[ckelly78z]

I currently have a pace maker on one side of my chest, and a chemo port on the other side, so I may have a different perspective on life than many do. The only concerning aspect of retiring early is getting/keeping a good health care plan that I can actually afford. I have a 23 year pension, a large/growing 401K, a small schwab account for personal investing/dabbling. I make a modest amount at a good job as a prototype engineer for a large rubber company.

My wife is a site engineer for a large local home builder, and makes probably 50% more than I do, but has no benefits/retirement. She has alot of stress, and demands in this job, and deals with her Fibromyalgia better than most. Even though we have worked as a team for the last 34 years, the saving for retirement is mostly on my shoulders, while household finances are in her court.

We paid off our 10 acre farm about 5 years ago at age 51, and have worked our way out of any debt since that point (we still help our kids getting established). We have driven older used cars for many years, and even raise some of our own food with many farm animals, and a nice greenhouse.

We are both so ready to call it quits, and have more time for our hobbies (hiking/biking/kayaking/camping), and to finish some projects in my barn (project dentside pickup truck, JD garden tractors), while she is looking forward to cooking/baking more, and organizing all of her craft projects in her new she shed.

We live a simple life in a LCOL area, so having enough $$ to last us both is not the issue, health care is my big concern.