Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The "recluse" in this case lives in Nebraska and seemingly has no one but the state who could wrap up his end-of-life affairs.
If I live to old age, it will be either the state or the firm of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe LLC who will be closing out my estate after I die. And Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe won’t need the proceeds from a life insurance policy to get the job done any more than the state will; they’ll take their cut from the estate.
I’m hardly going to burden friends with the job of serving as executor, and though it may shock you, plenty of people reach old age berift of close family.
Very bad advice, no matter who offers it. As cheap as term-life is, it is abusive not to provide a pool of instant capital to those who will have to clean up after you.
Who is it that will "have to clean up after me" if I'm single and have no dependents? What do I owe them? Why do I care about troubles they bring upon themselves? If it's too much to "clean up after me", they can just walk away.
Term life is to provide for those who depend on you today. What happens if someone buys term life, runs out the term, and then dies? Aren't we back to square one? Are you now going to start to argue for whole life?
My co-worker in Germany retired at the age of 50, we work for the same global company. He says most people like him retire because the government pushes people to do so to make room for young people and he gets government pension and don't have to worry about healthcare. He made enough money from his job doing similar things like I do and he doesn't have to use a IRA. He has investments and they goes towards his living and enjoyment. Why can't we have the same perks?
They pay 19% VAT (sales tax) and higher income taxes for such benefits. Besides that, the U.S. government is less efficient and more corrupt than Germany's and elections rarely have an effect on the underlying inefficiency--they merely shift the inefficiency from one wing of government to another.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 01-01-2018 at 01:42 PM..
If you have no assets, no spouse and no dependents you don’t need term. Your friends or family don’t have to pay or deal with your earthly affairs
Quote:
Originally Posted by 17thAndK
You insult others by calling them "ill-informed" while believing yourself that local politicians can be trusted to do a good job for you. Also that these are the only bases you will need to have covered at the time. That's a long way beyond short-sighted.
It seems you either have a short memory or a comprehension issue. I’ve quoted my orginal statement that you misunderstood or are ignorant on the topic despite being a financial guy. You are ill informed and I never stated anyone politicians or otherwise would do a good job I simply said you didn’t need term, really a waste of money and a poor recommendation on your part.
Quote:
Why would you want to make all these "adjustments?" It sounds like you are just wasting a lot of time. Your current income and expenses are not material to your post-retirement wants and needs. Why not put your time into seeing what the latter are and how they could be met? That's the direction that a rational person would be expected to go in.
A rational person would most likely start from a reasonable baseline to make their future estimations. Let’s say for instance I currently spend 500 a month on eating out and I would like to at a minimum maintain that in retirement so 500 is the baseline and can be adjusted higher if I anticipate the activity to increase. Seems like wasted time? Really the time is no different that completely winging numbers out there like you would suggest.
So there's a really good matching program at the company I work for and I intend to take full advantage of that. I'm 41, likely to remain single and unlikely to have any cash windfalls come my way. My two best friends and I are looking to retire together, and really, our tastes are simple. (And yes, I understand that a lot can change before retirement but we've been besties for 25 years and there have been no signs of that or our single status changing. They are also white-collar professionals.)
My main focus right now is on clearing all the (mostly low-interest) debt I carry beyond my mortgage, and I should have that taken care of within the next 18 months-2 years. With any luck, there will only be low-interest debt in my future.
I currently have $170K in a diversified portfolio (stock and bond index funds) and with the matching, I will probably be putting away $12K-$15K a year, with that slowly increasing with my salary. I plan to retire late because there is a great deal of longevity in my industry and I enjoy my job, so I've got another 30 years of contributions ahead of me.
Is that going to be enough? My Fidelity simulation basically comes back with a "maybe to meh" evaluation, but I kind of feel like that's the equivalent of a magic 8 ball and I'm not sure how biased their model is. I anticipate a pretty quiet life - my mother is always going on cruises and doing tons of shopping, but that's not really me. Also, I'll be living back among my extended family by the time I'm ready to retire (again, if all goes as planned), so I will have a good support system, which I've found cuts costs.
I've just been thinking a lot about this given the way Social Security and Medicare are so up in the air. I'm just trying to have an idea of what's coming down the pike as I age.
This is not rocket science, just time consuming math.........which if you have a calculator and 30 years until retirement you have plenty of time to do.
Start with your current expenses. Adjust them higher or lower for the COL of the area you plan to retire in. Talk to people there about costs....i.e. average utilities, RE taxes, etc. Be aware they may not know they pay more for some things. Example, I moved from a high COL to a low COL and go figure I pay more for groceries.......why?.....fewer grocery chains, so no competition to speak of.
Think about what things will look like at 70. Maybe you will no longer be up to cutting your own lawn and need to pay someone. Ditto for housekeeping. Decide if you want to plan for these expenses.
Then adjust them for other lifestyle changes. Currently need to buy wool suits for work, will be wearing shorts and flip flops in retirement? Huge reduction in clothing budget.
After you do this exercise, you will have your budget for the first year of retirement. Then apply an inflation factor of your choice to the remaining possible 20-30 years. Per another poster, Mathjak, it should reflect a smile......i.e. higher when you first retire, then lower as you age, then higher as you hit old age and probably significantly higher medical expenses. You can look at historical inflation rates to inform your choice.
Next, you need to make whatever assumptions you are comfortable with regard to social security. I personally think it will be there for you, but you are the one that has to live with the assumption.
Your retirement budget minus whatever you assume re social security is what you need to generate from your savings and will dictate what your savings needs to be when you retire.
In order to get to that savings amount, if you don't trust the calculators at places like Fidelity, just use online savings calculators that aren't affiliated with any particular institution and allow you to plug in the earnings rate and amounts you will be adding........google "how fast will my savings grow" and you will get tons of them.
Don't forget to factor in taxes each year.
Then you need some back up plans.........what if you cant work until 70. What if the friends you plan to retire with and share expenses with die young before retirement age?
Don't forget to add in savings for major expenses like cars, roofs on houses, replacing appliances, buying and selling expenses when your move, moving expenses to final retirement location, furnishing a new home at retirement destination, etc.
What’s your current burn rate? What about LTC insurance ?
The problem with LTC insurance is several-fold. Premiums continue to rise at an alarming rate. Also, many of these companies either eventually go out of business or reduce coverage by the time you need it. The best LTC is self-coverage by starting a savings plan early.
Except you are comparing a federal rate to a combined federal and state rate. Individual cities and other areas within Germany also add additional taxes to the federal rate.
Except you are comparing a federal rate to a combined federal and state rate. Individual cities and other areas within Germany also add additional taxes to the federal rate.
When you add in high property taxes on high valued real estate (which affect you whether you rent or own), sales taxes etc you can easily be over 50% of your income. And our healthcare is far more expensive, tuition is absurd, and public transit sucks. So most Americans are actually worse off, and in CA we pay tons of money to get very little in return.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
