Just paid off my house last month. Had the money for payoff in the market but just decided that I'd like something nice for 2020 before it was over.

I have to admit that while the math wasn't that dramatic and I had a very low interest rate... there truly is an unexplainable sense of relief and accomplishment that having that burden off our back has brought us.

Really? That's very cool. We have many second home owners out here. It's a great Phoenix adjacent place to purchase. Great value per sq. ft. for sure and it's got a nice small town vibe. We've been out here since 2003 right after the city incorporated. Our second place is up in Pine so we have someplace to get away from the heat when we need to.

I'm a second generation AZ native and I've been everywhere in AZ many times. So many good choices up north. It just depends on the climate you're looking for as to how far north and in elevation that you want to go. Flagstaff, Cottonwood, Oak Creek, Sedona, Payson, Prescott, Show Low, Williams, Jerome, Pine, Strawberry, Munds Park, Winslow, and the list goes on.

There's tons of lakes, camping, hiking, star gazing, winter sports, off road activities galore.

AZ is great. You get to decide if you want a deal with a 3-4 months of cold(ish) weather in the winters up north with an amazing other 8-9 months of the year or 4ish months of heat for an amazing other 8 months of the year down south. Or you just have 2 places and just jump back and forth to the best of both worlds.

Honestly even up north you still have highs in the 60's-70's unless a cold front is coming through with winter storms. Depending on the area we usually get 4-6 decent winter storms in an average season. With snow on the ground for a week or two.

What's up neighbor lol. I'm in cobblestone as well haha.

Turns out this is the Maricopa locals thread

Agreed, "paying cash for cars" to me doesn't mean buying a brand new $50k truck like the people I work with. I'm well known within my circle of family and friends for buying everyone's used cars so they all call me first before they sell or trade in. I have 5 cars that are older that I spread the 65 miles a day commute to work over. 3 BMW's an F150 and a Pathfinder. All years ranging from 2002 to 2016. They are older so they are cheap to register and since I don't have to worry about full coverage, cheap to insure. This allows my carrying costs to be very low for all 5.

Whenever I find another good deal for a used car in good condition, I just cycle out the oldest one and net most of my money back on it often times. Plus the kiddo is about to turn 18 and head off to college so we'll be letting her use one as well.

Obviously anyone can buy what they want and choose whichever way they want to rationalize it to themselves (I've definitely been there myself). Just from another perspective, I've already gotten 6 years out of my 2002 330I and I guarantee you I can get at least 4 more to hit 10 and it only cost me $3200. I've only had to put in about $800 worth of repairs on it in 6 years outside of normal routine maintenance.

I'm on my way to retire between 50 and 55 depending on what the market does and I definitely started late (35 in earnest). I absolutely could have retired in my early 40's if I would have started at 21 and been aggressive. While my wife and I make a nice income, we could easily be spending it all on a house twice the price of ours that we could afford, new cars that we could afford, etc.. We just don't need all that. We have fun, go on cruises and vacations, enjoy living in our paid off house which is large but further out of town to reduce costs. And all the rest goes into maxing out every tax advantaged savings vehicle we have access to and what's left goes into taxed investment vehicles chipping away at that magic number where we can pull the trigger at.

HSA max is 7.2k per year for family if you qualify. That's the largest expense for the retired more times than not. I max 401k, IRA, and HSA as well, definitely interested in other tricks to save more tax free if they're out there.

I'm in the same bucket. Making much more than I'm going to be spending in retirement and right on the bubble of tax brackets. However you don't pay the higher taxes on all your earnings, you just pay the higher bracket on whatever you go over into the next bracket so it's not as bad as all that.

And you can't even contribute to a Roth without a back door if you make over $206k as an agi for married and 139k for single. The nice thing about Roths imo is that you can withdraw the principle penalty (and obviously tax) free so if you're trying to bridge the gap from early retirement to 59.5 y/o it can be a handy resource if needed.

Agree 100%. The way the math works in my company's plans is that the net effect of paying the higher premium for the lower max out of pocket vs the lower premium for the higher max out of pocket max was within $38 of each other if you maxed out for the year. The only difference being that you have to have the money to pay it out of pocket instead of essentially being on a payment plan for it all year through your premiums. The other major difference obviously being that you only pay for it (again the same amount or at least within $38 of each other) if you actually need it vs paying for it "just in case" every paycheck and then the money evaporates if you don't end up needing it. Then you have the added benefit of the HSA account of which my company contributes $200 for single and $400 for family annually... and of course of all tax/retirement benefits that come with it.

Again check the details for your own available plans and do the math but very often high deductible plans get a bad rap as people think they are somehow "lesser" coverage. While it's true they may not cover things that are less common like physiatrist visits or 20 visits to the chiropractor every year, many people never use 95% of the benefits that they are paying for and it ends up just being emergency type of insurance anyway. They are just paying way more for it.

Maybe it's just a balance move including contributions not just a return rate. I've had a great return over the past year in my retirement accounts but nowhere approaching 100%.

I utilize it. I max out our 401K's, IRA's, and HSA's every year. Regardless at 65 you can withdrawal for any reason and just pay income tax on it. Essentially it's just another good tax free vehicle (if the funds are ever used for medical expenses) or tax deferred if you withdraw for other reasons after age 65. There are some decent fund choices in mine as well fortunately. Anything over $1000 in the pool get's traded into the funds I have chosen.

Also, if you have utilizing Cobra coverage as part of your retirement early healthcare strategy, you can also use HSA funds to cover the premiums where you otherwise couldn't for regular premiums.

What was the math behind the 86 points? Years of service, age,...?

Some ways to pull early are also the rule of 55 from your employer sponsored 401K or you can pull initial contributions from your Roth to bridge the gap as well.