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Old 02-24-2015, 12:53 PM
 
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Or another way to ease the mind if .....keep enough in the account so that no matter when I bill is due there's enough in there to pay it, whether a check has come or not.
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Old 02-24-2015, 01:12 PM
 
Location: SW MO
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Originally Posted by rdflk View Post
Or another way to ease the mind if .....keep enough in the account so that no matter when I bill is due there's enough in there to pay it, whether a check has come or not.
That's a given. It's never the amount. It's only the timing.

Oh yeah! In terms of outliving our retirement $$$. Never happen. Our funds come in the form of state pensions and Social Security guaranteed for life. At our ages they'll be around longer than we will be.

Last edited by Curmudgeon; 02-24-2015 at 01:58 PM..
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Old 02-24-2015, 03:36 PM
 
Location: Somewhere in USA
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Originally Posted by Curmudgeon View Post
That's a given. It's never the amount. It's only the timing.

Oh yeah! In terms of outliving our retirement $$$. Never happen. Our funds come in the form of state pensions and Social Security guaranteed for life. At our ages they'll be around longer than we will be.
This requires careful planning...because Social Security may not be there all the time.
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Old 02-24-2015, 04:06 PM
 
Location: SW MO
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Originally Posted by ameridreamNoT View Post
This requires careful planning...because Social Security may not be there all the time.
At almost 69 I'm not worried about it in the slightest. That's the lament and stinkin' thinkin', "The sky is falling" of the millennials and some GenXers, Ys, Zs, whatever, who love to rag on us "greedy" Boomers. But suppose it did happen. We'd survive. There's always wiggle room.

As for where you fall and your mind set, your chosen handle pretty much says it all.
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Old 02-24-2015, 04:54 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,840,623 times
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Originally Posted by ameridreamNoT View Post
This requires careful planning...because Social Security may not be there all the time.
I am 70 and it is almost certain that I will not live long enough to see the day of real crisis for Social Security. The worst that can happen is that at some point in the future benefits will be reduced to 75% of what was promised. Now admittedly that would be a pretty serious situation - a 25% reduction is more than a minor cut. However, it is a far cry from Social Security no longer "being there". And of course for that to happen Congress will have to have done nothing in the years leading up to it.

I'm not sure why so many people talk about SS "not being there" for them. (We see such talk in the Economics Forum from time to time also). Is it ignorance? Is it excessive hatred of all things government which leads to exaggeration? A more measured and accurate statement would be something like, "those counting on Social Security alone should reckon with the possibility of reductions in benefits twenty or twenty-five years from now".
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Old 02-24-2015, 05:03 PM
 
Location: Rotonda Florida
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Originally Posted by ameridreamNoT View Post
This requires careful planning...because Social Security may not be there all the time.
Not to start a bunch of chit, but why is that? We paid into SS all of our lives and it's always going to be "defunded" or go broke, yet welfare and food stamps are NEVER talked about going away? Something's wrong there....
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Old 02-24-2015, 05:51 PM
 
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Originally Posted by ameridreamNoT View Post
I want to retire early, like around 55 or so...I do not want to work forever or continue to work after retiring age. I know when you're retired...every day feels like Saturday and I will work towards this. In the mean time, I am saving and investing heavily...but how much is enough varies by individuals. My question is, during your retirement, do you budget your spending? How much per month do you spend...how much do you extract from your pension/401k and etc... Do you also think you will outlive the hard earned $ you saved throughout your life?

I am curious...as I 33 and by no means retiring any time soon but would like to know how others are living by this day in age. I don't want to know how much you have, all I'm curious is how you budget to live off of the $ you have...whether in large or small.

thanks for sharing!

Planning to retire at 55 is an excellent idea. Maybe that's the best advice you could give anyone who is planning their finances.

Just don't actually retire at 55.


I've used Quicken and equivalents since the 1990's, so I knew exactly what I had been spending money on. Most banks let you download your bank and credit card statements and the software can be trained to auto-categorize most items.

Our budgeting consisted of always putting money in savings first and looking backwards periodically at what we had spent. There were always surprises. For several years we spent more money on books than clothes, or eating out, or vacations. Who would have thought? Then adjust as needed.

Over 20 years, I got a good idea of what we really wanted to do with our days and what that cost, and what other items there were that don't often come to mind when writing a yearly budget. That is to say, things like fixing air conditioner, heating, roof replacements, and house painting every 10 years. Some of that you may be doing yourself while young, but plan to pay someone to do these things when older and account for the budget difference. You Do Not Want To Fall Off A Ladder when you're over 60.

As you are doing already, put money in savings/investments first. That's no longer your money, it belongs to the old dude that you'll become.
Anyway, start now by living reasonably frugally and keeping track of every dime you spend and on what. After a couple of decades of that, then that is what your budget will be in retirement. We actually spend more now than before ... because we can.

So, we did our planning expecting an average inflation rate of 4% and an average investment rate of 3%. With our present spending rate inflation adjusted, we made the plan for our savings to run out at around age 100, that is, savings will be so low that the income will be insignificant.

My wife and I had always planned to retire as early as was reasonable.
I like to joke that we could have retired when we turned 50, but she insisted on a least a double-wide.

We could have, but didn't retire though.
What happened as we got into our 50's was that we had relaxed.
We didn't find work stressing anymore because our house and everything was paid for (part of planning to retire at 55, right?); we no longer Needed The Money. The kids have moved to college and beyond. It became easy to say "no" to extra work, weekend projects, etc, so work came to be a rewarding pleasure. And the money really started to pile up thanks to the retire-at-55 plan.


Maybe that won't happen to you, and if it doesn't you'll still be prepared.

And like they say, spend money on experiences, not on things.
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Old 02-24-2015, 06:08 PM
 
Location: SW MO
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Originally Posted by Thulsa View Post
And like they say, spend money on experiences, not on things.
I like that.

I'd have loved to be able to plan on retiring in my 50s but fortuitously, at age 50 I found myself divorced with all the marital debt, such as there was, the clothes on my back and four-figure support payments that lasted 12 years. No relaxing there! Still, when that ended I retired, my wife (not that one) and I made a major move, bought a lakefront home and settled-in for our "golden" years."

Truly in my case, life is what happened when I'd made other plans but all's well that ends well!
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Old 02-24-2015, 07:28 PM
 
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
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I do know that the things I thought I required out of life at 33 were different than what I require now, at 52. I dont need a cool car. I dont need a spacious house. Im not sure I really want a phone at all.

As I dont require much, its cool that my savings for it arent that great yet. But, due to my ability to not require very much - I wont even require the office related work wardobe I have slowly built over the years - so if the site's calc works right, I should be okay to retire at 57.

Retiring at 57, I plan to work part time until 59 1/2 when I can start withdrawing from a tax-deferred anuity. I wish I could now balance it with a Roth IRA of equal size, but I only have 4 years left, so Im sticking with what I have. I may or may not still need to work part time someone where.

Once social security kicks in I may be lucky enough to let part time employment go. I was fortunate enough to get a job I am very grateful to have given my educational level when I was around 40. It offered a pension plan - first in my life to do so. A few years later I also signed onto their tax-defered annuity. I honestly like the idea of not paying taxes when I withdraw better (Roth IRA), however, the tax deferrment was part of made the account possible at 2% of my low-mid range salary. Ive increased it as pay increases kick in, and am now contributing 10%.

I have 4 years to speculate, having rolled everything over into the guaranteed interest account a year ago, and realloting investments with new contributions. My current allotment is 10-30-30-30, but that is going to change to 10x5-50, keeping the current investments and including a new high risk one that has been performing well consistently over the past year (with also adding a Bond Fund). Ive got 4 years (by the grace of God) and Im going to try to make them count.

Im not sure what my monthly pension will be. My annuity calc says at 57 (with some special document) I can start withdrawing 2,200 a month (bear in mind this is slightly more than I bring home now, but before taxes). I may wait until 59 1/2, depends on health issues and other concerns. I think a part time job from always and forever working full time would be a nice way to ease out of the grind and into the enjoyment.

You have a 7 year head start on me. You can probably do alot better starting now. I had to sacrifice a lot of enjoyment and frivolity now to save anything at all for later. To me, a vacation is taking 2 weeks off to paint my apartment, lol. If you have a mind to start, kudos to you. No matter what it is, you wont regret it. AND, Ive been getting a tax credit all along for doing it.

Its the way to go.

Last edited by ConeyGirl52; 02-24-2015 at 07:47 PM..
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Old 02-24-2015, 07:50 PM
 
Location: SW MO
23,593 posts, read 37,330,819 times
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Originally Posted by ConeyGirl52 View Post
I'm not sure what my monthly pension will be. My annuity calc says at 57 (with some special document) I can start withdrawing 2,200 a month (bear in mind this is slightly more than I bring home now, but before taxes). I may wait until 59 1/2, depends on health issues and other concerns. I think a part time job from always and forever working full time would be a nice way to ease out of the grind and into the enjoyment.
Just keep in mind that while taxes will still be an issue, other things will offset them to some degree in retirement. No more working wardrobe and upkeep. So long commuting and perhaps parking costs. Bye-bye lunches out. Sayonara to office parties for birthdays and Christmas, secret shoppers, etc. In the end it all balances out and you could end up better off than you think.
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