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Retirement planning, for a married couple, should include at some point,
How will the finances look, pensions or no, if the man dies first
How will the wife live financially with the man's SS stopped, maybe the man's pension stops
How will the man survive financially if his wife passes first?
Maybe the wife's pension stops, the wife's SS check stops.
They say 2 can live as cheaply as 1, suppose 1 has to live with income of the 1?
Instead of 2 SS checks, or 1or 2 pension checks coming in for expenses there is 1 or none.
If the man and wife were living off 2 SS checks and the man's nice pension check
The man passes away, the wife is left to survive on her SS check alone.
This year, this became my reality. What was expected as "Total" income has changed
This is good advice, speaking from experience. Everything can be turned uside-down in a heartbeat. I was surprised that I qualified for survivor's benefits from social security at age 60 (I retired early). I'm still drawing a survivor's benefits at 66 and not touching my own benefit which will be bigger if I postpone drawing on my account. The benefit is significantly lower than what I'll get later but it works OK on my budget. My wife and I worked at the same place and were able to assign a survivor's benefit of 1/2 the individual's pension. We had sufficlient retirement income but lived frugally and now I'm managing on my own the same way. One can live as cheaply as one and a half if you can work it out.
Don't forget to have some type of nursing home or home health care insurance. If you live alone the health care options are slim if there is no one at home to help out.
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[SIZE=3]I’ve been searching the internet desperately the last coupleof months trying to figure out if I can retire. I recently started reading alot of post this forum and I’ve come to the conclusion that the experienced retireeson this forum can give me some pretty good advice.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Here is my situation: I am 58 my wife is 56 I lost my job in2013 and have not worked since. We have exhausted our savings and plan to startwithdrawing from my wife’s IRA in 2015 which has $75K. I have an IRA which has$350K. My wife is on disability and collects about $1,100 a month.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]We have always lived within our means and are debt free; welive in the great lakes area where cost of living is reasonable. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]In all the calculations that I have done it appears that I canretire and continue to live within our means. My question is does this soundreasonable or am I way out and should go back to work or a few more years.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]I know that it is different for everyone depending on theirlife style and their habits, but in general is it feasible?[/SIZE]
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... I have an IRA which has$350K.
... My wife is on disability and collects about $1,100 a month.
... We have always lived within our means and are debt free; we live in the great lakes area where cost of living is reasonable.
First, the font statements make posts hard to read.
Next, debt-free is a big deal, congratulations.
Basically, you have $1,100/month, plus the IRA.
What is a 'reasonable' COL, could be debated for many pages. In my area, we know a number of couples who are doing okay on less income that what you would have.
Thank you @submariner I am reposting hopefully easier to read.
I’ve been searching the internet desperately the last couple of months trying to figure out if I can retire.
I recently started reading a lot of post this forum and I’ve come to the conclusion that the experienced retirees on this forum can give me some pretty good advice.
Here is my situation: I am 58 my wife is 56 I lost my job in 2013 and have not worked since. We have exhausted our savings and plan to start withdrawing from my wife’s IRA in 2015 which has $75K. I have an IRA which has $350K. My wife is on disability and collects about $1,100 a month.
We have always lived within our means and are debt free; we live in the great lakes area where cost of living is reasonable.
In all the calculations that I have done it appears that I can retire and continue to live within our means. My question is does this sound reasonable or am I way out and should go back to work or a few more years.
I know that it is different for everyone depending on their life style and their habits, but in general is it feasible?
Thank you @submariner I am reposting hopefully easier to read.
I’ve been searching the internet desperately the last couple of months trying to figure out if I can retire.
I recently started reading a lot of post this forum and I’ve come to the conclusion that the experienced retirees on this forum can give me some pretty good advice.
Here is my situation: I am 58 my wife is 56 I lost my job in 2013 and have not worked since. We have exhausted our savings and plan to start withdrawing from my wife’s IRA in 2015 which has $75K. I have an IRA which has $350K. My wife is on disability and collects about $1,100 a month.
We have always lived within our means and are debt free; we live in the great lakes area where cost of living is reasonable.
In all the calculations that I have done it appears that I can retire and continue to live within our means. My question is does this sound reasonable or am I way out and should go back to work or a few more years.
I know that it is different for everyone depending on their life style and their habits, but in general is it feasible?
Isn't this post the same as your thread posing a similar "Do I have enough" question? do i have enough to retire
We sure get a lot of these "Can I retire...do I have enough" threads. One person's "enough" is not another's, so it is a question with no answer, because no one else understands your lifestyle and needs. To be honest, you would need to give the other posters so much info, and they still would not understand your needs. I mean it is "feasible" to live on SS alone, but I wouldn't want to try.
So I will give the same answer I always do...make a complete budget plan, showing all your expenses for a typical year. Include every expense from medical insurance to tires for your car (go through your checkbook for the last year), be sure to include funding an emergency fund large enough to cover home maintenance catastrophes (broken HVAC unit, roof leaks, etc.) Draw up a timeline showing all your income (distributions from investments included) and extend it out for your expected lifetime, showing the stop/starts of all sources of funding including SS. Do these two documents match up? What I mean is does your income exceed your expenses sufficiently to cover all known expenses, with some left over for the unknowns? Is this the lifestyle that you are expecting to continue for life or do you plan on downsizing at some point, or will you plan to increase spending for some reason? You see....no one but you can answer these questions!
Most of the pre-retirement discussion seems focused on concerns that one will 'never' be able to afford to retire ... or that one will have to live under a bridge and eat cat food.
Yet, most of the actual retirees on this forum seem to be doing quite well. Perhaps concerns about future retirement are exaggerated by media focus and the uncertainty of the future (?)
We didn't do anything particularly unusual to plan or prepare for retirement, except, live within our means, without building-up more debt that we could pay --- or simply 'blowing' a lot of money. I guess we also stayed together, stayed employed and maxed-out my 401K, plus her pension. Finally, we simply decided to retire (early for me). I've got to admit, all of the 'Retirement Planning' advertising made me a little nervous, but, I've never been a 'worrier.'
(I'm not much of an investor, so no 'great shakes' there), but, 6+ years into retirement, I find that we have more steady income than I had imagined we would have; plus sufficient savings for whatever we might want in the foreseeable future.
Has 'Retirement planning anxiety' got folks more worried than they really need to be?
Yes, yes and no. Many who planned have anxiety that it will work and for them it usually does. Others maybe not as much. For us yes.
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