Retirement savings ....Yikes !

[MossRoad]

for me ...more a disappointment than a "hard to take".... They say it's important to know your volatility threshold when deciding your asset allocation. If these last five years didn't rattle me, then I'm thinking my threshold is pretty high....

Yeah, that or we are just to dim witted to realize it! :laughing:

 

[KTurner]

blame the law and then fix the law.

Amen to that. I think we should pick a year where the govt (all levels) do nothing but house cleaning, and then pass a law that says no new laws unless you remove an old one. Probably a simplistic view, but don't we all need to clear out the junk once in a while?

I've never worked at a place that had pensions. But it just seems to me like a very bad investment. Aren't you effectively investing your retirement into one single company? If that company fails, you're up the creek. If a company's pensioners start living longer than expected, now the company has an unexpected cost to cover, giving their competition (ie, a new company selling the same thing but with no pensioners) a big advantage, leading to downfall of older company. Maybe I'm not understanding how they work. Just seems like a recipe for disaster.

For example, look at this article about two people who are still getting pension benefits related to the US Civil War, yes the war that ended 150 years ago.

Keith

 

[pennwalk]

Investing is fine but I worry about the future cost of health care and the future value of the dollar. Our health care costs have gone up yearly by double digits. How long can that go on? They say there is very little inflation but some how things seem to keep costing more. I'm not at all sure that a million dollars in retirement savings will insure that anyone will have a safe retirement. When interest rates are held this low for this long it has a bad effect on retires.

Chris

 

[dave1949]

One option to to just invest at Vanguard in their Wellesley or Wellington accounts. They are automatically rebalanced between stocks and bonds, so as stocks go up, your gains are locked in as bonds. One is two thirds stock, 1/3 bonds, the other is 1/3 stocks two thirds bonds. By owning both, you can adjust your stock / bond ratio to anything in between the two. Wellington was founded in 1929, so it has a long history. With their low expense ratios you can save a lot on fees that eat into your stash over time.

Ditto. I've had good results from Wellesley. Vanguard gets high marks from me for small investors.

 

[MacLawn]

Whew, what a thread! I love the signature that says, "I hit rock bottom - then started to dig!" Hehehehee, that's the ticket - we keep on digging, never give up!!

Who is it, newbury, planning to retire in North Mississippi? Hey, man, come on down! But, you'll find cost of living here is really not as cheap as you think. But, this isn't called the Hospitality state for nothing, some very nice people here. Just don't be a blankety blank know-it-all, and you'll like it!

 

[Redbug]

Ditto. I've had good results from Wellesley. Vanguard gets high marks from me for small investors.

I've been in it for many years. I'm now set to retire in Jan 2014.

 

[MossRoad]

Amen to that. I think we should pick a year where the govt (all levels) do nothing but house cleaning, and then pass a law that says no new laws unless you remove an old one. Probably a simplistic view, but don't we all need to clear out the junk once in a while?

I've never worked at a place that had pensions. But it just seems to me like a very bad investment. Aren't you effectively investing your retirement into one single company? If that company fails, you're up the creek. If a company's pensioners start living longer than expected, now the company has an unexpected cost to cover, giving their competition (ie, a new company selling the same thing but with no pensioners) a big advantage, leading to downfall of older company. Maybe I'm not understanding how they work. Just seems like a recipe for disaster.

For example, look at this article about two people who are still getting pension benefits related to the US Civil War, yes the war that ended 150 years ago.

Keith

It depends where your company invests your pension money.

 

[Travelover]

...........

How do you know when you have enough put away?

Bottom line is that you need to figure out your expenses in retirement. Taxes are lower, no longer saving for retirement, you many need to pay your own healthcare until age 65, Social Security income reduces your withdrawal needs. You can use free software on line to calculate taxes in retirement. I know that it is a little work, but this is the rest of your life you are talking about. Some people keep a spreadsheet with all expenses for a year to get a handle on their spending to project into retirement. Using a percentage of your current income is not a good indicator because you will quit saving, but other expenses like heath care may go up. There are free on line programs to put all your information into and have it crunched. I like the one from Fidelity.

At age 65 with a portfolio of half stock and half bonds, you can reasonable take out 4% a year. This includes taxes, fees to a financial adviser, everything. At age 55 something like 3% is more reasonable.

 

[keegs]

Yeah, that or we are just to dim witted to realize it! :laughing:

what is it again... ? buy high and sell low

 

[keegs]

Bottom line is that you need to figure out your expenses in retirement. Taxes are lower, no longer saving for retirement, you many need to pay your own healthcare until age 65, Social Security income reduces your withdrawal needs. You can use free software on line to calculate taxes in retirement. I know that it is a little work, but this is the rest of your life you are talking about. Some people keep a spreadsheet with all expenses for a year to get a handle on their spending to project into retirement. Using a percentage of your current income is not a good indicator because you will quit saving, but other expenses like heath care may go up. There are free on line programs to put all your information into and have it crunched. I like the one from Fidelity.

At age 65 with a portfolio of half stock and half bonds, you can reasonable take out 4% a year. This includes taxes, fees to a financial adviser, everything. At age 55 something like 3% is more reasonable.

how do you arrange distributions from the various income generating assets that you own? how often to do you take distributions? How do you arrange to take your last breath at the same time your accounts are spent?