haapai
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Post by haapai on Jun 29, 2023 12:00:09 GMT -5
funny you should ask  I'm having a crisis of faith.....do I really need to keep saving? maxing out the 401k, etc......seems like I just need to let the asset pile go about about 20-30%, and I'm done. Is saving anymore going to make a huge difference in when I can quit? Math says not.....so why do I keep doing it? Another reason for saving is to keep yourself from getting used to spending it. If you increase your expenditures by 20% the pile of assets that you have accumulated with the expectation of drawing X a year from it won't be sufficient if you need to draw X+extra, hard-to-give-up expenditures from it a year.
In theory, you could burn that money or give it away and be safe but even gifting can become a hard habit to stop.
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jun 29, 2023 12:52:45 GMT -5
funny you should ask I'm having a crisis of faith.....do I really need to keep saving? maxing out the 401k, etc......seems like I just need to let the asset pile go about about 20-30%, and I'm done. Is saving anymore going to make a huge difference in when I can quit? Math says not.....so why do I keep doing it? That's where I'm at. I would HAPPILY scale way back on savings and coast in the rest of the way if it wasn't for those damn tax credits. Not that I don't totally appreciate them, it's just really hard to turn down a 30% kickback on savings, and since I still have many years filing HOH I don't see anything changing before I retire in that department.
yeah.....there is that! for me it is the taxes rather than credits - but it is a lot with fed and state - I'd be at 37% taxes for most of it, that does really take the wind out my sails for stop saving and spoil myself for a bit. Likely the average for the maxed contribution would be 35% to taxes..... from that perspective, I guess does make sense. Save 35% of taxes now, and later likely pay 25%.....well now that I say that it isn't soooo much better! I think I'm so angsty about it because with all the recent inflation, increased max for contributions, and mostly lackluster raises for past 4 years, my purchasing power on my take home pay is definitely decreased. I feel like I make sooooo much money now, that I should be rolling in it, and I'm not! It honestly scares me sometimes, where is it all going? I need to crunch down into the statements and figure it out better. But sometimes I wonder if I'm just so old it sounds like a lot more money than it is these days! "When I was kid, candy bars were a nickle and we walked 4 miles to school, uphill each way, in wooden shoes with no socks in the snow" kind of way. |
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Jun 29, 2023 12:56:36 GMT -5
But sometimes I wonder if I'm just so old it sounds like a lot more money than it is these days! "When I was kid, candy bars were a nickle and we walked 4 miles to school, uphill each way, in wooden shoes with no socks in the snow" kind of way. I'm getting that way. I took my kids to the bakery that was a couple blocks from my house when I was growing up and was like, WTH?? Maple Long Johns are $1.89 now?!? Each?!? I swear they were like 35 cents when I was a kid. |
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Jun 29, 2023 13:04:34 GMT -5
You see Rukh O'Rorke , it's not that easy to stop completely lol. Oh yes it is, 19 months in and loving it! As I started very late saving for retirement I am by no means rich but I am comfortable so I am happy with what I have. The big thing for me was tracking my spending for multiple years before retiring so I knew that I could replace that with money to spare and opening a Roth, which I did not count for daily living expense covering, now designated for larger replacement costs like say a car, kitchen appliances, whatever. My traveling has always been included in the current expenses so that is covered as well |
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on Jun 29, 2023 14:32:22 GMT -5
My DH (age 63) had 2 ex-coworkers die this month. One was 67, still working full-time, and lived less than a year from his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The other was a young father of 1 in his late 30s who dropped over from a heart attack. We are embracing retirement, and while comfortable we don't have mega-monies. Our time is limited! and even to think about only having 15-20 more good years to travel, or whatever it is you want to do! Ask yourself how quickly the LAST 20 years flew by.
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jun 29, 2023 14:46:44 GMT -5
My DH (age 63) had 2 ex-coworkers die this month. One was 67, still working full-time, and lived less than a year from his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The other was a young father of 1 in his late 30s who dropped over from a heart attack. We are embracing retirement, and while comfortable we don't have mega-monies. Our time is limited! and even to think about only having 15-20 more good years to travel, or whatever it is you want to do! Ask yourself how quickly the LAST 20 years flew by. oh! so sad! Yeah - i really need to find some balance on making this when to pull the plug decision. Have a 3 week vacay in July.....time to think deep thoughts on this..... speaking of which, should you be changing you name??!  |
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on Jun 29, 2023 15:01:41 GMT -5
Yes!! Maybe pluggedaway??
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Jun 29, 2023 15:05:34 GMT -5
Unplugged.  |
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Jun 29, 2023 18:08:55 GMT -5
You see Rukh O'Rorke , it's not that easy to stop completely lol. Easy for us! We figured the worst thing that could happen was we'd have to work part-time. |
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resolution
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Post by resolution on Jun 29, 2023 18:57:07 GMT -5
I've passed my 30 year anniversary at work, which was my final goal for my current position. I even posted about it a few months ago and you all gave me permission to retire, but I haven't been able to make myself pull the plug yet.
My work team is currently under a lot of pressure and people are taking turns crying during our zoom meetings. The fact that I can retire whenever I want does somewhat insulate me from the pressure, but I feel bad for one of my coworkers who is a good friend. She is pretty much trapped until her public service student loan forgiveness goes through, because even after you have your 10 years, if you quit before the loans are discharged the forgiveness is cancelled.
I did have another team approach me about a transfer opportunity, so I am considering talking to them about retiring and working for them part time as a contractor. In the mean time, the health plans available on the Pennsylvania Exchange have stopped covering services at our doctors (they are across the border in Maryland), so if I retire I will have to find new doctors. So that is one more excuse for me to use to procrastinate on retiring.
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saveinla
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Post by saveinla on Jun 29, 2023 20:56:51 GMT -5
My boss was moved to another dept and I am getting a new boss who does not have any clue on the business side.
They want to give me a retention bonus if I stay for a year. I have countered asking for more money and to move the date from July to April and a raise and promo in September. We will see.
I will turn 55 in Feb and am seriously thinking of quitting this job and going to some other job that has 8 hours work only. Something like an associate at Barnes & Noble or something thats not related to what I do now. Given that I dont have any pension, it just depends on what I want.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Jun 30, 2023 3:12:38 GMT -5
We just got hit with an unhappy surprise. DH's X is now receiving 980 USD of his pension, a product of their divorce agreement that he completely forgot about. He gave her everything during their divorce including the house, paid for, and a new car. He had thought that was in exchange for him keeping his pension, but apparently not. So now we I need to refigure out the budget. We do have his health insurance plus Medicare; expensive but worth everything since DH has health issues. Sigh. Plus DD needs help since she got scammed in a big, ugly way. Older adulting takes a lot of planning. I'm 63, too; DH will be 74 in October. I am so glad you're navigating well the first waves of retirement, debthaven. |
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resolution
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Post by resolution on Jun 30, 2023 9:37:13 GMT -5
We just got hit with an unhappy surprise. DH's X is now receiving 980 USD of his pension, a product of their divorce agreement that he completely forgot about. He gave her everything during their divorce including the house, paid for, and a new car. He had thought that was in exchange for him keeping his pension, but apparently not. So now we I need to refigure out the budget. We do have his health insurance plus Medicare; expensive but worth everything since DH has health issues. Sigh. Plus DD needs help since she got scammed in a big, ugly way. Older adulting takes a lot of planning. I'm 63, too; DH will be 74 in October. I am so glad you're navigating well the first waves of retirement, debthaven . Wow that is quite a surprise! Something like that may require a big adjustment to plans. I hope you contact his divorce lawyer and double check it to make sure that is right. |
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jun 30, 2023 10:49:41 GMT -5
I've passed my 30 year anniversary at work, which was my final goal for my current position. I even posted about it a few months ago and you all gave me permission to retire, but I haven't been able to make myself pull the plug yet. My work team is currently under a lot of pressure and people are taking turns crying during our zoom meetings. The fact that I can retire whenever I want does somewhat insulate me from the pressure, but I feel bad for one of my coworkers who is a good friend. She is pretty much trapped until her public service student loan forgiveness goes through, because even after you have your 10 years, if you quit before the loans are discharged the forgiveness is cancelled. I did have another team approach me about a transfer opportunity, so I am considering talking to them about retiring and working for them part time as a contractor. In the mean time, the health plans available on the Pennsylvania Exchange have stopped covering services at our doctors (they are across the border in Maryland), so if I retire I will have to find new doctors. So that is one more excuse for me to use to procrastinate on retiring. I'm filing this under stockholm syndrome..... |
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jun 30, 2023 10:58:37 GMT -5
funny you should ask I'm having a crisis of faith.....do I really need to keep saving? maxing out the 401k, etc......seems like I just need to let the asset pile go about about 20-30%, and I'm done. Is saving anymore going to make a huge difference in when I can quit? Math says not.....so why do I keep doing it? Another reason for saving is to keep yourself from getting used to spending it. If you increase your expenditures by 20% the pile of assets that you have accumulated with the expectation of drawing X a year from it won't be sufficient if you need to draw X+extra, hard-to-give-up expenditures from it a year.
In theory, you could burn that money or give it away and be safe but even gifting can become a hard habit to stop.
 that's what I wanted it for! |
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 30, 2023 12:09:37 GMT -5
finnime I'm so sorry you and your DH have to navigate these issues.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 30, 2023 15:42:06 GMT -5
finnime I hope your writing and photography work out, because you are clearly gifted at both.  Might it be worth re-starting your baking business in your new location? I truly appreciate all your responses. I know I update/restart this thread regularly, but your responses really help me process things. plugginaway22 that is just heartbreaking. Part of the reason I'm reluctant to "cut the cord" is that DH says (repeatedly) that he'll stop working when he's gone. Perhaps that's a bit similar to resolution who also has a husband who is not able or willing to stop working? ( resolution to be clear, I know that your DH isn't able to stop working yet. It's MY DH who isn't willing to.) When I think about stopping completely, with DH still working ... I continue LOL. It's SO easy to do "just one more semester". In DH's defence, he works very PT. He's a graphic designer so he works when he has to/wants to. Even when we travel, he NEVER tells clients he's unavailable, only that he's less available. Lastly, most of our kids don't live locally, and neither do our grandkids. If the grandkids lived closer, and DS/DDIL wanted help, it would be a no-brainer! I just wanted to thank y'all for continuing to respond to my "updates".  ETA: Our kids and grandkids all live "weekend away" distance, and I don't work Fridays. So I ALWAYS have (at least) three-day weekends.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2023 15:54:46 GMT -5
We just got hit with an unhappy surprise. DH's X is now receiving 980 USD of his pension, a product of their divorce agreement that he completely forgot about. He gave her everything during their divorce including the house, paid for, and a new car. He had thought that was in exchange for him keeping his pension, but apparently not. So now we I need to refigure out the budget. We do have his health insurance plus Medicare; expensive but worth everything since DH has health issues. Sigh. Plus DD needs help since she got scammed in a big, ugly way. Older adulting takes a lot of planning. I'm 63, too; DH will be 74 in October. I am so glad you're navigating well the first waves of retirement, debthaven . I'm so sorry you are going through this. We can talk all we want here about financial planning, but far too often life kicks us in the teeth with little to no regard for our planning efforts. Do you have access to the divorce decree? Any value in reviewing it to make sure the ex's claims is valid?  |
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jun 30, 2023 15:59:16 GMT -5
Another reason for saving is to keep yourself from getting used to spending it. If you increase your expenditures by 20% the pile of assets that you have accumulated with the expectation of drawing X a year from it won't be sufficient if you need to draw X+extra, hard-to-give-up expenditures from it a year.
In theory, you could burn that money or give it away and be safe but even gifting can become a hard habit to stop.
that's what I wanted it for! Don't give me those puppy eyes. It will not work. (I turned down an offer to adopt a seven-week Beagle puppy with the same eyes yesterday.) |
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 30, 2023 17:03:16 GMT -5
We just got hit with an unhappy surprise. DH's X is now receiving 980 USD of his pension, a product of their divorce agreement that he completely forgot about. He gave her everything during their divorce including the house, paid for, and a new car. He had thought that was in exchange for him keeping his pension, but apparently not. So now we I need to refigure out the budget. We do have his health insurance plus Medicare; expensive but worth everything since DH has health issues. Sigh. Plus DD needs help since she got scammed in a big, ugly way. Older adulting takes a lot of planning. I'm 63, too; DH will be 74 in October. I am so glad you're navigating well the first waves of retirement, debthaven . I'm so sorry you are going through this. We can talk all we want here about financial planning, but far too often life kicks us in the teeth with little to no regard for our planning efforts. Do you have access to the divorce decree? Any value in reviewing it to make sure the ex's claims is valid? I don't know how long it's been the law, but to change the beneficiary on retirement benefits, if it's a spouse listed as beneficiary, the spouse has to sign off. Probably 99% of spouses will not sign off on that. DH should have a copy of the decree and he most likely agreed to it back then. |
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Jul 1, 2023 3:25:29 GMT -5
The XW's apportionment is in the decree, they did a QDRO that DH does not remember. What cannot be changed is the spousal survivor's benefit. The apportionment could be changed by his X. It won't. She won't. It is what it is. Just have to figure it out. Thank you all for your advice and support.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jul 1, 2023 10:35:42 GMT -5
I only know about the spouse having to agree to no longer being the beneficiary because the husband of one of the women who attended the church where I work received a letter in the mail asking her to sign off on such a document.
They were living together and the jerk never discussed it with her. He wanted to leave the money to his children.
She went to an attorney and did not sign the form.
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jul 2, 2023 15:02:53 GMT -5
that's what I wanted it for! Don't give me those puppy eyes. It will not work. (I turned down an offer to adopt a seven-week Beagle puppy with the same eyes yesterday.) LOL-but apparently you still thinking about him!  |
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Jul 2, 2023 15:29:46 GMT -5
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Happy prose
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Post by Happy prose on Jul 2, 2023 17:51:09 GMT -5
To all who are able, I vote RETIRE! I retired 1/2023 and love it. It's like being on vacation 24/7. My biggest problem of the day is what to eat for dinner. |
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Jul 2, 2023 18:46:40 GMT -5
To all who are able, I vote RETIRE! I retired 1/2023 and love it. It's like being on vacation 24/7. My biggest problem of the day is what to eat for dinner. My aunt says the hardest part is remembering what day it is. I like how the cruise ships change the day of the week in the elevator floor so you can keep track.  |
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Jul 5, 2023 15:27:57 GMT -5
To all who are able, I vote RETIRE! I retired 1/2023 and love it. It's like being on vacation 24/7. My biggest problem of the day is what to eat for dinner. My aunt says the hardest part is remembering what day it is. I like how the cruise ships change the day of the week in the elevator floor so you can keep track.  that's why I look at my phone first thing when I get up. Used to be that I booted up PC firs thing but that's "old tech" now!!  |
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Oct 27, 2023 17:34:16 GMT -5
Hi all. The semester is over in a few weeks, so I've been thinking about 2024. It's still wonderful to be getting a pension AND earning a salary. It's worked out well! We replaced 9 windows (4 of them huge) and 9 shutters, and repainted the outside of the house this year. But recently I've been feeling that I'm not "retired enough", to quote Rukh O'Rorke . I've been doing 13-15h/week over 3 days ... 2 days at school, and 1 day WFH. So I'm cutting down again in January. In Spring Semester I'll be doing 10-12h/week over 2 days ... 1 day at school, and 1 day WFH. I'll keep an extra morning WFH for "overflow". I'll probably cut down again in fall. We've also done some travelling, and I need some expensive dental work. Yet more reasons the extra money is very welcome! Hope you are all doing well! I'd love to hear some updates. |
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Oct 27, 2023 18:59:11 GMT -5
LOL debthaven. Your retirement plans sounds like you are using a stop working version of using nicotine patches  Still good for you on the cutting down on work |
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Oct 27, 2023 19:00:11 GMT -5
LOL ... that's probably true NastyWoman ! But hey, it works for me LOL. ETA: I never wanted to STOP completely, I just wanted to slow down. I consider myself lucky that I can do that. ETA2: We had a fabulous long weekend in Amsterdam recently! Of course I thought of you! |
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