Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Retirement question

70 is the new 55

Wife and I retired, full time, about 7 years ago. For 30 years or so, we put away money, maxed out 401K, etc. contributions which were generally matched by employers, invested nearly all of our savings, and incurred no debt.
Once you are in that habit, actually spending that money seems difficult in retirement. My biggest concern was what would happen when we needed to do RMD withdrawals of our retirement accounts, In the past three years we have had to do RMD's, the asset value of our accounts has actually increased over the previous year's value, even after the withdrawals. As it turns out, retirement accounts like 401K's and IRA's, especially those matched by employers, are one of the greatest tools available for building retirement assets.

Truth, the average life expectancy for males is climbing a lot.
Especially white males that aren't obese, don't smoke, make a decent income and aren't overly reckless.

When "THE COMPANY" was doing my investing, I thought about it a lot but never really lost sleep about it. I always understood that what goes up will come down and that you usually didn't lose money unless you sold at the bottom. I grew up poor and had to watch every penny. Now I have lots of pennies and not much health to play with. Now it is hard to spend the money knowing I have no need of what I am buying. I am not going to go thru what my financial guys say here because most everybody will scream BS but they have been making me money and they say with what I am in I will be able to pay off a lot of friends and family debts. I figure on leaving all the rest to my Grand kids. I would like to find a really good antelope soon. I trapped hard a long time ago but hadn't done any for the last 35 years. I always said I would go back to it when I retire and have. I like trapping beaver and as soon as the rivers clear out hope to spend a month playing flat land mountain man. Got 31 last year in December 2019. Hoping for 50 this spring. Do I miss work. NEVER A DAY ! Miss my friends tho. Ray

Who here is retired and has looked into what long term healthcare or a nursing home for either spouse can and will do to your assets, along with what it takes to qualify for Medicaid assistance and their five year lookback once assets are gone?

Gifting. It is a rattlesnake that can bite.

Hiding cash. Security issues.

Investments still earning high interest? Better make sure the risks are appropriate for your age and life horizon! 4% fixed is not the worst thing once that nest egg is solidly built and age/health is a concern.

Qualified/Non-Qualified Medicare Annuities?

Real estate holdings in family members names?

Trust set up BEFORE potential 5 year lookback?

Lots to think about...

The government wants ya’ to work until ya’ die, that way they don’t have to pay you back a dime.

Painting with a pretty broad brush there. I stayed with a job I loved for 25 years and retired at the age of 43 with a decent pension (a little over 60% of my wages starting the day I retired. Wife will get 75% of that amount for the rest of her life if I die before she does). Went back to work within a month with another agency and will have two pensions under my belt by the time I retire for good at the age of 63. Like most people, I've had some bad days at work, but most days I can't believe they pay me what they do to do the job. If Social Security is still around in 12 years, it'll all be gravy.

Same for my wife and I. I retired 9 yrs ago at 55 and my wife 8 yrs ago at 56. We've been mortgage and debt free for 12 years. After years of living frugally it's hard for us to get out of the habit. We haven't started taking SS and haven't touched our retirement accounts. We've both had parents that lived into their 90s and but who needed assisted living and nursing care and we know how expensive that can be. But we lack nothing that we put any real value on or want. Retiring can be initially scary, but if you have planned well for it, it will be easier than you think. Just relax and get ready for a life of play and leisure.

I am 75 & retired about 20 years ago. I was successful in business so we have been debt free since we payed off the house early about 30 years ago. As you get older you need to change your investment risk profile. At our age we only have a few hundred thousand in stocks, The majority of what we have is in is in EE's that are maturing on an annual basis or in CDs at the local banks. We try to keep about $100k in our checking/money market accounts for emergency's. In retirement, I would strongly advise you to stay away from corporate bonds, when interest rates go up they will drop in value like a rock. Since I was an accountant I am very risk, we are at the point where a 2.4% return on cds is more worthwhile than a possible 20% return in the stock market.

I rarely carry more than a few hundred dollars so I charge almost all my purchases on credit cards. In a normal month that's around $2,000, which I pay on time. If you pay your credit cards,taxes, & utilities on time. You don't need to carry installment debt to have a good credit score.

I don't miss the 6 day 70 hour work weeks I had most of my work life.

Will be retired 27 years this summer. Retired with no debt and a comfortable amount of savings. Did a lot of travelling in the first few years and mostly got it out of our systems. Fourteen years ago an aunt with no children died and left me a substantial amount of money. Since then I have never spent any of it and we are still living on the savings we had prior to receiving the inheritance. I do have a pension which has paid me about 9 or 10 times what I paid into it.

We are both in our 80's now and have the money to travel but health concerns keep us close to our doctor. Unless we break down to the point of having to move into a nursing home for a number of years our children will do very well when we pass. We are quite happy with this.

The markets started to pick up within the last few months here and our investments have grown substantially this year. Our net worth is now at the highest point in our lives.

Jim

Trust me on this one, no one should plan on Medicaid assistance or think it is at all desirable unless absolutely necessary. I've seen some of the facilities that take Medicad and you don't want to be there. My Father in Law passed away at 98 and outlived his investments. Rather than put him a place that only accepted Medicaid, his children ponied up enough $ every month to keep him in a decent place. Our plan is to keep growing our investments and maximize our SS by deferring as long as we can, so that we make sure we will have the resources to pay for our own quality care, if or when we need it. If we die before needing it, our son will make out really well, and we are ok with that.

Yes, Medicaid is the payor of last resort.
But seeing nursing home costs, and how they are growing exponentially, very few can say they have enough resources to completely cover the potential need. $14K a month can drain unprotected assets and income like a culvert.

So it is a VERY strong possibility for everyone, that Medicaid will enter into the picture at some point.
EVERYONE needs to plan for the possibility. An Elder Care Attorney visit is a start.

All nursing homes take Medicaid once private pay is exhausted. And not every person's children can "pony up" when they have their own children's college/weddings/healthcare to provide for.
It is highly admirable when a person can help their parents/grandparents extended care, but that assistance can force a change to that giver's retirement event horizon too.

Dutch, I have always admired people who run their own business, and thrive. I can see how that would have to be a labor of love, to keep doing it until you die. For most Americans, me included, we have grown up learning only how to trade hours for dollars. There are an endless supply of "jobs" where one can trade his personal hours in return for dollars. Some pay more than others. For me, when I had saved up enough dollars to last me the rest of my life, I called it quits. All of the personal hours I was giving to a business owner, I now redeem for myself, as I see fit. I consider retirement as financial freedom. I do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I am not bored. I feel free as a bird, and it is a good feeling. If I ever feel like I have too much time on my hands, I can always volunteer my time for others, through church activities or other clubs and associations.

It was not a problem for me as I was born to play, but forced to work. I was meant to be a gentleman of leisure but was born in a working-class family. That did teach me how to be frugal and happy. That has paid off. I shoot skeet and trap 3 times a week, spaced out nicely (Tues, Friday, Sunday) and I play in a band where we perform and practice regularly. I like to read, keep up on current events, watch movies, check out a couple forums etc. You will be surprised how it fills your day. Heck, most days by the time I have breakfast, read the paper, check out a couple forums, take a shower, have another cup of coffee I'll look at the clock and say "Hey, it's lunch-time" Slow down and enjoy everything and everyday that doesn't hurt. If you do that, then after 10, 15, 20, or hopefully 30 yrs of retirement you'll look back and say, "Man, where did the time go?" As for purpose in life, you're already contributed lots now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labor. Take up a hobby that will keep you in contact with people you enjoy being around. That is important.

I got some great advice on life style and money from an old man when I was in my 30s. "Stay in your own tree, if you can only afford to drive a 10 year old car then do not buy a new one every 3 years. If you can't afford a loan on a $400,000 home buy a $200,000 home...etc." to that I would add if you have a partner whom insists you two live outside your tree, find a new partner.

Good comments from people who are living it. Been retired for some time. Carefully planned it and it is working very good.
A few points I would pass on:

Get as debt free as possible.. Lock up a long term line of credit.... If you need to borrow after your working income stops, banks will be tough, hopefully you wont need to borrow... If you retire before medicare eligible it can be very expensive...Many retires get their retirement funds gobbled up by family members who are consistently with financial woes....Also watch that travel is within your budget....Enjoy yourself and remember if you can fly 1st Class, do it, because if you don't, your kids Will ..

Interesting thoughts, thanks.

I guess my way of thinking is there is much value to the peace of mind we have in not owing anybody, anything. Other than of course, taxes and monthly utilities.

I don't disagree. Ideally I would love to be debt free. However it isn't necessary to be debt free and comfortably retire if you planning accordingly.

It's wise to be debt free WAY before retirement.
For many reasons.

I retired at 46 and I just turned 62. I am Dept free. I have a good Pension,Rentals and watch my Investments in The Market Daily. You need to be Dept Free as soon as possible.I wish I had bought more Rentals but at the time I was to busy to care for them so I invested most of my Money in my 401K. When people ask me about retiring I tell them you need 3 times as much money as you think you do.