The Intersection of FIRE and Disney

Thanks for the responses. The ideas and experiences help.
More context: my wife is 4 years younger so we’ll have to deal with the ACA for her eventually unless she keeps working and switches to her employer’s plan. Also our youngest should graduate in May 2026 and hopefully go on her own insurance a few months later.
So I kind of like deferring the need to go ACA until it’s only for my wife to make the cost less and potentially disrupt the relationships with fewer providers. Against that, I’d really like to be done working after this year.
There’s no clear right answer; we just need to decide.
 
We estimated our income for 2024 and our premium (Med, Dental) is around $350
Is that for spouse too (and i assume monthly)? It does not sound bad for 2. Would love to hear your experiences with it as you start to use it. We will be in the same boat in a few years.

We work part time for a staffing company (mostly college sports events but the choices are many -- we pick our shifts)
Can I ask what state you are in? That sounds like a great idea and we are in FL so I would think there would be many options here.
 
We haven't looked at our 2023 numbers yet. We're coast FIRE, so not a big deal. Plus, we're still at the big "out-flow" stage--3 in college. But, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with that. And when we committed to having kid #4, DH committed to retiring at 65 (which happens to be when the youngest graduates college).

On the good side, DH spent November in Maui, helping with the Lahaina clean-up and rebuild. It was exhausting--12 hours a day, 7 days a week--but he found it very fulfilling. He's put in for availability to go back in the spring, and has been putting feelers out to do the same work after he retires. What he does isn't physically taxing, and they just threw money at him, so it has potential as a retirement gig.
 
Is that for spouse too (and i assume monthly)? It does not sound bad for 2. Would love to hear your experiences with it as you start to use it. We will be in the same boat in a few years.


Can I ask what state you are in? That sounds like a great idea and we are in FL so I would think there would be many options here.

We are in NC. We work for 1 Staffing agency that has contracts for so many things. Last night we worked for a University basketball game, tomorrow we're working at a local Performing Arts center. I believe our company is just local to our region, but I do know of one called "Best" (not sure if it's Best Staffing or some other name) that must have wider contracts because they do staffing for a large local university for Football and Basketball here in NC, and I happened to notice that was the name on the shirts for the staff at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

And yes, the premium I listed was for myself and DH. We estimated a low income (between 40-45k) and will continue to work part time, use some cash reserves and hopefully only do some Roth conversions at the end of the year (if needed) to hit that income number as close as possible. We aren't planning big travel this year (not NO travel, just not international and trying very hard to lean on our travel points/miles) and just experience our first full year of no "corporate income" (my severance ended in June '23). We have no mortgage and no other debt.

One thing about the ACA plan we chose, is that it's an EPO plan. This differs from PPOs in that if you go out of network..there is NO coverage. That's a little scary, but the PPO plans were more like $2k/month.

Final note: I'm the youngest of 6 children so some of my siblings are 10-13 years older than me, putting them in their early 70s. Two of my siblings have had health developments in the last year that are ... scary. Obviously I don't want to burn thru our retirement funds in the next 10 years, but given our professional work demands and schedules, I have no doubt we made the right decision.
 


Okay, got our 2023 end of year numbers, and we're up $100k. I'm kind of surprised, given our high rate of spending (did I mention the 3 college tuitions?). Plus travel--2023 was a big travel year for us--and some comparatively smaller home improvements (new water heater, air conditioner repair, new washer/dryer...).

Teeing up for this year, we have yet another HVAC repair (house has 3 zones, all HVAC systems were old when we moved in), replacing the picket fence, and some travel (kids going to England and Japan, our annual family trip). And the youngest will leave for "real" college, versus dual enrollment, so that will be tuition, room, and board.

2025 will be a big travel year, likely either Iceland or Alaska. Plus a newer car for DD20--she'll be graduating. The money flows out so quickly!
 

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