Where are you in your retirement planning?

[tarheel618]

I've been thinking a lot about retirement this past year and I'd like to hear your retirement goals. I admittedly am getting a late start in my planning and now need to do some catching up.

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?

How much are you trying to save for retirement?

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement?

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc)

My answers
Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Would like to retire at 60 but more likely 65

How much are you trying to save for retirement? 350000

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? I will get a pension that I pay into but I am late in starting an additional savings plan

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 67- I do to a degree but Im hoping not to have to rely on it

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? paid off probably stay put- but the thought of having a place where someone else takes care of the yard sounds appealing

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Health care cost

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? Trying to pay down debt and roll any future pay raises into savings for retirement

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) I may sub a few days a week but I don't want a set schedule

 

[runwad]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Certain age 62 cause DH will be 65

How much are you trying to save for retirement? No set amount only because between pensions, 401k plans and SS we will have more $ in retirement then we do now :-(. Even if we don't get pensions we will have enough income generated from our 401k & 403B plans. We live a very modest life style don't anticipate needing a lot of money.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? Early thank God! I started at 21 at my first grown up job. I work in Finance so had a lot of older mentors that got me on the right path early and taught me a lot of useful information. I started putting 6% right from the get go into my 401k and raised it 1% every year when I got my raise. I've been working 25 years!

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 67 I believe, born in '66. Yes I calculate it in. My DH works for the gov't so isn't eligible for SS. If I don't get it I will still be ok.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? Paid off in a year, yay!! Yes I see us moving to a smaller house with a smaller yard, too much upkeep I hate it now!

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Health! Alzheimer's runs in my DH's family, his mom just died of it at 75 :-( Her parents both had it and quite a few of her fathers siblings also, and they got it young so I believe that plays more into the hereditary factory. I bought a LTC policy for my DH. My work offers it in my benefits and I took out a policy that I'm prepaying in 10 years. After my 10 years are up I'm done paying and it will cover 3 years in a nursing home for him. I hope I never have to use it! It's very expensive and I've cut back on my 401k% (invest 18% now) to help pay for it.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Fully retire and live a good and healthy life, travel a little, spend lots of time with the kids and just enjoy the rest of my time on this earth.

 

[nalajms]

We are so far away (30+ years) that we don't think about retirement . We do save through our 401k. And there's a chance we may never collect SS!

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Health! Alzheimer's runs in my DH's family, his mom just died of it at 75 :-( Her parents both had it and quite a few of her fathers siblings also, and they got it young so I believe that plays more into the hereditary factory. I bought a LTC policy for my DH. My work offers it in my benefits and I took out a policy that I'm prepaying in 10 years. After my 10 years are up I'm done paying and it will cover 3 years in a nursing home for him. I hope I never have to use it! It's very expensive and I've cut back on my 401k% (invest 18% now) to help pay for it.

You may want to also consider a life insurance policy to supplement the nursing home benefit. Something that you can draw from after your LTC policy runs out. I know my mom's friend's husband had a good 10+ years with Alzheimers before passing away. They ended up hiring a 24hr home healthcare worker because it was cheaper than a nursing home. It drained a lot of their retirement savings, but they were lucky to have a big pension check every month.

 

[hollypoast]

For the most part our late retirement (65 years +) is fully funded (4% of the projected account balance at retirement is plenty to live on). We will still contribute enough to get the employer match, though. No reason to turn away free money. We are now funneling any extra to our "wealth building" Betterment account. My husband and I both want to retire in 10 years at age 55 & 56 so we are trying to save enough to fund our first ten years.


What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? I started at age 24/husband at 18

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? We do not calculate this in. If we get it, it will be "gravy"

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? We plan to build a smaller home in the country & purchase a small RV with the proceeds from the sale of our current home. (Should have enough equity to cover both free and clear.)

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Also, health care/health insurance between age 55 and 65.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? Beyond our employers retirement plans (401k type) we have begun investing with Betterment. I read a much as I can on early retirement, saving money and frugal lifestyles. We talk about retirement a lot too which I think keeps us focused. Whenever I'm buying anything I try to ask myself if its a want or a need. And is it worth not retiring early. (I am currently driving a 10 year old Honda civic which I'm sure will last another 10 years. Is it awesome? No. Would a car payment jeopardize my early retirement plan? Yes. So, I will continue to drive the civi as long as possible.)

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? Extended travel (pick a destination and live there for two months), gardening, cooking, get more exercise, learn new skills, spend time with grandkids (hopefully I'll have some), maybe work seasonally at Disney or Target and I want to wear a t-shirt and jeans on a regular basis. No more uncomfortable shoes or suits/clothing.

Some resources that have helped in our planning:
www.wherewebe.com (fun reading about their early retirement adventures and great projection spreadsheet for retirement savings)

www.mrmoneymustache.com (a little extreme but GREAT info here on how to make it happen... lead us to Betterment)

Good luck in your planning!

 

[tarheel618]

We are so far away (30+ years) that we don't think about retirement . We do save through our 401k. And there's a chance we may never collect SS!

I am 15 (until Im 60) to 20 years away as well but I gotta tell you the last 15 went like a blink of an eye

 

[kathy884]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Not sure -- It will probably be the age thing when I'm eligible for Social Security if finances look good enough.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? I put 15% a year of my salary in by 401K - now that's about 15,000 a year. That seems like a half way reasonable percentage, and I'll just see where that takes me (I'm not motivated to do more at this point.). I'm 54 and have 880,000 in retirement savings right now. I'm married and DH has retirement savings also.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? I started doing some saving for retirement at age 21 when I got my first real job out of college. When I wasn't able to contribute to a 401 K. I put monies in an IRA (Just three years out of my 33 year work history that I didn't have the 401K option). I've always put the max in my 401K except for now that I'm older when I could put more than 15% and I'm only doing the 15%. 21 is pretty young, so you'd have to call me an early planner.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 67 -- Not sure I'll be able to count on it, but I'll include it when I make a decision to retire or not.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? My house will be paid off in three years -- June of 2018. I just this year toyed with the idea of maybe moving to Denver (Washington Park neighborhood) where I used to live when I retire, but the neighborhood is just too expensive now. With no good ideas I may stay put. I live in a relatively modest but nice house and don't see our moving into anything smaller. If anything I think a different home even if it's smaller would be more not less expensive for us.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? I'm not sure retirement, something that has only been around in the last 100 years, is really a reality for society today. It may be back to working as long as you are able. I'm 54 and have a 19 year old who I still support too (He's attending our local community college right now). It's hard for me to think about retirement till he is self sufficient too. And it seems like it takes longer for young people to become self sufficient today. I could based on family history easily live to be over 100, so probably working as long as I can makes sense. I'm also still saving for his college too -- pretty close to having that fully funded (want him to have the option to go away to school for a few years if he want to -- putting away monies to fund that for four years). FASA forms say no financial aid for us.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No -- I'm not doing that catch up thing. Call me wasteful, but with extra money this year and monies that I'm ahead of with college savings, I'm paying for my son to do a study abroad program in Italy for five weeks followed by a five night stay at a youth hostel in London -- sounds too cool to me. And so great to do things like this when you are young and don't have full time job commitments and financial responsibilities. I was an exchange student in France when I was 16. Financial planners would probably say that I should put that money into retirement savings instead. I also give 10% of my income to charity, and again financial planners would say to put more in retirement. But I'm following my gut -- what feels right for me to do.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) No idea. It would be fun to not have to work and just be a volunteer -- maybe be a docent at the zoo or something like that, join a book club, play more tennis. The reality is probably more like I'll be working full time for a long time if I'm healthy and mentally sharp.

 

[btk2333]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?

I'm saving now- I'm 27, my goal is to retire around 55-60

How much are you trying to save for retirement?

somewhere around $5,000,000 (more is good)

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?

Started saving for retirement at age 18

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?

I don't know- I don't plan on SS being available when I'm retired

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?

House will be paid off- likely will downsize though as I'd like to travel a lot when I'm retired

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement?

Living longer than I planned and running out of money

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?

Max 401K's, max IRA's, zero coupon bonds
Any extra money goes into paying off loans/investments
Fidelity 2% cash back card is a nice way to divert some money into IRA's

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc)

Fully retire and travel the world- maybe teach dentistry part time at a local dental school

 

[amylevan]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? We are hoping to retire by 60.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? As much as possible.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? When I started my first job, I immediately started saving in my 401k. So, since 21.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? I really don't think it's going to be there for us, at least in the same fashion. (We are only 35).

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? Since we are still 20+ years from retirement, THIS house will be paid off. But that doesn't mean we won't be living somewhere else by then.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Again, being more than 20+ years away, it's not in our thoughts. However, my concern is sacrificing for retirement and then not getting to enjoy it. (i.e. My mom-in-law passed away 9 months into her retirement.)

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No, not currently.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Travel. We like to camp in our rv now, and I could see us staying at campgrounds long term that let you stay for free in return for working around the campground. (State parks do stuff like this...)

 

[Narnia_girl]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? I work part-time for a not-for-profit, so no real plans to retire yet. My husband will probably retire in 15 years.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? $1.5 million

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? We both started very early, but I stopped working to stay home with the children. So my accounts are mostly stagnant, but my husband's has grown well.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? It does not factor into our plans.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? House paid for; we are the odd ones--not planning to snowbird but possibly move to Colorado--more snow!

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Our health, remaining active.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? My husband has a professional job, but two years ago he started a second job at Lowes for "fun". He loves the physical work after his brain-taxing day job. Lowe's offered a great retirement-matching plan and stock options so he's taking advantage of that.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Go on mission trips, travel, volunteer.

 

[dalmatian7]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?

I actually don't plan on quitting 100%, just shifting gears to a more seasonal or less hours work. DH is currently on track for 55 from his current job. (We are both 38)

How much are you trying to save for retirement?

as much as possible

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?

I have always had stock purchased by my grandparents and then by myself, all in reinvestment, but didn't really contribute to a retirement plan until a few years ago. DH has contributed since starting a grown up job out of college at 23

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?

I also don't plan on social security being there in retirement

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?

Our house should be paid off by the time our now 4 year old goes to college, so I can turn those payments into college payment. so once she graduates from college we will be free of that. I would like to be able to purchase my grandparents house in FL from their estate when that occurs in the hopefully distant future.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement?

heathcare costs

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?

all stocks reinvestment, max simple ira (what is offered through work), live well below our means to pay down our mortgage sooner, drive an old car. Pretty much the same things I do to save for my Disney addiction

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc)

Work more in my side projects now: local county fair, 4-H, farm, but still work part time to keep my brain moving, go to Florida for the winter or at least Jan, Feb, March.

 

[aprilgail]

I've been thinking a lot about retirement this past year and I'd like to hear your retirement goals. I admittedly am getting a late start in my planning and now need to do some catching up.

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?- I am waiting until Friday- one week from today- that is my retirement date! I am SUPER excited!

How much are you trying to save for retirement? I have a 457 and 401K but I have a good pension and company paid medical for retirement so really no worries.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? I guess I was about 25ish when they started offering us the 457/401K so that is when I started

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? We don't pay into social security at my job so we don't collect that, we collect something similar but it is about twice what social security pays. I start collecting that at 60, we don't have to wait until 65 or 67 or whatever social security is.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? House has been paid off for years, not sure what I am doing yet, my daughter is only in 10th grade so not doing anything for at least 6 years.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? nothing really

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? nope

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Going to keep volunteering for a charity I work with now just more than I do now. Hang out at beach, be able to fly down to Florida for long weekends during the winter without worrying about being back for work. Basically its MY time now, do what I want when I want.

 

[tvguy]

I've been thinking a lot about retirement this past year and I'd like to hear your retirement goals. I admittedly am getting a late start in my planning and now need to do some catching up.

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Age. 62

How much are you trying to save for retirement? As much as possible, (duh) enough where the income from the investments is equal to or greater to our working income. We locked into annuities several years ago that will do that.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? 22. Apparently an early planner from news reports, but I was raised that as soon as you get out of college and get a job you save something for retirement.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 66.5. It is not part of my day to day living plan. DW and I will wait until full retirement age to take the money, and that will be our travel money. Neither of us has a pension.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? Been in our house 32 years, and had a 15 year mortgage, so it has been paid off for 17 years. We decided this will be our retirement home. When my mom passed away 2 years ago and I sold her house, we did a top to bottom remodel to transform it from a house to raise kids to a house to be retired in. We are in California. If we were to trade down to a smaller house...which would likely cost at least twice what we paid for our current home, our property taxes would double. Property taxes in California are 1% of what you paid for a house.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Medical insurance costs. That is the big unknown.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Travel. If I get bored I might get a job at McDonalds or Walmart just for fun.

COMMENTS: 401k's weren't available for DW and I until we were both 25. We have always put the max of 15% in with a 3% match on top of that. The 3 previous years we put the max in IRA's, which as I recall was $1,500, but our employer in those days gave us a weeks pay to put in an IRA. So when we retire at 62 will have been saving for 40 years. We just followed my parents lead. They both grew up during the depression and saving for retirement was always something that was a budget priority. My mom had 4 cars in her life. The first she had 14 years, the second, a lemon Buick for 2 years, the third 27 years and when she passed away, her 4th car was 10 years old.


My answers
Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Would like to retire at 60 but more likely 65

How much are you trying to save for retirement? 350000

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? I will get a pension that I pay into but I am late in starting an additional savings plan

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 67- I do to a degree but Im hoping not to have to rely on it

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? paid off probably stay put- but the thought of having a place where someone else takes care of the yard sounds appealing

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Health care cost

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? Trying to pay down debt and roll any future pay raises into savings for retirement

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) I may sub a few days a week but I don't want a set schedule

 

[lauradis]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Age we will be 55/57

How much are you trying to save for retirement? tons and tons

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? Early for me 18. Husband was late 28.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? SS is the fall back broke, crap plan.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? We plan to sell the house and everything we own, to become wandering nomads for as long as possible.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Not living long enough to enjoy all our adventures

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? not really we have always picked x % our normal rate being 20-30% of what we make to save for retirement

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? whatever we want, life changes, but the plan is to be expats basically live in one area for 3 months to a year and then move to another, kinda like a living vacation. Untill we die.

 

[Marionnette]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? We want to reach a certain age.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? No specific dollar amount. Just putting away as much as possible.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? 22

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? 67 years 10 months. SS will just be extra money and not what we need to live on.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? House was paid off the day that we bought it. We don't plan to downsize until the house becomes a burden to keep up due to physical limitations.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Poor health that would keep us from enjoying it.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Travel...a lot.

 

[crisi]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?

• Am semi retired at 48. We quit our corporate jobs and consult. I'm open to another corporate job, as is my husband.

How much are you trying to save for retirement?

• We consult so we don't need to touch the retirement savings. By the time we stop consulting, there should be between $3-6M depending on how the market does over the next fifteen years

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?

• 21

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?

• 68, not calculated in.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?

• I paid it off once already. I do plan on moving into a townhouse or condo

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Kids needing help

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?

• I finished saving - we don't put money into retirement accounts anymore. I continue to put money into accounts I can reach - investment accounts.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc)

• Work part time not for extra cash, but for interaction with people. Maybe volunteer work. Maybe being a barista at a Starbucks or a clerk at Target. My experience with my parents and in laws has been you need somewhere to go and people to talk to.

 

[Judique]

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?

• Work part time not for extra cash, but for interaction with people. Maybe volunteer work. Maybe being a barista at a Starbucks or a clerk at Target. My experience with my parents and in laws has been you need somewhere to go and people to talk to.

I'm stealing Crisi's line here because it fits me.

I've already reached retirement age.

I'm still working because I want to and I love my job.

Brother and sister in law who've already retired gave me some excellent advice: If you are happy and like what you do, don't be too quick to toss it and retire. I am used to a busy life. My schedule keeps me focused and healthy.

I spend 5 weeks a year vacationing and sometimes I get bored with vacation...even going to Disney. I am never bored at work.

In addition, savings for retirement are in order and will probably go to the kids eventually. I expect that I will collect some ss. I have a good pension. I am set.

 

[morgan98]

Just a random comment about social security. I get why some people are saying that they are not factoring social security into their retirement plan, but I really think some of it is going to be there. My husband and I have been maxing out social security contributions for years (he is 55, I am 45) so our estimated benefit is over $4,500 a month. To me that is a substantial amount of monthly income and to think we are all just going that have to walk away from that benefit is depressing.

I am trying not to get political, I just find it interesting...

 

[ronandannette]

Chiming in here to encourage participation from others who are maybe too intimidated by the "success stories" of most other PP's:

I've been thinking a lot about retirement this past year and I'd like to hear your retirement goals. I admittedly am getting a late start in my planning and now need to do some catching up.

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?
Neither, we will likely not retire until we are physically unable to work or lose our jobs and are completely unable to find new ones.
How much are you trying to save for retirement?
I've presently got 8% of my gross income going into an investment vehicle (RRSP - something like your IRA). DH skims what he can off his net income, some months it's 10%, some less.
What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?
We just started OVER AGAIN about a year ago after having lost everything (DH's business, our home and all assets that could possibly be liquidated) in 2008. We spent the 6 years immediately after surviving and re-grouping. We're perilously short on time now - DH is almost 61 and I'm close to 50. We also have an 18 y.o. DS to "launch"; (maybe college, maybe straight into the work force) and two older DD's with families of their own that we assist selectively from time to time.
What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?
Canada Pension Plan may work a little differently than SS. You can claim it any time after age 60 but the payout is based on your own contributions over the course of your working life. The claim must be started by age 70 and you can collect even if you have employment income. We will definitely be relying on whatever we are eligible for but it will not be enough to completely sustain even a modest lifestyle.
Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?
We purchased and renovated a beautiful little condo in an extremely desirable neighbourhood about a year ago. If all goes well it will be paid for in 10 years and by all reasonable expectations, will turn out to be an excellent investment. When we reach the point of no longer having employment income we plan to sell it and live off the proceeds in whatever location and accommodation are the most financially practical at the time.
What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement?
That "time will run out" before we're ready...that our employment incomes will undergo some kind of disruption as our plan basically relies on DH maintaining his earning power for 9 more years and me for 20.
Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?
I am in line for a modest inheritance and when that's realized, it will be the bulk of our actual "savings". We've already received one portion of it and that basically enabled us to get back on our feet and passed the "treading water" stage to where we could move forward again by investing in real estate and RSP's.
What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc)
We will most likely be physically unable to work by the time we retire. What we do will all depend on our health at the time and I will be working probably 10 years after DH stops. By the time we are both retired I will be 70'ish and DH in his early 80's. I picture us living a very modest lifestyle with most of our time being spent on activities in our church and community. We lack the time and energy to do much volunteering and/or ministry right now although we would really like to. I'm looking forward to those opportunities.

 

[crisi]

Just a random comment about social security. I get why some people are saying that they are not factoring social security into their retirement plan, but I really think some of it is going to be there. My husband and I have been maxing out social security contributions for years (he is 55, I am 45) so our estimated benefit is over $4,500 a month. To me that is a substantial amount of monthly income and to think we are all just going that have to walk away from that benefit is depressing.

I am trying not to get political, I just find it interesting...

I agree and we will get that much as well, but it wouldn't surprise me if by the time I retire its means tested, in which case my benefit will be cut.

The proposal I've heard, and the one I think will be most likely to pass, is that they will means test social security, but in exchange, they will reduce taxation on ordinary 401k and pension income. In that compromise, people with Roth's will be screwed, but people with Roths are the people the government historically screws - the real middle class. The 95% have 401ks and never qualified for Roths. And those at the other end have no money to save.

At any rate, I want to be able to be financially independant a decade or more before I qualify for social security - that means I can't factor it in.

 

[morgan98]

I agree and we will get that much as well, but it wouldn't surprise me if by the time I retire its means tested, in which case my benefit will be cut.

The proposal I've heard, and the one I think will be most likely to pass, is that they will means test social security, but in exchange, they will reduce taxation on ordinary 401k and pension income. In that compromise, people with Roth's will be screwed, but people with Roths are the people the government historically screws - the real middle class. The 95% have 401ks and never qualified for Roths. And those at the other end have no money to save.

At any rate, I want to be able to be financially independant a decade or more before I qualify for social security - that means I can't factor it in.

I 100% agree with this post, and know we will be means tested as well. My point, I guess is, that I sure hope we get *something*.