How Closely Do You Monitor Your 401k / Retirement

[soccerdad72]

Why do you say that? All those miles fall within established mileage ranges with auto insurers, so there are enough other people driving those ranges to justify those classifications. My dad was a salesman he drove about 100,000 a year, so it all averages out.

Averaging 3-4K miles per year is way outside the norm for most drivers.

 

[DLgal]

It sucks, right? My biggest stressor while still working is stuff breaking in my home. It’s a stressor because these expenses aren’t cheap. For example, I went on a Disney Cruise. When I came back home, the main water line to my home had burst. I ended up having to replace it after trying to have it patched twice. The builder had used a material now known to degrade. FML. It’s stuff like that that I fear in retirement.

Things like this are why it is beginning increasingly popular for retirees to rent rather than own. I just read an article about that. This is a big reason why we rent as well...owning a home is much more expensive than just the cost of the house itself, whereas our rent is several thousand dollars less a month than those expenses would be if weowned a home. We have had some things break in a home that we rent that is less than 5 years old already. A quick call to our landlord and it's out of our hands. That is priceless to me.

 

[DLgal]

Averaging 3-4K miles per year is way outside the norm for most drivers.

That's what I do. I'm a stay at home mom and generally just run around town. I average 50 miles a week. My car is almost 13 years old and doesn't even have 85k miles yet, and its only up that high because it was driven across the country 4 times, and drove up and down the east coast twice.

We are a family of 4 with 2 kids. So, I consider us pretty average.

 

[RamblingMad]

Things like this are why it is beginning increasingly popular for retirees to rent rather than own. I just read an article about that. This is a big reason why we rent as well...owning a home is much more expensive than just the cost of the house itself, whereas our rent is several thousand dollars less a month than those expenses would be if weowned a home. We have had some things break in a home that we rent that is less than 5 years old already. A quick call to our landlord and it's out of our hands. That is priceless to me.

The problem with renting is that the price keeps going up. When I graduated university, I could rent a one bedroom apartment for $650. Now, it’ll cost me $1400 to rent the equivalent apartment today. And that is less than 20 years ago. If I start renting at 65 and live to be 95, I would expect my rent to more than double over retirement. And I would expect to move multiple times.

 

[DLgal]

The problem with renting is that the price keeps going up. When I graduated university, I could rent a one bedroom apartment for $650. Now, it’ll cost me $1400 to rent the equivalent apartment today. And that is less than 20 years ago. If I start renting at 65 and live to be 95, I would expect my rent to more than double over retirement. And I would expect to move multiple times.

The price of houses keeps going up too. As do property taxes, homeowners insurance rates, the cost of labor, materials and repairs. Everything goes up. The cost of a new roof today is significantly higher than it was 20 years ago too.

And if you find a decent landlord, your rent doesn't go up that much. We negotiated with our landlord initially, bringing her down $250/month from the asking price. She has since raised our rent $50 and we are halfway through our second 3 year term. So, by year 6, we will still be paying well under "market value." And this is a very high demand housing rental market, in a very high COL area.

There are deals to be had as renters, you just have to be savvy. Our rent is basically double what JUST the property tax is on this place.

We got a similar deal on the house we rented for 4 years in VA.

 

[ThistleMae]

The problem with renting is that the price keeps going up. When I graduated university, I could rent a one bedroom apartment for $650. Now, it’ll cost me $1400 to rent the equivalent apartment today. And that is less than 20 years ago. If I start renting at 65 and live to be 95, I would expect my rent to more than double over retirement. And I would expect to move multiple times.

I found this to be the case as well. Rents are getting to be very expensive. I do know that many older folks sell their homes and move into apartments, or condo's or town houses. Lots of times it has to do with house maintenance chores, and not wanting to shovel snow or rake leaves or cut grass any longer. So making the decision to sell or rent will really depend on the trends in your area, the age of your house, what you anticipate in repairs and property tax assessments in your area. I added an apartment to my home to help defray costs. For me, renting would definitely be more expensive, even speculating what costs may arise on this home. That being said, I'm still responsible for all those chores I really don't want to do any more.

 

[RamblingMad]

I found this to be the case as well. Rents are getting to be very expensive. I do know that many older folks sell their homes and move into apartments, or condo's or town houses. Lots of times it has to do with house maintenance chores, and not wanting to shovel snow or rake leaves or cut grass any longer. So making the decision to sell or rent will really depend on the trends in your area, the age of your house, what you anticipate in repairs and property tax assessments in your area. I added an apartment to my home to help defray costs. For me, renting would definitely be more expensive, even speculating what costs may arise on this home. That being said, I'm still responsible for all those chores I really don't want to do any more.

When I’m no longer able to do stuff around my home, I’ll move into assisted living.

And there are communities where HOA fees cover all of the yard work.

 

[tvguy]

Averaging 3-4K miles per year is way outside the norm for most drivers.

Not sure if this is available nationwide but there is an insurance company here in California called Metromile. You pay $29 a month plus 6 cents a mile. There entire business model is that the average driver drives 5,400 miles a year, and that most driver less than 10,000 miles

 

[RamblingMad]

Not sure if this is available nationwide but there is an insurance company here in California called Metromile. You pay $29 a month plus 6 cents a mile. There entire business model is that the average driver drives 5,400 miles a year, and that most driver less than 10,000 miles

And call your insurance company to to see if you can get a premium discount for driving less.

The retired folks I know drive more retired than when they worked. They’re always road tripping somewhere. And some are pulling RVs too. So they spend more on gas. Folks are just in better shape at older ages these days.

 

[soccerdad72]

Not sure if this is available nationwide but there is an insurance company here in California called Metromile. You pay $29 a month plus 6 cents a mile. There entire business model is that the average driver drives 5,400 miles a year, and that most driver less than 10,000 miles

Not sure where they get their numbers from, but it's really low:

https://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/average-miles-driven-per-year-by-state.aspx

 

[Searc]

Not sure if this is available nationwide but there is an insurance company here in California called Metromile. You pay $29 a month plus 6 cents a mile. There entire business model is that the average driver drives 5,400 miles a year, and that most driver less than 10,000 miles

Sure, if everything you would ever need is within a 5 mile radius.

 

[mrodgers]

Not sure if this is available nationwide but there is an insurance company here in California called Metromile. You pay $29 a month plus 6 cents a mile. There entire business model is that the average driver drives 5,400 miles a year, and that most driver less than 10,000 miles

Those numbers must be specific to urban area. Average in the US I thought to be 14,000 miles.

I put more miles on a year than many city people say they have on their 5+ year old cars. My car is 2.5 years old and has 50,000 miles on it and I cut a lot of driving out compared to when I was married and living further out in the country.

 

[tvguy]

Those numbers must be specific to urban area. Average in the US I thought to be 14,000 miles.

I put more miles on a year than many city people say they have on their 5+ year old cars. My car is 2.5 years old and has 50,000 miles on it and I cut a lot of driving out compared to when I was married and living further out in the country.

Seems high to me. In California, home of the car, they track mileage when your cars are smog checked and they figure right around 11, 500 a year, which fits insurance brackets that generally charge excess fees over 12,000 miles a year.

 

[Searc]

Seems high to me. In California, home of the car, they track mileage when your cars are smog checked and they figure right around 11, 500 a year, which fits insurance brackets that generally charge excess fees over 12,000 miles a year.

We just switched our car insurance to Allstate. Their yearly average mileage is 15,000. Don't compare any urban area to the rest of the US.

 

[Kennywood]

"I had a friend who was so dumb, he heard that most accidents occur within 3 miles of home...so he moved."

 

[tvguy]

And call your insurance company to to see if you can get a premium discount for driving less.

The retired folks I know drive more retired than when they worked. They’re always road tripping somewhere. And some are pulling RVs too. So they spend more on gas. Folks are just in better shape at older ages these days.

I do get a premium discount. My wife's car has 141,000 miles on it and is 20 years old so falls below the 7,500 mile per year bracket. My car had 29,000 miles on it when I bought it, it has 105,000 on it now and I have had it 12 years so at 6,250 a year so that also falls into the the 5,000 to 7,500 bracket. And our "weekend car" we have had 1 1/2 years, it has 9,200 miles on it so at 6200 miles a year it falls into the 5,000 to 7,500 mile bracket, but that cars premiums just went up because the car it replaced was driven about 3,500 miles a year, so it got bumped up from the 3,000 to 5,000 mile bracket. And my 65 is insured for 500 miles per yet.

 

[tvguy]

We just switched our car insurance to Allstate. Their yearly average mileage is 15,000. Don't compare any urban area to the rest of the US.

I'm Allstate and my agent says 12,000 is the top end of their average bracket.

 

[Searc]

I'm Allstate and my agent says 12,000 is the top end of their average bracket.

YOUR agent. MY agent says in WI, 15,000 is the yearly average.

 

[tvguy]

The retired folks I know drive more retired than when they worked. They’re always road tripping somewhere. And some are pulling RVs too. So they spend more on gas. Folks are just in better shape at older ages these days.

That's interesting. I am planning for retirement and our financial adviser's software says most retired folks drive less, so my current auto cost is predicted to drop. I know my mom's driving dropped by 2/3 when she retired.

 

[tvguy]

Sure, if everything you would ever need is within a 5 mile radius.

Well other than work, just about everything is within about 2 miles.