Money matters ?

[bigdog]

Thanks to everyone for all the great dialogue here !

Investment thoughts....
I'm thinking pork-bellies and frozen concentrated orange juice:
Call me 'Louis Winthorpe III'- from the movie 'Trading places', they made a killing $$$ !

Serious: I agree with MAXUM on a similar point....
The best investment I have ever made is my little slice of heaven in Gilford !
That money spent on the property, has brought me much happiness.

[Barney Bear]

In 1967, We bought our place on East Bear Island before we purchased our first house. Many family and friends have shared wonderful times on East Bear Island. Best investment ever! It is now in trust for the following generation to enjoy. 🐻

[neckdweller]

Originally Posted by bigdog

Thanks to everyone for all the great dialogue here !

Investment thoughts....
I'm thinking pork-bellies and frozen concentrated orange juice:
Call me 'Louis Winthorpe III'- from the movie 'Trading places', they made a killing $$$ !

Sell Mortimer, sell!!!

I'm 48 and planning on pulling the pin on full time work in about 10 years. Through my current employer's 401k and rollovers from previous companies I'm invested almost exclusively in growth funds - international, small/mid cap, S&P500 index and a target fund. Even though I will leave the full time workforce in 10 years, I'm not planning on touching those tax deferred accounts until I have to.

To help delay that process I'm investing my taxable savings in a couple different ways including a basket of dividend growth stocks. This site has done a ton of the work that helps me filter out companies that have a history of increasing dividends, shows payout ratios, dividend growth rates, etc. Buying these stocks and reinvesting the dividends leads to a nice compounding effect and while the stocks will get hit during a market downturn they tend to hold up better than others.

I've got a goal number for both the tax deferred and taxable accounts. When they are both at that number I will feel comfortable deciding to walk away. To figure out what those numbers were the first thing I had to do was come up with a budget. For me this was the toughest thing. X factors like health insurance, will you travel more, not having a mortgage, eliminating the hidden costs of working like commuting were difficult for me since my wife and I don't have a true budget that we put on paper now.

Once you're comfortable with your budgeted spending you have to figure out if your income streams will cover it. One of the often touted (and sometimes argued about) numbers is that you can withdraw 4% of your retirement nest egg and you will not deplete it for at least 30 years. Obviously there are many factors that impact that calculation - market returns, timing of taking the money out, how the money is invested, etc. If that 3 or 4% withdrawal coupled with other income (SS, pension, etc.) meets your budget needs you're probably further ahead than the majority of Americans so raise a glass and have a toast to yourself!

[Biggd]

It's always nice to have a plan but somehow life gets in the way and the plan goes off course. It could be for many reasons, the worst being health issues. We never know what lies ahead so try and enjoy life along the way.
I think the best investment I've ever made has been in family. I put all three of my kids through private schools then college with no loans and they all have great lives with great jobs making more money than I ever made. I have 4 wonderful grand children and hopefully more to come. That makes me feel like I've accomplished my goals. There were sacrifices along the way but it was well worth it. I always thought I would retire early but I'm 63 now and I have no regrets. Now I'm just waiting for Medicare to kick in and I'm done. My wife and I have worked hard our whole lives. Now it's our time and the lake house is calling us full time. No regrets!

[Rich]

Interesting thread.

I feel I'm about 0 to 3 years from retiring, so I've been doing a lot of research also.

Lately I'm wondering, how much would be needed to retire here in NH.

If there are no debts, what would it cost for health care, electric, heat, food, etc. Of course home taxes vary based on what and where you own.

Lately I've been looking at http://www.firecalc.com as it seems to be a good indicator of what could happen to a portfolio based on history , but who knows as it's just a different type of crystal ball, but at least it isn't trying to sell you something.

It seems to be related to http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ which has a lot of like minded people.

There is also www.bogleheads.org which is also interesting.

So how much of a nest egg do you think someone needs in NH to retire at the age of late 50's to 60 years of age and not have to worry about ever working again ? 500Ķ, 1M, 2M, 3M.... more? Less? Or does the amount vary too much depending on the individual?

[ITD]

A pretty good rule of thumb used by many planners is that if you are properly invested (savings and cds don't apply here) you should be able to spend 4% of your portfolio annually pretty much forever. So probably a good estimate would be to figure your annual income required, subtract ss and pension income, then divide that amount by 0.04. For instance, let's say you need $50,000 per year cash to live comfortably, you have no pension and you get $1,600 per month SS. So $50,000 - ($1600*12) = $30,800 Divide that amount by 0.04 (4%) $30,800/0.04= $770,000. So $770,000 properly invested should be enough for that particular income. Where it becomes tricky is planning for inflation.

* Disclaimer, my advice and interpretation is worth exactly what you paid for it.

[jeffk]

What also gets tricky is when one spouse dies. You lose one SS. If you have pensions are they set up to transfer to the surviving spouse? If not, you may all of a sudden have a huge income gap. You may want to carry life insurance on one or the other or both to cover that loss of income. or at least mitigate it. That's an extra expense but provides stability of income at the time of death of one spouse. Sometimes a pension can be adjusted to continue to pay to a spouse at the pensioners death but that reduces the pension paid. The reduction may not be worth it and instead it may be better to carry a life insurance policy and just let the pension lapse at death.

And through it all the only certainty is that things will change in directions you never anticipated.

[Biggd]

My wife and I just went to a social security seminar last night. They are always trying to sell you their services at these seminars but there was no pressured sales pitch at this one. I did pick up some very good points so it was well worth the $18 and 2-1/2 hours spent. My wife is turning 62 and I'm turning 63 in a few weeks. We are both planning on retiring at 65 when our Medicare kicks in. One tip that I feel works well for us is for me to postpone taking my social security until 70 and use my IRA, my wife's 401K, plus her social security money to support our retirement years from 65 to 70 even if it means drawing down those funds. This way I maximize my social security check and if I pass on before her she still gets my maximum survivors benefit. It also lessons my tax bill as my minimum required distributions will be less after 70 1/2. Obviously you need a substantial retirement account to do this but it will work well for us. As far as investments are concerned, he just recomended that this is a time to take some profits and be conservative.

[Woody38]

Sorry, I never heard of a social security seminar. Sounds like a way to make some money. Everything ne needs to know is easily found in short time on the computer for free. A visit to the local SS administration office will provide one with the specific information for an individual.
Being a retired healthcare professional I really find disfavor with members of a profession always looking to make money of other members.

I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic.

[Biggd]

Originally Posted by Woody38

Sorry, I never heard of a social security seminar. Sounds like a way to make some money. Everything ne needs to know is easily found in short time on the computer for free. A visit to the local SS administration office will provide one with the specific information for an individual.
Being a retired healthcare professional I really find disfavor with members of a profession always looking to make money of other members.

I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic.

I've never hired a financial advisor and never will but any tips that I can get from a basically free seminar is always helpful. Yes, everything is free on the social security website but understanding all that's available and putting it to work in the proper order can mean the difference in thousands of dollars being left on the table. What I've found is people that think they know everything usually know nothing.

[BroadHopper]

I did well with a number of DOD stocks, especially LMT. Now that I am retired and would like more income, I rolled the stocks into 6% minimum annuities tied to S&P 500 point to point. The 6% is enough annual income to complement my pension and SS. Just be careful how you roll your money because the IRS is very greedy!

[Biggd]

It's not a "one size fits all" solution. Everyone has different money situations that require different solutions. That's why, just going on the social security website and, reading what's offered is not the only solution for everyone. There are tax implications that will come into play for some, as in my case, that the social security website can't help you with.