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Taking the OP at face value, I think it's not unreasonable that the difference between two incomes and two retirement incomes - regardless of the specific amounts - initially can make a person approaching retirement a little nervous. My advice is to look closely at your current income and projected retirement income, and pay attention to the net, not the gross.
For example, as a federal employee, I had 7% of my salary go to retirement - now that I'm retired, my current income is not reduced by that 7%. I was also contributing as much as I possibly could to the Thrift Savings Plan - as a retiree, I can't. When working, our transportation costs were considerably higher than they are now; the same is true for clothing costs.
The difference in our gross incomes - working vs. retired - is significant, but the difference in our net incomes is not nearly as significant.
And don't forget that Social Security and Medicare will no longer be deducted, you may roll down to a lower tax bracket and if you were in a union and paid dues, those will no longer be collected either.
Thanks to all who replied. I certainly was not "bragging" or "trolling" or any such thing. I merely wanted advice as to adequacy, especially since I have to save a lot add'l for LTC.
The OP asked for "thoughts/advice". I have two thoughts:
1) If the OP cannot live quite comfortably on the amounts given, he is a very spoiled and totally undisciplined spendthrift.
2) Please stop using this space to brag about your financial status by pretending to ask legitimate questions.
His questions are very legitimate and many in similar positions have the same questions. Retirement planning is retirement planning regardless of your income.
Thanks to all who replied. I certainly was not "bragging" or "trolling" or any such thing. I merely wanted advice as to adequacy, especially since I have to save a lot add'l for LTC.
You ask some very good questions and many in similar or better situations ask the very same questions. I would say there are several issues with your scenario. One is out of pocket health care expenses as you age and the big question is will your pension pay out to the surviving spouse? If yes that is a plus if no a problem. At what age are your social security calculations based on? Can they be changed? Many other things to consider and we can discuss those if you want and others can ignore. My hunch is you are shooting for the Money Magazine retirement life style and that requires planning and number crunching as you are doing. You already have one vacation home, do you have another on the horizon? What state and what cost of living? Your mortgage hefty and limits your ability to leverage your assets.
PS there is a frugal living thread and those of us with means stay out of your thread so if you can't hang in this one don't!
just our medical insurance runs almost 800.00 a month
without medicare i would not be able to retire. . . .and at age 65, doing physical labor in the heat of a southern AZ summer, retirement is medically necessary if i am to survive.
those medigap policies for a couple can run 8-10,000 from what i hear....
without them you better have alot of dough for all the stuff not covered under medicare . better not need dental or eye glasses with a complex prescription like mine either...
fidelity calculated a guesstamate of 200k alone to get a couple thru retirement with medicare..
those medigap policies for a couple can run 8-10,000 from what i hear....
without them you better have alot of dough for all the stuff not covered under medicare . better not need dental or eye glasses with a complex prescription like mine either...
fidelity calculated a guesstamate of 200k alone to get a couple thru retirement with medicare..
Or excess cash flow that generates enough to pay for out of pocket expenses. He may be already factoring that in.
His questions are very legitimate and many in similar positions have the same questions. Retirement planning is retirement planning regardless of your income.
not everyone of us thinks of retirement as "chintzing down" and trying to live on the cheap... i know many look at retirement that way and rightfully so, the pay check stops and your forced in survival mode to make ends meet.
but there are loads of retirees too that have planned and dreamed of a retirement lifestyle thats even better then before they retired...
they earned it and are entitled to it.... they have the same concerns and fears as anyone else does regardless of income... unless your very wealthy when that pay check stops we all wonder about the final out come.
could i move to a low cost rural area and never worry about money? sure i could but its not the plans we made... our plans will push our budget just as far as anyone of us here has their budget pushed... its a different lifestyle but same concerns.
Looking at the home values;other coast listed I think he lives i a low cost area. The redfalg I see is the savings which is low when that fixed insome is so mcuh lower as satrted. that means a lower levekl of living plainly because of low savings rate for income.
without medicare i would not be able to retire. . . .and at age 65, doing physical labor in the heat of a southern AZ summer, retirement is medically necessary if i am to survive.
I am fortunate in that my former employer still covers our medical
It is totally 'free' if we go to their 'clinics' where treatment is usually provided by corpsmen with 6-weeks of training.
Or we can go to most any civilian doctor's office or hospital and be treated by doctors with college and med-school degrees; but this requires us to pony-up co-pay fees.
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