Thinking of an early partial retirement at 50
I’m seriously considering putting in for early retirement at my full time job (firefighter) and collecting pension, I currently earn $77k a year there but it is a very demanding job and after 30yrs I’m ready to throw in the towel.
I will qualify for $33k a year in a state pension. The pension is exempt from state tax. I still plan on keeping my part time job a few days a week that makes me $25k a year and a small side hustle that earns me $10k a year. so in total I would be bringing in about $68k.
I currently bring in about $112k annually with both jobs.
I’m married, wife carries our medical insurance through her work and makes about $60k before bonuses. She plans to continue working another 12yrs until we both hit 62yrs old.
Currently we have no debt, house paid off, cars paid off, approximately $800k in a 401k, $90k in a roth, $50k in the market (s&p500) and $60k in high interest savings. Thanks to the elimination of the windfall act we will both qualify for social security and would plan to collect at 62.
Monthly bills: electric, internet, streaming services, phones, property taxes, insurance, etc… add up to a little under $1500 a month. Groceries for a family of four is another $500 a month.
The hard part is college… I have 2 kids 12 and 15. I know I can’t afford to outright pay for 2 college tuitions. I had planned on allocating each of them $50k towards college. One of them is well on track to end up with academic scholarships the other one not so much haha
My wife wants me to go for it… I currently average 64-70 hour work weeks, this change would give me a 16 hour work week, time with family and finally have time to enjoy my hobbies.
What would you do in my situation?