Retirement question

[Karlos]

Some very perceptive comments. Many of which resonate with me.

- your living expenses will not go down substantially. (you have more time to spend $.)

- take no more 4% from the nest egg to keep from depleting it. (once it starts going down, it goes down quickly.)

- pre-Medicare insurance is expensive - $20K per year in premiums and high deductables. (that's if you're healthy!)

- don't make big $ "I want it" purchases. (Buy a $30,000 used gasser and upgrade it, rather than a $300,000 new shiny DP) That one choice can cost you an extra $1000 per month lost income.

- the best advise was "just do it" !

Karl

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Luckily all our retirements are set up so we will never touch the principle, only the interest or monthly payout.
I "retired" at 51 and have been drawing my retirement since then although I did go back to work while waiting for the DW to retire. The week she put her papers in her daughter died and we ended up with two grandkids to raise. The oldest is 22 now and out of the house, the youngest is 15 so still three years to go. DW has been on short term and now long term disability and I would REALLY like to go traveling while her health is somewhat stable but can't till the grandson graduates.

And now the "other shoe" drops!
Just got word yesterday that they're terminating my DW's employment which stops her partly paid medical ($267/mo going up to over $1,300/mo for COBRA) and also stops the long term disability payments of $2,200/mo. But it also allows up to access her profit sharing $$. Will be tight till next year when we can again draw 5% out of the annuity.
Checking into Medicare and supplements since I'm 68 and she's 67.

[tmw188]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

And now the "other shoe" drops!
Just got word yesterday that they're terminating my DW's employment which stops her partly paid medical ($267/mo going up to over $1,300/mo for COBRA) and also stops the long term disability payments of $2,200/mo. But it also allows up to access her profit sharing $$. Will be tight till next year when we can again draw 5% out of the annuity.
Checking into Medicare and supplements since I'm 68 and she's 67.

Forget about the toy. Take care of the family Mr. D.

[MattC]

I can't help you at all. we worked hard and saved and invested and did everything the way we were told was good only to have the administration abrogate the bankruptcy laws and "redistribute" a very large portion of that to pay off the people that backed his campaign. They all made more than I did and worked less. We can still live, but we have to count days to money coming in, and if the coach needs some service or repair, we may have to miss a rally and just sit at home. Not much of a comfortable retirement after 40+ years of paying taxes.

Matt

[CampDaven]

We covered the bases and will always get by.
We are having fun NOW! We will be dead long enough.
May the Journey be Your Destination

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by MattC

I can't help you at all. we worked hard and saved and invested and did everything the way we were told was good only to have the administration abrogate the bankruptcy laws and "redistribute" a very large portion of that to pay off the people that backed his campaign. They all made more than I did and worked less. We can still live, but we have to count days to money coming in, and if the coach needs some service or repair, we may have to miss a rally and just sit at home. Not much of a comfortable retirement after 40+ years of paying taxes.

Matt

We pick and choose our pleasures as well. It is what makes the ones we do attend so enjoyable.

[ykcamom]

We are retiring this September, I'm 53 and my husband is 55. We both will have great pensions -- providing us with about $120K a year from that source alone.

We are Canadians, so the health care is very good and free, plus we can buy additional insurance through our employer's retirement benefits for a modest amount. We are both healthy and active and hopefully that continues for a long time.

But my job is particularly demanding and is really wearing me down. Am finding it a struggle to get up and go in each day. There is no doubt that if we kept working, our pension would increase and provide even more income into retirement, but there also comes a time when one just realizes "I've had enough of the stress and its time to move on."

We are relocating to another province with a warmer climate and while exciting, it's also a little scary to up and move away from the place we've called home for 30 years! Our plan is to spend a few months snow birding -- but perhaps not every winter. For now, after living in such a small and isolated place in the north, we are just looking forward to living near a larger centre and our daughter.

[Todd157k]

Wow.. this is good info. I'm 55 and no where near retirement. I also don't feel "old enough" to retire. I still ride dirt bikes with my kids. (25-30 yr old range). I envy those who have done it so early on.
I would like to know some figures. Generally speaking, what's a full timer's outlay per year? (minus any big vacations/world travel etc.)

[Knightab]

Originally Posted by Todd157k

Wow.. this is good info. I'm 55 and no where near retirement. I also don't feel "old enough" to retire. I still ride dirt bikes with my kids. (25-30 yr old range). I envy those who have done it so early on.
I would like to know some figures. Generally speaking, what's a full timer's outlay per year? (minus any big vacations/world travel etc.)

Well when we were out there for a year your campground fee's alone if you do not get a monthly rate or are moving constantly can run you from $700-$1200 a month, then of course if you are moving your fuel expenses are much higher so if you move every other day and do like most full timers and only go 200 miles or so you just incurred another $800-$1300 in fuel expenses and you haven't eaten yet :-P It is a great life but not for the faint of heart if you are running your finances close. Just because you don't have a house payment doesn't mean living on the road is like free

PS: if you are intersted in workcamping then you usually get the site for free and some other perks which means you are not burning fuel but living the easy life

[Jeff and Cheryl]

Steven S,
Working hard for the money then spending it IS difficult. In August 2008, I retired, DW had been retired for 5 years. Seeing that a recession was on the way, I had moved our retirement money into a low interest savings pool. When Lehman Brothers collapsed in 9/08, I told my wife "Retiring will be either the smartest thing I've ever done or the dumbest." Right now, it looks good.
Moving some of the money around was helpful but still lost about 25% between 8/08 and 3/09. I had learned from the crash in 10/87 and the dot come melt down, that if you don't get out early, best not to get out at all. We have a diversified portfolio; some money in individual stocks but most in a good mutual fund.
I used the retirement planning feature in Quicken to see if we would be/will be OK. So far, everything looks good.
Health Ins. runs us about $800/month, dental about $100 and wife's Medicare $110. When we start worrying about if the $ will last, I look at he planning assumptions to make sure they are accurate, so far everything looks good. I trust that I've put in accurate info so that the results I see will be accurate.
Then we go out, travel, keep the house up and just keep having fun.

[Climbon69]

We kind of "backed into" retirement. I retired from the Federal Government after 35 years of living on 5 continents at age 55. We bought the big retirement home in a huge retirement community in AZ. Had the golf cart, club membership, et.al. DW worked from home, so she kept working. Two months later I went back to work on a job that I had in my thirties. Spent the best seven years of my life doing something that I really enjoyed, but it was wearing me down. I wasn't thirty anymore.

We had a small vacation house in the AZ mountains in a town almost too small to be on the map. We spent all of our spare time in the mountains or visiting grand kids in our MH. I agonized about how I could retire completely and keep the fancy retirement country club house, keep the mountain cabin, and buy diesel.

One day we finally woke up and realized we didn't need to have that prestigious "retirement" home. We hated the neighbors, were sick of playing golf, and resented the time we spent traveling back and forth to the mountains. We put the big house on the market and sold it in four hours. Put a few thousand square feet of furniture in storage and I retired for good at 62. Our little house in the country is small, but not very expensive. We travel more in the MH and I haven't had a day off in three years! Retirement is a seven day a week job!

Six months after I retired my DW had a heart attack in the middle of the night. If I had still been working she would have died on the floor in the cabin. But I was there to get her to the hospital. A year later, she lost part of a lung to lung cancer. We meet every day with a thankfulness that we are both alive and still have each other. I think we discovered what's really important.

Our MH is 21 years old, but it has never let us down. We have the same philosophy on the MH that we had on the "retirement" house. We don't need all the bells, lights, and whistles.

You can run spread sheets, discuss strategy with financial advisors until the cows come home, and agonize about the bank account, but there are way too many unknowns to get a perfect solution. You have to follow your heart and enjoy every breath you have left.

[narcdawg]

After 27 years on the job I retired 15 months ago. We both saved aggressively maxing out 457 / 401. I also get a pension. We sold our house and a farm we owned and did very well on both. In addtion to my pension I started drawing from my 457, about 3% a year. So far we have been quite conformable full time rving around the country. I was also reluctant to spend instead of save but after 15 months, even with my monthly draws my balance is higher today than it was when I retired because I've made more than the 3% I have been drawing. We also put a good amount into our savings account when we sold the houses so if we have big expence or large unexpected cost, we can take from that instead of using a credit card or hitting the 457....so far it has been very easy to do what we want (within reason) and still feel conformable financially. .we are in our 40's so there is a long way to go but , we have no debt so few bills so that is a big help in always having spending money for doing retired stuff and travel..

[new rver]

for us were very lucky work for gm than delphi had everything payed off had 28 years in they offered us a reduce pension no buy out money and best thing we did. but we have very good health insurance makes a big diferants.i listen to dave r.i like some of his views but 15 percent put a way what happens if we slide like 08.have some money in bank than live
enjoy life bob

[bamaboy473]

Originally Posted by Climbon69

You can run spread sheets, discuss strategy with financial advisors until the cows come home, and agonize about the bank account, but there are way too many unknowns to get a perfect solution. You have to follow your heart and enjoy every breath you have left.

this. retired at 42, got back into business, retired again at 54, moved to the beach and got the perfect home right on the water. Thought we'd die there because it was perfect.
Four hurricanes in five years suggested that we shouldn't live so close to the water and storm surges.
The BP oil spill suggested that we shouldn't count on condo rentals to live on.
The 2008 stock market crash killed stubborn me because I couldn't see it coming.
2010 and the DW found herself in a wheelchair, so that perfect 3-story beach house had to go.

5 years later she's out of the wheelchair, we're off the beach in a wonderful house with our own beach (pool) , have traded boats for our MH, and enjoy each day we have together.