Bowsite.com

That may be where the $150k is coming from.

Actually....that is not me but pretty much every person I have worked with in the past 20 years that decided to retire. Math doesn't seem to be strong poiifor many.

Wonderful start. Do this for 2-3 years. I would still talk to a professional after this to find out how to protect yourself from major expenses that could derail all of your previous work (mostly medical). My fishing wife Steve (real wife calls him this) did all this and added in an additional $1000/month average to take care of all vacations for the year.

Before starting this exercise I'd WAG'd $60K. The real number was $61K. My writing income pays for hunting and fishing trips. Any other vacations we took were funded from dividends on one investment, so both of those were excluded from the $61K

The first year was kind of scary. Now after almost 4 years in, that $61K number is pretty danged accurate, which means I can reinvest a chunk of income back into the nest egg or splurge a little, now that I'm comfortable with the real numbers. If we only had one house or lived where cost of living was lower, we could probably knock $5K off that number.

BTW, kota, my primaryvfinancial guy retired so I moved everything to another one who already handles some of my stuff. He took a guess at our real cost of retirement living and hit it on the nose - $60K.

ElkNut/Paul

One thing for sure, if I can continue to get awesome returns like I got in 2017 retirement is going to happen sooner than I thought. Go Market!!!

I recommend playing around with many of the online tools and calculators out there that are designed to take into account all of these things. A google search for best retirement calculator will pull up a bunch!

Don't do what everyone else does, because you are not just like everyone else. No one is.

We're all unique individuals and as such, we all have different goals and objectives, wishes, desires, dreams and emotions. Your planning needs to take all of those into consideration and you need to have deep discussions with both your spouse and with someone with years or even decades of experience in helping people with these sorts of issues.

My required monthly expenses are $1400 - including mortgage. Food, gas, misc expenses are on top of that + another ~$1000. So $29,000/yr?

As I already stated, I already know my pension amount and Ive been living off that for the past few months just to see how it feels. Been doing good and still 'paying myself'!

Only 225 more days, but nobody is counting

My FIL had a good [pension] retirement when he retired many yrs ago through the trade union- $3,700 a month which $200 of that went to medical.

FFWD 20 years and now his $3700 is only $2500 for reasons due to the union itself and increased Medical costs. Don't underestimate the cost of living index rising as it kills fixed investments.

You need to pay up for someone who has the tools to actually evaluate everything about your savings/lifestyle (current and planned)/etc if you want (you actually need it) any accurate estimate. I think the 75%-85% of final salary is fine if you're still 20 or 15 years from retirement because the future unknowns are just too far out to predict. I suspect that figure gets thrown around for people closer to retirement because they are afraid to take a honest hard look at their expenses.

So when I take Social Security at 66 I'll be way ahead of my spending budget and can roll more back into the nest egg or really do some exotic stuff. That nest egg is invested in a diverse portfolio, some exposed to the market and some in dividend-paying alternative investments like REITs and a Business Development investment company.

As a lifestyle, I don't scrimp on anything (except Sitka, and I might buy a Sitka Incinerator thong just because...) I didnt work my ass off since age 10 to live on bread crust and generic beer during my golden years. I have substantial Dish packages with DVR and HD for both houses, buy whatever I feel like, go wherever I want to go. I earned it and am now enjoying it. As I learned with my late wife, there are NO guarantees in this life.

Another ++ for "everyone is different". The formulas about X% of pre-retirement income are useless. High earners don't need nearly that much and low-earners may need 100% to be happy. There are a lot of "poor" old people who thought they had enough. Fast-forward 20 years and it will be 10X worse because our generation was pretty bad at saving.

My buddy decided to pursue the Super Slam and world sheep slam after retirement, so his "need" is significantly more than mine with maybe 3-4 out-of-state hunts per year.

From that point we need to add our annual "life style" expenses including; travel, hunts, entertainment, etc. to get to our "total expenses" number.

To figure out your retirement savings you need in total, assuming you don't have a pension, take your annual expenses and divide by 4%. For example if your expenses total $100,000 then $100,000/4% = $2,500,000. You then need to factor in Social Security, Medicare, reduced spending in your golden years, and so on to determine if that $2.5M is more than you need, not enough, etc. Thus the reason to engage a professional's services to get a plan together!!!

But we're living longer which means we are more apt to need assistance of one kind or another than would have been the case with our parents, who mostly passed away in their late sixties/early seventies.

If you or your spouse ever needs to go into a long-term care facility, it can easily cost you up to $7,000/month and the average time spent in same runs two YEARS or more.

The last thing you can afford to deal with in retirement are YUGE, unexpected expenses such as those. If you can handle eating those potential expenses out-of-pocket, good on you, because that means you've done well financially and have made good and rational decisions with your money.

Otherwise, if it happens to you or your spouse, you or your spouse might become a ward of the state. Who the 'ell wants that?

I wish that I liked simple things and was more content and could do with significantly less but I’m not at that point.

My mom is in year 3 in a nursing home. $8660 a month. She has a small pension and minimal SS, which reduce it to around $7600 a month. I sold her house and all her belongings to fund it, have enough left for two more years. Luckily this place accepts Medicaid for established patients when she goes broke because there's a waiting list for Medicaid beds in our area.

Unbelievable how many people I talk to who think Medicare or the Govt will help with long term care. Nope, not until you get down to $2000 in total net worth. Then maybe.. IF you can get into a place that accepts Medicaid and you qualify. And most Medicaid places are crap-holes.

Social security wise, Your full retirement age varies with your age. I was born in 1957, so mine is 66 1/2.

If I retire at 62 I lose 25% of the benefits I would receive at 66 1/2.

Then theres medical. My wife switching jobs right now our medical for fam of 4 is $2,500/mo [for the one month until it swaps] I'm pretty sure you can't collect Medicaid until 65 unless you are disabled. Retiring early would cost you for medical insurance.

My advice to young guys; its not how much you make...its the assets you acquire that are important. Assets like rental properties are awesome. When the cost of living goes up, you increase rents to keep abreast. You can sink todays dollars into them now [at 50% off in some cases]...and reap the benefits in retirement.

In my case I had kids late in life, so paying for 2 kids in college at $122,000/year [with after tax income -sucks] has postponed my retiring. You might want to factor a smart kid into your retirement equation. If only i could have talked my son into the OleMiss honors program, that would have only cost me $300/year the rest in scholarship. I made them both a promise to pay for whatever schools they wanted [and could get in to] That promise cost me a little shy of $500k.

Strength in diversity

Dang Bruce,he coulda rented my upstairs as I'm 15 min from Ole Miss!lol

I have no debt and a portfolio better than most people my age. I had a rental and hated it, but then, it was the wrong type of rental so got rid of it. Don't really need to rely on a 401K as the one thing that makes it all happen, there are many other ways and the successful self employed guys out there know what I'm talking about.

What matters most is the avg return you get on your investments and like most have said, what your individual needs are/will be. I am not worried about SS, if it's there later then great, but young(er) guys shouldn't bank on it...

But I agree, the right type of assets are paramount, whether it be a good business or rental properties (or both) are not a bad hit.

Retirement does no necessarily mean one becomes a pauper.

The variable that will always increase in a retirement as a person ages is medical cost. The older the person- the higher the medical expenses will be. But that rising cost will be offset to some degree because you won't be spending money on what you use to spend money on - so you will have more money available to cover the continued increase in medical expenses.

Anywho....when I retired from the military a while back we paid off what was left on the house. That was the only outstanding debt we had. The wife kept her big city job and does it remotely when we moved back to our place in northern Michigan.

The wife is real good at tracking our income and expenses. We (she) knows where everything comes and goes to and tracks it on spread sheets and Quicken. Most of our expenses are the usual ones everyone has....utilities, auto/home/life insurance, food, gas, etc. Our medical is Tricare Prime and that is a great deal for us. While reading this thread I asked her what our monthly expenses are. She said it varies with the seasons. She forecasts to maintain our current lifestyle after she retires will be approx $72K. Now....we watch our money but we also live pretty good. I do hunting/fishing trips here and there, we snowbird every year for 3-4 months, she does boondoggles.

I think there are three big variables that can trip anyone entering or already in retirement. The first is health. If you have an unplanned major long term medical issue, that can throw off your plans. The second is the economy. Many retired folks have some of their money in vehicles like 401's, IRA's, stocks, mutual funds, etc. If the economy takes a hit...so does your investments. The third is over dependency on the govt bennies. I'm not sure if social security, medicare/medicade will be around or solvent in the future. If retired folks are counting on those and they collapse or get reformed, that will force a change in retired life.

What I would suggest to a young person or couple.

- Do an honest analysis of your finances and expenses and set up a budget - Start saving and investing now as much as you can into different types of investments - Do not carry over credit card debt.....pay off every month - Keep an outstanding credit rating - Don't live beyond your means - Don't count on the govt (or anyone else) to do something for you that you should be doing for yourself

The crazier part of it is, I have a few friends with rare medical problems, and nothing is ever covered. My attorney always likes to tell me insurance companies are in the business of collecting money, and keeping it.

When we pass we plan on passing some on to the kids, grandkids. But not too much. I don't want them to be depending on us for their retirement. I have not told them how much money we have. We haven't figured out who gets the rest.

Terry

Many retirements aren't and then you get fooled and live to long. At some stage you outlive your retirement and have to cut back.

Having zero debt is key. Also, take care of any major home repairs such as new roof or heating system before you retire.

Like Pigsticker posted above, I too have not been impressed with financial advisors. The older I get and the closer I get to retirement, I think the majority of people can do well on their own without a financial advisor.

I have the titles to everything and almost everything is 2017 or 2018 and the Deed on my home on February 5, 2018.

I am just setting up my Property Tax payments to the county and my Property Insurance with Farmers on my home as by having it paid off, I have to do these items separately now.

I just feel that what a person debt is becomes more about how much they 'need' to retire.

I have only my Utiities of $450 a month and my eats/food @ $300 a month......$75 a week on groceries ya know...

Good luck, Robb

There are a few accounts of people who's parents have used their entire savings for extended long term facilities. I've seen that myself with a family member and why I caution against those who might secretly wishfully think they'll get inheritance for that final push over the line when their date comes.

Some, like my dad have already stated charities get his egg when he passes. I say good for him because it's his money just as ours is to my wife and me (charities will get ours too). Am thankful we never fell into the 'entitled' expectation for a parents/family members wealth.

And it's ok if some don't entertain an early retirement or want to step up adventure (and the expense it takes) in retirement. Properly plan it and you've got as good a shot at getting it right as the rest of us.

Sure there are ways to access funds pre-95 1/2 without a penalty. Learn about the Rule of 72T for IRAs and Rule of 55 for 401Ks. May not be a right approach for many but due diligence to a well constructed strategy these are potential successful tools.

Being 1 year into retirement and only 53 years old, I have my moments of questioning too. But worrying needlessly is what I do...it's what I've always done....that's why we have the savings and a lifestyle that made this all possible. But I know the numbers show worrying, in our case, is for naught. And have for a long time having been saving and planning this for 26 years (was an engineer that geeked out on this from the start).

As my dad, and others who've retired way early before me, had advised: "When you retire you don't all of a sudden go on some spending, vacation binge, you go on as before being responsible with your money. Your biggest challenge may be to actually stop regular savings and spend the money after decades of such aggressive savings.". I'll go out on a limb and suspect others here who've retired way early resemble that last.

It may not be possible for some and they'd be right, but if these recent discussions on here should show you anything it's that there are so many ways to successfully skin a cat but is prudent that you take the time necessary to learn a thing or twelve about it before you're jolted awake with a dead cat in hand that all of a sudden needs skinned.

Enter a state, select a city, select 'Cost of Living', scroll down and enter what your income is now and it will factor in what it costs to live there compared to where you live now

What I mean is: ours, as good as he was, still had us down for $10K year for vacations, and replacing vehicles every few years, until our passing around 95years old.

I explained $10K/year was no where realistic as $2K only every couple years is what we spend on vacations. Sure there's room to bump up vacations a little but to think we have ($10K/year) money burning a hole in our pockets is irrational for us.

And we don't replace vehicles like the majority of people do. We take care of our stuff and keep them until the first couple occurrences of stranding/failure. Our 2002 Duramax is at 176K miles, wife's 2003 Grand Cherokee is at 193K miles, and my 2001 Cherokee is at 179K miles. All kept well maintained, rust free, operating perfectly fine, and no signs of replacement needed. Had the truck since around 2007 and the 2 Jeeps are replacements since the 2013 fire. Wife lost the 1998 Cherokee with 255K miles that we bought new back in 1998 and I lost a aggressively run 1995 Wrangler with 176K miles that I bought in 1999. Both ran great, rust free, and no signs of replacements needed. So no, we don't replace vehicles as most others do.

You truly have to know us to understand how we don't fit the mold of typical people but a financial professional has an expectation of typical. Just know even they can only get close.

LOL - the only jewelry my wife has is her wedding band and one pair of earrings. That was pre-fire AND continues post-fire...just gotta know us ;-)

With no-load mutual funds and a little research and a lot of patience you can do very well. I've tracked my investments against the S&P 500 index since when me and the wife started putting money away and I've beaten the index lifetime-to-date by 1.8%. That doesn't sound like much, but it is huge over 20, 30, 40 years, and it outperforms well over 95% of all the other mutual funds and most money managers. I averaged a consolidated 25% return this year when the S&P returned around 21% total return. It can be done. Low-cost index mutual funds are God's gift from heaven for the individual investor, and makes it even simpler. Wish they would had been around (they actually were around just not very many or well-known) when I started. I understand the above is probably better suited to some of the young guys on here just getting started and not us old geezers smelling retirement in the wind. What it really comes down to is that retirement (and the planning for it) is really just a bunch of choices you make. Do you want to drive a new car every couple years or save money and run your current one until it goes to car-heaven? Do you want to live extravagantly or more frugally? etc, etc... What do you REALLY want out of retirement, and what are you willing to do (sacrifice during working years, lifestyle in retirement) to get there?

I'd recommend everyone re-read Whocares post above. He gets it and said it well. Most people can retire on much less than the oft-repeated 80% of your current income. If they want to and are willing to adjust to get there.

One of the most ridiculous comments ever! I am not planning on living on $35K or for that matter &75K. I have not worked for forty years to downsize living. I am debt free, sans 2 years on my mortgage. Just bought new F250 wife is ready to pull trigger on an Accura MDX. Those will carries several years without car payments of any type. My real goal is to have what is commonly referred to as “golden years”.

Another thing to remember is if your house is paid off you can do a reverse mortgage LOC. That money sits there earning interest until you need it, then it's available with a phone call or an email. Gets paid back when the house is sold. For me it's a nice little $200K (you only get part of the equity) piggy bank I can draw from for a hunt or trip or home repairs without touching other investments earning more in this bull market.

I'll throw a plug in here for Dave Ramsey. If you don't know of him, he has a national brand(books, radio show, seminars) that promotes debt free living. I don't agree with everything he says, but his plan to pay off debt flat works. I'm early forties, my wife is 39, and we've been debt free, including our home, for over 6 years now. We moved 3 years ago and wrote a check for our current residence, pretty good feeling. We don't make a ton of money, but we both work and are comfortable and able to do pretty much what we want. As others have stated, being debt free going into retirement seems crucial to me.

We both plan to retire at 55. My wife will(hopefully) have a very nice pension that should meet expenses. I'll have to buy health insurance for myself, which I know will be costly. My 401k and her 403b will supplement other things we want to do. This is our long term plan that of course is subject to change if one of us dies or has a serious health issue. We don't currently use a financial planner because we haven't met one yet that we both are comfortable with. No offense, but I avoid places like Edward Jones etc like the plague. Those people are sales agents paid on commission. At some point, we will hire an independent certified financial planner who has fiduciary responsibility.

My only complaint/regret is not having my own hunting ground. Prices are high for timberland where I'm at and I won't go into to debt or borrow from my 401k to purchase any. I been very fortunate to have access to private property to hunt all of my life but that is changing. I still have a lot of public ground available and that may be what I'm left with to hunt someday.

Congrats to all you retired, or soon to be retired, folks!

I do my own investments

Is this a good rate of return?

I did a calculation, factoring for inflation, and I figure I'll need about $15/day for gas, beer, and bait. If I can do that every day healthcare will be a moot point.

NvaGvUp might weigh in here. The bigger hurdle is whether you can afford a 30% (or more) drop like many experienced in 2000 and in 2008 and still draw from it while it builds back up. That's the killer for retirees with a lot of market exposure. They are suddenly paying what amounts to 30% more for everything, pulling more from the funds while they rebound. Some retirees never recover from a beat down like that. I have some friends who were ready to retire in 2000 with a tech-heavy portfolio. They never did fully recover and a couple are still working now, 17 years later, after losing 70% of their 401K value back then.

My company's stock was $78 in 1999. Had the 4th best performing stock of the decade of the 90's. Secretaries were driving Ferraris. Many employees were rolling their whole 401K into company stock. When WorldCom collapsed, our stock dropped to $3 before anybody knew what happened. Think about that - a $780,000 retirement fund drops to $30,000. That stock never did recover.

A common piece of advice is to stay away from investing a significant portion of your retirement in company stock for those that have the option to buy it. Most people already have a tremendous amount of exposure to their company given that is where the bulk of their income likely comes from. Stacking investment risk on income risk is just asking for a disaster to happen. WorldCom, Enron, you name it. Diversification is a great thing.

2015 was a crap of a year, 2016 was average to a bit better and 2017 was a very good year overall, on average (from a broad market perspective). I have always been a believer in diversification and tend not to get overly involved in any narrow segment of the market no matter how hot it currently is. That is what got the employees at Jaq's company in trouble, chasing one brightly burning star. Slow and steady (aka diversified) is boring, but it tends to be better for long-term results.

I hope to never retire full time.

After watching for years I have come to the conclusion that beyond a certain level of wealth that wealth increase and personal satisfaction seem to be inversely related. Charitable giving and service being positively correlated with personal satisfaction.

Self imposed austerity can have many benefits beyond financial.

No such thing as secure dynamic cash flow as in working for wages.

Also, just my opinion again, but driving new vehicles all of the time keeps people working longer than they otherwise would have to. Biggest depreciation and loss of money most people will ever see. I wish I had the money back I wasted on new cars when I was younger.

The older I get the more I realize the most important thing to do is stay as healthy as possible. Do you have a fantastic primary care physician? I know some guys that don’t have a complete annual physical every year. Don’t be afraid! Too many friends and family passing too young.

Good luck all!

If you are even asking this question, you need to talk to a retirement planning professional.

Any good planner/advisor can assess how much you need in a matter of minutes, right down to the dollar. No guesswork. I do it for my clients every single day. And I'll tell you what... nothing makes me happier professionally than presenting a plan to somebody that allows for an earlier retirement, or being able to deliver a greater retirement lifestyle than expected. To suggest there's an ulterior motive at work among financial professionals is just plain silly. The better I do for a client and the earlier I can show them retirement, the happier they are, and happy clients = greater referrals for me. That's a much more significant net positive than another year or two of marginally higher fees.

Also, I always chuckle when I hear index returns quoted as a reference for how an investor is doing. Most people get that wrong, way wrong. Then they chase index returns into a raging bull market (like now) only to get crushed when the cycle turns. I see so much of this now and see it on this thread. Anyone remember irrational exuberance? It's back with a vengeance! The ONLY question that should matter when analyzing investment returns is "am I on track to accomplish my personal goals?" Benchmarking to some arbitrary index makes little sense for those in the retirement planning phase of life.

As others have said, the internet and a bowhunting website is certainly the LAST place you should turn for financial advice. Find a pro. Ask your good friends and other professional advisors (CPA's and Attorney's) for a trusted referral. You don't go through life without a doctor. You should treat your finances the same.

Ultimately, I like Charlie's answer the best. Stay healthy! If you can't do that, the money doesn't matter!

This may be easy to do but I may need significant more money with all the time on my hands.

To your points... Most people certainly do need more than they think. Or at least they should plan for more, in case of health care needs. And all of the factors (pension, 401k, Social Security, leaving a legacy, etc) you mention can easily be addressed by qualified planner or advisor to help you come up with the optimal strategy, for you and you alone.

My intended point was... this stuff IS important! If you have to ask yourself this question, you obviously could use some help, so find a qualified professional.

Good thread even if it only gets the young guys thinking about it.

Jaq- good point on Stock Market volatility. I think its going to be a pretty good run with Trump in there...so far so good but you never know. I considered the Stock Markets potential and diversified a big % away from it years ago.

I know some dads in our area almost my age that think day trading Bitcoin is investing....the one guy tells me he thinks he can quit his job as its so lucrative- Facepalm

Postpone (larger spending) now for a better retirement tomorrow hoping for good health to enjoy it or living a fairly "normal" life now and have a fairly "normal" retirement later?

Investing in the market for retirement is certainly a risk and requires understanding how to do it and what financial vehicles are available. I would respect the advice of a more sage investor/planner with real life experience over a young hotshot that wants to fast track success and just recently passed a series 65, 66, or 7 exam.

They are both financial "professionals"...

Then a couple friends who worked hard to enjoy a good retirement tipped over. That was my catalyst to move from an "investment guy" to a "retirement professional" and we worked out a plan so I could get out early and still have a good lifestyle.

Thanks, Charlie!

Like any profession, there are bad apples in every bunch. Stick with advisors from the larger firms as they will have extensive compliance departments and strict oversight that will weed out the vast majority of nefarious activity and bad advice.

I also had one of my best friends and hunting partner die from a pulmonary embolism on Christmas day a few years back, just as he was about to put in his retirement papers. That was, as it probably was to you, a big slap across the face from reality. I can't wait to retire and am doing it as soon as I can.

I opened up a Roth IRA for my 22 year old daughter, who is graduating from college this spring and gave it to her with the initial contribution as a Christmas gift. Then I sat down with her and showed her my spreadsheet tracking me and my wife's own investments spanning back 30 years. I wanted to impress on her how that tiny amount we started with has grown over the many years and that she could easily do the same. I did get a comment about me being the worlds biggest geek or something similar, but her eyes told me it hit home. I did it because I remember for us the hardest part to getting started was actually just taking that first step to start when money was tight.

Barring a massive bear market, I (we) should actually be better off in retirement than we are right now - thanks to the reasons above, and some significant self-discipline.

Best wishes and good health for everyone contemplating retirement. Under ten years for me!!

An elevated lifestyle inflation early (as most people pursue right out of college) makes saving later painful because one now has to reduce their lifestyle to accomplish it.

My biggest concern is what is my additional cost to support the additional free time. I am not a handyman, I am not industrious, and I am not content at doing nothing!

My plan is to hunt, fish, hike, bike, workout, and take naps more in the afternoon with the wife. These are the unknowns for me.

Pigsticker, I could retire on that amount too ($110K+). What I learned after the first 18 months is that my lifestyle is much like you envision - hunt, fish, hike, bike, workout, and take naps more in the afternoon. Plus I do quite a bit of volunteer stuff (archery club, managing two substantial fisheries, wounded vet and kids fishing, serving on three Boards). We also took a couple vacation trips every year and I hunt 70+ days a year. We had a hard time spending more than $70K even in the fattest years of spending when my wife had some health problems. So my $61K "budget" is really a "spending amount" because that's how much it costs to do whatever we want to do. The rest rolls back into the nest egg and is reinvested.

In order for me to spend $110K I'd have to develop a serious taste for Macallan 25, Cakebread and Opus One wine, Peruvian flake coke, expensive hookers (now that my wife is gone) and guided hunts. Macallan 25 is the only vice with a possibility, but it's not worth the cost to me since Scotch is now only on occasions. I don't enjoy guided hunts so that's not going to cost much. Or I could buy a lot of Sitka stuff every year. That would put a dent in it too! ;-)

Again, don't go asking for specific advice like this on the internet. It sounds like you don't trust the advisor you have already sought out. Find another one. Ask a friend or family member you trust, or your CPA/Attorney, for a referral.

https://brokercheck.finra.org/

Read this is you want an eye opener:

https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-smarter-mutual-fund-investor/2015/03/04/the-mutual-fund-fees-we-dont-talk-about

Read this is you want an eye opener:

https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-smarter-mutual-fund-investor/2015/03/04/the-mutual-fund-fees-we-dont-talk-about

When I got closer to retirement I told my EJ broker I was moving to an independent who specialized in retirement planning. He asked me why and I told him I felt like he was working for EJ and his own commissions, and not me. He shrugged and didn't try to deny it or talk me out of it.

Annuities aren't for everyone. Especially not necessarily for those with a good guaranteed pension ahead. They also aren't for those who view them like a traditional market-based vehicle. It's simply an insurance policy for a chunk of your money, and insurance costs money (fees). We wanted the peace of mind that no matter what happens with the market, we wouldn't run out of money and could still live a good lifestyle. I haven't yet found a mutual fund or an investment advisor who will guarantee that my money will reach X value in X years.

At one company I worked for I was eligible for a modest pension. When they offered a lump sum buyout years later I took a close look and ran some numbers with our investment guy, and by rolling that lump sum into our big annuity I would actually get a better monthly payback from the same amount at the same age than leaving it in the pension.

Much better off with a Schwab index fund. Your exposure in single stocks is too great.

Regarding kyrob's $3,250 management fee I didn't say it was high.I said it was money that wasn't going to market and that there are mucho companies working for under 1.35 % management fee.

Both are those are the truth.

I'm a proponent for no load funds and skinny management fees ....it's the only thing I can control.Investors need to do their on due diligence but after being a white coat investor for 25 years I will continue to stay the course and investors need to realize that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE to get competitive returns and sound advice.No load indexing can be very effective.

There will always be a place for DIY investors and also those that need or want advice. There’s room for both in the marketplace.

We still have retail auto parts stores and still have auto repair shops. Heck, we still have outfitters and DIY hunters too. This is not much different.

Most investment planners are simply salesmen netting the herd into a managed fund and regurgitating information sent by their affiliation. As stated above - choose wisely. Perhaps only your wife is a more important choice for a long term partner.

Good financial planners are worth more than most are willing to pay.

A key problem is that most investors are willing to follow advice without understanding and then want to blame their advisor rather than themselves for not taking ownership of the decision.

And if you think you are smarter than "the street" then you haven't been around long enough. But the amount of good information out there is incredible. There are a lot of ways to beat big funds.

It will be interesting to see what happens with 5G and AI in the coming years. A lot of wealth will be created...but the black swan is always out there. Always. Just know what you will do when it shows up.

1. Develop a workable plan 2. Invest early and often 3. Never bear too much or too little risk 4. Diversify 5. Never try to time the market 6. Use index funds when possible 7. Keep costs low 8. Minimize taxes 9. Invest with simplicity 10. Stay the course

I don't call myself giving advice because I can't and shouldn't but I do like to promote self empowerment in whatever you do.

I currently have a 457 Deferred Comp Plan thru my employer funded by payroll deductions contributions. Once I retire [age 55], its done.

So what can/should I do with it if I want to continue to build it?

Rollover to a new 401k? Let it be and save it for later?

My late wife traded through Muriel Siebert and researched through them and Motley Fool resources. She consistently beat the market and also our EJ returns, which the EJ guy always marveled at since she was an "amateur". Her "fees" were elk streaks and walleye fillets.. We only moved everything to a fee-only pro when our portfolio got large and we were looking down the barrel of retirement, and she got a little spooked.

Point is, you can do it yourself and do it well if you're willing to work at research and have the nuts to accept risk and losses with occasional dog investments. Its hard to tell your spouse that the "Peters Pipeline " stock you were so high on just dropped $10,000 in value before you noticed and cut your losses.

My wife happens to manage a very large portfolio for her boss. When I say large I’m talking somewhere between $40M and $50M. They pick and choose and they also have a broker. The broker’s role has diminished more over the last 10 to 15 years. This started when my wife contacted some trade organization in New York when noticed a lot of movement with little return on investment. Later she was subpoenaed to come testify but later was released of that responsibility due to the fact that there was enough people to testify from that area so the court would not have to incur the cost of bringing her all the way from Georgia. So this supports my skepticism that fee based transactions work really well for the one on the receiving end and not so well for the investor.

Personally, I think that most of the pain of retirement could be transparent if all of us started young enough and were not a $200K plus a year income earner.

Case in point is I have friends and family that were teachers and military that have pensions and with Social Security retire comfortably with the huge task of financial planning to the degree that we have discussed. The below average guy who is wise enough to start early with small investing in company plans may do as well or better in retirement than they did working if they managed their debt well. I have had many people find out that they could not afford to not retire when they started to do the math.

Amazingly, I just of the huge number of people that cannot afford to retire. This is because of unmanaged debt, zero savings, and investing. If anything this thread has done is hopefully created the need to plan for retirement for the young Bowsiters and maybe woke up the the 35 to 45 crowd that they better get off the stick. I know many people will say that if they made the big bucks that this would not be a problem but I have banker friends who tell that they have more people in the $200K range that suffer from poor money management than many of those that make much less. I know and appreciate that many of you have not beat me up hard with the information that I have shared on this discussion. Had I been a high earner most of my life this would literally be a no brainer for me. Again, I am not worried about making ends meet but my challenge is strictly inmaintaining my current lifestyle. I absolutely abhor the concept of downsizing.

Truly great topic and even better input on the topic. Actually, I found this thread provided more common sense information than many threads on retirement forums and financial sites.

Lou....For what it costs me to procure those said items.......well, let’s just say that my broker’s fees don’t seem too bad, NOW!

http://jasonzweig.com/the-19-questions-to-ask-your-financial-adviser/

The second article is one adviser's response. http://www.basonasset.com/19-questions/

The standard practice is that a younger person can safely absorb high risk, and the expected higher returns (hopefully...), and that the level of risk should be moderated as you age and get closer to retirement. However, that doesn't mean retirement is the end of the line and you should have everything in CD's when you retire. Most people can expect to live 20-30 or so years after they retire. Now, think about that large amount of time in terms of inflation/cost of living. $100 10 or 25 years from today will buy less than $100 today, much less.

When you start ramping back the aggressive investing keep in mind your retirement date, but also keep in mind the decades you still are expected to live. I look upon retirement as not an end of the line in terms of investing, but as a waypoint on your total expected lifespan. You may still want a limited expose to equities or other higher long-term return assets through some of your retirement to maintain your lifestyle and purchasing power. Obviously, you aren't going to invest like you did back in your 30's, but you also may not want to be completely in "safe" investments. This has a big assumption in that you can do this and sleep at night. If your risk-tolerance is going to go nuclear, it isn't the right approach for you. In the end, what is most important is your comfort and ability to enjoy life, post employment. Just something to be aware of and maybe use as a tool in your toolkit.

Another vote for letting a pro manage it. My wife did very well with ours, but she basically did it as a full time job since she didn't work. I earned, she invested and managed. That was the last thing we wanted to do in retirement. Plus, there are investment vehicles for limiting risk in post-retirement that amateurs may not know about. Like Charlie, we had enough, but couldn't afford to go backwards.

Many thanks to SDHUNTER for his advice. I took that to my prospective new investment guy today and he had the answers, some of which were a little alarming (total fees after everything is considered). But the risk-adjusted after-fee returns on the investments he suggests are very good, which they should be considering the market performance. So I'm still shopping.

ALL fees need to be transparently disclosed! The days of snake brokers hiding juicy commissions and expensive fees are fortunately on their way out!

Many of the old guard in my industry are begrudging the new fiduciary mandate. I think it’s wonderful! It’s the way biz always should have been conducted, IMO.

Like anything else with regard to retirement planning, don’t guess at this. Any decent retirement planner/advisor can run a SS analysis telling you when is the optimal time to take payments. There are a host of such tools available on the Internet too. Don’t shoot from the hip.

If you can pick your investments then consider low-fee options like BND for a bucket of bonds, VTI or SPY of VB for stocks, IXUS for foreign, etc? These are relatively very low cost so can decide you goal (x% stocks, y% bonds, etc) and probably need around 5 EFTs to achieve your goals of diversification at low annual cost. Some funds are around 0.20% or less for the annual cost so you are hit with around $2 per $1000 a year. If you are paying 8.00% of return then that is around $80 per $1000 a year. You pay in 1 year what takes me 40 years to hand over to the fund manager. Ouch. Not everyone has the same investment, risk, liquidity goals so do your research and seek advice from more than just someone operating a keyboard on the internet.

P.S. I was able to rollover money from an employer where I was still employed. Not sure if is still possible or if is limited to certain types. I went from 4% fees pre-transfer on a SPY-type Fortune 500 fund down to around 0.10% for a similar fund post-rollover. Is damn near criminal what goes on in 401K type plans.

So what do I suggest to those that feel behind? Same as with anything else important in life, put your head down, make a commitment, and fix it! But start with a plan!

Look, if there is anything anyone should take away from this entire thread, it’s that you should know exactly what it’s going to take to reach your retirement goals. You should not just be guessing at how much you need to save each year, you should know that amount down to the dollar! And if you can’t save that much, you must face perhaps some hard realities. Either you are living beyond your means and need to reduce spending, or you are going to have to work longer than you’d probably like. But bottom line, you should know EXACTLY what needs to be done. Everyone should know just how much they need to save each year, exactly how much investment risk they should take, exactly when they can retire, and how much they can afford to retire on. That’s a retirement plan! Anyone reading this deserves the same. The answers are out there and they involve a hell of a lot more than just investment returns and expenses. Or one can just continue to guess and hope for the best. Not me, I prefer peace of mind.

And Ned, you’re a bowhunter! You have to find an optimistic outlook to your retirement savings, just like preparing for any hunt. A “fatalistic” approach to anything always yields bad results. In my experience, regardless of the answers, it is nearly always refreshing for a client to have their retirement questions answered. Even if it’s not quite what they wanted to hear, like they need to save more, work longer, retire on less, etc., at least they now know what they are dealing with! Just ruling out the unknown is usually very relieving to most people planning retirement.

So my advice to you is to seek out some professional help. Lay out a retirement plan so you know exactly how much to save and what you are up against. Commit to the plan, monitor it over time to make sure you are on track, and before you know it, you’ll be looking at a comfortable retirement, on your terms. Good luck.

Where I live in a college town everyone is abuzz over the need for affordable student housing. That's going to turn around into the need for affordable senior housing within the next 15 years.

Savings for one! You can’t expect your investments to make up for lack of savings. In fact, I’d bet on the conservative investor and diligent saver meeting retirement sooner and more comfortably than one who is just a risk taking investor. Think beyond just returns here.

18% return at a lot of risk could be less favorable than 10% at lower risk. Net (after fee) returns have to be measured against risk to assess value. Again, let’s not look at returns in a vacuum. Standard deviation comes into play. I can break down risk adjusted returns, quantitatively showing a client my value and demonstrating how they are getting their money’s worth from their fee. Any financial advisor should be able to do the same. And value should mean more than just beating some index. Is your advisor meeting with you regularly? Can you reach him/her on a direct phone line and is he/she responsive? Is he/she providing you with regular guidance to keep your savings/spending on track to meet goals? Did he or she present you with a written financial plan? Help you optimize social security options? Recommend the best educational savings vehicle for your kids? Calculate and help you to remember to take your IRA mandatory distribution? Work with your CPA on advantageous tax strategies? Make sure your acct titling and beneficiary designations are in line with your estate plan? Etc. all these things have to be worth something, and they are all things a good financial advisor should be doing to earn his fee. And none of these things can be quantified in terms of fees and returns alone. So please, to be fair, let’s examine the whole ball of wax here.

Why is everyone continually hunting for rules of thumb? Guess what folks? There isn’t one! Like any other worthy pursuit in life, there’s no short cut. Stop guessing! This is far too important to just wing it. Get the EXACT answers you need.

If you want to figure this out, you have 2 choices. Either commit to learning and doing the research yourself and finding the answers on your own (there are tools all over the Internet, like Genesis stated), or hire a pro! I don’t see any other good options.

But if debt keeps you up at night, it’s not worth the harm to your mental health. Pay it off. That’s my take.

Point 2 is diversification. You shouldn't be taking on 100% stock market risk as you enter retirement, not even close. So bear in mind that while the market may go through it's gyrations, you aren't going to be totally exposed. Build and diversify the portfolio right in the first place, so the bad times won't be so bad. Then you won't have to rely on huge low or no interest bearing cash stores and attempting to time the market (which never works over the long term) to minimize damage. In retirement, you win by not losing, so position yourself with a diversified portfolio (stocks big and small, domestic and international, bonds, cash, alternatives, real estate, etc) to mitigate losses to begin with. And keep things mostly liquid. Make sure the majority of your investments can be easily sold to meet unforeseen needs in retirement.

Which brings us right back to the learning opportunity for the young guys now. Save early and save often NOW. Make it hurt. Doing so while you are young will mean that you won't need to take on as much risk later in life. It will make for a more stress free retirement. Trying to make up for one's early lack of savings by taking on too much risk later in life is a dangerous game!

1. Ask your successful family members, friends, CPA and attorney who they use and would recommend.

2. Bounce those names off of Finra Broker Check to see if there is a history of complaints or disclosures. https://brokercheck.finra.org/

3. Work with a fee-based advisor. This rules out the commission based pricing model where they may only want to "sell you stuff". With a fee based pricing model the advisor's interests are aligned with yours. They make more when you make more and vice versa. Ask the professionals that are referred to you if they work on an advisory fee or commission-per-transaction based pricing model.

4. Make sure you have a fiduciary agreement. Ask if the advisor is bound by fiduciary standard and ask if they will put that in writing. That means that legally, they must always put your interests ahead of their own.

5. Experience matters. Find someone with 10yrs+ experience. Preferably with the same firm. Beware of someone who jumps from firm to firm a lot. Advisors are often wooed from one firm to another (signing bonuses), attempting to drag their clients with them each time. Doing so probably does not provide a good experience for the client. Also beware the old goat who is half checked out too. Find a middle aged guy who still has to work hard. He'll probably be there for you for a long time.

6. Once they have passed all the above tests, narrow it down to a few names and interview each. There was a great list posted above by TXCO of questions to ask your potential financial advisor. Use that or something like that as a basis for your interview.

7. Ask to see a sample financial plan and have the advisor walk you through it. Then ask to see a corresponding investment proposal. Make sure you like the advisor's approach and explanations.

8. When in doubt, err on the side of someone working for a larger firm. The bigger firms will have more complete compliance oversight and systems in place to ward off most nefarious behavior.

9. Take your spouse with you and make sure he/she likes the advisor. You want continuity and comfort after you are gone.

10. Hire the one who checks the most boxes and gives you the most confidence. Good luck.

Where guys like Nvagvup- Kyle can help as a investment pro is to a high net worth guy trying to navigate the tricky tax/inheritance waters. >>>---------> There are a couple facts the supposed investment pros don't tell you; A small % outperform the market A tiny % do it consistently. So why do you need them exactly?

Fees kill you. Outfits like Vanguard with their low fees are fantastic. If you are even thinking about an Annuity....run the number comparing Vanguard with their low fees and they SLAUGHTER the foe fee brokers. Some of those annuities carry a high double digit commission- crazy. I still prefer right real estate as an inflation proof investment ...but a % of no load funds is good.

If you really want to be an active investor follow a successful outfit like Dorsey Wright that maps what fund categories will outperform the indexes. You don't always want to pick your investments from past performance.

We are going to relocate to a income taxless state with a lower cost of living when I do pull the plug. 13 month and 13 days but who is counting?!

If you want to fine tune your investments further...THEN you need to look forward instead of past performance in say Real estate, Market sector funds...those types of thing.

So for example, if you would have bought Oil sector funds when they are in the tanker....they go in cycles so you can make a lot of $$ buying low. Same with RE in many areas.

I just stumbled onto this thread. Well, actually I did a search on bowsite.com for "retiring". You may ask why the hell would you look here for that? Well, because I have learned that folks here tend to be very like minded, and the way they live their lives are quite similar. It truly is amazing if you think about it. Different educations, locations and careers, but we are wired so similarly.

Anyway, my wife and I just started this analysis. We are 51 years of age. We always saved money, although we had to blow through a chunk of retirement when I started a business and everything went to crap in 2008. We worked hard to recover though, putting 80% of our after tax earnings away for the past eight years. The goal is to continue the trend. My wife will retire in five years. I will be done in eight to ten years.

Putting money away at an early age cannot be stressed enough. I have been beating this into my girls' brains. I started funding their IRA's a couple of years ago (both were still in college but working part time). I plan to do that for them until I die. That alone, should leave them with $1.5Million, maybe more. However, there is something that is equally as important, that I did not see mentioned. It is the house. Young people reading this; do not fall into the American Dream trap and buy that stupid McMansion. Go as small as you can reasonably go. Single best thing we ever did. Our rule was one person working full time and another at McDonalds had to make ends meet. Our mortgage is $765 per month, and we live in Massachusetts. That mortgage will be paid off in two years. A low mortgage frees up a lot of cash that you can stash away. Also, once you hit fifty you should not require a car loan. Pay cash. Keep making "car payments" once you pay that car off in your forties, but put it in a separate savings account. Hold the car for ten years, and boom!!! you saved enough money for at least one car. Also, try hard not to always live to your max means. We all get more creature comforts as earnings increase but try to split the difference and take half that increase in income and stash it. Most couples stretch to buy a huge house, figuring their earnings will increase. Bad plan, because you will be buying other crap as earnings increase. Oh, and then you have kids.

My wife and I are products of the 90's. I was originally in banking, she was in the tech industry. Seems we were always going through a reduction in force; fancy word for layoffs. So, to this day I still expect the world to come to an end. I am in commercial real estate now. I still feel the same way.

The asset side has been figured out at this point. If we can continue to pack away at the same rate as we have, we should have 230% of required earnings once social security kicks in. I assumed that insurance will cost us $20K+ per year. My income should be better than projected because I invest in commercial real estate, not just stocks. I hope to find some opportunities between now and retirements that will generate additional income.

We just built an expense spreadsheet because it is time to plan. We live pretty lean, but I was surprised where some of our money goes. We then built a cost breakdown ten years out. Our expenses are projected to reduce quite a bit. Before accounting for income taxes, we will require $71,000, which includes $10K for travelling.

There is some great advice in this thread. Thank you for those in the business that have shared their knowledge. We moved our investments to a true planner a few years ago. Money well spent. He even makes suggestions on where to place our money in our 401k plans. I used to do it, but just do not have the time to keep an eye on things.

At our age we are still more equity than bonds. I figure we can handle one more recovery, then we are out. Our current portfolio is focused on managing losses, which is more important than some aggressive growth strategy. We are giving up some returns but the bottom should not fall out of the portfolio. 7% annual growth is just fine for me.

Once we retire, our goal is for a 4% return. This will be accomplished through a combination of dividends/coupons and some growth. If we can accomplish this then we should not have to eat into the capital base of our portfolio.

We also plan to move to Montana or Wyoming. Cost of living is lower, as will be real estate taxes, income taxes and consumption taxes. I bet we pick up $10K a year, just by moving.

We have a plan. Now we need to stay alive long enough to enjoy it :) Pete

p.s. summary of my long ramble: Minimal debt = cash flow, which leads to funds to be used for investments.

One thing I would question, though, is the thought of saving and paying cash for a vehicle. If interest rates are around 4%, wouldn't the money you are saving for that next vehicle be better off invested in your portfolio with a 7% return? Not to mention the tax advantage.

Everyone has a different mind-set for debt, if that just goes better with your debt tolerance, good for you. If you were going to go buy a yacht or something then yes, I would absolutely agree you should pay cash for that vehicle if you're not investing what you're not putting in for a down-payment.

Returns on investments are not always guaranteed, unless you are invested in bonds (still have exposure though). The debt payment is guaranteed, it comes every month. Mathematically speaking and in perfect situations, yes you should finance. Life is not perfect though. That is why the total elimination of debt is so important, at least for me. My goal is to have only two mandatory payments, income tax and real estate tax (well that is a bit over simplified but you get it). Even spending money on food will be discretionary because I will be killing my food :)

Minimal debt = Cash Flow, which leads to SHEEP HUNTING ;)

Great seeing all of this input. I was fortunate to have some monster years at work in my 40’s, that pretty much set me up. Built a new house 15 years ago, paid cash. Put two girls through college with scholarships and cash. Current debt level is zero. New vehicles are a killer and the death of most people’s finances. I put a modest amount into a diversified portfolio annually and go hunting with the rest. And I even have a little left to buy a little gear. ;)

Five years later, things have worked out almost exactly as our detailed projections outlined, except for the loss of my wife a little over a year ago. I am living on a small 5 year annuity and dividends, plus a little SS from my late wife's benefit. I do need to take a little bump from a nonqualified account now and then to pay property taxes, LTC premium, nig adventure trips, etc.. But everything is working as we planned it.

Next year I'll take SS and the big annuity kicks in, and I'm set up. So we planned it well and it's working. Some others I know retired with a plan wrapped around "hope", and had to go back to work at a low paying job.

They all told me the same thing. They can't afford Medicare patients. Estimates are that there will be a shortage of doctors in this country of 133,000 in ten years. With 10,000 people going on Medicare every DAY, we may have already reached critical mass for senior health care.

Give me your age and what you have saved. I need to know how I stack up to a bunch of hunters! Seriously.

If you have a pension of some sort, the game totally changes. I did not. Thats why I insured myself with a good annuity with a guaranteed lifetime benefit payout when I was in my mid-50s. It was money we knew we wouldn't need until it matured. Everything else is invested in relatively conservative funds, a commercial REIT that pays monthly dividends, an alternative investment company that also pays monthly dividends.

I retired on my 60th birthday with a $60K a year realistic budget (including buying marketplace insurance for both of us). My wife died when I was 63 and my monthly spend went down. Next year at 66 when I start the annuity and take Social Security, I'll get $92K a year for life (not counting SS COLA), regardless of what my other investments do.

I also did a reverse mortgage LOC and the Line of Credit grows at about $800 a month, tax free. That $10K a year makes for a nice little hunting-fishing slush fund without affecting my other investments/income.

If you are married and both worked, social security can pay $40K to $60K per year. I'm 52, so I am anticipating getting the shaft by the government's misuse of funds and have cut our figure by 25%. I'm sure you all know this, but if you create a login you can see what you will qualify for on the website maintained by the government. It is actually very helpful.

I also have the benefit of commercial real estate investments with some partners, which helps to spread around concentration risk in my overall portfolio. Great returns, until we have vacancies.

Insurance is a real crap shoot. I am paying $30K per year for a family plan. It is crazy. I am tempted to jump off of a roof and break something so I at least get some sort of a return on my "investment". Don't even get me started on this massive redistribution of wealth scheme going on here.

PS I have a mix of traditional and Roth IRA. (Within my employer and on my own with no load mutual fund companies) No pension.

My hunting partner declares about $50K and has an Anthem HMO Bronze policy for him, his wife, and his 22 year old daughter. With the $1800 a month subsidy his monthly out-of-pocket premium is zero.

My mom's nursing home bills are $9000 a month. If my dad was still alive he'd be bankrupt because of that and living with me. Her entire estate will be down to zero $ in 4 more months - we sold her house and all possessions and liquidated her IRAs and its all gone. Thankfully she's in a Medicaid facility so they can't kick her out. Many facilities are not and people find that out the hard way when all the money is gone.

There are is a shortage of beds in Medicaid-eligible facilities. This will become a crisis in the next 15-20 years, and most people have no idea what lies ahead, financially, if their spouse needs long term care.

Figure what you need in retirement. For simple example say 60K annually.

Figure all your guaranteed income, pensions, SS, etc. say it’s 40K annually.

Now deduct the 40K from the 60K. Equals 20K

Now multiple the 20K by 25 (years). Equals 500,000.

That is what you will need saved to last you 25 years (taking 4% annually).

Again, not sure if this is accurate, maybe some of you financial guys can weigh in.

My dad passed away last year. My mom sold their house and moved with what little was left. Money is a bit tight, but she’ll be ok till the end. We didn’t burn through all their investments, but it was going quickly.

It pisses me off to this day. My mom and dad worked their butts off, played by the rules and never once asked for dime. But when it came time that my dad was the most vulnerable and helpless and we needed the most help, the System failed him and my mom. Alzheimer’s is a terrible way to go and I hope none of you have to witness your mom or dad suffering. My dad was a gentle soul till the end. He would just smile at me and stare.....I only hope he knew who I was. I could care less about the money. I wish I had my dad back. F@$%ing Alzheimer’s stole him from us even before he died.

Sorry for the side track, but before my dad got sick, he always told us...” if you have your health, you’re the richest guy in the world”. So everyone here talking about how much money they need to retire, just remember, if your health declines, it can vanish just like that!!

I looked into Visiting Angels and other home health care options, and they cost almost as much as the nursing home, but without the great meals, social interaction, classes, exercise therapy, outings, and skilled nursing.

Owl, you're correct. Medicaid has a 5 year lookback on sheltering assets in most states. CA is 3 years. Which means if you do anything to shelter assets by transferring, placing in a trust, etc.. if the person runs out of money before 5 years, the trust or giftees have to pay the difference until the 5 year threshold is reached. Same if you sell your house to a family member for less than market value.

No matter what, a Long Term Care policy purchased in your late 50s can be really cheap insurance for not just you, but your family and heirs. Mine is $3100 a year and I hope I never need it, but odds say I probably will.

On my hundredth birthday.

At the hands of a jealous man. :-)

I want to share a situation my friend Bill discovered. His is wife started her Social Security a 62.5 about 4 years ago. Bill retired in November 2017 and started his claim but deferred payment. He waited a whole year and started to receive his checks in Jan of 2019. His wife got an increase in her SS checks once he started his claim in 2017. He could have done this when his wife started to collect her benefits 4 years ago! The added boost to his wife's distribution occurred because they were now factoring in her husbands claim. As long as he deferred payment his SS continued to build. This scenario should be looked into if you and your wife retire at different times. Worth a check don't you think?

Bills father-in-law had been living in Florida several years when his wife died. He moved back to Pennsylvania to be near family. He was shocked to learn that through some kind of program, he became eligible for a $500 increase in benefits. Later his pension when bankrupt and a federal program kicked in. The program paid him around $.70 on the dollar for his pension that had become insolvent. Best to have some qualified people looking in to your particular situation. A retirement planner might have anticipated these conditions. A little knowledge can empower you to construct a better situation for you and your family.

Best Wishes to the retires old & new! LaGriz

I've had a great career with a good income that has grown steadily, a government pension and health care that is paid by my former employer after I retire.

I've spent a lot of money in my life and probably paid more than I should have on interest, trucks, toys, out of state elk and deer tags and half a house for my ex-wife. Ever since I graduated from high school I lived by the philosophy that I wasn't going to let the cost of living prevent me from living.

28 years ago I had a bout with cancer, lost my right nut and was opened up from stem to stern. It was a tough time in my life. That experience reminded me that tomorrow is not guaranteed. What good is a pile of money that you'll never be able to spend and a bigger pile of regrets for the living you never did?

12 years ago my girlfriend died of cancer at age 44. I believe my life would have been profoundly different if she had not died. One thing she said that stuck with me was "never worry about anything you can fix with more money, if all it takes to fix it is money, its not really a problem". That statement and her death reaffirmed with me that money is not the answer to everything and living is more important that having a bunch of money and never really living...

Over the years I bought things and did things that I probably couldn't afford but I came through it all and I now have very little debt and an 850 credit score but I haven't saved nearly as much money as I could have.

If I die tomorrow I will have no regrets about the things I didn't do or the living I didn't do. I've had a great life and did not deprive myself of much.

I will retire one week from today. I have a good government pension and I put enough money away in deferred comp (457 plan) and a Roth IRA so that between my pension and my monthly disbursements from deferred comp, it should come very close to equaling my current take-home pay at least until I'm eligible for Social Security. Then I'll start drawing SS after my deferred comp runs out.

If I don't quite have the funds to do all the living that I did while I was working, then I'll just cut back on my activities and spending with no regrets knowing that I lived a great life and did a lot of things that I wanted to do while I was younger and able to enjoy them...

That extra year will boost my pension by $300/mo for the rest of my life.

Now that Im 55, the State will defer the first $20k of my income for taxes so that a boost also.

Im like ChesseheadMike - Ive done a pile of shit thru my life. Not much left on the bucket list. Im already living on what my pension will be, and have been for 18 months.

I foresee a Bowsite Retirement Party - Memorial Weekend of 2020 at my place. :)

One thing I see most think of is about using what they make now and or close to it as what they’ll need.

Don’t forget what your salary is now is no where near what you are living off of, after investing for retirement and Taxes etc. So most are living on HALF of their salary, plus have bills and still save a bit. In retirement you should be debt free if not earlier.

I’m already there at 30 so I hope it’s a good sign to come. House and all vehicles are paid for, plus one rental house.

It may be stupid of me but I feel and hope I could retire at 50-55 if things keep going decent and we don’t have some sort of market crash.

As far as how much you can withdraw from your retirement fund in retirement, the Trinity Study showed approximately 4-5% without eating into principle over 20-30 years depending on stock:bond allocations based on historic annual returns.

Keep it simple. I read somewhere (maybe Jack Bogle) the "ruination of a good plan is the search for the perfect plan."

If I need advice in the future, I will go to a "fee only" planner.

Take care. Mike

Exactly! Right now, I'm setting 20% of my gross income aside in pre-tax accounts...and another 20% of my gross income in after tax accounts. That's 40% of my income (plus taxes on the after tax money) that need not be accounted for after retirement. Finally have the house paid off...so my largest monthly expense is gone now.

Retirement is still at least two years out....and I need to start taking Lou's advice about tracking all expenses real soon...but I'm pretty confident that number is going to be less than half my current income.

Health care is the big unknown right now....but my wife will be Medicare eligible in less than three years...so that should help. I'm maxing out the HSA in hopes that account balance pretty much bridges me to Medicare eligibility.

Here is my Recap after a full year of retirement/income...…

Nothing actually ends up $$$ as you plan or the amounts you are told by Human Resources ect. always some tweaking/crunching of the $$ amounts.

None-the-less with my DoD, SS and TSP amounts, after state/fed taxes, Single High Option Medical/Dental/Vision ( Plus -$135.00 Medicare), so all total deductions, I have Direct Deposits from all three retirement income amounts right at $4,978.33 a month/ over $64,000.00 Gross a Year type deal.

I pretty much remodeled my whole home (inside) in 2018 and a few of you bowsiters have been to my home and seen my work and remodel, from Marble bathroom to new kitchen ect.

Like I stated above, I have No debt and I have a CD savings for my new 2019 or maybe 2020 F350 truck I am going to order.

I have $2,500.00 going directly into a seperate savings account each month as I don't need it nor do I need to have it sitting in front of me to Spend!! haha

I actually recieved Tax Refund checks for 2018 which is a first in many years!

I strongly believe that the less items you need to replace because of old age like vehicles or home repair/remodel, the newer the better and paid off type deal, the Less retirement income you need but you will have More available to save or spend.

1 minor disclaimer---- I have No wifey, I am a bachelor, that maybe significant on the smooth flow......1 person making decisions ~~~~

Good luck, Robb

I know too many guys that had that as a plan. Problem is, life doesn't work that way. Way before you actually die, you become unable to work. At that point, you better have some resources, or life is really going to suck.

Maybe because that is not always the best option depending on dealer incentives, loan interest rates, how much your money is earning, and tax ramifications if you withdraw from a retirement account. It may be better to take the loan and let your money keep earning. It's also important to keep up a good credit score if you ever want or need to borrow. You can only do that by using credit responsibly. Cash only transactions don't help your score.

Who would have thought high income, no debt means bad credit risk. Sheesh.

That said, I’d rather have a lower credit rating with little debt than a great credit rating with debt up the kazoo!

Amen Brother!

I've recently been told that anything over 740 is good-to-go......not that I am looking to go in debt!!

Good luck, Robb

He suggested changes to all of our investment allocations. My wife needs more life insurance-she's more valuable than me because of her pension. I was really surprised that he suggested dialing back our savings rate by quite a bit to build up a bigger cash cushion and help pay for college expenses, and then hit it hard our last few working years. Naturally the biggest obstacle is my healthcare costs. I will be able to buy insurance thru my wife's plan, but I will basically pay the whole premium and it will be very expensive. The longer we delay that makes a HUGE difference in our end of life net worth. It all depends on how much we want to leave. His analysis did include paying full price for nursing home care for both of us in our final 2 years.

Overall I'm glad we did it and would recommend this type of service to anyone. I think his estimates on our post retirement spending and expenses are higher than what we will need, but it's better to aim high and need less. It was reassuring to know that what we have planned all along to do on our own is basically working. But, everything is subject to change, one life changing event can wipe out any good plan. I heard a good quote the other day "the days are long, but the years are short". We have to make the most of the time we have. This is a great thread and it's good to see that a lot of us are good planners!

Here is my take on the pay cash (if have) vs. take a loan. I call it SWAN which is Sleep Well At Night. I pay cash for vehicles. If I lose my job or have to stop working then I might worry that in less than a month I have vehicle payment #16 of 36 due and then face same outflow each month for a while. I also might worry a payment was received late which triggers a late charge and increases costs when your credit rating falls.

I always assumed I would have a home mortgage during the years I am working. After all, Uncle Sam was effectively paying about 40% of my interest and property tax. Thanks Uncle! Then, in 2018 the Federal standard deduction went up to $12,000 which for me is $24,000 for our household. Suddenly, most of the interest and property tax was merely getting us up to the $24,000 threshold so I aggressively began paying down the mortgage in 2017 and will be done by Christmas. SWAN.

You could argue renting is even better than owning a primary residence, especially if move frequently. I don't move frequently. I like owning and is something my ego appreciates. So, SWAN and my ego pay more attention to the amount of debt than the amount of savings.

I have never woken up in the middle of the night with the sudden thought, "Did I miss a few $100 of wealth this year by paying cash for my car rather than using the dealer's below market loan rate?" There have been a few times over the years I woke up in middle of the night wondering, "Did I actually mail the car payment on the way to work yesterday?"

So, SWAN is my buddy. Stress kills.

As usual lots of good information from like-minded people (to quote someone above). I've seen lots of the "rules of thumb" before. Although the FIRECalc was new to me. It's not even close to the built in calculator in my TRowe account (FuturePath Tool). They both say that as long as I keep doing what I'm doing I should be okay based on the lifestyle that I choose to live. That's nice.

For me, I'm going to retire as soon as I can. My family has health issues that appear to be hereditary and I would like to enjoy the time off.

I took some other good advice. Someone above mentioned giving their kids a Roth as a gift. I put that in my planning spreadsheet. To which, I added a couple of expense items to as part of my plan.

My spreadsheet really is what expenses I have to account for once I retire. I plan on going out with a mortgage in-tow and paying my own medical (who knows if anything will be left to offset that in 7 years). These are the things I've got to cover (I used yearly numbers):

House (Taxes) Cell Phones Gas/Electric Internet TV Car Insurance Health Insurance Food Gas (vehicles) Water Church Vehicles Mortgage Home Equity (paid off) Kids College Fun Money Travel Christmas and Gifts

Then, I added up my SS, my wife's SS, my Pension and my 401k and 401K Roth. Mainly I see I can do this in 7 years (55). But there were other good points here that were skipped a bit.

I also plan on putting some money into a trust and turning the house over to the kids. That way, my money is protected for them.

Some people were mentioning credit scores going down after dumping debt. I used to be under the same misconception until I did some reading on what a credit score really is, basically it's just a function of how much credit you have extended and how well you pay it back. If you have no debt and continue to never borrow money your score will eventually hit zero because you don't owe anyone money. Since I have been debt free for a while what I do is keep a couple of credit cards that we use, mostly Amazon Prime, and pay it off every month. The last time I checked my score was 840, not that I care about keeping it high, however most insurance companies now factor in your score when they figure your home and auto rates. I think this is a crock of bull, but that's how most of them do it these days.

The FIRE movement is really interesting. I listen to a lot of podcasts about it and would love to do that ASAP. If I didn't have to pay for 2 kids to go to college I would probably be at FIRE when I hit 50 in 6 years.

Jason Hunter, BRILLANT plan! I'm sure you're way to smart for the govt to track you down.

If you "get sick" it doesn't matter how much money or gold or Scotch you have. You pay whatever insurance doesn't cover, which with Obamacare can be a lot. If you're talking about Medicaid, you are eligible for that when your total assets get down to $3000. Not before. If you lie about it and they catch you, which they will if you hide gold and start selling it off, you'll probably go to jail and get free health care....

Then again, with the left-socialist drift occurring, those without may vote for people who pronise to take from those who've worked hard, sacrificed and saved to ensure a comfortable retirement. Somehow many see that as "unfair".

As for medical, once I retire from my career, I will probably still try and find some work(I have an idea). I am thinking that I will pick up a part-time job where I can buy into medical to help offset some of the costs. Once I retire, for my first 18 months, I can get cobra. So if I can off-set that and pick up a part-time gig that does help me deal with medical, I can work for a few hours a week and have a variable schedule or whatever. When the part time job becomes a burden (to hunting, travel or whatever), where they won't accommodate my needs, I'll find another job that will. That's my plan/hope. If that doesn't work, I'm planning to pay for it myself anyway. If it does work, then that's money that I don't need during that time.

Thoughts?

Also, very few part time jobs offer health coverage. Thats usually why they're part-time, so employers don't have to pay benefits.

Most people who are leaving an employer health plan seriously underestimate how much health care costs. Our full-price for "Silver" plan premiums had reached $2000 a month at the end of 2017. That was with a $6000 deductible. She needed a prescription that cost around $1000 a month that Anthem didn't want to cover. So if we had to pay full price we'd have been looking at $42,000 a year, not counting the 20% copay for doctor visits and lab work after meeting the deductible.

Since I didn't have a pension and had enough nonqualified investments to live on, I managed our taxable income low enough so we got a subsidy to help with the premiums. But even then, it took a big chunk of the budget we'd so carefully planned out. She died at the end of 2017, and I found a way cheap plan for just myself until now, when I qualify for Medicare.

Thanks, Dave

I'm also surprised at how many like minded bowsiters have great plans and are retiring early, great to hear. Must be that drive to spend more years listening to elk bugle vs. getting stuck in traffic.

I'm retiring from the military in a few years with a moderate pension. It's not a ton of money but above the median income where we're headed in the smokies where we own 172 acres. My wife and I max out Roth IRA's every year and I've had a TSP (basically 401k without employer contribution) for many years. We won't be loaded but will have plenty to live how we want and travel a good bit. My wife plans to work for 15-20 years when I retire.

As far as the debt free thing goes, we are and plan to keep it that way. I've had excellent credit my entire life but could care less. We use CC's but don't carry a monthly balance, basically cash with travel perks. Stress free living.

My story is very different. I decided to semi-retire at age 35 (work 6 months a year) and work longer (more years). The thing is, I enjoy my work and I can do it to a very old age. It's rewarding and so long as I'm not working too much, I feel I can do it for a very long time. At 40, I don't have a ton saved, but I make plenty and my income/work is sustainable. And if I need more money, I just work a little more.

I get to hunt as much as I want (nearly as much; it'd be nice to take July-January off) and I get to see my kids while they're awake when I'm off work instead of leaving and getting home during their sleep hours.

It all comes with sacrifices, but I'm happier now than I've ever been. I know I'll work much later in life than I otherwise would if I busted my ass now, but I don't want to.

I have two teenage daughters right now that cost an incredible amount of money, especially when dad makes that available to well-behaved girls who get good grades and get into good schools. But that's a good thing, I hope. And I plan on funding them through college - private school and college will set back my ultimate retirement date by several years, but I'm ok with that.

My grandpa is 97 and still lives alone. My great-grandpa died at 102 of melanoma and tilled ground and planted corn/beans in Southern Minnesota the year he died. Both my grandmas died at 88. My family is very long-lived. If I'm working into my 60s, it doesn't bother me in the slightest so long as I'm working 6 months a year.

I'll probably work very late in life, but that's the decision I've made and so far, it's been the right decision. I've taken/taking 3 vacations with my daughters this year and I'm hunting sheep August 10th. I think it's worth it.

We should all be so thankful that we live in a country that has made this possible for us. So many places in the world, people work as hard as they can to scrape by and then they hopefully have kids to take care of them once they can no longer work to sustain themselves and depend on them till they die. We're really lucky to be born where we were and when we were. Don't forget it's been on the backs of those that have sacrificed for us so that we could live this lifestyle.

I had a guy ask me this question one time and it stuck with me..... "Why does everyone spend the prime years of their life trying to make 60 years worth of money in 20 years of work? Why not spread it out a bit and enjoy your younger years while you have your health and young kids with you? There's nothing wrong with work, its good for you" Given that you aren't guaranteed tomorrow. Live today. I guess I am fortunate in that I don't hate my job and the thought of doing some fun stuff now is worth working a little later in life.

Your statement about how lucky we are to live in this country is on the mark. Amazes me how so many on the Left constantly complain about what a terrible country we live in. One Dem presidential candidate even said, "America was never great".

The reality will smack most of them upside the head really hard.

One thing we all need to do is not underestimate happiness and quality of life. I was in a terrible position work wise about 4 years ago and suffered through 2 miserable years until I had the opportunity to make a change. I took a big pay cut, but I got control of my life back and haven't missed a dime. I don't mind working at all as long as it doesn't consume everything. My work does not define me.

I have now been retired for almost a year and am doing great financially. Have not yet touched any of my retirement savings and can see I could have retired much earlier than I did.

I talked to and met with many financial advisers, ending up going with Nate "SDHNTR(home)" for several reasons. 1) He is a Bowhunter so understands my priorities. 2) I liked what he had to say and the realistic way he approached things. 3) He has performed just as he told me he would and is always available for phone calls and advise. 4) Good example is that during these trying times this year, my account dropped (like every ones did) by about 8%. But as of last month we were back in the Black again and once again generating income. 5) So far all of Nate's statements about my accounts have been right on and they rise and fall along with the markets but he has them set up so that we always come out ahead. We are also hitting or exceeding the returns that he told us we could expect.

Rock: Having a trusted guy like Nate is a blessing. Good for you.

Congrats to all you retirees!

Kaa, I wish I could succinctly answer your question, but it's just too broad. No two client's circumstances or plans look the same, so no two client's results are the same. Investment performance is very dependent on the always unique client situation and individual amount of risk taken. Performance can't be measured in a vacuum. All I can say is that from a purely performance - driven standpoint, we always strive to maximize investment return for each increment of risk taken. Portfolio efficiency is critical.

Thanks again all! I'm quite flattered.

After recent events, I am questioning my desire to work until 67. The stress of managing a very large project ( on top of regular duties) is aging me. Pandemic and civil unrest have taken some of the enjoyment.

But tomorrow is a new day!

I will say I'm nervous about whats going to happen to our country over the next few years ----- but for now I'm not changing my habits.

As has been stated - have some kind of a plan / hobby / interest to keep you going. When growing up I worked for my dad doing plumbing (learned a lot - solids go down - smell goes up). Out of high school I went into trade school -- lineman electrician (basic knowledge/respect for electricity). Then worked in construction, everything from setting foundation forms to to block work to framing to finish carpentry (residential and commercial). Although I learned A LOT during those trades - none of them paid insurance.

Went back to college in my early 30's - got into law enforcement, put away as much as I possibly could towards retirement - now I'm enjoying life. Couple medical issue the past few years but could be a whole lot worse.

Yup....how much money you have doesn't mean squat when you get real sick and you have a tough and uncertain road ahead of you. Good med insurance does. BTDT

If you still have bills (debt) and kids.....life insurance is handy. Although it's not a mandatory thing, if you go to the pearly gates to meet St Peter for whatever reason.....you don't want to leave your family in hock. Something to seriously consider based on your situation.

If you don't have a will....why not?? I'm talking to my 83 yr old neighbor about that right now. He said his oldest daughter will be the Executor and knows what to do!! They have nothing in writing about what to do with his and his wife's assets and who does what and when. It's just word of mouth and table talk.

Bill

Spike78 brings up a good point, IMO. I think this Fed-induced market recovery may hit a cliff when the full economic impact of COVID19 is realized. It's been a tremendous stock investing opportunity for folks who had some spare cash, but I think it's time to take my gains, and sit on the sidelines for a while.

Matt

But as I learned, even with the best planning, sometimes wrenches get thrown into the cogs.....

My short life genes factored into my decision to retire so early. My father's side has a history of bad tickers. Dad's heart problems started in his late 50s. Both my parents died at 82, so I don't expect to last much longer than that. Like you once said, they won't be throwing any excess cash into my grave, but I expect to slide in sideways, in a cloud of dust, yelling "WOOHOO what a ride!!!" ;-)

Matt

Working a little to fund my hunt/fish habit but other than that- It’s effing awesome

More than I have, not as much as they say.

I think one of the keys to a happy retirement is having hobbies that you enjoy more than work. I have a 75 yr. old friend who has had a very successful professional career, and is still working. Recently, he was complaining about all the travel involved with this job. I asked him why he doesn't just retire, as he surely doesn't need any more money. His response was he's still working because he doesn't know what he would do with his time if he was retired. That's sad, IMO.

Matt

Now I'm finally calmed down and I'm learning how to relax and accomplish things at my own pace....and it's great. It's nice having that second cup of coffee in the morning without checking the clock every minute. I still accomplish plenty and do the things I want to do but I don't have to rush anything. I even drive slower. What I don't finish today I'll do tomorrow.

So, if your finances are in order and you're ready to pull the plug, don't worry if you feel out of sorts in the beginning. A lot of guys do. As you go you'll find your groove and realize that this is what all that hard work was for. Enjoy your time, you earned it.

We won't experience hyper inflation, but we will have well above average inflation for a year or more. Being in cash and probably bonds is the wrong strategy for the foreseeable future. Stocks and tangible assets like real estate are probably the most practical options as a hedge.

I've been retired since 12/31/2017.

My main focus has been to completely remodel my home after the divorce in 08/2017, which I have finally completed.

Now I'm rearranging a wall in my T-Room for 2 of my 2020 Mounts coming home, always busy!

Plus I try and do a new Trip someplace every 5th or 6th week.

Happy for ya Matt,

Robb

Corey

I retired April 2 and a few months short of 56. So far I’ve spent a full week fishing and camping with a good friend and 4.5 weeks on the road with my wife in our motorhome. I just returned yesterday from a great 3D shoot on the other side of the state. I’ve also been working to catch up on projects around the house and still have a long ways to go with those. In two weeks I’m leaving for a week or two of salmon fishing with a good friend then I’ll be getting ready for hunting season. I’m so busy I don’t know how I ever had time to work. It’s freaking awesome and I don’t miss work; not even a little!

It might make sense to run at least the categories (if not also the amounts) by someone you trust with a good financial mind to make sure you captured it all and are making realistic assumptions. Case and point, an acquaintance of mine positioned his retirement by buying income-producing properties but his mentor pointed out that he failed to included his mortgage payments (his largest single monthly outflow) in his initial pro forma when considering retirement.

One also has to budget for future or periodic one-time expenses like educational expenses for kids, vacations, new vehicles, remodel jobs, hunts, etc.

We then compared the annual "cash out" to our liquidity to determine the years of runway (liquidity/annual cash out). This methodology is crude as it does not account for future appreciation, but IMO provides a pretty simple measure to tell you where you are at. We also considered the 4% rule (which roughly suggests that you should be able to withdraw 4% each year without running out of money for 30 years or more), which provided another validation point that includes the concept of historical market returns adding to your nest egg over time. Financial advisors can also run pretty detailed projection scenarios to determine the adequacy of your liquidity.

For the sake of this exercise, I excluded social security given the uncertainty around its future viability. For this reason it may be prudent to consider the soundness of any pension plans before considering retirement (e.g. Stockton, CA which went bankrupt in 2012 and reduced pensioner benefits through the process).

We also refinanced a couple of properties while I still had a paycheck stub to provide for underwriting purposes, lowering our monthly nut and increasing cash flow.

Hopefully this helps some in planning for their future retirement.

I have taken some of the experiences from above as I draw nearer to my retirement date. As noted above, I will be making a budget of our current expenses and draw upon several years of expenditures/experience.

We met with our financial guy less than 2 weeks ago. The past 12-15 months have caused me to re-evaluate my retirement age. (Multiple factors including investment performance, work stresses, etc) If we track our expenses, we will be able to validate whether our expense assumptions during retirement are realistic.

My biggest wildcard is health care. If I am done at 65, those costs are partially mitigated.

So take salary now, AFTER taxes, 401k contributions, savings, monthly mortgages etc, and then you seek how little you’re truly living off of.

How could ppl need to draw 75-80% of last salary when so much of that was taxes and investments for retirement.

Just take your take home pay minus what you save in checking/savings accounts and multiply by 12. Then add some fat for unknowns.

Once you have 25x or so of that figure I think you’d be pretty good.

For health care we budgeted $1,500 per month for my wife and myself but that’s probably about $250 too high. Plus she’ll be Medicare eligible next year which should decrease it a little more. Medicare isn’t free and our supplement for her will be about $200 per month.

I also budgeted $5,000 per year for health care deductible. Overall I probably budgeted more for health care than needed but I didn’t want to come up short and if there’s excess it’ll be moved to the vacation budget line.

Don’t forget long term care. Health insurance plans don’t normally cover long term nursing home care for things like Alzheimer’s or other conditions that require long term care. We’ve got it budgeted but could also sell our house and cover it if needed.

Lastly, we plan to travel and do a lot of expensive trips the next 10-15 years when we’re younger so our expenses during the first half of retirement should be greater than the second half. I don’t have that modeled in my tool but my financial planner does and we’re still okay either way, we just die with more money in his model than mine.

Calculated posted above is fun to play with! One realistic scenario I plugged in had my nest egg going up over time :-)

Health is the key. Someone above mentioned rebates. Talked to a new neighbor, he and his wife are retired from mortgage and construction world and clearly have money (bought a 1/2 million house then gutted it). They structured stuff to declare something like $62k income, in WY the market is Obama care and for them, top of the line BCBS, it's free.

Assuming somebody is playing the standard game of a 401K converted to a Traditional IRA at "retirement", you will not withdraw the annual need on January 2 of each year. You will withdraw what you need for the month, or quarter, and the rest stays in investment. The remaining amount is continuing to increase at whatever portfolio distribution you have.

So, if you need $50k each year to live on, you won't necessarily need $1.25MM all at once. You only need to pull out approximately $4.2K on Jan 2 and the remaining $46K stays in investment. When you withdraw on March 2, you will be pulling from $47K from the original leftover $50 plus $1k increase of investment. This is why you retire to tax advantaged state to minimize the tax effect not included above.

Everyone's situation is different though.

Start now on improving your physical fitness. The best investment of your time is in your good health.

The closer to meeting God you get, the more you shoud be learning about him. Read the Bible. BIBLE = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

Do what you like and like what you do, pretty much sums up retirement activities. Sunsets are never a repeat performance.

As far as how much I need, I just want to continue with what I take home now with cost of living adjustments and according to my two financial advisors, I’m there.

I retired 6 years ago, as a Feeder driver, having worked 41 years at UPS, my wife retired 2 years ago, as a HS principal, with 40 years as a educator. Having to get to a certain amount before we retired wasn't even a thought. We both have excellent pensions, I have SS, and we have a financial planner for our investments. Recently, my wife was asked to be an interim administrator at a school until June. That's an added bonus. Retirement is the best thing since pockets..

I can't imagine going back to "real" work, or working until I'm a broken down old man like a couple friends are now doing because they didn't plan correctly. "Hope" is not a retirement strategy...

Best part is not on call 24/7, no more of the BS of the job and can now enjoy life.

Now if interest rates would come down, so we can move to FL and get the hell out of wi.

I’m almost 3 years into retirement. My state pension give me a healthy monthly stipend towards my health insurance.

My pension includes medical coverage (90%) for my spouse and I. The cost is actually deducted from my retirement and then I’m reimbursed the cost from my former employer.

State exchange. We just closed the books on the first year with no work income. With that and a weaker stock market, our income level provides for a hefty increase in subsidy which lowered our cost to ~$1,000/month. It is nice being able to get back some of those dollars we paid in over the years.

I am lucky my wife is still working so we are on her insurance.

I was in law enforcement for 28 years and my dept provided no insurance when I retired, so I am lucky my wife has her insurance. Otherwise you are right insurance would have killed me.

I retired at age 60. I was able to keep my Teamsters plan, which was Anthem Blue Cross.

From age 60-65, my monthly payment varied from $177 - $190 per month. When I turned age 65, I now have a Medicare Advantage plan, at $240 per month.

When my wife retired, she went on my plan for $190 per month. That is less expensive that her retirement benefit plan.

She will be 65 in August, and will have a similar Medicare Advantage plan like mine.

That is the HUGE question... I'm retiring in 37 days at the age of 63 and 6 months, (yep, I'm a short timer...8^)) so I have to go 1 year and 6 months until Medicare eligible and spoke with my HR department last week notifying them I will be retiring the first week of May... At that time learned my Cobra eligible medical plan is almost $800 monthly, and to keep my current medical insurance through the company is $659 monthly... Will have up to 60 days to decide if to keep my current plan, so that will get me possibly until July to find an alternative plan, so I'm all ears youenz talking retirement medical and any suggestions would be much obliged... Need to keep medical, my health is concerning at this age...

Wanted to go until 65 but with all the talk in congress about Social Security restructuring decided to go now to get grandfathered in, and my oldest grandsons just turned 11, a good age, so I applied for my benefits on February 7, 2023 for my benefits to begin in April...

At age 20 I started with the phone company on March 30th, 1980... My current work week is Sundays - Thursdays and so my last work day in March is March 30, 2023... Thought fitting, that would be neat, retiring on the exact day 43 years later from the communications industry... Well recently, speaking with the Sociality Security agents, learned when I applied in February for first benefits to start in April, they are a month behind... You receive your April benefits in May, so I'll receive my first check in May, so now have to work another month... Dang, I wanted to retire on March 30th...

I mean I could walk out the door now and live off savings, a previous pension and 401K, but will stick it out another month.... I'm ready, am ready to retire out of the work force for good,,, I started mowing grass for money at age 12 and first job at age 15, so been paying into social security since 1975 and they have taken 7.5 to 8 cents on every dollar I've ever made since...

I offered to work now part time Tuesday - Thursday 21 hours a week to keep my benefits until 65, (requires 20 hours weekly), but they require working a weekend day to qualify for the part time... Nope, April 30th will be the last weekend or holiday I'll ever work... Am REALLY looking forward to retirement...

At 60 wife's teacher pension kicks in and I will start drawing retirement funds.

I have a great pension with supplemental insurance to cover anything Medicare doesn't pick up. My wife and I also have SS and a good nest egg saved and invested. Despite the down market we're ok. Home and truck are paid off, no credit card debt. I believe that's the key. Get rid of debt and save. Good luck to you guys in the queue.

We do and that would have been the option to turn to if I would have needed to.

My old employer insurance for a family plan would have been 1800 a month.

Lucky my wife is in health insurance too,so she would have found a solution.

Funny part is switching from my insurance to my wife's, wasn't much of a difference per month.

We have the option of taking a lump sum when we retire...or drawing a monthly annuity. So, I guess you could call that a "pension" of sorts?

My best friend is a business owner and he got tired of paying over $2,000/month for health insurance so they tried Medishare for a year or so. Unfortunately, my buddy had to have an emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone and it ended up costing him $30,000 out of pocket. A lot of hospitals won't bill these companies directly, so it falls on the individual to submit itemized bills for reimbursement. What happened in this case, after a lot of back and forth, Medishare denied the claim on a technicality and stuck him with the bill. I'd think twice before signing up with one of these companies.