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we went the opposite route. we went part time until we finally retire in july but sold off almost all our investment property . to much like a job for my taste.
we only want strictly passive income in retirement with out tenants .
i have lots of friends who retired early , gave up good jobs,great benefits and seniority who end up going back to work at low end jobs because the reduced pensions were not enough and now hate it.
they get the worst shifts and don't have the stress free life they thought since now they are on the radar under a grunt supervisor all day.
quite a few folks make a mistake retiring earlier than they should have and regret the jobs they end up with.
but others love it especially if they work at something they enjoy in retirement.
I am not retired yet but my grandma is and she uses the interest from estate class bonds. She bought into these several years ago and I think averages around 4%-5%. Some payout monthly, quarterly, biannually, and annually.
...quite a few folks make a mistake retiring earlier than they should have and regret the jobs they end up with.
but others love it especially if they work at something they enjoy in retirement...
We had an age cap in our jobs so we were as ready as we were going to be, having saved and lived well below our means for years preparing for inevitable retirement as the cut-off age loomed ahead of us. That said, because we are so young (for retirees) inflation will overtake our pensions eventually if we live a long life.
Our income producing property is a small organic farm (under development) rather than a landlord tenant arrangement. With the rising food costs and food security issues, our farm will be a paying venture as well as an event venue as we are developing it. Before we are no longer able to do the hard labor, we will take on an apprentice/caretaker/heir and their family to work the place in exchange for interest in the property and profits.
I also have a small recycling business that is taking off. I really enjoy my life and frankly my old career was taking it's toll (air traffic control) being younger person's gig both cognitively and brutal shift schedule wise.
I don't meet the OP criterion because both my wife and I have pensions that meet our living expenses. The majority of our savings are in tax deferred accounts, and the IRS tells us how much we have to withdraw.
If you don't get a pension, how do you fund your retirement financial needs, other than Social Security?
The dividends and interest from Stocks, Bonds, ETF's and Mutual Funds
OR
Withdraw a certain percent of the money from your investment portfolio on a scheduled or needed basis.
OR
Another approach (Please explain!)
(I put this on the retirement board instead of the financial board because I want to hear only from retirees.
Everything I do is planned around getting only social security because we have structured our lives to in a such a way social security is more than adequate.
I have less than four years when I will turn 70 and my wife has less than one year when she will turn 66.
Neither one of us is drawing social security right now.
Looking at my online statement if I had started to draw at my FRA of 66 I would be getting $2,276 (this includes the recent COLA which I added) and my wife would be receiving 50% of my FRA ss or $1,138.
Together we would receive $3,414 monthly which would be totally exempt from both federal and state income taxes.
If I work to age 70 my benefit increases by 8% every year and that is compounded every year.
$2,458 at age 67
$2,654 at age 68
$2,867 at age 69.
$3,096 at age 70.
Together we will have a combined social security benefit of $4,334 monthly and I checked, there isn't any state or federal taxes on that either so to put the simple fact into perspective it is as if I was still working full time at a job giving me exactly $1,000/week (4.33 weeks in a month) in take home pay and as I told my wife if we can't live comfortably on a $1,000 with the house paid for and no debt we have a spending problem and not an income problem.
It is as if I had a $70k full time job.
On top of that my wife has a small state pension but it appears WEP is going to steal some of that so we don't count it.
Many men around here are raising families and paying a mortgage on less money than that.
To be honest about it if we can't live comfortably and not put $600 to $1,000 of our social security away into savings I will be disappointed.
We have some IRA's and retirement savings but it is going to sit right were it is for the widow(er).
Looking at my online statement if I had started to draw at my FRA of 66 I would be getting $2,276 (this includes the recent COLA which I added) and my wife would be receiving 50% of my FRA ss or $1,138....
On top of that my wife has a small state pension but it appears WEP is going to steal some of that so we don't count it.
WEP will not impact her state pension at all. (WEP never affects pensions; it reduces one's Social Security benefit.) However, that $1,138 you're counting on could be affected by Social Security ' s Government Pension Offset (GPO). If your wife didn't contribute to SS while working for the state, her SS spousal benefits will be reduced by 2/3 of her government pension. For example, if her state pension is $300/month, her SS spousal benefit will be reduced by $200. Consequently, instead of receiving $1,138 from SS, she would only receive $938/month.
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