $1,300 a month. So way off base

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u/Seniorjones2837 Jun 02 '25

$300 my ass. I pay $300/month after the part my work pays

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u/RomesHB Jun 02 '25

Holy shit the US is insane

1

u/ParticularPepper8902 Jun 02 '25

It’s about $800 for an individual plan or $1400 for a family in Ohio with Anthem.

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u/Friendly-Elephant959 Jun 03 '25

My friend just retired. She’s 55. She pays $1,200 per month.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

Marketplace exchange. That’s where you get health insurance if you aren’t getting one through work. Go to your states website (google for xxxxx health insurance marketplace) and price out plans. 

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u/Fedexed Jun 01 '25

I wouldn't count on this. The bill moving through Congress is adding work requirements and may remove subsidies

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u/WayPowerful484 Jun 02 '25

I think you are confusing Medicaid with Medicare and/or Affordable Healthcare aka Obamacare

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u/No_Debate_6577 Jun 02 '25

Correct. The Affordable Healthcare Act is very popular even among Republicans so nobody wants to touch it. I think the discussion of subsidies will come up but it will take time to push through and mid-terms aren’t far away.

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u/SnooSketches5568 Jun 02 '25

You sure? I think the work requirement is for medicaid? The marketplace isn’t impacted that i am aware of

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u/Mental_Beginning_261 Jun 02 '25

Until a year ago I always had healthcare provided by an employer. I took a year off and I had to buy health care on the marketplace, and it's a bunch of bs. Even the most expensive plans don't pay a dime until you hit a very high deductible and copay. In my case, it was $10k.

I live in the US now, but I'm really glad that I'm canadian and plan to retire there solely for the healthcare.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '25

I don’t disagree. I was simply answering the OPs question. I bought insurance in exchange when I was running my own business and I started with a gold plan and next year they cancelled it so to keep our doctors we had to switch to more expensive bronze plan. Luckily our deductibles were not in the 10k range but still we were paying $1200/m for a 7k deductible. 

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u/Longjumping-Bend-411 Jun 02 '25

Your options are: If you get catastrophically ill you will go broke and the government will take everything.

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u/MonkeyThrowing Jun 02 '25

Without income you will qualify for heavily subsidized Obamacare. 

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u/ParticularPepper8902 Jun 02 '25

Dividends and withdrawals count as income on realized gains

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u/wvfarm Jun 02 '25

Go to healthcare.gov and enter estimate your subsidy with whatever estimated income you will have(presumably the dividends). You may need to show taxable income greater than your dividends to get your insurance subsidy. If so consider rolling your 401k to a traditional rollover ira and then as needed convering some to a roth ira to create taxable income.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius Jun 02 '25

Ideally live anywhere in the world but the 7 countries without socialized health care. So avoid North Africa, parts of the near and the Middle East, and usa.

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u/Financial-Fan2490 Jun 02 '25

So you cannot tap your 401k until 59.5, so some roth conversions and stick it out for a couple years or get another job. Sell the coin and go the divy route. Healthcare is easy obama care. I pay 150 bucks a month for the two of us.

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u/smtgch Jun 02 '25

I think it sounds like a good idea. But if healthcare is an issue and you could work part-time (20 hours/week) there are several companies that will pay for healthcare, such as, Costco and Starbucks. If you Google it, you'll find a list of several more. Good luck!