Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question for retirees

Almost, we have six Saturdays and one Sunday a week.

While I totally agree ….maybe maybe not. For yourself I agree. But it's the unknown like sick relatives or kids coming back to roost that can make a huge change in this!

Thank God my 49 year old sister was a tenured teacher with a Masters and had the required years to receive excellent full health at full costed retirement rates. Otherwise, I could have been wiped out. That very large stage IV cancer experience that was very expensive even with great insurance was very educational. And it's not over yet. However, I would spend every dime I have to care for any one of my relatives. And likely will leaving me in a van down by the river.

The unknown sucks. But the unexpected diagnosis is much more painful than the price tag and portfolio repercussions. NO comparison. I never cried over lost investments, but I have cried.

Decent health insurance for all is key!! No mortgage is the other. Responsible siblings and kids very important.

When you retire you will suddenly have time to work on all those dozens of projects that you always wanted to do, but didn't have time for. Plus, your wife will suddenly present you with a list of projects that she thinks you now have time for.

The problem is, all those projects cost money. Lumber and hardware adds up fast. Everything seems to cost twice as much as you remembered it costing.

Many of my friends had the same experience; living being retired can easily cost more than it did when you were working. And before you know it, you will be on a first-name basis with several of the employees at Lowes and Ace Hardware.

Lastly, do what you can while you can. Health is a fragile thing.

My boys are/will be well set. My siblings the same. Thankful to the great parenting we had.

Glad to hear.

We had and still HAVE excellent parenting as well. The best ever. But that does not prevent the unexpected that just happens and always seems to cross borders to cost the more fortunate of the TOTAL family. These days the more fortunate become the providers as someone always comes up short. I realized this when I started writing checks to keep a few alive.

I wish the best for you and hope your current good fortune continues. Time will tell. For all of us.

Typically, I found you will need about 75% of your working income when you retire.

Suspecting that everyone has different metrics to evaluate when they retire, take stock and make the call. I had three mortgages at the time, previously refied to get the nut downsized and all that. Biggest expense pre-bailout was travel and meals....punching out was a boost to disposable income for me, even with a 50% pay cut.

Woke up one day, went to work on a day shift...yakked at planes for a spell and took a coffee break. They started paging me....I said BS and handed in my badge. Went back into the control room to say farewell to a few and the sup started giving me a ration of chitt. Told him he was confused and that I didn't work there. Got a lot of applause for that stunt, left with a smile on my mug. The air traffic bidness has a finite shelf life.

YMMV

My annuity is called Teacher Retirement. I will pay in 225,000, be able to get 70,000 as long as wife and I live. Bad thing is if we both get killed in a wreck the day after I retire the kids won't get a dime. Teacher retirement is one of the better deals out there, depending on how long you live.

Planning!?! We don't need no stinking planning.

Got offered a chunk of cash to go early at 58, with 40 years of service. That lump, combined with my pension, carried me right up to early Social Security. So far, so good, and I'm not debt-free. My lifestyle isn't fancy, however, and I live where electricity is cheap. Don't travel either.

When the offer was made, I told my wife, "I don't know if we can afford it, but we're going to find out!"

Okie:

My wife and I both retired early and lived entirely off of our pensions for ten years before applying for Medicare and Social Security. During that time we practiced living on a limited income. We have no debt and were financially independent even before we started sucking on the federal tit. I track our monthly essential expenses and our monthly income. The difference can be used for discretionary spending. It's not any more complicated than that.

My wife and I are both habitually thrifty. We are certainly not wealthy but we have a "comfortable" discretionary income each month, less in January when we have to pay property taxes on two homes.

KC

If you are smart it is mandatory. I'm glad my Parents made me start an IRA and manage it as an investment when I was 18.

I'm in trouble then. I won't even have 50%.

I should have 80%

That is a common metric but it really depends upon how much of your working income was spent.

Being debt free, you are already ahead in your planning. I and a couple of my friends who talk about such things probably over-estimated our discretionary retirement expenses. If you're not an extravagant type, it's easy to adjust discretionary spending.

Since you're a couple of years away from retiring, you may want to consider what I did. I retired at age 55; I'm now 66. We live on a pension and social security. I got a retirement income estimate from my company's retirement system (which turned out to be very accurate). About 1.5 years before retirement I adjusted my take-home pay (by adjusting credit union withholding)down to what my retirement take-home would be. After living on essentially retirement income for that long without adjusting our lifestyle, there was no stress about how we would do in retirement. When we started drawing social security, it more than covered any increased costs, either fixed or discretionary, with money left over.

That is a good idea. Thanks