60+ year old thread.

Why schedule me for an 8:30 appointment, yet tell me I have to be there by 8:00 Why not just tell me my appointment is 8:00....

 

Thanks. So what has been the main investment engine for the SS money taken early? You can be risky and lucky and make a good return or safe and not a good return. My calculations didn't include investing the early SS money.

 

Wow. Congrats on retiring at 52. I had always planned on going at 57 because that's when I would be able to start collecting my pension without penalty. My wife was furious that I was going to do that. Now 6 years later and I don't really care for my job anymore. It's not a total waste because my pension went from 60% (30 years) to 72% (36 years). It's time to go even if my wife hates it.

 

Good advice. Yes, I have thought about what to do. I'm a tinkerer big time. I love building and remodeling. I have a friend that wants me to work with his remodeling business doing light electrical, plumbing, finish work, and tiling. He figures about 20 hours a week. In addition, my kids both own homes and are always wanting a little work done. (A "Hey dad" is $100 ). I'm involved in church and non-church volunteer work and could do more of it. While I love to golf and fish I don't see doing that everyday but at least more often. I live within 10 min of a good golf course and a half hour to the good fly-fishing spots. I don't see myself getting bored.

 

Why does your wife get furious about you retiring? Have you asked her?

 

Over the last 40 years my investments have averaged between 7% and 8% return so I use that.

 

She is scared. She thinks my income will be cut by 28% but can't grasp that so many other cost go away or down. I have another spreadsheet that I've shown her with our expenses currently vs post retirement. So many things go away like FICA, health insurance (because I have the paid up sick time benefit), Fed and State tax rates are reduced, and even fuel and food just going to work. She doesn't believe that it can be true but it is! I do the bills and finance in the family and probably should have made her understand it better. I've been living on way less than my pension would bring in already. I have zero worries but she is terrified that we'll be living on beans and rice. I don't need SS to survive and would still be saving money but not as much. I didn't mention it before but I also have saved my vacation and vacation bank hours to the tune of 720 hours. That's like about a 1/3 year's income. That will offset the reduced income with a pension for 1.5 years but I'm not spending near that much.

Who knows what can happen in the future though ??? Emergencies can hit at any time. Maybe my truck will get totaled and I'll have to spend $50K on a new one. Maybe something in the house will break and cause $1000s in damage. Maybe I or my wife will get Alzheimer's and need expensive long term care. Maybe something will happen to my kids or grand-kids that will need my help.

 

Well if you are likely to replace your truck with a 50K vehicle I can see why she might be afraid. Like I said... debt is your enemy in retirement.

 

Maybe afraid you will ruin her day hanging around home all the time? I have been working with my wife for 37 years in fact she was my boss at one place I did their electrical repairs for around 5 years. It was Eddie Bauers where she worked. We were self-employed for so many years when I retired there was not much of a change seeing each other. Were lucky we can spend 24 hours a day with each other and still get along. There are lots of couples that can't do that!! My home is paid for, both on social security plus I am 100% Service-Connected VA Disabled so Healt Care covered along with hers but that is it for income! Paying on a $50K 2022 Taco but only owe $20K left. Just do it can't be scared of everything just you could die a couple years into the retirement and all the plans were for nothing. Enjoy life I love being retired now so as I please pretty much at 70-year-old! Sorta retired at 45 years and only did side jobs least I called them that.

 

I'm going @ 65, 63 now. I got divorced almost 11 years ago. Started over with my toolbox, a 7yo Taco, a 12yo motorcycle and my SS and pension. No savings, no house and just having started a new career, making just over half of what I had previously made. I'm now making more than double what I was making 11 years ago (and more than my previous career), bought and paid off a new Taco (4 years ago), and a new bike (3 years ago).

Put my head down, dumped every penny I could into my 401(k) as soon as it was an option. Caught a break on purchasing the duplex I live in. I still have a considerable mortgage balance but it's going down fairly quick as I'm making almost double payments. My tenant's rent pays my property taxes and about half of my normal mortgage payment. My 401(k) is nearly where I was before the divorce. The plan is to be debt free except for the mortgage within about 20 months. Savings aren't where I'd like but I am making progress steadily.

Seven years ago I started drawing my pension from the previous career, at a greatly reduced rate. The reasoning behind taking it as early as I did is that it's projected to go belly-up about 15-18 months from now. If it doesn't, and all things stay the same, I'll be almost 80 before I go backwards, assuming only moderate gains in the IRA that the money is going into. If it does go belly-up as projected, I'll already have a good chunk already in the bank, drawing interest. Supposedly, the federal government will step in when the pension goes insolvent but I'm not holding my breath.

The penalty for not waiting for full SS isn't worth waiting for. I've known too many people who either didn't make it to retirement age or dropped over within months of. The money from the early draw of my pension will help offset. I won't be rolling in money but I won't be a pauper either. Considering where I was 11 years ago, I'm doing OK. Right now, my biggest unknown is what Medicare is going to cost but what I'm hearing from people, it shouldn't be too bad.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!

Not much to add to the retirement discussion other than if your plan is to bankroll your SS, then it makes more sense to take it now since even moderately successful investments should greatly outpace the difference of what you'd be getting if you waited.

I also don't have the same aversion to (managed) debt that others have. Again, why lose the compounding interest benefit of investing your money just to pay off debt if you can earn more than the interest you pay on the loan? Lynn and I have refinanced our home several times and our current payment is under $300/month. If we died at this point, our son would only sell the property and he'd still make a significant profit given its current value vs. what we owe, plus our life insurance. At this point, we pay on the house and my truck. The truck will be paid off in 2 years and the house...maybe not until we decide to sell or we die. Unmanageable debt IS bad. Managed debt, IMHO, isn't. If I can get a low interest loan on something - or a Zero interest loan for X months - I'll always go for it and keep our funds invested rather than lose the time value of the investment. But, that's just our approach and YMMV.

Our son has also been very good about planning for his own retirement and is in an excellent retirement planning/investing position for his age so we don't worry too much about leaving him a huge inheritance. We joke that we are members of the SKI Club - Spend (the) Kids' Inheritance.

Life is short. Take the money.

 

Good Morning Porch Peoples! This is what early Spring ought to look like! I guess February wanted to go down as Winter this year - without questions! Got most of the stuff I intended to done, which was nothing big. Got another antenna on the way to check out - highest rated among the bunch. Only other work worth a photo was polishing off the little plants under the front spigot. More of the same today!

 

Morning all:

Not quite Bob, but sometimes they will howl or bark if using coyote vocals.

 

I wouldn't go in debt for a vehicle anymore. I do have a desire to buy new vehicles now and that's about what they cost.

 

Good morning all.

You have all given me a lot of good ideas on retirement. THANK YOU. Please enjoy yours and hopefully in a few months I'll be checking in daily from the porch/patio.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!

Made two trips to the metal recyclers yesterday, ran the truck through the touchless car wash to blow off the brine they put on our roads, then washed the truck's mats in our big walk-in shower we have in the laundry room. For dinner, we had another awesome meal out the college's student-run restaurant.

A cold day today and then we hit some days with 50s and 60s. Definite signs of an early spring here.

 

Morning

ice fishing tomorrow..

 

I used to have that thermometer!

Good Morning Porch Pfriends! Foggy start for a gonna be warm day (80*s), but a little cloudy. Just cleaned the back yard up, and wore ourselves out yesterday - it's tough getting old. But I came in and the stacking chairs and chaise lounge for the pool were finally back in stock at Academy. Happy Birthday dear! Our fabric had finally rotted out and the end of the summer, and no one sold the chairs anymore. Yeah, you can replace the fabric - at 5 times the cost of a chair! I'll recycle the aluminum, and almost break even! No pics, but made the wife a small retaining wall to separate rocks from a garden (rocks run wild she says), and stuck a tiny solar fan on the umbrella stalk. Which, I realized will make it not possible to lower the umbrella! These aren't really picture worthy items, but the yard looks clean again, and I bet grass will be green by the end of the month. So go get chairs today, do some putz, and we might even go downtown for a drink on First Friday!