Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[MossRoad]

Oh, there are some White Sox fans here in South Bend. They kinda keep to themselves. :laughing:

We have a minor league park here that is now affiliated with the Cubs. It brings plenty of fans every summer. Nice to spend an evening at the ballpark.

 

[forgeblast]

As far as investments, and before I found the bogglehead site I was leaving my investments to be managed by a company. They really did nothing, and took a percentage of what I was making.
Now my investments are easy, go to vanguard or fidelity Get 3 funds. Total stock market, total international, total bond. The fees on these are extremely low. (this is where active investment company's aka fisher, kades, etc get you, they get you on the fees for the funds that they push that they get a kick back on, and they charge you fees to invest you money which adds up to you not making as much or worse loosing money). The percentage is up to you, right now because of how far away I am from retirement I am 80% total stock market, 10% total international, and 10% total bond. That's it.
Dave Ramsey helped us figure out how to get out of debt, hes great at that. The debt snowball is such a useful tool. We had 100k+ in medical bills that we paid off, and were able to refinance the home into a 15 year, and will have that paid off early, while putting money into a 529 for college for our kiddo.

 

[MossRoad]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

...

Not saying big cities any better... last weekend here over a thousand people with 600 vehicles occupied a Oakland neighborhood... police RECOVERED over 200 shell casings... scary stuff for those retiring...

Oakland Police Say Sideshows Getting Bigger and More Dangerous NBC Bay Area

These "shows" are happening in at least one nearby small city. I have not seen video but I am sure it exists. The "news" is only reporting on it because people are complaining but it sounds like the "shows" happen most weekend. I wonder if it is happening in other cities but it is just not be talked about.

Later,
Dan

 

[ericm979]

I am smart enough to make money, but not smart enough to understand bitcoin.

I understand the cryptography used by bitcoin (cryptography is what I do for a living). There's no way I would invest in bitcoins themselves and I'd stay even farther away from bitcoin related companies, especially ones with ICOs. Bitcoin itself wildly impractical as a means of exchange- the transaction limits are super low (something like 7 transactions/sec for a global "currency"). Validating transactions takes as much electricity as a small country. Coin mining (creation of new bitcoins) is controlled by a cabal of Chinese interests. Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. The price is purely driven by the number of people buying it. Unlike say a stock where there is an intrinsic value of the company (though the price can be inflated by competition). At least there is a floor there. Though there are some legit ones, many bitcoin related companies are quasi-legal scams designed to make a few people rich. It is possible of course to ride their coat tails and make money but you have to either have a lot of inside knowledge or be very lucky.

 

[Oaktree]

Those property tax maps by state don't mean much due to the majority of tax is local, i.e., county, city, school board, garbage collection district, etc.

I moved from Florida to New Hampshire and the map shows a huge increase in property tax. However, my tax rate actually went down appreciably. It just depends on the locality, not the state.

The state maps are derived by some averaging algorithm. Do your research at the local level.

Agreed you have to look at the big picture. Yes we have high property taxes here in N.H. (though not a whole lot higher than some of our neighboring states). That's because property taxes are about the only way state/local government is funded...we have no income or general sales tax (only on restaurant meals & lodging). I've seen others here on TBN mention a personal property tax (not quite sure what that is) too.

If you look at the overall level of taxation, we're near the bottom.

 

[mjarrels]

The best thing I heard about bitcoin is that it cannot be used to pay for endless wars around the world.

mark

 

[NHBX]

Agreed you have to look at the big picture. Yes we have high property taxes here in N.H. (though not a whole lot higher than some of our neighboring states). That's because property taxes are about the only way state/local government is funded...we have no income or general sales tax (only on restaurant meals & lodging). I've seen others here on TBN mention a personal property tax (not quite sure what that is) too.

If you look at the overall level of taxation, we're near the bottom.

Shuussssh! :laughing:

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Hello TBNers, I have been away for several years, checking in occasionally to see whats going on.(See the Pallets in the Field thread is still going on:laughing Life has been real busy the last few years and no time to post. I thought once I retire I could get back involved with TBN and I check in today and see this thread!

This Friday January 29th, 2021 I will officially retire :thumbsup: I will not be 62 until August but going out a little early. This has been in the planning for many years and am more than ready. I did several things to make this happen earlier than I thought.
We were debt free for the last 5-6 years and saved everything we could. Most of the last 20 years were spent working towards retirement.

We have invested in different things that will pay off when and if we need it, my wife retired 8 years ago from teaching and get her state retirement. One thing that keeps people from retiring early is health insurance and I have always been covered under my wife's plan and still will be.

I may start the produce farm back up but am really involved in my woodworking hobby which I have had most of my life. I plan to do the woodworking to make extra cash and have been tuning down a lot of orders over the years. Not sure I want it to be full time but rather a little supplement to retirement and it is something I truly enjoy with a passion. I have several orders lined up for February and will then take a couple of months to get some home projects completed.

Social Security will be taken at 62, my wife in April and me in August this year. One thing many people have said to me is don't you worry about the $$ you will lose by not waiting till you're at full retirement age? I looked at this about 15 years ago and totaled what I would receive between age 62 and 67 and 10 months (full retirement age). Then I took the difference at 67 and 10 months and divided that into the total (62-67) and it would take me 13 years to recover that money. So what I did 15 years ago was take out two Roth IRA's and max them out for 3 years and then stopped contributing. They will now more than make up the difference buy not waiting until I'm 67+. We also have a couple of 401's that we hopefully will not touch until the government says we have to at 72.

The kids are out of college, married, and have homes and good jobs so I don't need to worry about them. And best of all we now have a 4 month old granddaughter that we get to keep and enjoy in retirement!!!

I am looking forward to Friday and starting my retirement journey and rejoining TBN We should also be able to travel and see the sites of the great USA!

 

[Oaktree]

There are two property tax deductions. The mortgage deduction and the homestead deduction.

If you are buying property on a recorded mortgage or recorded contract and are a resident of Indiana, you could qualify for a mortgage deduction on your property tax bill. This deduction is either one half of the property痴 assessed value or $3,000, whichever is less.

If you own a home and use it as your primary place of residence, your home and up to one acre of land could qualify for homestead deductions on your property tax bill. The standard homestead deduction is either 60% of your property痴 assessed value or a maximum of $45,000, whichever is less.

OK, part 2 kind of makes sense, especially nice if you live in an area with a lot of vacation homes. Never heard of a city/town giving a mortgage discount on property taxes though. The only homestead exemption we have here protects your primary residence from creditors in the case of bankruptcy (up to a certain $ limit), nothing that reduces taxes though.