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Folks who are thinking about retiring in 5 to 7 years and feel that they would not have enough to sustain them through the rest of life how would you plan ahead.
I am sure there are many who simply had life events or started saving late or did not save enough for any reason and are now figuring out using all the online retirement calculators that they might not have enough.
What is your approach to tackling this momentous life-altering issue?
I know the obvious ones.. move to lower cost of living area... move out of USA.. curtail your spending.
I would welcome it if anyone can share their real-life experiences.
Delay retirement
Cut back on expenses and lifestyle
Move to a low cost area with a lower cost housing arrangements
Work PT after retiring from full time work
Rent out part of your house or share an apartment
Find a sugar daddy
Take advantage of public assistance
Mooch off friends and relatives
With even 5-7 years, I would cut way back on expenses now.
Folks who are thinking about retiring in 5 to 7 years
and feel that they would not have enough to sustain them through the rest of life
...how would you plan ahead.
Are these folks in good health and strong enough to keep working?
Because that's what it's gonna take in most instances to produce the cash that living decently requires.
Quote:
I know the obvious ones.. move to lower cost of living area... move out of USA..
Not so much... It's rarely better to move away from the places and people you know ...and who know you.
Especially not if the location is the ones with a good social welfare infrastructure in place.
Find a low or subsidized cost seniors building in/near the same town you're in now.
Last edited by MrRational; 09-05-2019 at 10:17 AM..
Are these folks in good health and strong enough to keep doing a hard/long days work?
Because that's what it's gonna take in most instances to produce the cash that living decently requires.
Not so much... It's rarely better to move away from the places and people you know and who know you.
Especially not if the location is the ones with a good social welfare infrastructure in place.
Find a low or subsidized cost seniors building in/near the same town you're in now.
Well a lot depends on the age of the individuals involved, and what age they are trying to retire. Moving to a low COL is fine if you are trying to retire young enough to learn your way around and make connections.
If I had 5-7 years only to plan, I would immediately downsize my lifestyle and start investing every dollar and figuring out your future budget/ income streams and find a way to make it work. Delay SS to maximize that income. Maybe work a PT job and sock that money away, or if you're in a profession that you could do consulting on the side for extra income to save/invest, that would help a lot. The longer your investments have to compound, the better off you will be. So if you have things you plan on selling anyway, you can sell it now, and invest that money, it will be a lot more when you're ready to retire. According to the rule of 72, if you can invest your money at 10% it will double in 7 years. Obviously not everyone can find a relatively safe investment that returns 10% annually, but you can see how fast the money can accumulate if you get started immediately. Working PT after retiring to supplement is another good way. And lastly, you can just work longer if you are able.
If your income is low enough, you might be able to qualify for subsidized housing, but even a SS check of $2400 could put you over the limit in some places. And I think for many that's not going to be the lifestyle of their retirement dreams.
When we was getting ready for retirement, my wife and I were both working. I found out how much SS we would receive. So for 4 years before we retired, we would put in the checking the amount we would receive from SS, live off of that and put the rest in savings. Plus we starting drawing SS a year before full retirement age (4 years before we retired) and that money went into savings. We are not rich but we are not wanting for anything now that we are retired. We take vacations, weekly road trips and buy a new car every 7 years for cash. You just need to check unnecessary spending on things you really don't need.
Wait until 70 to take Social Security and work until then if possible.
Or take it earlier and bank it while you are working. You would need to do the math for your own circumstances, but $1000k a month for the 4 years between 66 and 70 is $48k. If you are likely to live to 100 you might recoup the $48k by waiting, but a bird in the hand.....
I always say that I’m always going to need just a little bit more than I’m ever going to get. When you retire, you just gear your lifestyle to your income. Right now, we’re a couple with SS benefits, but no pension. DH works part time and we have a mortgage. We can’t take lavish trips, but we dont really want for anything.
When he is no longer able or willing to work, or when one of us dies, we will not be able to afford our house, so that person will get the equity in the house, which is about equal to the money in our investments.
If we just all knew when we were going to die, it would make planning easier, but we don’t.
When we was getting ready for retirement, my wife and I were both working. I found out how much SS we would receive. So for 4 years before we retired, we would put in the checking the amount we would receive from SS, live off of that and put the rest in savings. Plus we starting drawing SS a year before full retirement age (4 years before we retired) and that money went into savings. We are not rich but we are not wanting for anything now that we are retired. We take vacations, weekly road trips and buy a new car every 7 years for cash. You just need to check unnecessary spending on things you really don't need.
All great ideas up to the bolded part. A new car, if maintained, will last much longer than that. My husband is still driving my car I bought new 17 years ago. I just got a new one. I could have kept driving the old one, but he wanted it. It runs great, looks good, even with 170,000 miles on it. To me, a new car every 7 years would qualify as unnecessary spending on things I don't really need. But obviously it worked out for you, so that's cool.
One plan we have, I will still be working at 66. DH will be collecting his Social Security. I will take 1/2 of his and we will bank it. We do this for 2 years we will have some money to fall back on. At 66 I can make as much as I want and not have to worry about collecting SS. It is only a little more then 2 years away so light at the end of the tunnel. DH will work part-time. I also plan to work part-time when retired. I took a 2nd job teaching English to kids in China and that will help accelerate paying down debt.
We did have a decent amount saved but 10 yrs ago when economy tanked DH lost his job that paid decent and has since made a lot less. We did have to dip into our savings.
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