Really miss motorcycles and PGR type stuff.
Sad to hear about grandkids, but proud for you to step up.
Enjoy 'em while you got 'em... It's worth it.
Life is too short, Behappy!
TFMM
Are you sure about that?
With a million you would have to live off $50k a year and get a 5% average on your $1 mill investment. Then you would have a perpetual stable income. Problem is with inflation over 2% you will need to start cutting into the investment which will then cause your interest/yr to drop which means you will have to draw off more. The longer this cycle goes on the less you have. If inflation gets worse the faster the decline.
Sorry, it is a sad truth that I am trying to figure out.
I'm not sure 50k a year will do it for the average retirement family...
You can add SS dollars as some income remembering the wife only gets 1/2 of her SS just because she is married. Oh, and don't forget your only insurance option is Medicare which is taken out of your SS. How much depends on what money you made two years before... and remove even more when you buy a Supplemental to your Medicare. Some are free but they are pretty much useless. I pay an additional 15 bucks a month which reduces my pharmacy by 2k a year so that is a pretty good trade off. All this additional removal from SS pretty much wipes out your wife's SS and takes out half of yours so do not rely on SS for much.
So, when I became 65 I found myself with double the monthly cost and triple the deductible plus extra co-pay.
My goal was to invest. I stayed with the FANG's and a few WAG's that were a good guess such as when the Calif fires became so bad that the power company there made rolling black-outs I invested in Generac Generator. People must have power. I have tripled that investment and it is still growing. It was a large investment. Don't try to remake the wheel, look at what the masses are doing and take notes. Don't use a broker to manage your portfolio, that costs a lot of money. If they decide to churn your stock equities they get commissions. So when they need money they will sell and buy your stocks without your permission. Do it yourself. Look at a stock and be patient, buy the dip and leave it the heck alone. That's the hardest part. Putting cash into a bank or mutual funds or CD's is a waste of your time and money. My average investment gains are 60+% year over year not including dividends. I can now comfortable not worry about it.
It's hard to get started and will drive you nuts if you watch the rollercoaster everyday. Chill out... the stock market has always gone up even after a huge event such as 2008 or 2020 drop. Be smart and do what everyone else is doing and do not follow the REDIT page. The MeMe stocks are a train wreck just like digital coins especially if you are close to retirement age. Good luck with your choices.
-D
Words of wisdom from Dad, always a good thing.
Yeah, I don't know what it would take to live retired and I am sure it varies from family to family and one part of the country to the next. I pulled the $50 k out of the air and the 5% interest as they were easy numbers to make work and knowing most people would not think about living on $50k a year and I would hope for a better return than 5% but common money strategy is to get more conservative with investments as you near or get into retirement.
Thanks for the info on SS & Medi, seems like no body outside of retirement can get a good handle on it but people that have recently started to deal with it have a better insight on it.
As for the nest egg I have a few bucks stuck away but they are with a financial adviser that handles the Co retirement account that gets added to monthly. I have always used the strategy, don't buy it if you can't afford to lose it so when the markets drop and people panic sell I start looking for what to buy rather than sell. I need to figure out how to do it without the broker but just plain do not have time at this point.
Maybe it would be a good thing to start a thread . . . "Everything You Need to Know About Retirement But Didn't Know to Ask" , hosted by Dad
Just so there's no misunderstanding, both spouses do get their full social security that they earned through their working history.
Assuming the husband made more than the wife then she gets whatever is higher between her earned social security or half of the husband's.
So if the wife never worked at all, she still gets half of the husband's social security.
If a husband's full SS is 2,000 a month & the wife's is 1,500 a month then that's the figures they would both get.
But if the wife's full SS was 800 a month, then she would get half of the husband's which would be $1,000 a month.
All the figures change if you take SS before your full retirement which is anywhere from 66 to 67 unless you were born before 1943.
As for health insurance which includes Medicare, gap & drug insurance, that's about $600 a month for me & my wife & it goes up every year.
For retirement I would estimate around $8,000 to $10,000 a year just for medical premiums, drugs & expenses.
As for a million dollars, it really doesn't go very far today because it's hard to get any guaranteed 5% & still keep the principle.
In today's world, guaranteed income is more important than savings unless you have an awful lot of savings.
Sure you can take $50,000 a year for 20 years with a million dollars but then where are you.
The interest rates today are less than 1% on most guaranteed investments & that's one of the reasons the stock market is doing so well.
People don't have a lot of places to put their money but the market as good as it has been doing is still no guarantee.
I have a savings & withdrawal calculator I use for my retirement. Calculator # 3 tells you how long your savings will last. : http://www.money.oldnewtimer.com/
Gary
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http://www.oceanhvac.com
The best things in life are free but not everyone is willing to pay the price.
When you appreciate what you have, you have a lot more.
I did some more research on this. As most of you know I am a Widower now but have found love once again so we are "living in sin".
We are both Widowed and lost our spouses to the same thing at the same time... Our mothers even have the same birthday. I'm in trouble, yes?
I was told and have read where when you marry the wife looses 1/2 of her SS. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore and thanks to Garyed this may have just changed the direction of my future. Here is what I found. It is only part of the information so I will provide the link as well. Thanks Garyed!
https://tucson.com/business/social-s...9a5e9c985.html
Q: I am a 72-year-old woman. I get $2,175 per month in Social Security retirement benefits, which I took at age 66. I have been seeing a man who also gets his own Social Security check. It is $2,590. I’ve been told that if we get married, my benefit will be cut to a spousal rate of one half of his, or $1,295. Is this true?
A: No, it is not true. You are getting your own Social Security check that you worked for and earned. Your benefit will stay the same whether you are single, divorced, married or whatever.
I'm glad things turned out positive for you.
Social security can be pretty confusing & spousal benefits can be even more so.
Gary
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http://www.oceanhvac.com
The best things in life are free but not everyone is willing to pay the price.
When you appreciate what you have, you have a lot more.
Gary
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http://www.oceanhvac.com
The best things in life are free but not everyone is willing to pay the price.
When you appreciate what you have, you have a lot more.
Thanks for all your hard work and patience. Enjoy life buddy.
Bob
Keep the fire inside the fireplace.
I am new here, and it sounds like you're someone I would have liked to know. ENJOY! You damn sure deserve it!
.Please consider donating $11 to Tunnels to Towers, a great way to help Veterans, who fought communist ideology all over the world.
Hail the Republic!
Found something else that is interesting. From the SSA.gov site. Here is the current marriage penalty as we know it today.
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/issu...ip2003-01.html
Although each member of an SSI married couple is guaranteed an income level equal to only 75 percent of the federal benefit rate, they are generally financially better off than SSI individuals living alone. This comparison reflects the economies of scale from sharing living expenses as well as higher incomes. However, members of the opposite sex who cohabitate and do not marry (or are not found to be representing themselves as husband and wife) are each guaranteed an income level equal to 100 percent of the federal benefit rate and generally fare better financially than SSI married couples.
Gary
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http://www.oceanhvac.com
The best things in life are free but not everyone is willing to pay the price.
When you appreciate what you have, you have a lot more.
I saw that and it is based on a paper written a few years back. I still believe SSA nails you one way or another. I've been very disappointed with them since I started my SS. However, my story is or could be so much different than others due to my work history and dollars earned as well as my SS dependent decision. It's a complicated web I weave not for me to simplify here. But your prodding has made me look closer to what will change my future decisions.