[USER]

What would you do in my situation?
My husband is retired and gets $2,300/month from a pension/annuity (after insurance).

I bring in $5,900/month and contribute 10% to my retirement.
We have about $250k in IRA/401k accounts (husband’s portion is $105k, and he can withdraw without penalty — just pay regular taxes).

We also have $25k in a taxable brokerage and about $25k spread across checking/savings accounts.

Big upcoming expenses:
Roof replacement (~$22k)
HVAC (~$11k)
I’m planning to pull the money for this from my husband’s IRA, but that would drop his IRA to about $85k.

Right now, we don’t rely on his IRA — it’s just extra money if needed.

How would you handle the expenses and plan the finances going forward?

We also have rental income between $2,000 to $3,000 net each month.

However, we are not using the rental income for living expenses — we are saving it for a rental sinking fund for future repairs and upkeep.

Also, my husband is disabled and bedridden.

I am 50, husband is 65.

[Amanda]

Is there a reason your husband is retired? Because you guys have a long way to go

[Donna]

Could your husband find a part time job to help pay for these things without pulling from savings?
Could you save enough from your earnings?

We plan on not pulling from our IRA unless we need LTC some day.

Our old house needs so many updates, we are doing them before retirement

[Raakhi]

You’ve done a great job building a strong foundation.
For the roof and HVAC, you might consider using a mix of your savings and a smaller IRA withdrawal to avoid a big tax hit.

That way, you can keep more flexibility for the future without stressing your cash flow.

There’s no one right answer — it’s just about finding what feels most comfortable for you.

How do you feel about using a combination of savings and IRA funds?

Would you prefer to keep more in your retirement accounts or keep more cash on hand after these expenses?

If you ever want to take a closer look or set up a more structured plan for the future, Financial needs Analysis can help outline things, but it’s totally up to you.

[Anca]

You should be building sinking funds for big expenses like roof and HVAC. Do you live on a budget?

Is the 25K part of your 3-6 months of expenses saved in HYSA?

Personally, I would use that and not touch the investments

[Mia]

I don’t say this to be mean, but asking purely because the math scaring me. It’s looking like it will take another 13 years to get to $1MM with only you at 10% of income (with compound growth).

That + his retirement still really isn’t enough to retire with dignity.

By the math it seems like he needs to work another 10 years or so and you both need to increase to 15%.

[Megan]

If your rental savings has enough in it, I’d use that. Then start to rebuild it.

Use his retirement for rental work if it comes to that.

[Beat]

Safe until you have the money
Don’t pull the amount out

[Author]

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