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dave , you know the drill . when someone makes a decision that does not work out for them it is always someone else's fault , usually gov't or the fed gets blamed
He tried hard to quit the job he hated and find another but the experts said don't quit until you find another job. So he stayed at the miserable job and with the long hours he did not have time to really look hard for a new job. With age discrimination he really struggled anyway in the job market.
He had $800K saved but was told by the experts at Fidelity he needed at least a million or more before he should even think about retiring. I told him any times the experts were wrong because he had no mortgage and lived in a low cost small town and would get $5000 a month if he retired at age 62 from a combination of Social Security and a 3 percent withdrawal and a small pension. But he did not believe me and went with the experts at Fidelity and kept working until he was 67 even though it was killing him.
I think they (the experts) are self serving and want people to work until they drop so they can put more and more money in their investment accounts.
Very sad. I am so sorry for your loss. I agree with you, he would have been fine to retire at 62. Perhaps your post will be helpful to others.
My wifes cousin recently died of cancer at 62. Never collected her SS OR her pension working over 40 years for a school district. Her husband gets half of her pension. She never even tried to file for SSDI, because she refused to believe she was going to die.
My step sons grandmother started collecting at FRA, survived breast cancer, heart failure, other illnesses and is 89 and still gets up at 4am as she did during her working years.
My mother, a lifetime smoker, died at 68 of COPD complications.
My wife's parents led full, active and interesting lives and lived to 88. Her father died quickly less than a week, and her mother was in hospice for 4 months.
They, like the OPs brother, are just tiny data points in the actuarial tables of life. I didn't know the OPs brother so I have no feelings about his death. Fidelity does what they always do, run scenarios and predict income based on an assumed life span. Its the OPs brothers fault he set his income requirements too high, not Fidelity or the SSA. That they suggest an age to stop working. If he was married, he left an easier life for his wife. The OPs brother has no one but himself to "blame", for working at a job he hated for years, ESPECIALLY, with the OP and his employer telling him to stop!
Why didn't the OP get him on to CD? The advice here is always to do what makes you happy, OR what is required. You are the only one responsible to decide what is required. If you're wrong, you suffer the consequences. If you are right, you reap the benefits. Anyone that tortures themself because of money has their own issues.
The title of this thread is a non sequitur. His dying had absolutely nothing to do with what he was "told" to do. He was not told to delay until 67 and work at a job he hated. He was given advice as to what his income would be the rest of his life based on his savings. Had he set his income level that was supported by $800k savings, and retired and was miserable and lived to 85, would he have blamed Fidelity and the OP for telling him to retire early? The OP Said he was also "told" by the OP and his employer to stop working, but he didnt.
You retire when you either want to or have to. Those are your choices. There is no absolute correct answer, or this entire forum would be empty.
The advice above from lv2trvl is worthless. Did you know the OPs brother, and know that he was going to die at 67? Glad you can see the future, please tell when I will die, so I can decide when to retire, and be sure to spend all my savings before I Kick off. It actually ticks me off when so many people decide to make life decisions based on fear of death, instead of for the embracement of life. If you retired early and love life, congrats! If you retired early and are miserable, barely scraping by, I'm sorry. Yet you both retired early, so how is that always the right answer??
Last edited by Perryinva; 03-26-2016 at 05:25 AM..
"Earlier this year, I took a call from Carl who is getting ready to retire within the next few years. His advisor was suggesting that upon retirement, Carl rollover his 401(k) to an IRA and start collecting his Social Security benefit at age 62."
Your welcome.
You found one, congratulations on finding the needle in the haystack. What about the other 1000 that were requested to work to FRA.
No one is requested to work until FRA. What nonsense. You are simply told what your income would be. If expected income exceeds expected expenses, within a margin of error, then the advice is it is safe to retire. Period. My Fidelity retirement predictors, as with the other retirement calculators I use, all say "Congratulations, you appear to be on track for a successful retirement." None say "Keep on working, you can never have too much, you know!"
Just curious, the examples for SS based on a $50k income are predictions for someone at what age? They are high for someone at 61, low for someone at 25.
The current average lifespan in the USA is around 78 years. Given the number of people in their 80s there are a whole lot dying younger.
Jim Fixx, the best selling author of The Runner's Bible, came from a family where every male member had died in their 40s. He lived until 52. No one can outrun unhealthy lifestyles and just plain bad genes.
Of ALL the people ever born only 15% will live to 90
Of ALL the people ever born only 33% will live to 66
Of ALL the people ever born only 55% will live to 47
Of ALL the people ever born only 25% will live to 82
What most do not understand because of the inability to see the whole picture is that the people living till there old enough for retirement have all ready beat the odds of dying in accidents, wars, diseases that are not accounted for in the life expectancy charts.
The human brain can only see what it wants to see and blocks out anything that ruins their preconceived vision of themselves and others.
I hated my job and retired at 59 after my employer declared bankruptcy. I could have worked until 65 and would have had a lot more money saved. Now that I am retired, I find that I have more than enough money to live on for the next 35 years. I am so happy that I left my job when I was young and healthy enough to enjoy my life. Leaving was the best decision I ever made.
I am so sorry that your brother listened to his advisor's and stayed at a job he hated. That is a very sad story.
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