Those That Are 10 Years From Retirement (More Or Less) (spouse, social security, federal)
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For those that are 10 years or so from retirement, there is a good booklet available for free from the GSA Federal Citizens Information Center. It's called "Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning" down near the bottom of the page. The pdf file is free, or you can pay to have them mail it to you. It was put together by the US Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).
It has worksheets ...
"Today's Money"
"Your Money 10 Years from Today"
"New Savings Between Now and Retirement"
"Monthly Income Over a 30 Year Retirement"
Monthly Expenses Today"
"Monthly Expenses in 10 Years"
"Comparing Projected Income and Expenses"
"Additional Savings Needed Before Retirement"
The worksheets allow you to assign different rates of return and different rates of inflation.
The booklet also has 3 to 4 pages of resource links - other sites you may want to explore.
Some of you may look at the worksheets, roll your eyes and mutter about number geeks. But really, they're pretty easy to understand and fill out.
I'm 5 years or less from retirement, but I started filling out some of the worksheets just to see how I'm doing. I'm finding it interesting and fun, but I like this kind of stuff
Just a thought.... about two or three years before we retired, I figured out about what I thought we would have to live on. (social security, IRA, etc.) then we started to try to live on that before we really needed to.
We stopped things like magazine subscriptions, donations to everything that knocked on the door or appeared in the mail, started going to the library instead of the book stores. In other words, we practiced on getting by rather than waiting until we had no choice.
It was hard at first, we cut back on going out to eat several times a week. We went to movies only when it was a very special one, and not because we just wanted to get out of the house.
By the time that retirement time rolled around, we were ready for it. It would have been hard if we had waited until the last to get used to a change in spending habits. It's been over 15 years now and we have more money in the bank than we had when we retired. I was dumbfounded to find out just how much we wasted on stuff that didn't matter.
Soooo, think about Practice, Practice, Practice before you have to. It will be a lot easier.
Just a thought.... about two or three years before we retired, I figured out about what I thought we would have to live on. (social security, IRA, etc.) then we started to try to live on that before we really needed to.
We stopped things like magazine subscriptions, donations to everything that knocked on the door or appeared in the mail, started going to the library instead of the book stores. In other words, we practiced on getting by rather than waiting until we had no choice.
It was hard at first, we cut back on going out to eat several times a week. We went to movies only when it was a very special one, and not because we just wanted to get out of the house.
By the time that retirement time rolled around, we were ready for it. It would have been hard if we had waited until the last to get used to a change in spending habits. It's been over 15 years now and we have more money in the bank than we had when we retired. I was dumbfounded to find out just how much we wasted on stuff that didn't matter.
Soooo, think about Practice, Practice, Practice before you have to. It will be a lot easier.
This is great advice. We are about 10 years from retirement, but we have started to change our ways. We only incur credit for emergencies and are paying off what we owe. We also cut down on our eating out (we were out of control on this! ) As we get closer I am sure we will cut down even more. It's good to practice living under your means.
Just a thought.... about two or three years before we retired, I figured out about what I thought we would have to live on. (social security, IRA, etc.) then we started to try to live on that before we really needed to.
We stopped things like magazine subscriptions, donations to everything that knocked on the door or appeared in the mail, started going to the library instead of the book stores. In other words, we practiced on getting by rather than waiting until we had no choice.
It was hard at first, we cut back on going out to eat several times a week. We went to movies only when it was a very special one, and not because we just wanted to get out of the house.
By the time that retirement time rolled around, we were ready for it. It would have been hard if we had waited until the last to get used to a change in spending habits. It's been over 15 years now and we have more money in the bank than we had when we retired. I was dumbfounded to find out just how much we wasted on stuff that didn't matter.
Soooo, think about Practice, Practice, Practice before you have to. It will be a lot easier.
This is how we've lived our life. We've had to. Hubbie is in sales - and it's not been kind to him. The last 4-5 years have been difficult to say the least.
But we've always done it that way. We live on my salary - contributing about 20% to retirement. Anything he brings in - is gravy. We both come from pretty frugal families....
There will be NO SURPRISES once we get to retirement.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mlb
T... We live on my salary - contributing about 20% to retirement. Anything he brings in - is gravy. We both come from pretty frugal families....
There will be NO SURPRISES once we get to retirement.
Famous last words... you may get retired BEFORE you're ready, by any number of reasons.
Best wishes, plan as you might, but remain flexible. I could have retired at age 35 if we had a double income, but.... Spouse had to take up some slack when I got the adios option @ age 49 (w/ 32 yrs service)... That was not too smart on my part (spouse dependency for benefits....). Full yr income didn't come close to paying the property taxes alone, thus dietary / economical needs dictate some slim livin'. But so far so good, still more than 10 yrs away from SS and medicare $$.
Yep if say your in your 50's ,plan for much more medical cost as you age.You need to basically plan on a rise need for moeny if the standard is goig to reamin the same. Even expebses are not the same the minute you retire. One good thing tho is that your goig to be surprise at what workig cost you. otehr will be new expenses.Just have a margin and look for changes in what things cost and what is necessity.
Just a thought.... about two or three years before we retired, I figured out about what I thought we would have to live on. (social security, IRA, etc.) then we started to try to live on that before we really needed to.
We stopped things like magazine subscriptions, donations to everything that knocked on the door or appeared in the mail, started going to the library instead of the book stores. In other words, we practiced on getting by rather than waiting until we had no choice.
It was hard at first, we cut back on going out to eat several times a week. We went to movies only when it was a very special one, and not because we just wanted to get out of the house.
By the time that retirement time rolled around, we were ready for it. It would have been hard if we had waited until the last to get used to a change in spending habits. It's been over 15 years now and we have more money in the bank than we had when we retired. I was dumbfounded to find out just how much we wasted on stuff that didn't matter.
Soooo, think about Practice, Practice, Practice before you have to. It will be a lot easier.
Did the same thing. It really is a shocker to see how much is just frittered away. First year woke me up and the second year was much closer to my estimate. Into the third year now and I'm better than on track.
Working actually hasn't cost me alot. 10 years ago I moved to a job that's three miles from work in my "near neighborhood". NO FREEWAY COMMUTING...and I come home for lunch so my food expenses are contained. I don't spend alot on clothing (government job).
The only thing that's gone up is the health care deductible. From $500 a piece (spouse + me) a couple of years ago to $2400 combined this year.
I have no idea how medical expenses will figure in in retirement. My employer now offers Retirement Health Savings (converting sick hours to dollars to be used post-retirement). And that's why we are shoveling money into retirement right now. Since my hubbie is 1.5 years younger than I am - If I retire at 65 or 66 - we'll need to COBRA until he's Medicare eligible.
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