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Home > Category: Retirement
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Viewing the 'Retirement' Category
December 16th, 2024 at 06:55 pm
This historically has been the time of year that I plan for upcoming financial goals in the new year. It’s a different perspective now that I’m retired and not contributing to accounts. Of course, I hope to see some growth but it’s almost completely out of my control. So, my planning is about managing money rather than growing it.
2025 is a milestone year for me financially because I will turn 59 ½. I’ve kept my 401k account open since I retired just in case I needed to tap it before I turned 59 ½. I don’t know the rules but saved a link to an informative site about withdrawing money from a 401k without penalty after age 55. I shouldn’t need to do that now though as I believe I have enough to last me until that milestone. I will want to move the entire balance of the account into a self-directed IRA. So that’s a focus this year – researching low-cost companies (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) as well as researching the mechanics of doing it. It’s a little scary. I hope I can get good, maybe even in-person, customer service.
2025 will also be the year that I have the kitchen remodel completed. I’ve done two corners of the kitchen in phases – the first in 2023 and the second in 2024. The rest, which will be expensive and take much more time, will be done in 2025. I’m excited about this but nervous about the huge cost. I’ll spend a good bit of time during the first part of the year designing the layout in detail. I want to think of every item that needs to be stored and every task I commonly do in the kitchen. I already have the basics decided. I’ll also need to find out about the building permit application process.
As some may recall, I have a deal with my boys to split any scholarships they get for college with them. DS3 is in a special situation because the military is covering his college costs while he works in the day and remotely takes his courses at night. He and I negotiated a $15k gift at graduation in lieu of matches since his isn’t really a ‘scholarship’. There is a possibility that he will graduate in 2025 if he maintains a heavy school load. I need to be prepared to pay.
I’ve taken advantage of the health exchange for insurance beginning in January 2024. I could have kept Cobra coverage for 12 more months but it didn’t make financial sense. I’ve just signed us up for the same coverage in 2025. This will be the first year I do income taxes that take the generous subsidies into consideration. Even though I followed all the rules, a part of me is nervous that there will be some gotcha and that I’ll owe money to the state. I’m looking forward to getting our taxes done so I don’t worry about it any longer. The plan is to stay on the health exchange (provided that it remains in place) until we qualify for Medicare.
My non-financial goal for 2025 is to do an unassisted pull-up on my 60th birthday. I have never in my life done one. It’s a serious goal though and I’ve begun preparing for it. If I don’t succeed, at least I’ll be stronger and healthier!
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July 9th, 2024 at 04:34 pm
A year since I retired! I can’t believe that time has gone by so quickly. I have checked in with Saving Advice periodically but haven’t posted at all. I just don’t find myself spending much time in front of the computer, which is a good thing.
When I first retired I half-joked that it’d take a couple of years to just catch up on house projects, organization, and neglected maintenance. I do think that will prove to be true.
Things I’ve done in the past year:
Built a raised bed with DS5’s help and planted blueberries
Designed and hired out the construction of the renovation of the second kitchen corner. I’m doing it in pieces: the first in 2023, the second part this year, and the rest (impossible to piecemeal) next year
Cleared out and planted the side bed between the walkway and the house with perennials
Entered all my loose recipes into a recipe app [Recipe Keeper Pro] and threw away the papers! The only exception was a couple of handwritten recipes of my mom’s. I did enter them but kept the original copies in our heritage album with her pictures
Caught up with our vacation scrapbook and with another one that will be a gift in a couple of years
Completed the scrapbook of Christmas cards and 2004-2005 family photos. (Yes, I’ve still got work to do!)
Painted and installed a better organizational system in my half of the closet
Travel: trip to CA to visit DS2, 2-week trip to NC to help a friend set up a house, trip to FL to visit a friend that I hadn’t seen in years
Set up cat doors, new style of litter boxes, and auto-feeders in the basement for our colony of felines
Pressure washed & treated the deck
An assortment of health improvement activities: online master classes, detox regimens, sleep and exercise routines
Entertaining: just in the summer, we’ve had friends over for dinners on the deck and have more planned
It’s nice to see this compiled list. Sometimes I forget how much I’ve done.
I’m slowly getting out of the mindset that every day must be productive and instead judging each day’s value on happiness and appreciation. It’s a mind shift that I didn’t consider when I retired. I still make to-do lists but it’s okay if something doesn’t get accomplished because an unexpected opportunity arose or just because something took longer, often because I got more engaged.
I am going to try to post more than annually! I need to work it into my routine.
I've had to mess with this entry to get it not to delete some of the text when publishing.... so odd.
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June 29th, 2023 at 02:19 pm
Two more working days! And I'm an hour into one of them.
I’ve installed (with help from DS5) my retirement gift from the company – a Sonos home speaker system. As a manager, I knew that the company provided funds for the manager of the retiring colleague to purchase a gift and I knew the budget for mine. I’ve purchased the gifts for four retirees myself when I was the manager. I usually asked the retiring colleague for their preferences. I guess that spoils the surprise element but at least they receive something they really want. I wasn’t sure how my manager would handle it so I took the initiative to tell him what I wanted. I am so glad that I did! I love having my music play throughout the house and the deck (when I put the ‘Move’ outside).
We spend lots of time on the deck during the summer so now I have music while I’m preparing the meal and also while we’re eating outside.
I’ve just been reimbursed for my last expense report. It was late so I was getting worried that it would be a lingering to-do. I’m glad to have it done.
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June 28th, 2023 at 01:33 pm
The number of working days left – three!
I’ve sent my ‘so long’ e-mail to colleagues that I’ve worked closely with over the years and I’m glad I did that. I’ve received many well wishes and compliments. The company’s gotten large, so often in the past I’d find out someone was gone after reaching out to them for information.
I’ve completed the COBRA paperwork. The company will pay for the first three months and I’ll pick up the premiums (or change to another plan) after that. The monthly premiums will be just under $2500. Ouch! It’s for the family but still. I’m thankful that the company pays the first few months and I do have HSA funds that can be used for the premiums. We’ll definitely stick with COBRA for 2023, and probably 2024 but I’ll do comparison shopping for 2024 before making that decision. And now, I’ll have the time for that research!
Because I have to return the printer, I purchased a new one. I’ve just done the pack-up and set-up activities related to that. I was told that I could keep the cell phone (just not the company-paid plan) but not before I purchased a new phone and plan. So my former work phone will go to DS5. He’ll be upgrading from an iphone 7 to an iphone 11. He’s excited.
I can’t pack up the laptop and monitor until I’m really finished working. And much of my days this week are in knowledge transfer sessions with others.
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June 11th, 2023 at 03:18 pm
I haven’t blogged in months and a couple of big financial things have happened. The exciting one is that I gave notice at work of my retirement, and it’s now 19 days away!
The company has a voluntary separation program (VSP) that sends a retiree off with a nice severance. To qualify I had to be 55+ and have the sum of my years of service to the company and my age be at least 72. I also had to provide a minimum of 3 months’ notice, which I did – plus one day. I’ve actually qualified since I was 55 but I wasn’t ready then. Now the house is paid off and I’m comfortable with living lean until my retirement account can be accessed without penalty. I have a small Roth IRA as a back-up and I’ve also read a couple of articles about accessing a 401k after 55 but before 59.5 without penalty. That’s a back-up to the back-up though – I hope I don’t need that. But just in case, I’m leaving my retirement funds in the 401k until I’m 59.5. Then I’ll roll it into an IRA where I have more control.
My job is fine – I don’t dislike it and yet, I am super excited just to wake up and feel free.
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Retirement
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January 4th, 2023 at 03:02 am
I’ve been unable to comment on any blogs for some time now. I’m not sure what the issue is since I can see comments from others and nothing has changed on my end – computer, web browser, etc.
I especially appreciate Wink’s most recent blog entry. This is the year I’ve planned to retire and several unplanned potential expenses and risks of expenses have come to light. I’m determined not to fall into the ‘one more year’ rut. I think my health and happiness will improve from letting work go, even if it means that we’re living lean.
One new year’s resolution for sure: blog more often. I’ve just gotten out of the habit.
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Retirement,
Goals
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August 7th, 2021 at 01:43 am
I mentioned in a previous post (2020) that I have a deadline set for the start of my retirement. And that I have a list of prerequisites to determine whether I’m in a safe-enough-for-me position to retire sooner. Each quarter I evaluate my progress against those prerequisites, and my quarterly check-in for this is aligned with my birthday instead of the standard calendar quarter. That’s because a couple of my prerequisites are based on my 60th birthday so the calculation is simpler.
Result for this check-in: I’m getting closer! I’m hoping to pull the trigger in a couple of years.
Currently my progress is:
Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60th birthday: 100+%
College savings on target for full funding: 55%
Mortgage paid off: 73%
Savings of basic expenses until 60th birthday set aside: 14.4%
No consumer debt: 100%
Assumptions for these calculations: average annual return on investments will be 5%, no further contributions to investments, full funding = 40 semesters (8 x 5 boys), $36,000k annually for basic expenses, starting consumer debt was $10k.
The next time I check-in on this progress will be around my birthday.
Wow - I really struggled to get the formatting for this post to include all the content and not look wonky...
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Retirement,
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February 12th, 2021 at 02:35 pm
I have a deadline set for the start of my retirement and I have a list of prerequisites to determine whether I’m in a safe-enough-for-me position to retire sooner. Each quarter I evaluate my progress against those prerequisites, and my quarterly check-in for this is aligned with my birthday instead of the standard calendar quarter. That’s because a couple of my prerequisites are based on my 60th birthday so the calculation is simpler.
Result for this check-in: Again, it's not time to retire now, but I’m continuing to make good progress.
In order to pull the plug immediately, I’d have to have these things accomplished:
Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60th birthday
College savings on target for full funding
Mortgage paid off
Savings of basic expenses until 60th birthday set aside
No consumer debt
Currently my progress is:
100+%
54%
48%
8%
25%
Assumptions for these calculations: average annual return on investments will be 5%, no further contributions to investments, full funding = 40 semesters (8 x 5 boys), $36,000k annually for basic expenses, starting consumer debt was $10k. (At one time I had negative progress on this! For the record though, it’s at 0% interest.)
The next time I check-in on this progress will be in May at my half-birthday.
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Retirement,
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August 9th, 2020 at 11:20 am
I mentioned in a previous post that I have a deadline set for the start of my retirement. And that I have a list of prerequisites to determine whether I’m in a safe-enough-for-me position to retire sooner. Each quarter I evaluate my progress against those prerequisites, and my quarterly check-in for this is aligned with my birthday instead of the standard calendar quarter. That’s because a couple of my prerequisites are based on my 60th birthday so the calculation is simpler.
Result for this check-in: It's not time to retire now, but I’m continuing to make progress!
In order to pull the plug immediately, I’d have to have these things accomplished:
(1) Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60th birthday
(2) College savings on target for full funding
(3) Mortgage paid off
(4) Savings of basic expenses until 60th birthday set aside
(5) No consumer debt
Currently my progress is:
(1) 100+%
(2) 50%
(3) 39%
(4) 6%
(5) 8%
Assumptions for these calculations: average annual return on investments will be 5%, no further contributions to investments, full funding = 40 semesters (8 x 5 boys), $36,000k annually for basic expenses, starting consumer debt was $10k. (At one time I had negative progress on this! For the record though, it’s at 0% interest.)
The next time I check-in on this progress will be around my birthday.
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Retirement
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June 30th, 2020 at 02:45 pm
A few years ago, I read a financial article, book, or blog (I can’t remember unfortunately.) that had an impact on how I prepare for retirement.
Before then I had just focused on a number to achieve for my retirement account – one that would support a ‘retirement phase’ budget with a 4% annual withdrawal. My thought, like many others, was that my retirement date would be the day I achieved that number. I could project that date but not count on it. The article made me rethink the approach and instead think more about my remaining time and its value. So, make the DATE the goal, not the AMOUNT. After reading, I decided to set a deadline for my retirement start date and then work to make that happen. There’s a mental shift, at least for me, in having a “deadline” instead of a “target date”. A target is something that I work toward and hope it works out, but know it might not and that’s okay. A deadline on the other hand is something I work toward with some sense of urgency because if it doesn’t work out, I have to resort to a back-up plan that isn’t as nice. When I have a deadline, I tend to make sacrifices earlier if necessary so I won’t miss it.
June 30, 2025 is my retirement start deadline. I will be retired on that day. It makes me excited just to type that! That makes today a milestone – my retirement is a maximum of 5 years from today. What if I don’t have the magic number in the retirement account? Then I will adjust my retirement lifestyle, but I will not change the date. One thing that has reinforced my view has been this site, where I see several of you in retirement living quite well without a huge nest egg. There are so many accounts too of people who had a sudden disability that resulted in that date being selected for them and they weren’t prepared. And others who achieved their magic number but have the ‘one more year’ syndrome for several years because they worry about the potential flaws in their calculations. I also encountered one of those Monte Carlo simulators that included the probability of being dead along with the probabilities of being broke or wealthy. That drove home the concept to me: I want to control how I spend the rest of my life.
2025 is the year I turn sixty. I can access my retirement account without penalty then. I won’t qualify for Medicare yet. My youngest boys won’t be finished with college. All those factors are included in my planning.
I set a list of prerequisites that must be met if I voluntarily opt to retire before June 30, 2025. In order to allow myself to retire earlier, I have to have these things accomplished:
(1) Retirement account on target for 7 figures on 60th birthday
(2) College savings on target for full funding
(3) Mortgage paid off
(4) Savings of basic expenses until 60th birthday set aside
(5) No consumer debt
I track my progress against those prerequisites each quarter. I have a timeanddate.com countdown set too – today I have 260 more Mondays until my deadline.
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March 3rd, 2020 at 02:44 pm
Today was the day for my monthly net worth calculation. I time it each month to be just after the automated house payments. I expected ugliness so I actually was almost pleasantly surprised. I’m down $24k since last month. The retirement accounts did take a brutal beating but it was countered by the company stock price increase, house value increase, and debt payoff. The company is private and the stock price is evaluated only twice per year. That happened last month so the impact of the volatile market isn’t reflected in the price yet.
As much as I know that it’s risky to try to time the market, the three days of huge losses was too tempting. I spent a few thousand of funds in the money market to buy more index funds. (all within the retirement account). I must not have been unique in that thinking given the big gains yesterday. I don’t regret doing it since the (much) lower value of the account overall made the cash position a little lopsided.
In other financial news, DS2 just received an unexpected scholarship. It was $1500 so with our split arrangement that’s $750 for me. I had money set aside for his food costs for the remainder of the semester so I’m redirecting that money to the 0% CC to be repaid by May. The balance on that card will now be $4900.
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Retirement
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February 24th, 2020 at 09:02 pm
Maybe this is a morbid topic but FIL’s recent death along with our ages too I guess is prompting some discussions about our wishes for a time that we might not be capable of expressing them. I never have created a living will because I want to live! I figured that that is what doctors are supposed to do by default. But I didn’t think of more detailed aspects for a time when I could be bedridden and not able to either think clearly or communicate clearly. I decided that I am going to document how I want to be treated if I am ever bedridden. From getting fresh air, to music, nourishment, being at home, etc. I am going to write it down, tell my family, and show them where the file is kept.
We wrote wills almost 20 years ago. At that time we didn’t have much in the way of assets but we were concerned about our children (only two of them then) being cared for in the event that something happened to us. So we had relatively simple wills drawn up to name a guardian and to provide him with all assets and life insurance proceeds to use for providing for our children in the event that we both died. Otherwise we each left everything to the other.
Not only have we added children, but most of those children are 18+ so considered adults now, and we’ve moved to a different state. Watching both of our dads remarry after our moms died opened our eyes on how assets pass around. For example, if I died it would be fine with me for DH to remarry. But would I want my mom’s jewelry to go to his newer wife when he died later? No! I would not. So I’d like to have some possessions included in my will that would not go to DH in the event of my death if he outlives me. Also we’re seeing how very important it is that you appoint an executor that will carry out your wishes even if he doesn’t agree with them. I want to change mine now.
And on top of those things, we now live in one of the six states that has inheritance taxes for estates, even on assets (IRAs for example) that are not included in the will. The tax doesn’t apply to items inherited by spouses but it does apply to items inherited by children.
So actions for us now: (1) Rethink our second phase of retirement when we plan to downsize to a cottage. Let’s consider neighboring states that have similar climate and terrain but are more tax friendly for our family. And if one of us dies soon, God forbid, the surviving one should move. (2) Rewrite the wills this year. Plan to revisit them every 5 years – could be on all my milestone birthdays.
I’m curious to hear of your experiences with wills – creating your own or unintended consequences of others that you’ve witnessed. Anyone have a story to share?
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January 30th, 2020 at 07:52 pm
HR hosted a Medicare webinar this week that all colleagues were invited to attend. Though I’m a decade away from Medicare, I’m not knowledgeable about it and it’s an aspect of retirement planning I should consider. So I attended. I was surprised at how few people attended and I think I was the youngest one. The person presenting the information was not from the company but from an organization that offers Medicare consulting services. The positive aspect of that is that she knew the topic inside & out. The negative aspect is that she was presenting an informational seminar to sell their services, so it was clearly in her best interest to make the topic complex and to be biased toward over-insuring.
The seminar was informative and I did glean some information for my planning purposes.
As to the components and their costs, I took these notes:
Part A – covers inpatient hospital & hospice care. $0 premium. $1408/occurrence deductible + co-pays after 60 days
Part B – covers doctors & medical services. $145 - $492/mo/pp premium depending upon income (rolling 2-year look-back). $198 deductible, then 20% coinsurance. Covers Part A deductible.
Part C – supplemental medical insurance. 2 types & various choices. ~$160/mo/pp premium.
Part D – prescription drugs. ~$33/mo/pp premium. $435 deductible.
Enrollment is not automatic and the initial enrollment period is 7 months long – 3 months before the birthday month, the birthday month, and 3 months afterward. After that there are forever-penalties that are tacked on to the premium if you enroll late in a component that has a premium.
It’s not a high deductible plan so you can’t contribute to an HSA any longer but you can use funds from an existing one to pay expenses including the costs of the premiums for Part B or D and some Part Cs.
Based on my knowledge of Medicare now and my personal values, I plan to take these actions:
(1) Enroll in Medicare just before my 65th birthday
(2) Make sure our income keeps us at the base premium level for Part B, beginning the year DH turns 63.
(3) Skip parts C, D and plan to spend that money on health-promoting activities instead.
Is there anyone using Medicare now that has tips or gotchas for the rest of us to know for planning?
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Health
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