For those out there that are retired, do you spend more or less than you budgeted for? and how did it change as you got older?

Only been retired for about 4 1/2 years, I'll get back with you in another 5 years or so........lol.


Money has not been a problem, spend whatever we want or need to.

Life's been good.

We rented the farm to our son ten years ago I don't get the sports in I though I would.

Money wise, we are still in %50 %50. I'd be scared to live out my days on a fixed income, unless I was Warren Buffet.

Retirement is relaxing and stress-free. Our income is more than I anticipated and I don't even have to budget. If I want something I just buy it. My wife likes her job so she is continuing to work. She's been putting her check in the ban for 22 years, so she has a nice little nest egg in cash. She is scared to death of the stock market. I fund her ROTH IRA and manage it an all of our investment and brokerage accounts. Not nearly as active as I used to be. Aches and pain in the joints and back have increased.

People nowadays are scared to death that they’re gonna run outta money before they run outta time. Which...it seems... means they’re more concerned about money than they are about time.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We were debt free when we retired
Life is good

That’s a good question, I have a couple more years to work.

We were debt free when we retired
We don't do credit.
We are careful about what we spend, but, we buy what we want.
Life is good!

I was fortunate to work at a job with a good pension and was able to retire 10 years ago at age 52. My wife retired 1 year later. Our pension was about 40% of what we earned when we worked, but since they no longer took out retirement and taxes were less it wasn't a huge difference. We've both worked part time since, not because we had to have the money, but because we wanted to do something with our time. We have some money invested, but shouldn't need it. My kids and grandkids will likey need it worse than me. That is the plan anyway.

We haven't done much different when it comes to spending. But I turned 62 today and will get my 1st SSI payment in April. I anticipate being able to do some more traveling with the extra income. My wife will be 62 in May and we haven't decided on taking her SSI then or waiting until 67. I'm taking mine now. I figure that if I wait till 67 I'll be 78 before I break even. No guarantee I'll live to 78 and I'd rather have it now even if I do. But having one of us wait till 67 might be a good plan. Whichever dies first will lose the lower SSI and keep getting the one paying the most.

We've been retired going on 7 years now, could have bought our retirement home without the need for a mortgage but we chose to finance a small amount. Both cars are paid for and we always have paid our charge cards and not carried any balance. I buy & sell at gun shows, flea markets and on the internet for my "mad money" and the wife who is a retired teacher tutors and substitute teaches. We are debt free and comfortable, can within reason spend whatever we want. We have a good investment portfolio and an investment advisor who does a great job of managing it for us.

You’ll get a lot of personal viewpoints that may or may not be applicable to your personal situation, e.g., health is the biggie.

Been retired eight years.
Was debt free many years before we retired
Paid cash or paid off credit cards each month almost forever (have neve spent a penny on CC interest)
Have a large pension plus SS
And have large investment account that we contributed to for about 30 years and it’s invested in stocks, bonds, tax free munis etc.
We are pretty frugal, but if we need (want) something, we buy it
Life has been good

Sounds good will be retiring in April 2020 in same as you above no house or car or truck payments. 401's, pension, 2 ss should be in good shape.

Retired in Nov '11 at 59 YO......

never regretted it........

worked too hard driving the Brown truck for Brown.......

Collected SSA when 62......

Signed up for Medicare @ 65

First time in my life I had to pay for health insurance...

$140 month comes off the top of my SSA CK....what a rip.....

My Teamster retirement covers wife for health....she gets ' in lieu of' at her employer....

Yes still have small mortgage......bought current house/property late in life

Two divorces helped that also.....

Otherwise doing OK......seems the IRS takes advantage of me in April..........

Like many on this thread I was debt free when I retired 20 years ago. Not knowing what to expect I was a little worried at first. Doing better then I ever thought I would. I highly recommend retirement.

Other than large medical expenses it is or was great.

I'm finding out that I spent a little more each year. It makes sense since every thing is a bit older and needs more maintenance. This week it is a new water ballast tank and softener. Spring is a new barn roof, Summer is a new motorcycle. Fall will be a Florida lease.

When I retired we went on a road trip somewhere in the mountain west and only returned home to prepare for the next one. Life was good and we were having a blast. Then my wife injured her knee while hiking resulting in surgery for a torn meniscus followed by back to back total knee replacements. Then she fell while hiking and fractured her patella. Money is easy, time and health are short and hard.

We did her rehab during a month in Jackson, Wy. We plan on spending March in Idaho and Montana. Do not waste a healthy moment. Staying home is cheaper and will one day be mandatory. Live every day as if it were your last.


mike r

Life can be good. Since we no longer are socking away 401K funds we have more spending money now since we both retired than when we worked. And wife is waiting till 66 to collect SS and we don't plan on touching the 401K until we are forced to in about 8 years.

16 years. We worked hard, were conservative, had a good financial advisor. With my retirement, hers, and my SS, we are able to do a fair amount of charitable giving. Now that we have to take the mandatory withdrawals we have a surplus that allows us to travel, give more, and help support a couple missionaries.
Everything is paid off, house, hunting land, cars, truck.
Kept track and at the risk of sounding smug we outgave several high placed Dem politicians a few years back.
Probably should have taken a few more trips and bought a small motorhome as we are not as mobile as we once we're. One fused spine, two hops, one knee, two cataracts between us so far but had good insurance.
I've seen that the average fifty something has less than $35K set aside for retirement.
Since nothing has a loan or mortgage we spend less.
Don't buy bad beer either.

As posted above, rules #1,2 and 3 for retiring are no debt, no debt and no debt.
We based our ability to retire on being able to live on interest without touching principal and excluding SS.
Once SS kicks in a few months from now I'll be shopping for a new truck.

I retired four years ago at 61 when my company was making reductions in the workforce. Got 56 weeks of severance pay on top of the pension, 401k and Roth I already had already built. Wife is 8 years younger and still working. I had a detailed budget worked out and have met it so far. Take a half dozen hunting and fishing trips a year, bought a new boat and a new truck for my wife. Life has unexpected events but I budgeted for that too, furnace needed replace in 2016, I had cancer surgery in 2018 and the wife had a hip replacement last year. We still met our budget. I started drawing SS at 64 and got Medicare last year, still pay for my wife's health insurance through my former employer. Even with the health issues and cost (we are both fully recovered) our retirement nest egg is bigger now than when I first retired.
We were debt free for five years before I retired. My budget includes changes when my wife retires and we expect to spend less as we get older and travel less and maybe downsize the house.

Just retired July 2019 at 62. Had been working with a financial adviser for many years. Built a new house in 2016 and still had a hefty mortage, but it was built into our financial plan. Based on what we had and what we spend each month, our adviser calculated we could over spend by $2200 each month every month and would still be good until age 95. Obviously there is no way we are going to over spend like that, but it's nice to know the cushion is there. Once we knew this, deciding to retire was easy.

I retired at 65 with about 66% of my take home when working. Wife and I were worried sick that the gravy would be pretty thin and we wouldn't get to chip away at the bucket list. Didn't turn out that way...we are quite comfortable but live modestly by most folks standards. We never were comfortable borrowing money, so when I retired we were in no debt at all. Years back I squirreled money away in an investment account, and it compounded nicely, no govt rules..no IRA, no 401k...my after tax money, my rules...bought the equities, preferreds, in companies that actually produced things people need, and bonds that I wanted and escaped damage in the 2008 financial slump. Did I leave money on the table by not getting into tech? Absolutely, but for me to sleep, I needed to 'go with what you know'. One thing I didn't see coming...after about three years of very active traveling, fishing, hunting, touristing, we kind of got it out of our system, we enjoy where we live, our hobbies, kids, don't have any great urge to burn up the highway anymore. Who knew?

interesting thoughts gents, thanks. we're just running the numbers now and was curious on how planned spending compared to actual.

another question, does anyone miss working? did you lose any sense of purpose? i have been employed non-stop for 44 years and don't know what its like to not work. i have plenty of hobbies, brewing, woodwork, gun stuff, etc but not sure i wouldn't get restless and bored.

just a tip...... want less.
the less you want the more you have.

when you want nothing you will have everything!

Best of luck in retirement. I am starting to glaze over at work these days. My Scheduler popped up last week to remind me I am 173 weeks overdue on sending in my retirement paperwork.

Mike, your last paragraph about says it all.

We scrimped, saved, and invested all of our 50 years together (so far) and got so used to it that we have a hard time splurging now - but it's getting easier every day!

My full military career and her teaching career gave us both nice pensions, and the military medical benefits are killer. Together, we spend less than half of our monthlies, and there's still the whole investment package sitting there waiting to go to our daughters, probably. We're in a situation where our investment guy says, "You really need to spend more."

We're also at a point where we're paring down "stuff" and not adding to it. It all makes for a worry-free life.

Reading about these pension things as a 28year old is just wild...they flat out "don't" exist today aside from government/government like(railroad/power company)/military.

your modern day FERS is a far cry from the ancient CSRS, too.

That's exactly what I did too.

I retired January 2011 at the age of 54 my wife was 56 when she retired.I could have kept working and added a few more zeros to bank accounts but we both wanted to be able to enjoy life. Today at 64 thanks to the booming economy under Trump my investments pay more per year than what my salary was when I retired. Spend more? No not now but I do average 3 or 4 hunting trip out of state some out of USA every year because I hold to the logic I will be dead a long time and eventually my health will be poor enough so I cannot do what I love. I have stage III cancer got this after retirement date...ask me if I am every sorry I retired to enjoy life when I did. I think you know the answer already.

I also wouldn't trust a modern pension, a lot are not managed well and have got massive liabilities.

I'm straight up not planning to ever see SocialSecurity. If I ever see SS, it'll be used to fund/create a gambling habit.
Though I'm not sure what's more likely, I take up gambling or see SS.

Smartest thing I ever did was finish my Air Force career in the Reserves after 10 years active. I could live on the pension alone if I had to, and the combination of Medicare and my military TriCare means I never pay a dime for medical needs, including prescriptions. And if needed, the VA backs up even that. My only cost is my Medicare premium, and that comes out of my SS check before I even see it, so it's effectively free.

We won't retire for another three years but you have hit on a key driver to a long and fulfilling retirement. My parents have been retired for 22 years and have no idea how they had time to work. Volunteer work for both of them, Dad still flies model airplanes 2-3 times a week and they do several day trips a month with the retirement community they live in. Money turned out to be the least of their issues. They did a lot of traveling when they first retired but Dad noted last time I was down that they have more money now than they did wen they retired. His long term dollar cost averaging worked out fine.


Like you, I have lots of hobbies, and some I don't get to do due to lack of time today. I look forward to that and since we're leaving MD, I look forward to learning new hunting and fishing country and of course there will be another bird dog. You have to have a reason to get up and go explore and meet new people and do new things. Sitting at home makes it a short retirement.

I wonder about this too, never been unemployed for 50 years. I like working, gives me a sense of value if that makes any sense??

That's the secret right there. So were we. We have bought 2 vehicles since then but we paid cash for the pickup and financed only a small part of the car. I drive an old clunker as a runnaround to save miles on the others. When it dies, I'll just sell it for parts.

Miss work? Nope. I think I was born to be retired!

Same here. When I see these posts about "retiring early so I can do what I love", I just cringe. I love work (self employed), and love the challenges, problems to solve and the people I work with. If I don't, I replace them with another one.... . So I do what I love to do, with people I consider as close as family. I'm physically active and mentally challenged. I just can't imagine that I would give that up and be limited to fishing and dog shows for the rest of my life.... I'd go out of my mind in months. I could retire tomorrow, sell the business and never have a financial worry.... but just put me in the nut house, now. What a dreadful prospect.

That's a strong message right there.

I do not miss work. I was in a corporate exec role the last 10 years or so. In my case that put some stress on the mind and body.
I worked 39 years for the same company and it was a good ride.
But I do not miss it at all.
Having said that, some days I don’t have a lot to do, and get a little bored.
I’ll take that over the stress etc that I was in at work.

The finances do not worry my near as much as this does.

We probably have another 4 or 5 years left in full time farming before I either rent it to my son on a 50/50 basis or a neighbor for the same if my son opts to go elsewhere.

That is our pension. With the farm income, Roth IRA's, and other investments the money will be there, finances will be fine. Yes I worry about my sense of purpose.


Thought I might be the only one out there thinking of this.

No offense but everyone has a different situation, only you can answer this. Perhaps you are looking for answer that will support a savings level which is less than you hoped for? Budget you own situation and adjust accordingly, these question won’t bring clarity to your own unique situation.

Retired (11 yrs back), on a pension, hitting the IRA's, Social Security, and presently supporting a distant kid that's hit a hard time. Take home is about what we were earning in the job market. Out of debt about 20 years back, we're still contributing to savings, and IRA income is exceeding withdrawals. That being, we are accumulating capital. Might take a hit some year if we need to write a check for a new pickup. Did start planning and working toward this about 35 years ago though. My goal was to leave college, put in 20 and retire. Things did not quite shake out professionally for the wife, so we put in 28 years on the job.

Worked with a great group, and I'm still allowed to maintain an office and go in/leave at my convenience to help out when/where needed.

We have several friends though forced back to work when Obama Care doubled or tripled their projected insurance costs.

Start planning/investing as soon as one hits the job market. Also pays to pick a spouse that sticks.

Years ago, overhearing farmers that had sold out. They said they were making more money working part time than they did farming.

Miss work? I wouldn't go back to work if someone offered me $100 an hour. Debt is important but not the end all. We have a house payment but so what? I wouldn't be overly concerned about having a house or car payment as long as it easily fits into your monthly budget. Credit card debt is another matter. We budget what we can charge every month and always pay off the balance every month.

You don't want enough money in to pay the bills, you want enough coming in so you can enjoy life. Getting told by your dentist you need a crown or a implant shouldn't destroy your finances. Same as a major vehicle or house repair. It might hurt for a couple of months but its not going to bankrupt you.

I've been retired for a few years. Although I don't know if my experience counts, because my wife still works two days a week at the hospital, so we have income. Still,...I don't spend much money since my wife needs to sock away what she earns for retirement.

But,..to a large extent you live on what you have,.....and there's not much that I want, anyway.

I sold off some extraneous stuff before I retired and bought a basic, low milage car and pick-up. So transportation isn't an issue for me.

Basically,...all I've had to give up is toys,.....motorcycles, guns,...etc.,.....and I was tired of them anyway.

Every monetary asset I do without is much more than offset by the free time I now have.

I go to bed late,....sleep late,....and my wife gets 4 weekends a year off,...which gives us 10 days of travel time 4 times a year.

I find myself in a very good retirement situation.

Me too.

Been something over 6 years now that I have been "retired"... But I have what I call a "retirement job".

The ranch and brush control business occupy my sense of purpose rather well.

Aside from providing income, it's also building towards when I cannot do this stuff anymore, and sell out. Everything I do on the ranch just makes it worth that much more.

That's why it's crucial you build your own.

If you haven't already, start now, make it the goal for this week. Get started!

The gubment is counting on as many as possible being dependent on them. You are much easier to control when it works out that way.

My father ran his business up until he was 80 decided to retire 2weeks later he had a heart attack and passed away. He left mom his wife of 62 years with couple million in the bank. Sounds great doesn't it? Until you consider he never in 62 years took her on a vacation longer than 2 days in his words, " we will travel when I retire. I can not recall him ever getting to any sport games I was in from little league to college football. He was just too busy with work.

At 65 I'll have 31.75 years in at the prison. I will walk out and never look back. Done, done,done.

But I don't ever see myself totally retiring. Some part time job, preferably selling guns at a shop. I love that so much I'd almost do it for free.

I’d say that many of us here have seen this play out more than a few times in our lives.
I think some of this may stem from those who were children of the Big Depression years .

I retired June 1st 2001.I receive a pension,SS which I took at 62 and was lucky to have a nice stash in my 401K.I retired with no debt and we built a new retirement house.We don`t live extravagantly ,but do not scrimp either.I get to do a couple hunting trips a year.We are blessed.Huntz

Young man, let's be clear, I am not a financial whiz geezer. But if I could leave you with just a few thoughts,
one: you don't need somebody else to manage your nest egg (retirement plan at work, 401's, annuities, whatever), you can do it and if you pay the taxes as you go, then it's YOUR money and your decision when and how you spend it. I personally think, deferred taxes is a bit of a quagmire, other people are making life decisions for you when you participate.
Two: Think, what is the motive of the money managers, running your plan at: work, bank, investment broker, fund, whatever? Cynic I may be, but I think their motive is to increase their personal bottom line. You, the client are number two priority. JMO. As far as I can see, these people are just one notch above car salesmen, real estate agents and bookies.
Three: Invest for the LONG term. This holds true for the stock market as well as real estate. Avoid investments in things which you would have difficulty describing how they earn revenue. Block chain and Uber come to mind, ask yourself, "where's the beef?".

Great thread, and timely for me. I have about two years left before I plan to leave my job. No idea what I want to do next.The wife and I have spent the last two decades raising children and saving for retirement. Being just us and no jobs will be one of the greatest life changes we've seen to date I think,

Retired Aug '16 at 48. We figured it would be better to retire early and spend our money doing the things we wanted to do, while we were physically able.

Financial guy looked at our "budget" and said the investments/savings, putting my military pension in that budget, would run out when I hit 72.

We have spent more some months and less on others.

Even when that runs out, I still have my military pension, so when we get old and cant do stuff like we used to, we still have that to pay the normal life stuff.

We were debt free long before we even considered retiring. Our plan was to retire for good, 5 years after I retired from the Army. We dont have kids so that was a big plus.

The only way I'm going to be able to make it happen is to live humbly and save aggressively, I don't have a pension or Social Security to be of any help.

I'm all in on Vanguard index funds & ETFs. I absolutely agree with you that no one is more interested in my money doing well than I am.
I won't touch single company stocks, not my style. At one time Enron was thought to be the hottest thing on the block...

My largest positions are in
VTSAX, VYM, MGK, VNQ, VLCAX, VSMAX VIMAX

Being debt free would be ideal, but not altogether necessary as long (as others have pointed out) it fits within your monthly budget. As far as paying cash for everything including vehicles and such, is not always the wisest thing to do. If the interest on the loan you take is less than what you would earn on your money, you are wiser to get a loan once again as long as the payment fits within the monthly budget. For instance, we purchased a new vehicle last November when they were offering 0% over 72 months. This was a no brainer - use their money and let ours grow. Debt isn't always bad.

You've got the right attitude and you're well on your way. As you advance in your profession and make a little more money increase the amounts and tax advantage of all the tax breaks you can (401K/IRA) and about once a year assess your position and make sure it's achieving your goals. You really will be surprised over time how it build up.

I don't know how old you are but Social Security will be there in some form. I did think they will end up going to needs testing at some point.

Disagree with you there.

I have to disagree on the block chain thing. The block chain and some of the crypto stuff is going to happen with you or without you. My son in law works for FDIC and I asked him if he knew anything about bitcoin. He had a meltdown and said he would never invest in or use something like that. This was 2017 in may. I invested $1144 then and it went to $20K by November. YUP it went to about $3500 and everybody said look at how much you lost. I was still up about $2500. 2 months ago bitcoin was @ $6700 and today it is sitting at $10K and it is going to be another big run. JUST because you don't understand something is NOT a reason not to invest in it. There are a LOT of scam/fraud in this so you have to deal with someone that KNOWS what is going on. I have lost everything 2 times by letting some one else do my investing. I did some research, pulled all my money out of where I could and put $42K in investments and crypto and have built it to over $100 K since 2017. THIS YEAR should make you a BIG BUTT LOAD of money if you are working with good people. IF you doubt the blockchain/crypto thing is going to happen, check out FEDCOIN. YUP, they already got it. They just won't tell you yet. When the fed changes over to this you will never spend another dollar that the fed does not approve or decline the transaction. HECK, Los Vegas already has a bitcoin strip club. HOW REAL IS THAT ?? RAY

Been retired over 10 years. Had a heart valve replaced last year. My doctor says I should be good to go for another 15 years. Well, I worked for over 50 years, started as a curb hop at a drive in restaurant when I was 12. Was always kinda frugal in my spending habits. Do I miss work? In a word, no! My biggest problem has been convincing myself to spend my money, old habits die hard.

2020 401K is 100% maxed out and 2020 Roth IRA is currently 75% maxed and will be completed by the end of Q1.
The rest of this year will be going straight to the brokerage account.
Thought about making the mortgage a priority but my mortgage is literally $14 per day IE silly cheap.

That's fine. Everyone has to be comfortable in their own skin. I just know what is working for us. Everyone is different.

Ray 63...you're right..I have left a lot of money on the table by not investing in tech or cutting edge stuff...but on the other hand, with my old fashioned ways, I can sleep at night. I never lost a nickle in the Savings and Loan scandal downturn, never lost anything in 2008 junk bond downturn. Not many investment "experts" can claim that. Tortoise and hare comparison I guess, you will get there first for sure,,,I'll be along eventually. Neither of us is 'right'. Just different tolerances for risk.

When is debt good?

Pensions were nothing but a way to put emotional handcuffs on employees.

Think of it this way: how many people stayed in their boring, fatiguing, miserable, demoralizing, dead-end jobs for 30 years "because they couldn't afford to lose their pension" How many people could have stepped out of that dreary existence and found a better paying job with growth potential, if only they could have taken their retirement with them?

Can you really imagine doing the same dang thing for forty years, no meaningful choice in what your do, where or when you do it? Or would you rather change jobs for a better one a couple of times a decade, and have the ability to tell the boss "take this job and SHOVE IT" and happily walk away to a better job?

No, pensions weren't a benefit to the employee, they benefited the large employer. Whatever money they spent on pension costs, they saved on average compensation.

I never spend more than I budgeted for. The only exception was the mortgage on my home, which I paid off in 1993. I have been debt free since then. That makes it a lot easier to live on a fixed income. I never carry over a balance on my credit card.

Investment properties.

Yup the golden handcuffs. Most people are moving jobs every 5 years or so.

I love these retirement threads.

There are days when I dream about retiring. There are other days when I decide I'm not ready.

My kids are growing up, but still living at home. So, I'm a bit tethered meaning that traveling around isn't feasible quite yet. I've got a lot of projects I'd love to tackle on my own, but end up paying someone else, cause I don't have the time. Those type of things would be great to do on my own. I put my wood-working hobby on hold long ago. Would love to start that up again. Reloading and dog training certainly could eat up a bunch of time.

Financially, I'm not that worried. The only minor concern I have is healthcare because I'm a ways from medicare age.

I guess I'll keep building my business. Guess I might die and leave my wife and children a small fortune. We'll consider it a life well-lived.

Cretch , wasn’t there a cash price for the vehicle? Which to me equates into the interest in the difference between cash and financed vehicles.

Debt is good when you can reinvest the money at a rate higher than the interest on the debt. My mortgage is 2.5/8%; I have an equivalent amount of money in investment-grade corporate bonds paying 4 1/2%. I net about $2800/yr on the difference between what I pay and what I am paid. Why would I ever sell those bonds to pay off the mortgage?

Addressing the question of too much time on your hands after retiring and not having a sense of purpose. I enjoyed my work and most of the people I worked with but finally realized that I was living on someone else's schedule. Returning from a great vacation I realized that I was done being needed. I wish I had done it 7 years earlier, I was afraid of being bored.

Boredom has never occurred. We live where it is easy to travel into the outdoors for a day or a month. Hiking, hunting, fishing and seeing new places w/ plenty of time to really explore the things/places that interest you. Wolf season in Idaho and Montana runs from Sept.-the end of March. Always coyotes to hunt and we follow the weather to do what we like. Physical training is part of nearly every day and contributes to mental and physical well being, no excuse for missing a workout when you are retired. I read a book/week and spend some time on the internet. Life is good, retire as soon as feasible.


mike r

"It is better to spend money like there is no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there is no money."
P.J. O'Rourke

That's what we negotiated then was able to finance that over 72 months at 0%. Made no sense to take a lump sum out of retirement money that would/could be subject to taxes. Instead let our money sit and grow.

I have time but now I have bills too.

Au7MM08 & Utah708 just explained it. That was pretty much what I was saying in my post. My financial adviser says the same thing. Believe it or not, having some debt makes a big difference a big difference on credit rating for those times when someone actually needs a loan. It can qualify you for much better rates.

Yep,they are the golden anchor.I actually made good money,but did not particularly like my employer.So I ate the chit sandwich,but remember the more bread you have,the less chit you have to eat.I was also self employed at the same time.I used my employer for health benefits and retirement and a great 401K.Something if I was completely on my own would have come from my pocket.

I think for obvious reasons you’re gonna get those with well-planned retirements on here. The biggest torpedo that struck my own financial future was my wife and future Ex going rogue after a 20+ year marriage. My future retirement income is legally classed as a joint investment for all that time, so is hers but she is 10 years younger.

I took a major hit but am still afloat, coulda hurt a lot worse if I had major material aspirations and/or didn’t like what I do. It does mean that, God willing, I need to work another seven years until age 70. I would probably have done that anyway.

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.

I’m not retired yet but I’m not far from it, I can retire as early as next year. The one thing that so many say about retirement is to save save save and figure out how to make it last as long as possible. Be debt free, yada ya da ya da. Well in our families we’ve seen health be a much greater catalyst in quality of life than money. My father inlaw saved and saved all his life trying to be smart and frugal with their finances. They had all kinds of plans when they retired with investments and pensions + SS and sadly they didn’t have long after retiring before serious health issues came up. They couldn’t do any of the things they had planned on because they couldn’t ever get too far from their doctors. Long story short, mother in law passed away at 65. Hes since overcome some cancer stuff for now and we have had many a heart to hearts about life since her passing. His views and perspectives have sure changed since losing his life partner and all the money in the world can’t fix that. His health is so so and there’s lots of things he’d like to do that he simply can’t. All the money in his Edward Jones Acct means very little to him. It’s interesting to see his perspective on life change so much in such a short period of time. I guess what I’m trying to say is if you want to retire or are retired don’t forget to to live as much as you can while you can because being debt free, having millions in investments or fat pensions mean very little when you can’t do anything with it! The only guarantee each us has is that we won’t make it out of this life alive!

About to retire in August at age 62. The scripture says, “the Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” So, my only consideration will be what I want to fill my day with since every day will be a Saturday.

I am a Proverbs 3:5-6 guy, myself. I kinda thought we were about the same age. Enjoy yourself , Reloader.
You should have a lot more time to, say, reload!

when I was young in my early 30s I thought if I could get a million dollars in the bank I would be set for life, well let me tell you a million isn't what it was back in the day! Lucky for me we invested well most of our lives and had 2 good incomes also. About the time I retired Obama Care went into affect my medical insurance went from $600/month for just myself to over $2700 a month when she retired a few years later. Today she is on Medicare and I still pay $1400 monthly until September when I go on it as well. That is an example of what type of unexpected costs you may run into.
My advice invest 1/3 your money in low risk funds the other 2/3 in higher risk. I seriously doubt you can do that on your own it is more than a full time job at best and make a mistake your screwed. Hire an investment firm whom makes a % of what you make do not use a banks investment team you need a serious firm. My investor makes what I used to consider a darn nice yearly income off my profits but then again his percentage is small compared to mine.

Rem141r: I have been retired for 23 years now and I spend money like it is going out of style!
The VarmintWife allots me $1,000.00 (one thousand dollars!) per month from our several sources of income. That $1,000.00 is to help support my gun buying addiction.
Our home has long been paid for and our six cars are all paid for and we have no debt so we only have household utilities, gas and groceries to pay for.
And we are, travelling more of recent, which is expensive.
I say this with all the sincerity I can muster, to all who are still working - get retired as soon as you possibly can!
It (being retired!) is even more wonderful, relaxing, rewarding and self pleasing than I ever imagined.
No budget restricts me - I spend every cent I can get my hands on!
You (Rem141r) must at some point ask yourself and answer - "how many times do I live"!
The answer to that somber and profound question is a resounding, sobering and mentality altering - ONCE!
Once your family is taken care of and your bills are paid (or minimal) spend it like there is NO tomorrow - for one day you will be correct!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I retired about 4-1/2 years ago due to health reasons. I was an electrical lineman for 35 years and ran a sideline electric business for about 30 years. If health issues had not caused me to retire then, I would have retired about the end of last year or the first of this year.

My Wife and I don't budget and never have. We have always lived well within our means and still do. We always carried a minimum amount of debt. My income varied widely due to overtime and we planned our lives to live on my basic salary. A pension and SS provide about the same income as I made working and we have investments to fall back on whenever inflation starts creeping up on us.

We actually spend a little less than when we were working, mostly due to me not eating lunch out and having to buy less clothing. We travel more, taking a big trip about twice a year and several 3 day 2 night trips during the year.

I enjoyed my job but I don't really miss it. As far as self worth goes, I make up for not working by spending more time with the Wife, Sons and Grandkids. I hunt, fish, shoot, reload and cast and I'm pretty big into Craft Beer. I help a Farmer buddy during planting and harvest season and help another buddy plant food plots and maintain 2 different Duck Clubs. Sometimes I'm a little busier than I want to be but I would rather be occupied than bored.

I guess the big unknown for the retired or the elderly will be medical cost.

About a year for myself. Just today signed up for Medicare.. Thinking things well be more than OK, two pensions, Military retirement, Tricare for life and a good TSP (401K) along with two SS for the wife and I. Will be moving and buying a house and land. Having a hard time deciding on how much to spend. Don't mind a mortgage, but want it to be no more than my Military retirement. We will have a good chunk to put down when we sell the current house. ($150K+) Almost debt free, and will be in a year. Health is always the big concern. Both of us are good right now, but I am looking at at least one knee replacement if not both. To quote an old song, "The futures uncertain and the end is always near"

I had a great 30 year career with challenging work to the very end. I have a great pension, 401k and health care covered. I could not have hoped for a better career and company.

One of my former students ask me how I like retirement.. I retired at 51, while I am not into spending every cent I can, I do pretty much as I want.. Time to do all the things is the major problem.. I need two Septembers and Two Octobers, and maybe two Novembers... One thing you must consider, the man who ask me about retirement, I was told go as soon as you can.. You can always make more money, but you only get so much time... We got into this discussion because one of his classmates is like him.. Approaching 60 years of age.. That man went from very little to a huge house, a cabin in the mountains, and a millionaire before he was 40... Awesome.. He worked hard and deserves it all, but 3 weeks ago, he had a severe stroke.. He will live, but who knows how much he will recover..My pal said that made him think, and he is getting out as soon as possible.. Do the same if you can!!

Doesn't really address the OP's question, but the biggest challenge for many that want to retire before 65 is the cost of health insurance. If you decide you want to retire before 65 (Medicare age), how will you cover medical expenses? When I was selling Medicare Supplement insurance, I found one couple that was paying $2000/month for private insurance. This was before Obama Care, so not sure what it costs now. They were so happy to get on Medicare and buy a Supplement plan.

👊🏻

I've seen a lot of retirement threads on various forums and they all read about the same:

Try to be debt free when you retire, seems like a no brainer.

The people who generally respond to these topics are those who are in a good financial position, you rarely hear from those who aren't.

The responses are generally much more rosy when the market is at 29,000 rather than 19,000.

Anyone who thinks this "economy is booming" should take a look at debt levels across the board, for instance:

USA has it's first ever trillion dollar deficit.

This year SS will pay out more than it takes in for the first time ever and at the current rate the "reserve" will be exhausted in 10 years or so.

Wages are flat over 20 years but housing is up 290%, college education 310%, healthcare 90% which of course means that consumers now have record levels of debt across the board - mortgages, student loans, car loans, credit cards.

Consumer debt, not counting mortgages, has climbed to $4 trillion—higher than it has ever been even after adjusting for inflation.

Consumer credit card debt passed a trillion dollars for the first time last year.

Personal-loan balances totaled a record $138 billion at the end of last year, vs. $46 billion at the end of 2011.

Just look at cars as an example, the average car is now $39k and the average length of car loans is 70 months. All so people can keep up with the Jones's.

None of this is sustainable and at some point reality will kick in and it won't be pretty.

This has been going on since the 1960s. How old are you? There is nothing new under the sun. Most American's live beyond their means, and always have since the 1960s. Our bloated government has spent more money than they take in on taxes for decades. No gold standard, just print the paper. But to say the economy is not any better than what the halfrican settled for, and said would never be any better . . . well the official government numbers say otherwise.

I believe in having a good time after seeing other people do nothing saving for retirement, no vacations, sat at home watching TV. They thought they would be able to doo all kinds of crap when they retired. Well, sadly their health didn’t allow them to do much. I have SS and will have a real good pension when I hang it up. I say, live it up while you are young!!!

I retired 5 years ago at 51... ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. Still work on our properties (fix-up and flip properties as a stream of tax free income). When my son graduates HS in 12,214 days, 15 hours, 12 minutes and 22 seconds we will sell the last of the fix and flip houses and move into our final home.

The one thing I will say about retirement is to have a plan... and/or projects stacked up to your eyeballs. That laying around on the sofa stuff will kill you stone dead.

12,214 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes and 53 seconds now.

Designing our WV house now... https://photos.app.goo.gl/BUqiTG7drn9Er6Dq6

Building from lumber we are milling ourselves...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cQyassR6qxpQzArj7

Like I said "...projects stacked up to our eyeballs".

12,214 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes and 23 seconds now... NOVA SUCKS!!!

Cash, If I read your post right, your son graduates high school in 33 years? If I miss understood, I apologize.

Oops... 1,214, 14, 42, 42 seconds.

Coffee and Copenhagen hadn't kicked in yet

Yeah there were lots of seven year car loans in the sixties, billions in unsecured personal loans too I'm sure. I'm old enough to be able to comprehend facts and figures and ignore political kool aid.

I retired at age 51 from policing in the Province of Ontario for a little over 30 years. I got 60.5% of my last 5 years averaged out, or a little over 30 K a year. 8 days later I took a job as a prosecutor in Traffic and Liquor court part time which was about the same money as the pension. I worked at that job for 14 years and other than buying a few too many guns, was able to squirrel away a few bucks. I pastored a smallish church for 13 years as well for which I received no money or allowances, but was very fulfilling. We also get about 2.5 K a month from Old Age Security and Canada Pension. We're blessed for sure.

In the fall of 2019, we sold our house of 33 years and moved 300 miles west to be with our youngest daughter and husband. We had a house built and now have a manageable mortgage. My policing pension is indexed on the cost of living.

We do not live a lavish lifestyle, but we are not poor either. We are comfortable and enjoying our new home and living close to our family in Canada. I have a couple medical concerns and at almost 70, it made sense to be closer to family.

Retirement for us has been good.

Have as much fun as one can afford because you are gonna be dead rich or poor. Insurance premiums are a big part of the retirement cost until Medicare. Ed k

I've been retired for just over 11 years on a fixed income, I'll start collecting SS in a few months. We bought a farm before we retired and bought cattle once we retired. Don't get into the cattle business if you don't want to be tied down and have nothing to do. I do play golf a few times a week and we live in the middle of our farm that all of our friends call the zoo. I feed the deer 20+ tons of corn and plant 100+ acres of food plots for the wildlife. The wife and I built a 3 acre pond that we stocked and now has to many fish in it. Been truly blessed and my motto, Live life while you can.

Things were going well until my wife got a horse. I didn't see that coming when I retired 7 years ago.

Women and horses are a lethal and expensive combination lol

Sold mine five years ago before retirement. Looking at a mule now

Bride retired 5 years ago and I retired 2 years ago. Our combined SSA/mo is enough to live relatively well. Actually our living expenses have gone down in the last few years. Any vacations or extras come from our "fun money" fund.

Horses are work and money pits! Been there !

Digging up old post.
I may be quitting earlier than planned due to the Chinese lung funk putting a hurt on the business I'm employed in.
Money isn't a thing, I've been almost wealthy and in the red broke. Kinda in between now. Boss is talking with HR (2 states away) about options. There may be severance money involved etc. I'm tired of all the BS with the lung funk so no big deal. Health ins is with the wife's company anyway.

Has this stupid response to the covid forced anyone you know out early? I heard they got like 7 million in loans, wonder if that changes the conditions involved in letting people go or pushing early retirement?

Not really planning to completely retire. I started drawing ss in febuary at 62. Wife plans to retire from ups end of this year. She can get ss then to so with her retirement and ss we should be good. Ups 401k is good. I am a remodeling contractor and have just got picky about the jobs I do. Got rid of my full time help and I’ve got a few retired friend that will help me a few days a week. Been doing the gunshows for 10 yrs or so, that helps.