60+ year old thread.

I had a good day.

After a couple of days spent building my barn doors, separated by some damn cold weather for about a week, I got them hung today. My wife is a girly-girl but also brave and loyal and a little bit crazy... and I coached her through being my helper... and she was a trooper. Heavy, large, and awkward, the doors are hung and with any luck at all we can get the floor poured soon.



The ground here is thawing and for some reason it is really mushy. I've never seen it so soft. Maybe it's thawed on top and the frozen ground below is keeping the moisture at the surface? It's really weird.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!

I spent a few hours converting our new dryer to a side vent. It is listed as being able to vent 4 ways...and it technically is. Unfortunately, to get easy access basically requires you to dismantle the dryer since there is no removable assess panel. You either have to work through the knock-outs or remove the entire exterior of the washer....and, of course, they provide no directions. Finally, got it done by working through the rear and side knock-outs. What a chore. i also learned that many new dryers require water connections to go with the steam function. That was an easy adjustment.

I then finally got around to installing the rear footwell lights in the Tacoma. Easy to do and I like the "tactical" red light look.

STay safe!

 

Good morning. Looking for new shoes for the 2018 TRD Pro. Any off roading is on worn dirt roads. Have snow tires for the next few years then retiring, so looking for good in wet weather and dry highway and good tread wear and low noise Live in CT and after these snow tires wear out will be using in winter. Thanks for replies.

 

Our dryer.

 

Those things are Stupid expensive now

 

You know pics are required, right?

Good Morning Porch Pals and Gals! Another sunny day with warming temps to enjoy. Find stuff to do that I can claim as accomplishments. I did do a lot of little things yesterday, and let the handyman do his thing for me. A little more than I expected, but then I was going to offer some teen "quick bucks", and my idea of bucks probably not quite the same anymore!

@pudge, I am happy with my Toyo Open Country ATII - I got them for basically the same described reasons. Snow? We park at home! Use the Discount Tire link here and message for special pricing on anything though.

 

I know a guy that digs trenches for electric, water, etc.. says the frostline is about 13-14" right now in his area, SW OH. Not bad considering. A warmup can actually push it deeper short term. If the warm continues long enough, it will overtake it and start to rise. He says he's seen 18" early June. IDK.

 

Morning all:
My buddy and I TRIED to call a coyote in this morning, no luck!

 

Another little stubby fails the test.


5 stations I could even preset. Put the OEM back on, and was at 10 before I even hit preset 2. Too bad, looks good! It's just a car wash thing, but I still want to get all the stations out there I never listen to.

 

Yeah, we got a few in thrift shops, and upgraded as we got better ones.
But, cheaper than dryer costs...

 

WARNING: Kind of long and there's math involved!

So I've been thinking AGAIN about retirement. As a starting point I should mention that I have a pension. I'll have worked for 36 years for state government and the pension is the average highest 3 years of salary times 2% for each year worked. That's a 72% of my income. Plus I get built in yearly COLA based on the inflation rate capped at 4% a year max. I have zero debt. Kids are grown, educated, gone, married, have jobs and own homes. I'll be 63 in 2 months. My wife just turned 63. I never really went hog wild on retirement savings because I have the pension. With a pension I don't have millions in a nest egg to live off of. That last statement is a little unique to me vs. most other retired people and is why I wanted some opinions from those that are retired or close to it.

Let's talk about collecting Social Security. I've often thought that since I don't have a huge nest egg to live off the interest, it also means that I don't have a huge sum of money for inheritance. I do love my 2 kids and grandkids and would like to leave them something that will help when my wife and I are both planted or baked well done. For this reason I thought I might collect SSA early and pack it away. If I were to get run over by a bus I would have more to leave my kids. My wife will collect my pension until she dies if I die first. I don't really need SSA to survive because of pension, some savings, and also a pretty good payout of my saved sick time. I should mention that many people have to wait to retire until Medicare kicks in. I knew about that decades ago and saved 10+ years of paid up health insurance. I never took sick time but instead vacation when I got sick. I knew the value of the banked sick time early in my career. I don't need to worry about health insurance and even have enough to buy about 7 years of supplemental insurance past Medicare.

Today I spent an hour making a spreadsheet that I can put in SSA benefit if I filed today (or my wife's) and it will populate all the cells with the future SSA benefits. I attached it to this post. While the math isn't exact, it's darn close because my full retirement age is just shy of 67. I'm rounding my full retirement age to 67 for arguments sake. Retirement planning is easier if you know exactly how long you and/or your spouse will live. My grandparents and parents live(d) into their mid 90's and I'm pretty healthy so far. There are so many whacked out SSA rules about spousal benefits. My wife's own SSA benefit is less than half of mine because she spent many years not working while raising the kids. The spousal benefit is a decision that has to be made before either of us dies.

Looking at the chart I put in a sample number of $1,000 a month. You can find your amount on the SS website. You can see that at 67 there's $66,667 saved. There's also a number of 12.78 years from starting to collect at 67 to break even. This means that if someone my age collected at the normal retirement age vs. 62, they would be almost 81 before making up the $66,667 with the larger yearly amount. Now I'm thinking about waiting until full retirement age to apply only because I hope to live past 81. It doesn't matter how much your monthly benefit amount is because the math is still the same with regards to years to break even. I'm not taking into account any investing of the saved amount.

If you need or want the money now because of debt, health, hate job, or other options, I totally get it. In 2018 54% of people took SSA at 62. At what age did you guys file or plan to file for SSA benefits and why?

 

60 is "young" old

 

Most of the issues in retiring concerning money is dealing with your expenses. If you live in a state with high property taxes and living expenses, and you have debt, then you are going to be spending everything on maintaining your standard of living.

If you live in a state with low living costs, have no debt, and you are used to being frugal, you can live easily on SS.

Our biggest monthly expense is $200 for supplemental insurance. I've had 2 cardiac ablations done at $80K each, and my wife has had both knees replaced. Fully covered by insurance, neither had any out-of-pocket expense.

I retired at 52 because I could. I had better things to do than work. I began collecting SS at 62 as did my wife. That was six+ years ago. I still got more than her even though she worked longer. Our combined SS is enough to live on and put away $500 a month as an average.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I haven't seen anything in retirement that would justify the scare financial planners put in people.

The trick is to live in the right place and be debt free, IMO... and remain debt free.

 

I'm pulling the rip cord 1st quarter next year.
Just got a new contract ratified last week and I'll have medical till I'm 65. I'll pay the monthly premium, of course, but it's a lot better than having to get my own medical.
This went away a couple contracts ago and never thought I'd see it again.
That said, I'll be 62 this Dec. and plan on collecting SS next Spring when I retire.
SS and my pension , and I should be in good shape.
That's not counting my 401 and savings.
Everything I own is paid in full and has been for years.

Next Spring, I'll have 40 years at my place of employment and that's enough.

Again, the medical with the new contract is a game changer for me.
Can't wait.

 

So I am 63 and my wife is 62. Both of us took SS when we reached 62 even though we do not need it due to our savings. Two main reasons:

--The first is that SS is under duress and sometime in the mid 2030's they look to have to cut benefits to about 75% of what you are due. The problem will be bigger and sooner if congress keeps increasing benefits without increasing taxes. There is some (good??) chance that congress and the president will pass a law by then to fix this shortfall but there is a chance they won't---sooo I consider that given this uncertainty, I devalued the amount of my future SS benefit by something (who knows what--your guess is as good as mine). In other words I am figuring that it won't be worth what it should be. The last time congress "fixed" social security was in the mid-1980's when they had a similar shortfall problem. Maybe they will again.

--The second reason is I DID take into account the earnings I would earn on the money by taking my SS 5 years before by age 67 "full retirement age". When you take this into account your break even date stretches into the 16 to 17 year range (beyond the age 67 Full retirement age-so I would be around 83 to 84 years old) versus the 12.8 you figured. Also even though I come from a long-lived family (into their mid 90's) maybe I will die early--so this possibility of early death also devalues what SS is worth--the more so, the later you take your SS benefits.

 

The problem is no one knows how long they are going to live. Life throws a lot of surprises at you. I have 2 friends who died within 2 years of retirement. Another friend of mine had a stroke at age 68 and died 6 months later. Another friend I was talking to this morning was just diagnosed with lung cancer (he never smoked), I think he’s 69. Unexpected shit happens as we get older. So I say collect the SS as soon as you can, as soon as you feel comfortable financially. If at first you don’t need the money then invest it or bank it for when you may need it. You’ll quickly have a nice nest egg. And if you do need it , it’s there.
As far as leaving $$ to kids and grand kids, worry about you and your wife first. You worked your whole life to get to this point, to enjoy retirement. Go out and live your life to the fullest, enjoy the hell out of retirement. Don’t scrimp just to leave $$ to your kids. If you had a special needs child that would be different. Plan your retirement for you and your spouse. If after you both pass there is money and assets left, then that can go to the kids.
Finally beyond financial planning you need to come up with what I call a personal social plan. In other words what do you plan to spend your time doing in retirement. If you don’t have hobbies and interests and plans and dreams your retirement will be boring, uninteresting and basically a failure. A neighbor of mine retired a couple years ago and had no real interests or hobbies. Said he planned to spend time with the grandkids and that as about it. Well he sees the grandkids every month or 2 for 30 minutes and spends the rest of the time sitting around the house watching tv. Another friend retired as a VP of an engineering company. He has no real outside interests. After 1.5 years of retirement he went back to work as a VP for another company. So make a list of all your interests, things you want to do in retirement and get started asap when you retire. Don’t put things and plans off. No one gets to the end of their life and says I wish I would have done less. Everyone wishes they would have done way more. Retirement can be the best time of your life or it can be a bore, just sitting around waiting to cross over the rainbow bridge.

 

Evening all:
Some good points being made.
I took SS at age 62, could have waited but also know too many people who never got to collect a penny or collected for only a minimum period of time.
Of course there are a lot of variables involved with the decision as for when to start taking SS, bottom line is that you can make ends meet and live comfortably in retirement with no monetary worries.

 

We never get one day or even one hour back, I figured this out way too late...

All 3 of the big keys are in your hands -- a guaranteed income, health care and zero debt.

You were smart enough to figure out the game early and played it well -- now get out and enjoy the benefits you earned, there is a lot of living to do when you get out of the office!


Edit: Unless you happen to be one of the lucky few who genuinely loves their job then stay at it as long as you wish -- however then you probably wouldn't have posed the question.

 

Annie would catch and "release" them.... they just weren't alive when she did

Start collecting it next month... 21 working days left!!! I want to collect some of the $57,000 my sister contributed and got not one single penny back!!! Although I did wait a year and 3 months to start collecting. My parents only lived to be 71, but grandparents, 3 of them, lived until over 77.