How to retire at 55 instead of 65 or 70.

[Doofy]

Does that include whats taken out for taxes and ss? Deduct the expenses thzt go away when you retire.

My taxes suck! I see no relief in retirement. I just sent IRS a check for almost 6K and I haven't worked a day in 11 years.

 

[cat fever]

But sadly... My life is based on $130k a year.

Time to start living well below your means.

My income has been higher than that for many years, but I live like I make 40K a year. We have fun, been on many trips/vacations and enjoy life but save a long time for the toys and fun.

It might be tough for awhile, but as I said before, things have a way of working out.

 

[goeduck]

Does that include whats taken out for taxes and ss? Deduct the expenses thzt go away when you retire.

And deduct whatever was being saved per month. Then start getting spending under control now. No reason to wait on that. It is not always a matter of how much a person makes, how much a person spends is more important.

 

[RSKY]

My current social security estimate is $1,942 at age 62, if this pension did not lock it would be $4,239 at 62, the Westinghouse one is locked at the $809, and I hope to keep pushing the 401K to get at least $300K in there before I retire. With the unknown future, the SS pay out could be dramatically reduced, the current pension estimates could be massively reduced and the 401K could get severely crippled growing forward. The only solid known I have is the Westinghouse pension.

Like I said, everything is turning to vapor. The great retirement I had been thinking was 14 or so years away is slipping out of my hands. Maybe I will be lucky and the right time/place thing will return to me and I will be okay. But **** if this isn't a scary situation!

I lost .004 of my pension for every month under the age of 62. I got out of Continental at age 52, so I lost 48%, .004*120 months. Despite being very upset about it I quickly rebounded and came out ahead. You will too if you keep your cool and plan ahead. No plan survives it's implementation but you will make it. I think you will survive even if you have to take a lower paying job. The fact that you are planning years ahead tells me that.

Before I retired I visited a very well respected CPA in our area. I took in all our financial records and a small folder of spreadsheets with all these different scenarios on them. I told Mike that I was thinking about quitting work and showed him what we were earning and what our pensions were and how much I thought I would draw from SS and then pulled out the spreadsheets. He asked me what they were and I said it was different plans figured with different returns on my investments. I had even adjusted for inflation.

And he started laughing......laughing very hard.

"Boy, (I'm older than he is) most people come in here not knowing how much they have in their 401k or bank account and you've got yours figured twenty different ways (actually only sixteen). You are going to be okay no matter what you do because you are watching your money."

So I went into work the next week and gave notice.

I think you are in the same situation. You will figure it out and do more than survive.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Ouch! Well, there's still ways. I worked for my last employer for 30 year. My pension got frozen at 19 years of service back around 2008. I took a 5% pay cut in 2008, too. I had no raise for 5 out of 6 years, and I got put back to hourly from salary about 4 years ago, which was a 10% pay cut... Then last May they told us we were out in 6 weeks.... 30 years.... life's work, done. I'd planned on 42 years.

About a week after they told us we'd be out in 6 weeks, I set up an appointment with Fidelity to go over my finances. My wife and I had been doing it ourselves for 30 years+, and I just wanted an extra set of eyes on it from someone that has knowledge in that area. I took a job that pays about 60% of what I was making, with the opportunity to get back to about 80% of what I was making within a year. Good benefits and generous 401k match after a year.

We were pleasantly surprised when he made up a plan for us that came out way more generous than the plan that we were on, and our plan had us making about 150% more in retirement than when we were working, even after my freezes, pay cuts and lower salary.

Go get some advice! :thumbsup: It can't hurt and may make you feel less anxious.

Fidelity is the best. I have had plans with two other financial service companies that I was never satisfied with. I could call and ask a question and I would get the, "I'll have to find out and get back to you" routine. With Fidelity I never got that. And the guy that I talked to about my 401k was the one that told me how to roll everything out of it and into my IRA that has served me so well. With one notable exception everything they have advised me on has been good.

In my opinion they are the best.

RSKY

 

[Cat_Driver]

Buy Apple,Microsoft,Amazon at $3.00 a share and sell at $600.00 a share.

 

[npalen]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the huge drop in the stock market Friday and today or maybe I missed it.

 

[4570Man]

I'm 46, but I am way behind on the 401K bandwagon with only $105K in there today.
I have a locked pension from Westinghouse at $809 a month.
My current company pension is likely about to get locked with the bankruptcy, I don't know what that number will look like. Had this not all fallen apart, I would have been at:
55 yrs old$2,567.75
56 yrs old$2,778.16
57 yrs old$2,997.49
58 yrs old$3,226.05
59 yrs old$3,464.16
60 yrs old$3,712.16
61 yrs old$3,970.40
62 yrs old$4,239.23
63 yrs old$4,345.21
64 yrs old$4,453.84
65 yrs old$4,565.19
66 yrs old$4,679.32

But all of that is going out the window fast.

I am a Non Destructive Testing Level III, I run/administer the program for a nuclear power plant. There used to be a 5 man team, it is now just me. Nuclear power here in the unregulated north east is dying. We can not get help to keep running from the state or feds.

On a personal side, I would possibly be able to go to another part of the country for nuclear work, but I am not interested in moving. There will likely be some serious pain, but I am choosing to not leave my family property.

I am going to start tossing out my Resume looking for work, my goal would be to find a company where I can administer the inspection program from home and travel as needed to do training and qualification or to visit inspection job sites. I'm not sure if I will find that situation or not.

I really was not smart in situating myself for this. Like many, I never thought that the free money train would come to a crashing halt. Now I am wishing that I had done things a little differently and had myself better set up to face this. I'll likely end up going into damage control mode if all of the doom and gloom comes to fruition.

Really, the important things will be to stay here and happy with my beloved wife of 24 years, keep my feet on the property that my family has been on since the late 1800's, and learn to live with whatever income level I fall to. I did this before in 2007, I did not like it. It was a scary process that I do not look forward to. I made it, but I was lucky... right place and time kind of thing.

I like my shiny new things, but I can give a lot of that up if it comes down to it. I may try to start a side business doing lite excavation during the period that this falls apart. If I can get something started and get my feet up under myself, that would make this not nearly as frightening.

I have a large bonus coming next month, it should be around $22K gross, a month later the BR should be hitting. I plan to use that bonus to do some financial housekeeping to better position myself for this. I also have a Jeep that I have paid off that I can sell for around $30K-$35K, it will kill me to do it.... but I could take that and get cash in hand while getting rid of a few hundred bucks a month in insurance. God... I love that Jeep!

Is your Jeep insurance really that high? That’s closer to my 6 month payment.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the huge drop in the stock market Friday and today or maybe I missed it.

Really, only the gains in January have been reversed.... so far. If you think of it that way, its not too bad. If you think of it in actual dollar value lost in 2 days, YIKES! :laughing:

 

[Creamer]

Really, only the gains in January have been reversed.... so far. If you think of it that way, its not too bad. If you think of it in actual dollar value lost in 2 days, YIKES! :laughing:

Think of it the other way though -in terms of dollars how much has it gone up since Trump has been elected? WOW!