Blown Away by Analysis of Take Home Pay Working versus Retirement (benefits, security)
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if anything we found time cost money and one thing we have plenty of in retirement is time .
there is no way in the tristate area that 6 grand kids are going to cost less then being consumed at work
I really scratch my head in wondering sometimes in this forum. Do most people decide they want to be average in life? Average in their job? Average in their family role? Average in health? Average in sports? Average in thinking?
If not then why is average in retirement to be a goal? Why would a person want to be average in what could be a third of their life or more?
It is one thing to strive and want to be ahead of the crowd and if you fall short accept it and keep looking for ways to be above average!
Like you we never wanted to have an average retirement and fortunately achieved that goal plus. However I confess I want even at this stage to be even more above average in retirement financial and life success. The higher the percentile the better.
No I don't want a average meal today in quality and want it to be above average. Same as when we cook everyday.
Percentile goals in retirement help to establish winners and losers.
Strive on my friend and Happy Thanksgiving.
People who settle for less make it easier for others to achieve more.
For all of you who want to trash me for being honest-Happy Thanksgiving and let us all be thankful for what we have.
Even if some of us want more.
^^ I'd just say that most people may not STRIVE to be average. But they might -- at a certain age, or maturity -- accept that they are average. And what's wrong with that? Could that be better than stressing over NOT being average?
To me, your comments ("why would a person want to be average?") seem to imply there's something wrong with a person being OK with an average retirement.
Maybe some people would rather work less, and make less.
Also it's not about what a person makes. It's about what they can save from what they make.
We've all, I imagine, heard stories about regular people -- teachers for example, who end up with estates of over a million, but did not live a high lifestyle (which is subjective anyway).
In my case, my retirement will likely be average...which will more than afford me the eating out or travel I'd be interested in.
I'd rather retire as early as possible and have it be average, than work longer for more money in retirement....that won't take me into the above average retirement lifestyle anyway.
What's "average" in terms of retirement income/assets may be OK for a person who doesn't want to live a lifestyle that you want to live. And, that's OK. Is it not?
...
Federal Tax, State and Local Tax, SS Tax, Medicare Tax, Retirement Fund Contributions (this is huge because I've been saving big time), Insurance contributions
... Can anyone share with me what I'm missing? I'd welcome the input.
My military pension is not large enough to be taxed. As a result, it could be called 'tax-free' [though taxable].
I really scratch my head in wondering sometimes in this forum. Do most people decide they want to be average in life? Average in their job? Average in their family role? Average in health? Average in sports? Average in thinking?
If not then why is average in retirement to be a goal? Why would a person want to be average in what could be a third of their life or more?
It is one thing to strive and want to be ahead of the crowd and if you fall short accept it and keep looking for ways to be above average!
Like you we never wanted to have an average retirement and fortunately achieved that goal plus. However I confess I want even at this stage to be even more above average in retirement financial and life success. The higher the percentile the better.
No I don't want a average meal today in quality and want it to be above average. Same as when we cook everyday.
Percentile goals in retirement help to establish winners and losers.
Strive on my friend and Happy Thanksgiving.
People who settle for less make it easier for others to achieve more.
For all of you who want to trash me for being honest-Happy Thanksgiving and let us all be thankful for what we have.
Even if some of us want more.
we certainly agree .. i dont want to be average at certain things … but the things i have no interest in i may very well be below average .
for that which i want to excell at i can be like the rain man …..
that includes my finances , my photography and my drumming .being .average dont cut it in those areas.
on average if someone straps you to a bench and puts one side to ghe firelace and packs the other side with ice , you should be comfortable ..i doubt that will be the case
Last edited by mathjak107; 11-26-2021 at 01:31 PM..
I really scratch my head in wondering sometimes in this forum. Do most people decide they want to be average in life? Average in their job? Average in their family role? Average in health? Average in sports? Average in thinking?
If not then why is average in retirement to be a goal? Why would a person want to be average in what could be a third of their life or more?
It is one thing to strive and want to be ahead of the crowd and if you fall short accept it and keep looking for ways to be above average!
Like you we never wanted to have an average retirement and fortunately achieved that goal plus. However I confess I want even at this stage to be even more above average in retirement financial and life success. The higher the percentile the better.
No I don't want a average meal today in quality and want it to be above average. Same as when we cook everyday.
Percentile goals in retirement help to establish winners and losers.
Strive on my friend and Happy Thanksgiving.
People who settle for less make it easier for others to achieve more.
For all of you who want to trash me for being honest-Happy Thanksgiving and let us all be thankful for what we have.
Even if some of us want more.
At some point, the effort is just not worth it anymore.
I'm doing better than average, but my work-life balance sucks in a lot of ways. I was being called on Wednesday night for an issue when I'm not on-call. Last month, I had a Friday preapproved off weeks in advance. A vendor ends up taking a system upgrade too far, screws it up, and I have to log back in at Friday on 7 PM for a nonemergency. A guy emailed me at 10:30 PM Wednesday night for a contractor's account creation. That could wait until the next business day. Why in God's name are we emailing routine business issues out at 10:30 PM on the day before a holiday? It's a bad cultural problem.
I haven't had a single email all day that wasn't automated, but am required to be here because I am on-call. I am on-call Christmas week, and we do not get an observed day off. My holidays will basically have no time off, but I am getting a $500 Christmas bonus. While nice, I'd much rather have a slower pace and more time off around the holidays than the $500.
I'd gladly trade $10k-$20k in salary to have much better work-life balance.
I hear people all the time saying they will "take home" more retired than they are working and I've always felt like it must be nice. I finally took a real hard look at what I have been bringing home for the last several years versus what I understand my liabilities will be in retirement and I appear to be in that boat. I'm not here to brag, but to see if anyone can say that I'm missing something?
These are the things taking away from my take home pay working:
Federal Tax, State and Local Tax, SS Tax, Medicare Tax, Retirement Fund Contributions (this is huge because I've been saving big time), Insurance contributions
This is what I will be liable for in retirement:
Federal Tax, Some State and Local Tax (some will not be taxed since it is defined contribution and I live in a state that will not tax it), Insurance (which will be much more than while working and I realize this could include life insurance as well)
Can anyone share with me what I'm missing? I'd welcome the input.
I don't think of it as "take home pay", I think of it as "spendable income", from your retirement income stream. We both were high income earners, we lived well below our means, and were extreme savers. We invested a lot of money for decades. Over the years, those investments kept doubling in value, over and over. Now that we're retired, our "spendable income" is much higher than it was when we were both working.
When the pension, Social Security, and retirement account distributions are added up, it's about the same as our two high income jobs. But the mortgage is paid off. We don't have to save money for our retirement, since we're already retired. We no longer have a state income tax to pay, since we moved to Florida, which has no state income tax.
However, there are other costs which are higher in Florida, such as CCD fees for the community and HOA fees. The property taxes are higher, plus there's pool maintenance fees and other pool expenses, lawn mowing fees, shrub trimming fees, and more traveling when traveling opens up more. Those other costs improve the quality of life. Other people maintain our property instead of us doing the work. Paying those workers helps improve their quality of life, and frees us from that manual labor.
We're not rich, since rich people fly in private jets, and we can't ever afford that luxury. Maybe when we get older, we'll consider flying in first class, instead of in economy. We don't have to worry about money. We're used to living well below our means for decades, so sometimes, it's hard to get used to spending more money on things. But you can't take the money with you when you pass away.
What is the maximum Social Security benefit? The most an individual who files a claim for Social Security retirement benefits in 2021 can receive per month is: $3,895 for someone who files at age 70. $3,148 for someone who files at full retirement age (currently 66 and 2 months).
Those differences are somewhat deceiving. If you are 66/2, your age 70 amount is much much higher, since it is a 2025 amount, probably more like $4300/mo, since the next COLA increase alone is almost a $200/mo bump.
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