Pre-retirement punch list

[Rukh O'Rorke]

What did you/will you do as you prepare to retire?

For those who are already retired - what do you wish you had done that you didn't?

So far I've got:

• Extended medical workup
• Household stuff - repairs and upgrades
• New car
• New roof
• Take a lot of sick days

What's on your list??

Any other suggestions? Thinks to consider?

[CCL]

Once I found out what our retirement income would be, we lived off that amount for a year just to see how it would go. We did fine, so hubby went ahead and retired.

I kept working part-time for a couple more years, then I retired, too.

[finnime]

I'd add a major appliance replacement fund, including water heater. So, washer/dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, range, maybe even the relatively cheap microwave and garbage disposal. Plus add enough to address major plumbing and electricity issues, and to repaint your house. You'll need to hire those out unless you're Tractor.

Make your landscaping (if you're a homeowner) as low-maintenance as possible.

Look critically at your house layout and be ready if needed to have one room serve as a bedroom, even temporarily, on the main floor. Accidents happen and it takes longer to heal as you age. 

If you don't have one, get an umbrella insurance policy, because your pockets will be deeper. Also, while you're still healthy and young enough, consider getting a 20-year level term life policy if you have anyone dependent or just better off with your contributions financially. Unless you have enormous retirement accounts, of course. You can always jettison the life insurance but it will be much tougher to get later.

Have professional portraits done of yourself and your immediate family. You'll be happy to have them later.

Hope for the best. Don't worry, be happy.

[plugginaway22]

Research your state's ACA plans. Meet with a CPA to make sure you will have the correct income to qualify.

Have an 'oh shit' fund ready. The week before I retired we had the water heater go ($1300) and a huge 75 year old tree split in a storm ($5000). It felt like the Gods were saying "Are you sure you want to retire?".

About 2 years before my last paycheck I began to consider every item we bought. Began to get best quality/rated thinking it may be the last one of these we ever need to purchase.

About 3 months to go I was so miserable at the office that I made a child-like chart of days left that I actually crossed off with a sharpie each day...got me to the end.

Enjoy the process! The planning and thinking about being done is a fun time!

[Lizard Queen]

Things to consider: inflation is ramping up. If I were on the edge of having enough, I'd keep a close eye on it. It can change everything.

(Eta: There's a good chance the extra in your portfolio lately is due to inflation.)

[buystoys]

We moved across the country when we retired, so our punch list was a little different.  We made certain we had at least two years of expenses in savings as well as enough to cover moving expenses and things we knew we had to fix on the house.  It was a good thing we did as the septic went out three days after we moved in.  Our expenses ended up being not quite as much as we expected, but we were both happy we had budgeted a little high.  ACA killed us.  Where we had budgeted too much, ACA sucked it all up.  There was no way for us to know how to budget for that as we retired the first year it was available.  You really want to research that well and plan on substantial increases YOY. 

Make certain your car is covered in your cash bucket.  You'll want to have enough there to either pay for a new one or be able to cover a car payment in your budget.  After ACA and our mortgage, that was our biggest line item on the budget.  It was a couple of years before we bought a new vehicle but it helped us pay for the ACA expenses by having the new car in our budget to begin with.

We decided to go into retirement with a mortgage, but it's not very large.  We do have the funds to pay it off if we decided to.  Our mortgage and all house expenses are covered by DH's pension, so that leaves our SSDI to pay for all our other needs.  We do take an IRA withdrawal every year to do big projects and to reduce what we'll have to take RMDs on.  You'll want to make projections on your RMD amount and how that will impact your taxes.  Fortunately or unfortunately, however you choose to look at it, our growth has been larger than our withdrawals, so our RMDs will be larger than planned for.

I've kind of wandered all over on this response, but hopefully gave you a couple of good things to think about.  Congratulations on hitting your number!  Now the fun begins!

[NoNamePerson]

I didn't do diddlly squat but I knew I would be OK!! But that's because I just decided on the way to work one Monday that that was it for me. I was sixty and no one but me to consider. But my hats off to all who plan and truly hope it works out the way you want it too. Mine did    And not one day of regret I might add.

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2021 6:39:32 GMT -5 plugginaway22 said:

Have an 'oh shit' fund ready. The week before I retired we had the water heater go ($1300) and a huge 75 year old tree split in a storm ($5000). It felt like the Gods were saying "Are you sure you want to retire?".

I retired one week after deciding I was fed up with the toxic politics and we had committed to a cruise in Alaska and I had had dental implants placed and was facing another $3000 or so in additional work to complete them. Those were sort of anticipated but our downsizing a year later cost a lot more than expected. $5,000 to clean out a drain in the basement, something like $3,000 to repair and paint cracked cement in patio around the pool, power-washing deck, etc. to make everything pretty for the listing. Furnace needed to be replaced in the new house and A/C the following spring. They were 20 years old so somewhat expected, but bad timing.

Back at work: make darn sure you migrate everything over to personal e-mails since you will no longer have access to your work e-mail. I was pretty careful about not using work e-mails for anything but work but that varies. Print anything important from Employee handbook. One little nasty: we had a Wellness program that awarded points that could be redeemed for things. The weekend before I quit I redeemed mine for $400 of Amazon credits. The week after I quit, my access to the account was cut off so I would have lost those. No one warned me of that.

Definitely look up ACA plans. I did not qualify for subsidies, unfortunately- DH's SS and my investment income could not be "managed". He qualified for Medicare but my premiums started out at $450/month and when I finally got Medicare 4 years later they'd doubled.

[bookkeeper]

Visit your dentist and take advantage of your dental insurance while you have it. Review all your fringe benefits at work.  DH had a benefit that would pay an attorney to draft a will and health directives, so we had wills completed before he retired.

I also suggest cleaning up your work email account and then closing it down.  At my final job, I created a new email address for the next administrative person.  I instructed everyone on my address book that the new email address was to be used going forward.  Then I closed down the email account I had been using.  I worked for a small business, so obviously, this would be different working for a mega-corp.

Have all your personal objects and files removed from the workplace before you give notice.  Many employees are escorted to their car the same day they give notice.

If you are planning on taking on any debt, such as a new car loan or a mortgage refinance, do it while you are still working.  Financing something can be difficult without a paycheck and no withdrawal history from your retirement accounts.

Health insurance -  Look into COBRA, healthcare.gov and off exchange policies.  There are many choices and price points for health insurance.  You will need to choose health insurance going forward for the next year.  You will also need the cash to pay the premiums, so plan to have the funds readily available.  Premiums must be paid on time or you risk being cancelled.

[CCL]

A few people mentioned ACA coverage. Keep in mind that hasn't always been available and could change.

For myself, I like newer houses. I find it's easier to plan for expenses and, so far, we haven't had any major surprises to pay for. Hubby and I can fix/update almost anything, so I know that saves us a lot of money.

[minnesotapaintlady]

My main financial goal was to reduce monthly expenses as much as possible prior to retirement so I could set my income whatever it needs to be for ACA subsidies and FAFSA prior to 65.  I'd really like to have the mortgage paid off, but not sure I'm going to accomplish that with my other goals as well.    The dominant conflicting one right now is having 2-3 years worth of savings not in retirement accounts.   For me that's about 70-100K.  I can do it, but it's one or the other with the mortgage which is coincidentally also in that range (80K).  Refinancing last year at least got the monthly payment to drop from $1300 to $400 so it won't be as bad if I carry it longer.  Financially, I think I'm pretty set (for retirement at 59 or 60), so I should stop obsessing so much there and just let that be on auto-pilot. 

Non-financial?

I need to get in shape.  One of my main goals for retirement was to get a dog and travel to great hiking spots all over the country.  This is something I loved to do when I was younger and always said "when I retire!"  Well, my vacation in June with the boys drove home the fact that I'm not going to be doing 300 mile sections of the AT any time soon.  I could barely do the one hour scenic hikes with them without being out of breath and having to stop and rest many times more than they did.  How much worse will it be in 7-8 years?!?  I do not want to spend the first 1 to 2 years of retirement trying to lose 50 pounds and battling type 2 diabetes, so I'm focusing more on that now.  I want to hit retirement running...literally!  (well, ok, maybe not running...I don't think I'll ever be a runner).

In addition to this I am trying really hard to tackle all the crap in my house.  Right now I couldn't move if I wanted to and I want to be able to downsize because 10 years from now my support system of neighbors could be totally different.  There is 21 years worth of stuff accumulated everywhere and it's so overwhelming, but I keep picking away at it.  This weekend I finally tackled the "Plastic container hell" cabinet.  Carrot and I FILLED a 55 gallon recycling bin!  I still have too many, but much, much less, and they all have lids and are organized.  In addition to this, something major to prevent the flooding if I do stay in the house into old age.  I can't be dealing with the water issues I do now when I'm in my 70's. 

I think those two goals should keep me busy for the next 7 years. 

[MN-Investor]

Plan for expenses in retirement - I tracked expenses for several years before my sweetie retired so that I had a good idea of what our basic expenses would be in retirement. I then added / subtracted expenses in retirement (no FICA being paid, add COBRA until an ACA plan was chosen, etc.) so we could have two years of expenses in short term investments.

Re-balance your portfolio - We were extremely heavy into stocks and light on bonds, so about a year before he retired, my DH sold stocks in his 401(k) and moved the money to a bond fund.

Evaluate pension options - DH had various options available for a pension. He spent a lot of time considering the alternatives, then decided on rolling over the $200K to an IRA.

Cell phone - My DH did not have his own cell phone; he used his work cell phone for everything. A few months before he retired, he bought his own cell phone and copied over the contact information he wanted to keep from the business phone.

But circumstances can suddenly change - My sweetie retired in mid-2016. He suddenly and unexpectedly passed away in early 2018 at age 63. Most people won't experience that, but be aware that is a possibility. Thank goodness our finances were such that I didn't need to cut back on spending. In fact, I have enough to now pay for all the projects that my sweetie had planned to do himself in retirement.

Calculate post-retirement income - I'm a former accountant but, for some reason, I did not begin calculating this until more than a year after my sweetie passed away. I knew we had enough in short term investments to pay for normal expenses and I was in even better shape financially because it made sense to start claiming social security upon my husband's death. But while my husband was working, most of his 401(k) investments didn't show income. The income just got automatically reinvested. Once everything was rolled over into IRAs, then the EFTs generated annual income. It was eye opening to see what exactly they were generating in interest and dividends. Make sure you know what your investment income is!

[minnesotapaintlady]

Oct 26, 2021 12:12:14 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Calculate post-retirement income - I'm a former accountant but, for some reason, I did not begin calculating this until more than a year after my sweetie passed away. I knew we had enough in short term investments to pay for normal expenses and I was in even better shape financially because it made sense to start claiming social security upon my husband's death. But while my husband was working, most of his 401(k) investments didn't show income. The income just got automatically reinvested. Once everything was rolled over into IRAs, then the EFTs generated annual income.

Why would that be?  Isn't it still reinvested and growing tax-free while in the IRA?

[MN-Investor]

Oct 26, 2021 12:40:36 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oct 26, 2021 12:12:14 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Calculate post-retirement income - I'm a former accountant but, for some reason, I did not begin calculating this until more than a year after my sweetie passed away. I knew we had enough in short term investments to pay for normal expenses and I was in even better shape financially because it made sense to start claiming social security upon my husband's death. But while my husband was working, most of his 401(k) investments didn't show income. The income just got automatically reinvested. Once everything was rolled over into IRAs, then the EFTs generated annual income.

Why would that be?  Isn't it still reinvested and growing tax-free while in the IRA?

The point was that the income within a 401(k) was never stated. It was just reinvested over so that you didn't know how much of the increase in value of a fund was from income and how much was from appreciation.

Once we invested in ETFs in IRAs, those investments DID show income received, it was no longer hidden by the 401(k)'s accounting methods. And I have been reinvesting the income into index ETFs, mostly stock ETFs because I'm over-balanced in bonds right now.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Oct 26, 2021 13:56:28 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Oct 26, 2021 12:40:36 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Why would that be?  Isn't it still reinvested and growing tax-free while in the IRA?

The point was that the income within a 401(k) was never stated. It was just reinvested over so that you didn't know how much of the increase in value of a fund was from income and how much was from appreciation.

Once we invested in ETFs in IRAs, those investments DID show income received, it was no longer hidden by the 401(k)'s accounting methods. And I have been reinvesting the income into index ETFs, mostly stock ETFs because I'm over-balanced in bonds right now.

Oh, ok.  I was thinking you meant that once you retired the accounts threw off some income that needed to be accounted for somehow and I panicked.  The bulk of my retirement is already in IRAs and I don't see that much because the bulk of it is in index funds.

[MN-Investor]

Oct 26, 2021 14:26:41 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oh, ok.  I was thinking you meant that once you retired the accounts threw off some income that needed to be accounted for somehow and I panicked.  The bulk of my retirement is already in IRAs and I don't see that much because the bulk of it is in index funds.

If I don't plan on selling my funds, I don't care how much they go up or down. However, I am interested in the income they generate because, even if it fluctuates, that continues in down years. Ideally my annual expenses are less than annual Social Security + interest + dividends. I would love to not dip into principle if I don't have to. Fortunately, my annual expenses have been less than annual income, even allowing for a few major expenses and gifts to relatives. (And every day I am thankful to my sweetie for putting us on a path of saving and investing. He was passionate about investing!)

[CCL]

Oct 26, 2021 13:56:28 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Oct 26, 2021 12:40:36 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Why would that be?  Isn't it still reinvested and growing tax-free while in the IRA?

The point was that the income within a 401(k) was never stated. It was just reinvested over so that you didn't know how much of the increase in value of a fund was from income and how much was from appreciation.

Once we invested in ETFs in IRAs, those investments DID show income received, it was no longer hidden by the 401(k)'s accounting methods. And I have been reinvesting the income into index ETFs, mostly stock ETFs because I'm over-balanced in bonds right now.

Fidelity allows me to look up the 401k income. Agree with MPL, it shouldn't really effect your taxes until the $$$ is withdrawn, although I don't think it's a bad idea to be aware of what the income is.

[jerseygirl]

Don’t forget required RMDs that are about 4% of your tIRA - even if you don’t need it
I should have tried to transfer more into Roth but would have put us into higher tax bracket. But now the taxes should be increasing with all the $$ the government has and will be shoveling out

[Iggy aka IG]

A close family member of mine is planning on retiring early next year.  Over the past several years:

~Bought a one-story, new build townhome instead of renting a two-level
~Gave copies of the townhome keys to her closest family members
~Set up a home office in case she decides to take a part-time job from home
~Paid off her car
~Added a daughter to her bank accounts
~Finally went through decades of boxes, and purged or donated unnecessary items
~Updated and filed her will
~Showed family members where her fireproof box is, and what documents it contains 
~Addressed Medicare and supplement needs
~Got her "teeth fixed," had milestone medical checkups, and a surgery she'd been putting off
~Has started expanding her social circle in anticipation of the extra free time
~A friend gave her several pieces of baby furniture and other items, which she'll put in place for when she spends time with her first great-grandchild
~And some time ago, she removed personal items from her office and the community kitchen, as her workplace follows the "escort you out on your last day" practice

Congratulations to everyone who is already retired, has the plans set it in motion, or those of us with quite a few years to go.  

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2021 9:51:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

My main financial goal was to reduce monthly expenses as much as possible prior to retirement so I could set my income whatever it needs to be for ACA subsidies and FAFSA prior to 65.  I'd really like to have the mortgage paid off, but not sure I'm going to accomplish that with my other goals as well.    The dominant conflicting one right now is having 2-3 years worth of savings not in retirement accounts.   For me that's about 70-100K.  I can do it, but it's one or the other with the mortgage which is coincidentally also in that range (80K).  Refinancing last year at least got the monthly payment to drop from $1300 to $400 so it won't be as bad if I carry it longer.  Financially, I think I'm pretty set (for retirement at 59 or 60), so I should stop obsessing so much there and just let that be on auto-pilot. 

Non-financial?

I need to get in shape.  One of my main goals for retirement was to get a dog and travel to great hiking spots all over the country.  This is something I loved to do when I was younger and always said "when I retire!"  Well, my vacation in June with the boys drove home the fact that I'm not going to be doing 300 mile sections of the AT any time soon.  I could barely do the one hour scenic hikes with them without being out of breath and having to stop and rest many times more than they did.  How much worse will it be in 7-8 years?!?  I do not want to spend the first 1 to 2 years of retirement trying to lose 50 pounds and battling type 2 diabetes, so I'm focusing more on that now.  I want to hit retirement running...literally!  (well, ok, maybe not running...I don't think I'll ever be a runner).

In addition to this I am trying really hard to tackle all the crap in my house.  Right now I couldn't move if I wanted to and I want to be able to downsize because 10 years from now my support system of neighbors could be totally different.  There is 21 years worth of stuff accumulated everywhere and it's so overwhelming, but I keep picking away at it.  This weekend I finally tackled the "Plastic container hell" cabinet.  Carrot and I FILLED a 55 gallon recycling bin!  I still have too many, but much, much less, and they all have lids and are organized.  In addition to this, something major to prevent the flooding if I do stay in the house into old age.  I can't be dealing with the water issues I do now when I'm in my 70's. 

I think those two goals should keep me busy for the next 7 years. 

When I moved in 2019, I was amazed at just how much stuff I had. And that was without as much furniture as I should’ve had. It was also after my major decluttering spree several years earlier, after which I tried to stay on top of clutter and unnecessary stuff. I’d also decluttered a lot of furniture that I’d never got around to replacing, which is why I had less furniture to move than another house like mine would have.

It was still SO much stuff! You do tend to accumulate an amazing amount of stuff over the years. My house is a lot smaller than yours, it’s not quite 1300sf, so I really feel for you. 

Now, back to the retirement talk…..

[Tiny]

What kind of "retirement" are you talking? Are you closing in on 65 (or your FRA)? Or are you younger than 60 and doing an "early retirement"?

I'm guessing tips and advise differs depending on your age...


FWIW:  I worked a new roof, some big household expenses, and a new car into the "expenses" for the first 5 years of my FIre spending plan.      I have this frame of mind that if I have to keep working to cover the big expenses in life before I retire  - then I will NEVER be able to not have a paycheck.     Just before the pandemic started  I started modifying my 'retirement expenses' to include the big ticket items.    That's what prompted a thread from me about having a less than 100% success rate on FireCalc (or other retirement calculators).   Adding in the lumpy expenses as big lumps or smoothing them out over years (in a sinking fund that built and then was spent)  was  getting me 90% or higher success rates - rather than the 100% I was previously seeing.    

Since I have the "sinking fund" held as savings (or possibly I-Bonds   the money wont' be generating much income.  It's basically what I would have done if I was getting a paycheck and "saving up" for some or all of the expense.    I won't be pulling big chunks o' money from tax advantaged accounts (once I FIre)  - giving me variable yearly income.   Well, that's the current plan.  

[Deleted]

I have a while until I can retire, but I’m taking notes.

After my thread on retiring last week or the week before, I’ve increased my after tax savings by 5% of my gross. The biggest part of my planning for right now, is just saving as much money as I reasonably can. I’ll figure out all the details as I get closer.

That thread helped me realize that I’ve done a halfway decent job of saving in my retirement account. Not nearly as well as I should or could have, but not too horrible either. I may freak out all over again soon though, because if I had my way, I’d be prepared to retire early if my employer offers it after I’m eligible. I’d have to be at least 50yo and have at least 25 years of service, and won’t get penalized for having less than 30 years of service. I’d technically be eligible in a couple of years. But I don’t see my pockets being ready by then. 

That’s my next thing to figure out though. I know I’ll need even more money to take advantage of an early retirement offer, but being prepared would surely make my heart sing. And if I’m prepared for it but they don’t offer it before I am eligible for regular retirement, I’ll be even better prepared for that.

[bookkeeper]

We moved 200 miles after retirement back to our home state.  We had to empty a 4500 square foot house.  My DH described the moving sale as a "vortex" emptying our home.  When your kids go to college, try to have them choose what to keep and then throw the rest.  Our junk was yard and garden and home improvement bits and pieces.  Once we got serious about what anyone would buy and what is junk, we filled our dumpster for two months straight.  We kept two beds, one bedroom set and two recliners.  We gave away anything that was so/so and didn't have to pay to take it to the !  At some point you need to make some tough decisions and just part with the stuff.  Storage shed businesses are a built on the need to hold on to stuff.

[buystoys]

We did a major purge when I moved in with DH, another when we were packing to move, and another once we'd moved here.  Each time, those things that we just couldn't do without became less important.  Doing it over and over made us realize just how much stuff we actually had.  Right now, there's a closet of crafting items I can't really use yet because I don't have the room to leave out what I'm working on.  When we finish my hobby hole, I'm willing to bet we find more in that closet to get rid of.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Here is a calculator for ACA subsidies based on 2021 plans.  I went to my state's website to get more precise numbers and to look at different plan levels (I believe this just kicks out Silver).

www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/#

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 26, 2021 17:52:53 GMT -5 Tiny said:

What kind of "retirement" are you talking? Are you closing in on 65 (or your FRA)? Or are you younger than 60 and doing an "early retirement"?

I'm guessing tips and advise differs depending on your age...


FWIW:  I worked a new roof, some big household expenses, and a new car into the "expenses" for the first 5 years of my FIre spending plan.      I have this frame of mind that if I have to keep working to cover the big expenses in life before I retire  - then I will NEVER be able to not have a paycheck.     Just before the pandemic started  I started modifying my 'retirement expenses' to include the big ticket items.    That's what prompted a thread from me about having a less than 100% success rate on FireCalc (or other retirement calculators).   Adding in the lumpy expenses as big lumps or smoothing them out over years (in a sinking fund that built and then was spent)  was  getting me 90% or higher success rates - rather than the 100% I was previously seeing.    

Since I have the "sinking fund" held as savings (or possibly I-Bonds   the money wont' be generating much income.  It's basically what I would have done if I was getting a paycheck and "saving up" for some or all of the expense.    I won't be pulling big chunks o' money from tax advantaged accounts (once I FIre)  - giving me variable yearly income.   Well, that's the current plan.  

I just turned 57, and am considering retirement sometime in the next 6-12-18 months - if the market/my balance holds of course. Looking for a little bit more in the accounts before pulling the plug - or maybe just being ok with the amount in there now! Thinking things through. Want to assemble my punchlist, start working through it, see where the market/my balance is when I get through with it.

I don't have any pensions and I don't have much outside of retirement accounts. I can access current employers 401k under the rule of 55 (current balance is 128k) and use my side gig income until 59.5. Then I can access my 401k rollovers. Plan to take ss at 62.

Will keep the side gig going as long as I can.

I'm not entirely sure I shouldn't just quit today, I need to get to a weekend and relax a little bit, think this all through.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 27, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Here is a calculator for ACA subsidies based on 2021 plans.  I went to my state's website to get more precise numbers and to look at different plan levels (I believe this just kicks out Silver).

www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/#

excellent, thank you so much! I can get coverage for 657/month, with tax credit of 90/month.

That seems very doable. Now I have a number to punch into the spreadsheet. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 27, 2021 7:15:28 GMT -5 buystoys said:

We did a major purge when I moved in with DH, another when we were packing to move, and another once we'd moved here.  Each time, those things that we just couldn't do without became less important.  Doing it over and over made us realize just how much stuff we actually had.  Right now, there's a closet of crafting items I can't really use yet because I don't have the room to leave out what I'm working on.  When we finish my hobby hole, I'm willing to bet we find more in that closet to get rid of.

I'm very curious! what's hobby hole?


is it a small bedroom - or an alcove somewhere? the cuboard under the stairs?

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 26, 2021 6:48:22 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Things to consider: inflation is ramping up. If I were on the edge of having enough, I'd keep a close eye on it. It can change everything.

(Eta: There's a good chance the extra in your portfolio lately is due to inflation.)

I'm not sure I really understand this? If inflation is happening with all good and services, then the price of stocks should also inflate to a proportional percent too - because they aren't losing value necessarily just because inflation occurs - unless inflation is affecting their business in some way.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Oct 27, 2021 8:51:09 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 26, 2021 6:48:22 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Things to consider: inflation is ramping up. If I were on the edge of having enough, I'd keep a close eye on it. It can change everything.

(Eta: There's a good chance the extra in your portfolio lately is due to inflation.)

I'm not sure I really understand this? If inflation is happening with all good and services, then the price of stocks should also inflate to a proportional percent too - because they aren't losing value necessarily just because inflation occurs - unless inflation is affecting their business in some way.

Don't expect the stock market to follow.  Growth stocks do better in times of low inflation, that's why the market freaks out whenever the start talking about touching the interest rates.

Not to say you can't walk today.  But, like I said on the other thread, if it's a big percent of your savings, I'd lock in a good chunk of that Tesla profit first.