reaching a retirement savings goal

[aprilgail2]

Married to a fireman he plans on retiring in about 13 years, we have been doubling what is required for 10 years to make it.

friends and family think we are nuts because he will only be 55-56 years old.

the sad part is the avg retired firefighter dies around 67, from the over exposed to chemicals and off gassing, heart attack, etc

keep it up don't forget to enjoy life now too

They think he is nuts because they are not able to retire that young. People keep asking me, what are you going to do when you retire, sit around and wait to die? I just say, no, that is when I plan to START living!

As always I think it depends. My company just stopped offering pensions to new hires but us old folks, are grandfathered in. Basically we have a magic number. 85. Meaning your age plus time gas to equal 85.

Our magic number is 70 - you have to be 50 years old to go so you would need 20 years there- but if you put in the full 30 then the pension is more than double what it would be at 20- I hade PLANNED to go 2 years ago but when I ran the numbers it would have been stupid of me to go with 28 years rather than 30 so I stayed the 2 more years and now have 8 months to go.

 

[lauradis]

The minimum social security benefit is $804 a month, and then, only if he never made above minimum wage his entire life.

http://www.ssa.gov/retirementpolicy/program/special-minimum.html

nope i get the statement they have an agreement with the state for matching and will only receive half of the min amt., but require to pay in full amt.

if you ask me its discussing

 

[tvguy]

nope i get the statement they have an agreement with the state for matching and will only receive half of the min amt., but require to pay in full amt.

if you ask me its discussing

Social security is a mystery to me, sooo many twists and turns.

 

[kkmcan]

They think he is nuts because they are not able to retire that young. People keep asking me, what are you going to do when you retire, sit around and wait to die? I just say, no, that is when I plan to START living!
QUOTE]

What people don't realize is that's it very hard physically to be able to keep up with the job (firefighter, police) as you get into your 50's and 60's. Its not like they've been sitting around at a desk for 20-30 years.

That's why so many start a new or different job after they retire. Too young to retire, too old to still be able to do the job.

 

[eliza61]

Social security is a mystery to me, sooo many twists and turns.

Which if you think about it is really sad. The powers that be scream at us to "plan" for retirement and they make most of the planning vehicles hellashily hard to figure out.
Right now I'm trying to research my health care cost and long term care cost I'll have about 5 years I'll need to cover out of pocket. Jeez Louise! Middle East peace treaties are simpler

 

[tvguy]

Which if you think about it is really sad. The powers that be scream at us to "plan" for retirement and they make most of the planning vehicles hellashily hard to figure out.
Right now I'm trying to research my health care cost and long term care cost I'll have about 5 years I'll need to cover out of pocket. Jeez Louise! Middle East peace treaties are simpler

I have to be careful though, I got 10 years of survivors benefits as a kid after my dad passed away. Those are benefits, along with disability, that Congress said SS has to pay, but the system never was designed with a way to fund those payments.

 

[abmitch01]

healthcare is the thing that worries me. If I retire at 62 I won't have Medicare. Insurance will be expensive. And when I reach 65, medigap insurance I'm sure will be expensive, too.

At my job, if you worked 20 yrs, when you retired you could buy insurance at the group rate. Of course when I reached that goal, they stopped that practice. ugh

 

[aprilgail2]

healthcare is the thing that worries me. If I retire at 62 I won't have Medicare. Insurance will be expensive. And when I reach 65, medigap insurance I'm sure will be expensive, too. At my job, if you worked 20 yrs, when you retired you could buy insurance at the group rate. Of course when I reached that goal, they stopped that practice. ugh

At my job you get to keep your health insurance for free when you retire-that's the only way I could even think about retiring when I am!

 

[abmitch01]

OMG, you have a great job!

 

[crisi]

healthcare is the thing that worries me. If I retire at 62 I won't have Medicare. Insurance will be expensive. And when I reach 65, medigap insurance I'm sure will be expensive, too.

At my job, if you worked 20 yrs, when you retired you could buy insurance at the group rate. Of course when I reached that goal, they stopped that practice. ugh

The ACA helps a lot with this, since you may qualify for subsidies if your retirement income is low enough - even with retirement assets in place. And the ACA marketplace - at least in my state, has affordable non-subsidized options.

 

[abmitch01]

What is the ACA?

 

[havaneselover]

The ACA helps a lot with this, since you may qualify for subsidies if your retirement income is low enough - even with retirement assets in place. And the ACA marketplace - at least in my state, has affordable non-subsidized options.

Yeah it helps that older people can't be charged much of a premium over younger people.

We just got our new plans. My 25 year old male coworker saw his insurance double and it's now the same as mine (37 year old female). My premium didn't change but the new "better" plan which is compliant has a much higher deductible.

My favorite is we all are paying $6/month or $25/month for a family for pediatric dentistry even though we have a separate dental plan. Even the members without children.

 

[crisi]

What is the ACA?

Affordable care act - commonly known as "Obamacare."

For people who want to retire early, its a boon - since it makes health insurance affordable. Especially if your post retirement income will be at a subsidy level.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Wow, I have never seen an employer match higher than 3%. 6% would be awesome. My financial planner just shakes his head at my bizarre "conservative" 401k mix.. we have 20 fund options and company stock.....up 34% the past 12 months, averaging 16% over the last 8 years. It's a mix he says he would never ever recommend, but clearly it is working, but I did use the dart board method of picking the funds and percentages.

6% is t unusual, but not necessarily matching 1 for 1 at that level.

Example, my employer matches 1 for 1 through 3%, then .50 for 1 for the next 2%.

 

[eliza61]

Affordable care act - commonly known as "Obamacare."

For people who want to retire early, its a boon - since it makes health insurance affordable. Especially if your post retirement income will be at a subsidy level.

I'm investigating it since I'm a early retirement "wannabe". nothing has changed as far as health insurance on my job but my company has always used great benefits to attract candidates so the aca didn't really make any impact.

I plan on comparing cost to cover the gap between when I retire and when I'm eligible for Medicaid.

Even if I don't get a subsidy the fact that I'll be able to get insurance will be great. my kids will be off my plan in a few years so hopefully that will help the cost.

 

[tvguy]

6% is t unusual, but not necessarily matching 1 for 1 at that level.

Example, my employer matches 1 for 1 through 3%, then .50 for 1 for the next 2%.

I can't find any really reliable source for average match, so I don't know. Just know that 6 of the 7 companies matched dollar for dollar up to 3% of your salary. The 7th matched 50 cents on the dollar, the employer match capped at 3%, but you had to put in 6% to get that.
My wife's 2 employers were dollar for dollar to 3%. Her current employer however limits your contributions to 8% of your pay. Actually, they say the IRS limits it to 8% because they have a pension plan, but the 8% cap even applies to employees who are not covered by the pension plan.

 

[crisi]

I'm investigating it since I'm a early retirement "wannabe". nothing has changed as far as health insurance on my job but my company has always used great benefits to attract candidates so the aca didn't really make any impact.

I plan on comparing cost to cover the gap between when I retire and when I'm eligible for Medicaid.

Even if I don't get a subsidy the fact that I'll be able to get insurance will be great. my kids will be off my plan in a few years so hopefully that will help the cost.

There is a plus on the other end as well - the one huge expense for early retirees tends to be insurance. By offering cheaper insurance you can move out some people who can afford to retire except for expensive insurance, and free up some jobs - most likely up the ladder.

 

[aclov]

There is a plus on the other end as well - the one huge expense for early retirees tends to be insurance. By offering cheaper insurance you can move out some people who can afford to retire except for expensive insurance, and free up some jobs - most likely up the ladder.

I just attended a seminar on 401k, insurance is the biggest expense a retiree will have and sometimes forget to add this into the equation. Less companies are offering retiree insurance, we don't. But older workers cost more so that is a key reason companies encourage retirement.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Wow, I have never seen an employer match higher than 3%. 6% would be awesome. My financial planner just shakes his head at my bizarre "conservative" 401k mix.. we have 20 fund options and company stock.....up 34% the past 12 months, averaging 16% over the last 8 years. It's a mix he says he would never ever recommend, but clearly it is working, but I did use the dart board method of picking the funds and percentages.

Late to reply on this, I didn't realize low matches were so common. I get $1.50 for every $1 I put in up to 6% (so I put in 6% and get a bonus 9%) match, which is great, but the investment options are so limited that I hit that target and stop.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

Wow, I have never seen an employer match higher than 3%. 6% would be awesome. My financial planner just shakes his head at my bizarre "conservative" 401k mix.. we have 20 fund options and company stock.....up 34% the past 12 months, averaging 16% over the last 8 years. It's a mix he says he would never ever recommend, but clearly it is working, but I did use the dart board method of picking the funds and percentages.

Really? My husband has an 8% match and I have a 4%
3% seems low.