Retirees and near retirees...

[kdonnel]

I'm hoping I'll be financially ready by 65. Starting to prep my mind for 67. I'm sure I'm better prepared than many people, but reading on here makes me sound like I'm WAY behind (and yes, I've been putting money into retirement since I started working).

You experienced a layoff at about the same period in your career as I did. My annual salary has yet to recovery fully to where it would be if I had not experienced a lay off.

I figure that one event has added a year or two to how long I need to work before retirement.

 

[CindysFriend]

We moved to New England about 30 years ago and we love the region. The older we get (about retirement age) the less we like the snow and cold weather. But at least now we can afford to have a regular “snow plow guy” to dig us out any time it snows more than a few inches.

Until about 5 years ago we had discussed moving a little further south to be near other relatives but now we’re probably just going to stay put because now we have a grandchild and I don’t want to live any further than we do now, which is about a 35-minute drive.

So, it’s the desire to stay near my son and daughter-in-law and grandson that will keep us right here.

 

[easyas123]

My plan is to not be that person. I don't want to be sitting around flush with cash with limited mobility wishing I had done more when younger.

I now plan to work until 65 making sure I use every vacation day available during those extra years of work.

We have much the same approach. Kids are up & out, we are healthy and doing well in our careers - and we have a lot of leeway with time off. We are at a point where we can afford to spend a bit more on ourselves w/o jeopardizing retirement and we intend on doing so over the next 10-15 years before retirement.

 

[dvcgirl67]

When I ran the numbers it was 86 meaning taking it earlier was a no brainer. Plus eventually they are going to have start trimming benefits. Delaying taking it seems risky to my. I prefer to play it safe so I will take it early.

Interesting, that's the latest I've ever heard for the breakeven. For us, any time we run the numbers the breakeven if we take SS early at 62 vs. age 70 is about 79 years old. We're going to go with this option as we have no children and would likely appreciate that income in our 80s...possibly for an assisted living facility at some point. My husband recently purchased some software to assist us in retirement planning with respect to tax planning. We're spending the remaining time we have working maxing out our Roth 401Ks, backdoor Roth and taxable accounts and planning some Roth conversions as well.

The future of SS doesn't concern me that much, but it will be interesting to see what "they" do. Either side would need a majority to get anything substantive done, and the likelihood of that seems unlikely. I'm betting that in 8-9 years, whoever is stuck holding that hot potato will be forced to do something or allow older voters to experience a 23% drop in their income. For many, it's their only income. I'm thinking it'll be a combination of raising to cap on FICA...up to around 400K in today's dollars. That takes care of two-thirds of the problem. The rest...maybe raising the age of full benefits to 68. Maybe means testing for high earners. The max for SS this year for an individual is around $4,500...so a high earning couple could be brining in over 100K a year in SS. The thinking of cutting there is that high earners have a nice nest egg and don't really need all of that SS. Whatever they do, they're going to piss off a group of people.

 

[MillauFr]

Interesting, that's the latest I've ever heard for the breakeven. For us, any time we run the numbers the breakeven if we take SS early at 62 vs. age 70 is about 79 years old. We're going to go with this option as we have no children and would likely appreciate that income in our 80s...possibly for an assisted living facility at some point. My husband recently purchased some software to assist us in retirement planning with respect to tax planning. We're spending the remaining time we have working maxing out our Roth 401Ks, backdoor Roth and taxable accounts and planning some Roth conversions as well.

The future of SS doesn't concern me that much, but it will be interesting to see what "they" do. Either side would need a majority to get anything substantive done, and the likelihood of that seems unlikely. I'm betting that in 8-9 years, whoever is stuck holding that hot potato will be forced to do something or allow older voters to experience a 23% drop in their income. For many, it's their only income. I'm thinking it'll be a combination of raising to cap on FICA...up to around 400K in today's dollars. That takes care of two-thirds of the problem. The rest...maybe raising the age of full benefits to 68. Maybe means testing for high earners. The max for SS this year for an individual is around $4,500...so a high earning couple could be brining in over 100K a year in SS. The thinking of cutting there is that high earners have a nice nest egg and don't really need all of that SS. Whatever they do, they're going to piss off a group of people.

All depends on what assumptions you make. I just prefer to play it safe and remain conservative with my investments so I'm taking social security early. Seems like you are gambling if you wait until 70.

 

[dvcgirl67]

All depends on what assumptions you make. I just prefer to play it safe and remain conservative with my investments so I'm taking social security early. Seems like you are gambling if you wait until 70.

Yes, there are many factors in play. So far, we're both very healthy. My husband lost his mom at age 88, his Dad is still going strong at 92 (lives alone...golfs, drives, shops, cooks...etc). My father died at 80 and he didn't exactly take good care of himself. My mom is almost 80 and in excellent health. So, that's a big part of it for us....we think/hope we'll hit that breakeven and then the extra money will serve us well, especially in our 80s. As a childless couple, it's a gamble we're willing to take. I guess we look at it like....we can only plan based on the information we have.

Of course, we could always change our minds. Our nest egg is in good shape. If we felt deprived with respect to our lifestyle it would be one thing that might tempt us to cash in early on SS, but that's not going to be the case. We've hit our "number", but don't want to retire "in place"...we want to travel full-time as "nomads" in early retirement. But have two older dogs who wouldn't be able to do that. And so we're continuing to work, just taking more nice vacations while continuing to really pad that nest egg. Spring of 2028 is the "hard stop" for us...one way or another, we'd stop working there. We've both had jobs in some fashion since our mid-teenage years....worked for spending money in college...etc. We're both definitely getting to the "we're tired and ready for a change" moment. We'll see if we make it those 4.5 years .

 

[Dan Murphy]

This is a good site (IMO) for Social Security analyses. I have used it in the past. as a financial planner before I retired. It does cost $40 a year. a small price (again, IMO) for a detailed analysis of your individual situation A one year subscription should be plenty sufficient to accomplish your personal scenarios and 'what ifs'.. I have nothing to do with the firm., just a past user

https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/

 

[john7994]

I get unlimited PTO and agree it can be a scam. Luckily I have a manager that understands taking time off.

When unlimited PTO was announced I got 15 days of PTO and thought that was stingy so after we went unlimited I have taken 22-25 days a year. I feel like that is reasonable and no one has complained.

Even before unlimited PTO we would not be paid for the PTO when let go because it was granted in mass at the beginning of each year rather than earned each pay period. In most states earned PTO must be paid out but granted PTO does not.

My father was an example of someone had regrets on their deathbed related to work life balance and not taking time off.

Even in retirement he had two part time jobs. One at Publix and one working as the catering delivery person for a pizza place.

I would let him know weeks ahead of time that I was bringing my family to visit and he would still be scheduled to work all day Saturday. We would arrive late Friday after he had gone to bed, he would be up and delivering for the pizza place for catered lunches before we got up. Then go straight to Publix. We would go to Publix and visit for a few minutes around dinner time and then see him for a few minutes Saturday night before he went to bed. Then Sunday we had to drive back home and would only get to visit with him and he with the grandkids for a total of maybe 4-5 hours out of the weekend.

His prioritizing work over everything was the thing he talked about the most during the weeks he was slowly dying.

We still get 15 days of "Sick Days" and Unlimited PTO.
Our company is up 18% on time off taken year over year (non-sick days) since introduction (with not all offices participating due to countries not fully implemented yet).
Personally, I went from 20 days (4 weeks of granted PTO) to 25 Unlimited PTO days taken/planned this year ...

 

[Frwinkley]

We moved to New England about 30 years ago and we love the region. The older we get (about retirement age) the less we like the snow and cold weather. But at least now we can afford to have a regular “snow plow guy” to dig us out any time it snows more than a few inches.

Until about 5 years ago we had discussed moving a little further south to be near other relatives but now we’re probably just going to stay put because now we have a grandchild and I don’t want to live any further than we do now, which is about a 35-minute drive.

So, it’s the desire to stay near my son and daughter-in-law and grandson that will keep us right here.

We actually live about 40 minutes from our first grandchild. She's 8 months old. I will retire at the end of this school year and DH already retired 2 years ago. We're moving to be even closer to them (silly, I know), but we wanted a ranch home, so that's what we're building.

Had we liked the community we live in now and if our current house wasn't multi-level, we wouldn't even consider it. We don't have much in common with our neighbors and feel like it's time to make a fresh start. We live in Western PA. As much as I hate the cold, I couldn't bear the thought of being away from them.