So Happy To Be Out Of Nursing

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Oct 31, 2023

martymoose said:

How are you affording it ?its got to be at least a 50 percent cut in pay?but maybe sanity can be worth it if you. Can afford it.

Well, when you retire your taxes are much less. In my case I have a pension and use a mix of my Roth IRA and 403b and can use my HSA for med/dental if need be. The Roth and HSA are tax free, so it keeps my taxable income even lower so I'm in the lowest tax bracket, plus get really good subsidies for health insurance from Obamacare. Also, if you aren't working you aren't paying into SS and medicare taxes as well!

I got the Silver plan and Congress improved the subsidies during covid which really helped as well and there is no longer a cut off after 400% of poverty like there used to be which hurt married couples especially. Now everyone only pays max 10% of their taxable income for premiums. But if you make too much you still will have very high deductibles like 7-8K plus! FYI all plans are HMO. Also, you can use COBRA but usually too expensive, but you can do what I did and keep the dental plan and vision if you have for 18 months even if you skip their overpriced health insurance!

My first year I went with bronze because it seemed the silver plan costed a lot more and still had very high deductibles 7K plus. One that was before Congress improved the income limits and subsidies and two, I overestimated my taxable income. I got burned because I had an anaphylactic RX to wasp stings and ended up in the ER. Anthem had a set up with the hospital where they had a flat fee of less than 1K and you had to pay the rest to your deductible and then they said the ambulance was out of network, even though the ambulance said it was in network, but not for the bronze plan! Bastards! Learned my lesson and got the silver plan since then.

So, lesson learned. Get the silver, not the bronze! Also, to the younger ones, max out your Roth IRA and your HSA if you have a high deductible as it will come in handy if you want or need to retire early. But also continue to contribute to a 401k/403b because you need taxable income as well to qualify for Obamacare. Also, the Roth 403b withdrawals are more complicated and not as tax friendly as the Roth IRA before 59 1/2 years old.

There is the Rule of 55 where you can access your current employers 401k/403b penalty free as long as they allow, most do, but this doesn't apply to traditional IRA's. So don't roll over your money 401k/403b's into IRA's when you leave your employer. See if you can roll it into your next employer's plan. My employer actually offered the option to even roll over an IRA as well, but my traditional was small so I decided not to bother. The Rule of 55 loophole applies whether you quit, are laid off or are fired as long as your employer plan allows periodic withdrawals.

If you have a house, consider getting a HELOC before you leave, so you have access to emergency cash if you need. This can be used for nontaxable cash before you turn 62 and qualify for SS or if you are waiting for disability approval which will probably takes years, but be mindful interest rates are up to 8% and will probably go higher and your house is on the line. So, consider it a last resort only!

You could always get a part time job as well, but have to consider if you do that make sure your taxable income doesn't go too high to wipe out your Obamacare insurance subsidies as you will be forced to pay them back at the end of the year. Mine are $700 are month if I had to pay the full premium as insurance in America is unaffordable. So, if I wanted to get a job, I would have to wait till the beginning of the year. Also, if you wanted to be self-employed be aware you would be double taxed on your SS and Medicare income which would impact how much you would actually have to live on.

Ideally, a person could find a part-time job they liked that provided decent health insurance, but I don't know how common that is and I have no desire to go back to nursing. It's been almost 3 years since I quit and took early retirement and I still have nightmares about work! It's crazy! Just the other day I dreamed I was at work and had to deal with a nasty supervisor and she was long gone by the time I left.

I love my freedom, have no regrets, live frugally, spend time with family and friends and my pet dog and take occasional vacations. I am finally happy, healthy and stress free!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Oct 31, 2023

martymoose said:

How are you affording it ?its got to be at least a 50 percent cut in pay?but maybe sanity can be worth it if you. Can afford it.

PS One last thing if you take money out of your 401k/403b before 59 1/2 they withhold 20% for taxes. If you are in a low tax bracket as I am, you'll get some of it back at the end of the year, but it forces you to take out more than you would want, just to make sure Uncle Sam gets his cut! After you are 59 1/2 you can move your money to the IRA of your choice which I plan to do as my 403b has really crappy options.

I'm not an investment expert and not offering financial advice, but will just share what I've learned about the market. Bonds have dropped in the last couple years to levels unheard of since the 1700's and I don't see that changing with the feds jacking up interest rates.

REITS were promoted and I was in them briefly when they were making money but after learning more about them I pulled my money out before they started crashing. The US govt was propping them up with easy money and record low interest rates, but now with the feds jacking up rates and the work from home left low vacancy rates of commercial properties plus these corp interests use adjustable rate mortgages I don't expect REITS to be profitable although the internet is touting their past record. Plus Vanguard and Blackrock were buying up residential homes and apartments during covid with the low interest rates and govt money which caused housing inflation and made it harder for homebuyers.

Even stocks had been propped up by record low interest rates for almost 20 years which has now changed so will probably be more stagnant and rocky than before. Interestingly my understanding is Insider Trading appears to be going on in Congress and some people even follow Nancy Pelosi and probably others. I know there are sites that show her stock trades as she has made a fortune, but even if you could do her individual stock trades it wouldn't be as lucrative as reporting is weeks after the fact! I just use index funds or mutual funds, but some people do active trading of individual funds and if they are successful make big money, but can lose it all if they are wrong such as in Enron!

Right now the US treasuries are doing pretty good for a stable "cash" like investment, but at the same time America's dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency so that may change. Russia, Saudia Arabia, China and some other countries are no longer using the dollar as the reserve currency for oil so that will affect us as well and the weaken the value of the dollar long term as inflation does also.

Best I can suggest is you have a bucket system where you have one bucket as cash for at least 1-3 years worth of expenses, then a mix of stocks and bonds, but with the caveat that I don't know when bonds will recover from their record lows since the 1700's. Having a side gig is a good idea, but be aware that if you make over $600 it will be reported to the IRS and you will have to pay taxes on it, even selling things on Ebay! So much for Biden and the IRS going after the rich with all the IRS agents they hired!