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Contemplating Retirement - Describe Your Transition

tequila4kapp said:
Depending on how some things break I’m somewhere between 3-7 years away from retiring.

Has anyone out there retired before qualifying for Medicare? I guess staying on the spouse’s insurance is one option. What else…buying it off the Exchanges???
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Yes, the wife and I use the exchange. We opted for a cheap plan $750 per month (basically catastrophic illness coverage, $4000 max out of pocket) until we turn 65 in a couple of years. YMMV
 
I retired from the Air Force in 1989 after working there for 27 years. I worked for civilian contractors for another 19 years, and retired at age 65, 2008 a few years ago. Play golf 2 times a week most weeks, somtimes 3 a week. Except winter, don't play when it's cold.
 
Do t have to worry about Medicare here it nationwide covered and you can opt for private healthcare also greater choice ..

As for retiring 2.5 y away that’s more to , financially top up superannuation , we are at the edge of owning our home … so that’s all in place

Can’t agree with @Boone anymore , the last few months at work the commentary around my ability and experience has been frequent and very pleasing . However at some stage l will be gone and someone will , replace me as l , developed as a young fellow years ago , and replaced the people before…

That’s on the horizon and looking forward to that opportunity that’s in my hands
 
I’m only 41 but one thing I have been curious about is what’s the guidance for 401k’s insofar as how to invest after one retires? My strategy is all stocks; 50 large cap/ 25 medium cap/ 25 small cap.

Are retired folks slowly transitioning to bonds, do it all at once etc? What are financial managers advising with that?
 
David7 said:
I’m only 41 but one thing I have been curious about is what’s the guidance for 401k’s insofar as how to invest after one retires? My strategy is all stocks; 50 large cap/ 25 medium cap/ 25 small cap.

Are retired folks slowly transitioning to bonds, do it all at once etc? What are financial managers advising with that?
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First, I’m not a financial planner.

My thinking on this has evolved. I figure I’ll be in the market for @20 years post retirement. I want to keep growing my principle so it lasts longer than 20 years / has a meaningful balance for the kid’s inheritance. So I am thinking I’ll have a blended portfolio to balance growth and a lower risk tolerance.
 
Investing is a lot like course management. What is the risk to reward of what you are doing?
I see owning my own home as a very low risk to reward potential, as I have to live somewhere and there are tons of benefits to owning your own home.
I've always had bonds, as the mix eliminated the worry a lot of folks have in the stock market when they are fully invested in stocks.
This allowed me ride out financial storms and do well overall, even with less exposure to stocks than many investors at the same age.
But, perhaps the biggest difference is saving a lot and learning how to do well on relatively little expense month to month.
I eat very well. Instead of dining out I know how to cherry pick the meat from a market that sells a ton of beef and cook it to perfection.
I have great knife skills and know how to carve out a boneless steak without any gristle. I'll put the discards in a beef stew.
One of my hobbies is cooking. I'll divide up meat and cook single servings and experiment to discover the best way of cooking it to the way I like it.

I've also done that with golf swings as well. I'll experiment with different swings and see what works for me!
 
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tequila4kapp said:
First, I’m not a financial planner.

My thinking on this has evolved. I figure I’ll be in the market for @20 years post retirement. I want to keep growing my principle so it lasts longer than 20 years / has a meaningful balance for the kid’s inheritance. So I am thinking I’ll have a blended portfolio to balance growth and a lower risk tolerance.
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I’m thinking my strategy will be similar. Let it ride, even when it crashes it comes back eventually.
 
I retired at 52. My wife retired at 51. I was lucky enough to retire with a pension and fairly reasonably priced health insurance. We don't make a lot of money with our pensions, but we have really enjoyed our retirement. I have been retired for 8 1/2 years now and the wife 9 1/2 years. I did volunteer work for 5 years, but am enjoying retirement even more now that I don't do that anymore. I played a lot of golf before the pandemic, but haven't played much at all since. I am hoping to start playing more this year (played twice in January). The best part of retirement for me has been getting to know my wife better (I worked very long hours when I worked and was not home as much as I would have liked) and we found out we really like each other even more than we thought. I could have worked longer and gotten a much better retirement, but I wouldn't change a thing. The last 8 1/2 years have been the best years of my life. You never know when you will take that last breath and I know so many people that didn't last long after they retired (and several who never made it to retirement). I say retire when you can afford it and never look back.
 
I'm 61. I retired at 57. Have not regretted it or missed working even once. Work was never my identity (in my experience, those are the guys who have trouble in retirement). Work was not my life, it was what I did so I could have a life. I found a public course with an affordable membership. I'm lucky enough to have several different friends groups, plus my wife, so I have good golf partners almost any time I want. I play five to six times per week. My wife and I will never be rich, but we never were, so dinner out when we want, 3 domestic and 1 overseas trip per year is everything we want. Retired life is very, very good.
 
I’m in a situation where I could reduce my teaching load, still be full time with all benefits, teach 6 hours a week and do some popular online courses. Have summers off completely. Retire fully at 67 hopefully live on full SS and my pension, then draw from my IRA at 73. Some of my colleagues put in 45 years before retiring at 75. That’s a little too long for me. Btw in 60 this year I could go at 62 if I wanted too. Options are good.
 
David7 said:
I’m only 41 but one thing I have been curious about is what’s the guidance for 401k’s insofar as how to invest after one retires? My strategy is all stocks; 50 large cap/ 25 medium cap/ 25 small cap.

Are retired folks slowly transitioning to bonds, do it all at once etc? What are financial managers advising with that?
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A couple of thoughts as you near retirement. 1- Wal-Mart does not accept Bonds or Stocks for payment so you need cash to live off. 2- To suddenly go from all equities to retired with the right types of investments to me would be needing to time the market and needing the help of a good financial planner. I would not want to be 100% equities Nov 22 and retire Jan1 2023. Well, if I had a nest egg of +$20 million and I only needed $150,000 annually to live off of it would be fine:)

I think of retirement ready like a funnel. At the bottom of the funnel is cash to live on for X years and from which I pull cash into my checking account. The layer above that is bonds and is present in case the stock market is really bad. The top layer is an equity layer. In good years, I will sell equities and replenish cash at the bottom. In really bad years, I will fuel the cash from bonds. I have built out this structure slowly over ~12 years starting in my mid-40's. It absolutely can be argued I lost money having cash in 2020/21. Diversity is not about max gain.

How big X is on the day one of retirement is a key topic to ponder or talk with a financial planner that you trust. Many factors from risk to other forms of income such as SS or Pensions come into play.
 
With the caveat that it obviously depends on one's spending, plans, needs, etc... I'm curious what folks think the minimum net worth needs to be to retire safely these days?
 
Boone said:
With the caveat that it obviously depends on one's spending, plans, needs, etc... I'm curious what folks think the minimum net worth needs to be to retire safely these days?
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I would think that's a pretty impossible question to give a general answer to. It's not just the factors you mentioned, it's also highly dependent on where you want to live. There are places in the US where a couple can live comfortably for 2k to 2.5k per month. There are multiple places to move overseas where you can live quite a bit more cheaply than that. And obviously, there are areas where you could need 3 or 4 times that much.
 
Boone said:
With the caveat that it obviously depends on one's spending, plans, needs, etc... I'm curious what folks think the minimum net worth needs to be to retire safely these days?
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I don't think in these terms. It is like asking how far the ball needs to be from the hole before I can hit the putt; varies by player.

The way I think about it is I look at how we live/spend now then I set a plan of how we want to live/spend in retirement. From that, I estimate our yearly income needs. I'm hoping to spend a bit more in retirement then during our working years.
 
I retired in May 2019, two days shy of my 63rd birthday, after 34 years with a major money center bank. I’ll get to the “why’s” shortly.

When I started to seriously consider early retirement in 2018, the first thing my wife and I did was go through the financial planning process. Both of our daughters were out of college and married and we had paid off the mortgage on our house in 2016. Between having no debt and significant savings and retirement accounts, it was doable financially. The big issue is health insurance, which COBRA covered for 18-months (pretty reasonably priced), followed by paying (thru the nose) for my company’s retiree plan until we qualified for Medicare.

You may do OK with your state’s health care exchange, but in RI the “affordable care act” was not particularly affordable for us. Be sure to understand how much health insurance will cost and be sure to budget enough.

I was a senior credit officer for the commercial leasing division, in charge of an $11 billion portfolio, so why did I leave? Among other things the job wasn’t fun anymore. While lots of folks may be convinced that banks aren’t regulated enough, I can tell you that regs of all kinds drove every aspect of our business and it was getting worse. Like I said, it wasn’t fun anymore. Bottom line is that I knew it was time…I haven’t regretted retiring for a minute.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 
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Boone said:
With the caveat that it obviously depends on one's spending, plans, needs, etc... I'm curious what folks think the minimum net worth needs to be to retire safely these days?
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Good question - in my 30s-40s several advisors gave me numbers, 1.5, 2 million or whatever. In my 50s I stopped looking at a single overall number and shifted to a monthly style approach, I need $8 k or whatever to live comfortably. I’m lucky I that I have a pension and will get a generously subsidized healthcare plan. Once I made that decision, I looked for side investment opportunities that would return a guaranteed monthly/yearly income.
Truth be told my father was an auto worker, but even in tough economic times was investing in mutual funds in the 1960s and 1970s. His financial guy visited him at the house every quarter and I remember sitting at the table as a bored 10 year old but I listed and asked some questions. That rubbed on on me. I made sure my kids started their own IRAs and contribute after the graduated from HS. Both complained, I told them a $7 Starbucks each day isn’t an investment strategy. One day they’ll dance a happy dance on my grave!
 
Health exchanges have an open enrollment period where you can sign up and check things out. In CT it is at the end of the year.
Isn't it common for guys to go for years without seeing a doctor? A Google search suggests a whopping 60%
Well, if you haven't seen a doctor for ten years, who knows what to expect in retirement?
Or maybe you do know but don't want a doctor to tell you?

I've been having annual physicals all my life. For years now they just tell me to come back for another check up.
 
CTRosarian said:
Health exchanges have an open enrollment period where you can sign up and check things out. In CT it is at the end of the year.
Isn't it common for guys to go for years without seeing a doctor? A Google search suggests a whopping 60%
Well, if you haven't seen a doctor for ten years, who knows what to expect in retirement?
Or maybe you do know but don't want a doctor to tell you?

I've been having annual physicals all my life. For years now they just tell me to come back for another check up.
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One of my buddies got a basic policy with some RX coverage. $6k a year and a $10k deductible, if my math is right that $16k before insurance kicks in.
 
I'm 57 and retired almost five years ago when we moved from CA back to MN. My wife still works, but our youngest is off to college in 6 months, so my wife plans to retire in early 2024. I have many hobbies, and our daughter is still in high school, so I've stayed super busy and don't miss work. After she goes to college, we will split our time between Naples and Minnesota. We have several couples we enjoy traveling with, whether on a cruise, ski trip, or sightseeing. We do a lot of boating in Minnesota, and wintering in Florida next winter will allow us to spend time on the water year-round.

My wife loves to work and serves on three boards, so the bigger adjustment will be her retiring and finding new or rekindling old hobbies such as tennis. She will likely dive into volunteer work to stay busy. We don't have any grandkids on the horizon, with our two oldest still single, but eventually, I'm sure that will play a big factor in our lives.

Good luck!
 
Had my 30 years in and was sort of trying a way to retire and they shut the plant down. I have never looked back and it's been over 23 years. We have discussed it a few times and really don't know how we had time to work.
 
CTRosarian said:
Health exchanges have an open enrollment period where you can sign up and check things out. In CT it is at the end of the year.
Isn't it common for guys to go for years without seeing a doctor? A Google search suggests a whopping 60%
Well, if you haven't seen a doctor for ten years, who knows what to expect in retirement?
Or maybe you do know but don't want a doctor to tell you?

I've been having annual physicals all my life. For years now they just tell me to come back for another check up.
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But the difference is if you have a big medical event while uninsured and retired you have to pay that bill from your finite retirement resources. If that happens when you are young you can hustle, get a 2nd job, work on commission instead of 9-5, etc to get yourself out of the hole. And we are much more likely to need healthcare as we age
 
leftshot said:
Jon, I'm not quite there, but much closer than you. I just established December 31st of this year as my last work day.

First of all, I identify with every thought and feeling you put in your OP. I've literally worked since the age of 8. That's 57+ years of work, so yes the prospect of not working is odd and strange to me. I had planned to continue working until age 70. I have a great job and work environment. What changed is this spring my daughter and son-in-law who live nearby announced they were making the big move--both in location and career. This had been a topic of conversation for some time. Nevertheless, now it became very real and imminent. They are our only relatives in the area and now it looks like we may all be together in the same community with our other daughter, son-in-law and grandkids. That is really exciting to us and them, but that doesn't mean it made all those feelings and thoughts you've had go away.

Right now, we're focused on getting our house ready for sale (almost done with that), getting rid of the stuff we're not taking with us, getting things at work setup so I can leave them in the best shape possible (maybe 75% of the way there), and figuring out what retirement income sources we turn on at the end of the year, and which we'll hold for later. In other words, we planned well, which is why I have these choices. But I want to continue to plan well.

I'll add additional posts here as we progress, and you are welcome to PM me if you want to discuss some topic offline.

P. S. By upper Michigan do you mean the upper peninsula or somewhere around Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Alpina, or Grayling part of the state? I lived in Michigan for 10 years and traipsed all over the state.
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I owe you all an update.

A year and a half later, we are now settled into our new home in Central Pennsylvania.

Things we did well.
  • Decided to move to an apartment initially so we could get the lie of the land and not have all the pressure of trying to sell one house and buy another on the other side of the country at the same time. BIG stress reliever!
  • We sold almost all our furniture before moving and downsized a lot on everything else. You know those pods containers? We got all our remaining belongings in a container half the size of one of the regular-size ones. About 60% of what went in there was my wife's craft stuff! All my friends who had gone through this before me said they wished they had downsized more. We didn't want that regret. This freed us up to buy the house we wanted and outfit it the way we wanted, as opposed to finding a house that would fit the size and style of our furniture.
  • We arranged to stay with good long-time friends for the 3 weeks between the time we sold our house and the day we could fly out and get in the apartment. That was precious time with our friends and turned out to inspire them to make a major move to Oregon. Which they have done.
  • We got the perfect house! I'm now sitting here in my Stressless lounge chair looking out at the woods behind our home on 1/2 acre that looks out to one of the major streams in our county. The home is a 15-year-old home that was built as the show home for this custom home development. So, it's top-notch! Almost all the furnishings are brand new. The approach above gave us a lot of flexibility, which was good. We also discovered that the house we needed was quite different than what we thought we were going to do. (More on that later.)
  • We've been able to provide great support to our daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids, which is why we moved here in the first place. We've all become very close to each other.
Things that did not go well or were a challenge.
  • Moving cross country to PA just before Christmas turned out to be a challenge in multiple ways.
    • We flew the two of us and our dog out by plane. We had carefully planned the flight so our dog would get a break from the crate she had to remain in under the seat in front of us, and so she had the opportunity to relieve herself at the designated pet stations at the airports. Weather messed up all those plans and we ended up with more connections, but no time to do anything but RUN to the next connection! Our dog was a trooper and made it 8+ hours in the crate. But we were frazzled!
    • We had our two vehicles transported out, which means we had to get a rental on both ends to cover the time we were without them. Weather also changed the arrival date of our vehicles, which necessitated quick changes to our plans. Outgoing we were only 4 miles from the airport, which is where we rented. So, we literally drove the rental to the airport and turned it in just before flying out. On this side, it was more complicated. One-way rentals are way more expensive, so even though we now live a 2-hour drive from the airport, it was much less expensive to return the rental once our vehicles arrived.
    • Our pod got here around the day we expected, but getting them to pick up the empty pod was a nightmare! They promised to pick it up the next day, as that was all the apartment managers would allow. It ended up taking 2 1/2 weeks! During that time I burned up 6 days trying to get them out there and then waiting for them to show, only to be disappointed. The problem was two-fold: weather (we had two significant snow storms) and they had two delivery guys for this area and one was allowed to take all that time around Christmas off with no backup.
  • The one major downside of renting then moving into our home is updating your address information twice. You wouldn't think this would be a big deal, but I actually found a 2-page single-spaced checklist of all the companies and other organizations you have to notify--most of which have their own process. Probably 2-weeks full time of effort to get that done each time. That's not including all the times you have to be present for appointments to get utilities turned on/off, go to the motor vehicles department and so on.
  • Originally, we thought a 1,800 sq. ft. low-maintenance house and yard would be perfect for our retirement. We were anticipating our other daughter, son-in-law and three granddaughters were going to move to this area as well--and they would have the host home for all the local family and occasional visitors. They ended up in Kansas City, and my mom ended up moving here into an independent living facility we helped her pick out, so now WE needed to have the host home. Also, my wife discovered she had a real longing for some land between us and the neighbors after living for over 30 years in San Jose where you had 5-10 feet between homes.
    • We bought a 4,100 sq. ft. home on 1/2 acre of land that backs up to a wooded area and a major stream behind us.
    • Love our neighborhood and neighbors! But it is very different than what we originally thought we would buy.
  • Mom's move and ours were only a week apart! This was not what we planned, but circumstances conspired against us.
  • My wife broke her leg in the backyard about 6 weeks after we moved in! I spent the Spring and Summer last year being her chauffeur, doing all the manual chores she would have done, plus my own, plus all the stuff that comes up with moving into a new house.
  • Without furniture we were in a 4,100 sq. ft. house with an air mattress and two plastic tubs for nightstands, a love seat, a patio bistro, and an entertainment center as our only furnishings when we moved in. Four months was the average turnaround time from order to delivery for any furniture not in stock. So, it took us about 9 months to fully outfit the house. It was a lot of work, but FUN! I am glad we did this. We knew going in we were going to be 'roughing it' for awhile. We also found a great interior designer who helped us create a great and coordinated look for our home. Thus the temporary discomfort was well worth the outcome.
Now having said all that, it probably won't surprise you that I didn't feel any loss of purpose or lack of things to do last year! I am only now finally settling into what I would consider retirement life. But it's a full life! I now have relatives and friends I'm investing in. I've gotten established at a new church. My wife has found two crafter's groups she is now very much involved with. Two golf leagues and several new golf buddies for me. We've gotten to know about 100 of our new neighbors...and a whole new region of the country to explore. Finally, now the visitors are starting to come. We already had some of our longtime friends who live in New York state come and visit us. The other daughter and family are coming for 2 1/2 weeks this Summer, and my two brothers and sisters-in-law are coming later in the Summer. Plus we've got the other two grandkids for a week while mom and dad go on the first trip they've made alone since the kiddos showed up.
 
Retired at 59 due to company was sold and moved away. Had no plan - just thought about no work and have some fun. Had no debt, lots of $$ saved and a car habit. Kids were full grown and on their own, house and cars paid for. just a monthly golf habit expense. here it is 17 -18 years later Nothing has changed. still having fun.
 
I'll be 70 next month and I'm still working. Retired from the military 22 years ago, worked for a few companies and then hooked up with my current job. This year I'd have 18 years in but I toy with the idea of stretching for 20. I do enjoy the social interaction and keeping on my feet. I'll be consulting with HR in a couple of months to get an idea of what works best for me. Last year I attended a funeral for the husband of a high school friend. She found him deceased in his Lazy Boy recliner. That's not the way I'd want to go. Gotta keep moving . . .
 
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