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Old 01-23-2015, 11:23 AM
mlb
 
Location: North Monterey County
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Many of the folks I know have kids either staying in their 20's and early 30's or returning home after school.

The nest may not be empty if the kids don't have jobs or are having difficulty finding them.
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Old 01-23-2015, 01:13 PM
 
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Quote:
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is for those with children, you will no longer be raising a family when you retire, so costs that normally go towards raising them would go down - often dramatically. I didn't have children until my 30s (with my youngest one, I was 39). Although, it's still over 10 years away, we tentatively plan on retiring right around the time he goes off to college or when he graduates college.
Mich, you were a spring chicken!
I just ran across a months-old AARP article about women (couples) in their 50s, and 60s!!! -- having children. (and yes the old fashioned way, with a little help from IVF) One woman had TWINS at 63!, another had 3 kids after 50 (a single and twins).

Now THAT makes for some INTERESTING retirement planning!!! But if you can afford IVF, (one couple went overseas to do it), I hope you can afford the children, and I hope you've got your financial and retirement and estate planning in place. I'd imagine most people doing this think LONG and hard, and are even more aware of how important it is to plan for when they're not here. The people in the article are well aware they're older and have to protect their kids if G-d forbid something were to happen, so I trust all their retirement age expenses they can well afford. (Although I doubt they actually panned to "retire") Plus in these cases the husband made enough that mom was a stay at home mom and didn't work anyway.
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Old 01-23-2015, 02:33 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Originally Posted by rdflk View Post
Mich, you were a spring chicken!
"WERE" being the operative word here.
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Old 01-23-2015, 06:52 PM
 
Location: New Orleans, LA
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Originally Posted by rdflk View Post
I suppose I'm curious: Is your retirement a "budgeted one" -- or one where you can afford -- say 90% of your desires...and money really isn't a factor.
I have plenty for everything I want or need.

As others have pointed out, taxes are lower in retirement, plus there is no need to pay into SS or Medicare, no need to save for retirement any more, and no kids at home or in college any more in my case either. I already have a paid off house (which I was busily paying off before retirement), full of paid off furniture, and a paid off car. Life is pretty good as a retiree.

The best way to estimate what you will need in retirement, is to work through it starting with your present spending, which is a good first approximation of your spending. Then add any additional expenses (want to travel in retirement? More for entertainment?), and subtract those expenses that you will no longer have.
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Old 01-23-2015, 07:19 PM
 
Location: Traveling
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My situation is a bit different as after I was laid off when I was 55, then was in a car accident (her fault), I moved in with family to be close to my mother. God works in mysterious ways; I was only here for 4 months before she passed, but I had those precious months & memories. There is no way I could visit often as I lived 200 miles from her & gas prices were out of sight.

I'm off track. After I was laid off I had temp jobs for the 1st 2 years, which extended my unemployment & instead of facing facts - that we were in a recession & no one wanted to hire a 55+ woman, I kept paying my mortgage, to the point of using my 401k to pay for it.

It took a housing counselor to tell me to stop & apply for bankruptcy before I came to my senses. I still kick myself because I didn't have to use my pension & I waited far too long.

I was finally declared disabled (due to the car accident) & will live on SSDI plus whatever my lawyer gets me for the accident. In the meantime, I have learned how to be very thrifty. And my main expenses were for casual clothes. I have a ton of suits but only a couple pair of jeans, lol.
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Old 01-23-2015, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,847,399 times
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Originally Posted by NOLA2SGF View Post
I have plenty for everything I want or need.

As others have pointed out, taxes are lower in retirement, plus there is no need to pay into SS or Medicare, no need to save for retirement any more, and no kids at home or in college any more in my case either. I already have a paid off house (which I was busily paying off before retirement), full of paid off furniture, and a paid off car. Life is pretty good as a retiree........
Just a quibble, but actually we still pay into Medicare after we enroll in it at age 65. There is a monthly Part B premium in the amount of slightly over $100 (or it is more for people with high incomes) which is deducted from the Social Security benefits if one is receiving those (if not, one gets billed).

Now admittedly that isn't very much; it might be less than the employee's share of medical insurance pre-retirement. But it's something, and we are paying it.
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Old 01-23-2015, 09:41 PM
 
Location: Traveling
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For me it's $109
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Old 01-23-2015, 10:06 PM
 
11,181 posts, read 10,481,952 times
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Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
Just a quibble, but actually we still pay into Medicare after we enroll in it at age 65. There is a monthly Part B premium in the amount of slightly over $100 (or it is more for people with high incomes) which is deducted from the Social Security benefits if one is receiving those (if not, one gets billed).

Now admittedly that isn't very much; it might be less than the employee's share of medical insurance pre-retirement. But it's something, and we are paying it.
When I went on Medicare, my health care costs increased quite a bit because 2) previously DH's employer had paid our premium; 2) we're in a high income bracket so pay a high Medicare premium and 3) Medicare has a higher deductible than our previous plan.
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Old 01-23-2015, 10:27 PM
 
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I have been retired for14 year now and its just a shift really. It continues to shift as you age or even at what age you retired. I retired at 52 and now at 67 the shift continues as to life style and what you spend on. One thing for sure; if wise you will spend more on preventive healthcare. As I look around those I know who retired at 62 to 65 start out at the level I was at that age; if generally healthy. Age doesn't wait for anyone.
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Old 01-24-2015, 07:57 AM
 
29 posts, read 49,825 times
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Originally Posted by Blondy View Post
I If you take out retirement savings, and consider reduced taxes, our net pension income is roughly the same as our net salary was.

All that said, we could significantly downsize if we needed to and live on 70% of our pre-retirement income, maybe even 50%.
When I took an early retirement a couple of years ago, with a pension and some additional 401K income, my net income was also roughly the same as my net salary (I maxed out on socking away savings when I worked full time). I have all I need as well---the greatest cost for me is travel, but even then, what I enjoy (camping, backpacking, exploring) doesn't cost much. It's just the cost of gas and food. Still, there are hidden costs to even the least expensive activities, and I really have to pay attention to where my money goes.

I was determined to downsize and reduce expenses to make it work. So far it has and I've been able to save each month as well. It's important to me to have a cash reserve that I can use for traveling or other expected or unexpected expenditures. I think what others have said about preventative healthcare is so important. I've been very physically active (running, swimming, hiking) all my life, and I feel much like I did in my 30s.

If you take on a second career that doesn't make much money (a passion), then funding that career can be costly after retiring. I'm faced with that and am considering working part time to boost my income.
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