How far down would you spend your assets? (financial advisor, yelling, gifted)
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What a fascinating life! Thanks for sharing it. When the SHTF, well you will be ready. Talk about a well rounded life. We are trying to go 100% solar however never will be able to due to the snow. It provides some opportunities such as cross country skiing but overall, is likely more than a negative than a plus.
However the house was inexpensive and it's nice so can't complain. Happy Sunday to you
In our town, every home has at least one generator. The power grid goes down a lot. People who insist they want electricity all month long, every month, will end up typically spending a lot of cash on generator fuel. When we moved here, I was marking on my calendar which days our grid power was down. After fifteen years, I quit. Because there had never been a single month without a power outage.
Our vision includes that we do not want to be as dependant on petroleum. So we decided that we would go with solar power, instead of generators.
My idea of to low is spending about 30-35% to delay .others may have different levels.
Of course no one has to wait the full 8 years either but usually when we talk how much is safe to spend down it refers to waiting to 70 .
And in my opinion , that is the normal draw you would take plus the ss you aren’t getting . So if they were planning to take 20k a year from the portfolio and 20k in ss they need to draw 40k while waiting not just the ss amount
I never recommend someone delay if they retire early and have to wait 8 years to first enjoy the first penny or they have to live a reduced lifestyle waiting 8 years for ss to kick in .
Of course not everyone sees things my way
Right...the fact is, I'd be getting so much less at 62 that I WOULD have to lower my standard of living if I refused to take anything out of my own accounts! And I refuse to do that...I mean I could take SS and also from my accounts but when I look at the huge increase in both percentage and actual dollars by waiting...
I've run the calculations looking at my balances both ways, and yes by accounting for needing to take out that money and not getting investment returns on it. I do come out ahead, just a little further down the road and if I die sooner I don't frankly care.
I try VERY hard to not make judgments about people that I do not know, unless the judgments are are based on info I know to be true, but I will say this:
My experience has taught me that, in general, those who love to live in the country on middle or modest incomes are vastly different in SO many ways from those who have large incomes and love to live in the city (or a wealthy suburb).
However, this doesn't mean that one is "better" than the other, but just different.
P.S. And I very much like the posts by both Submariner and Mathjak -- although I admit that I do envy Mathjak just for his financial knowledge.
But this would apply to advice for any plan, so again it isn't very useful argument against a given one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107
I would never let the tax tail control the tax dog which is our life.
One is always choosing to let something else control it, be it market returns or whatever. I appreciate your thoughts here but I'm just curious if you have done anything with the math of it instead of nuances of sentiments. ACA subsidy limits aren't that significant since of the 8 years only 3 of them would be pre-Medicare, and subsidy limits fall within spending requirements and 0% tax tiers.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charlygal
This scenario changes if one is single and with no heirs. zin that case, my answer would be none. I'd take the reduced SS at age 65 since the monthly payment difference in two small to justify spending down accumulated assets.
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Scenario also changes with non-working spouse. (No SS accrual).
The longer you wait to claim you are missing 1.5x payments.
Longevity of one or both, other sources of income, end of life giving objectives....
The friends I have who drew early, had little choice (minimal investments + a need to retire early, usual to provide care for others). 10+ yrs later, most wish they had more income. (Not unusual for those in low income / asset realm).
Skimping is a very personal choice, and likely not viewed similarly. We have all had friends who live and spend differently than ourselves. That's fine.. A very special couple to us, drove economy cars so they could give excesses away, including driving 'lumpy' for 4 yrs (a car that survived a rollover down a cliff on their driveway).. we patched it up, as it ran find (but had a few leaks due to our our 120" rain / year). These people didn't count that as skimping. I don't consider our $100/ month grocery and entertainment budget as skimping. We eat well and have a lot of fun entertainment. Spouse really likes to give $$ away for world hunger and human trafficking. That's fine, I don't mind missing a few meals to contribute to spouse's passion. All our estate is destined to perpetual gifting.
Memorable trips, we take them frequently, often a few times / month.
Round-the-world trip?... Ours was not expensive. We were gone for a year... Basically the same cost as staying home. We needed someone around the house to care for plants, pets, livestock, home, pay bills, get mail..... So we rented out our furnished daylight basement to a single friend that covered our home expenses.
Do plan and spend noting your abilities, desires, and future health and financial changes. I recently got a mis-prescribed medication and have been unexpectedly laid up for over 4 months. It may be a permanent condition that significantly changes my abilities.
Enjoy and spend while you can.
Create a sustainable cash flow, adjust as necessary (hopefully increasing your spending).
Say, you don't suppose it has anything to do with KTM'S or Husky's?
If so, it still might have been worth it!
Ha, I’ve come close one time. 5 days in intensive care, 2 months off work. But I got back on the bike as soon as I could kick over the motor. It’s in my blood to ride fast, 61 and I haven’t learned my lesson.
I can fully understand the idea of spending the profits, interest and dividends that your assets provide. But I have never understood the rationale to spend down your assets.
I did the math.
a. I compared the scenario of me starting my SS benefit at age 62, and how much I would get total from that date until I turn 80.
b. Then I did the math to sum how much I would get if I started my SS benefit starting at my FRA [66years and 10months].
c. And lastly I did the math to sum how much I would get if I started my SS benefit at age 70.
With all three scenarios, I would get the same amount, in total. There is only a very tiny difference between these scenarios.
There is no advantage to waiting that I can see.
Because of this, I started my SS benefit at age 62. Only twenty years after I retired
I think this is a pretty interesting point. I’ve actually never done the math, but to me it makes complete sense that you got similar aggregate numbers regardless of the age you started. I’m sure the science is not quite perfect, but actuarially (if that is a word), social security is designed to provide the same level of total benefits regardless of when one starts receiving them. For any individual, that may not be true, but it should more or less be true when aggregated across lots of people. I think there is something to be said for factoring in your anticipated life expectancy, possibly drawing down 401K assets while one still gets the benefit of married filing jointly in lieu of deferring social security etc. but in the end, since we don’t know how long we (or our spouse) will live, we don’t know with certainty future income tax rates, rmd ages, etc. I think one could make a reasonable argument that it doesn’t really matter when you begin drawing social security benefits. You probably more or less end up in the same place at the end.
Silent heart attacks. No symptoms, nothing. Just wham, hits and they were dead.
Oh wow, that's rough. Thanks for the answer
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