Where are you in your retirement planning?

MillauFr · May 23, 2015

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount?
My wife wants to retire at 53. I'll retire when I feel like it, 62?

How much are you trying to save for retirement?
No set amount. We will be fine between pensions, social security, and other retirement plans.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?
23

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?
67

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird?
Not sure. Depends on the market. Houses are going for crazy amounts here. I might be tempted to sell if the city rezoned our neighborhood for high rise apartments and a developer offered us a huge amount to move

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

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)
Not sure. We will just wing it.

drnp · May 23, 2015

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? More concentrated on a dollar amount than age.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? 3M would be ideal goal

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? 26

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? My plan for SS is to not take it until 70 1/2 to get the highest amount possible. This will coincide with time I take the required distributions from my 401k. My goal is to live off interest/dividends of what is in 401k or IRAs after 59 1/2 and when I have to actually start removing principle at 70 1/2, use SS to replace the lost income to taxes.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? cost of health care, long term care

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? Read everything I can on estate/retirement planning so I have as much knowledge as possible.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Write or lecture and not care how much I get paid.

lucigo · May 23, 2015

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? Husband is retired military and 3 years into 2nd career (civil service), so already getting one retirement and VA disability.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? Whatever is in his retirement fund in 17 years.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? Started when he joined the military at 19.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? Not calculated in.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? We are renting out a house in Florida that we might retire to, or we may find a small house in central Florida.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? That the government will take away what they have promised as far as healthcare and retirement benefits.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? No, still have 3 kids at home, one with autism who will probably be with us indefinitely.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Fully retire or work from home. I spent 20 years as a medical transcriptionist. I loved my job, but times have changed.

eliza61 · May 23, 2015

tarheel618 said:
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)

e

1. Both. dh and I wanted to retire early by 58

2. A couple of million. I have a 8,000/ month budget

3. Actually neither. I'm a little older so we both had jobs that have pensions. when we started working there was no such things as 401's or IRA's

4. I'm eligible at 65, yes I factored ss into our plans. social security is not going anywhere. I'm a widow so I believe I can start taking my husbands benefits at 571/2 (gotta double check that) while letting mine sit and max out then switch over to mine at 70

5. my house will not be paid off but we are not "debt free" aficionado's. we concentrated on increasing our net worth. So I concentrated on getting maximum yields from my investments. I plan on being a snowbird. I love my house in Philadelphia.

6. nothing financial actually. I'm more worried about staying healthy. My dh died early without ever enjoying his retirement. I don't plan on making that same mistake.

7. I actually plan on retiring next year (October 31st 2016 :cool1:

) so I'm trying to do all the renovations/fixes on my house now. trying to get rid of all major expenses.
8. lol, every month my ideas change. I was watching the movie "the other women" and said "Man, I think I would love a beach house", last week in was spend the summer in Paris. I don't have grandkids so this all might change when/if that happens.

bababear_50 · May 23, 2015

This is a topic I have been thinking and worrying about for the past few months.

I am late To The Game, but I guess it never too late to start.
After divorce I started over, with almost nothing.
I spent alot on helping my three sons through school.
I worked fulltime and partime for 15 years trying to catch up.

I am paying down my mtg the best I can.
I am not sure I will have it paid off before I retire.
If I can't pay it off before I retire I may have to downsize.

I will be eligble for a work pension (Thank God)

I will be eigible for CPP (Canada Pension Plan ) at 60.

I will be eligible for OAS (Old Age security) at 67.

I have a small amount in savings, and really have to get serious about adding money into it.

I am more concerned about what to do to occupy my time when I retire so I am considering working
a few days a week.
I also think I need to make time to explore things that make me happy.
Perhaps a time for a bit of soul searching.
I really wish I had listened when my Nana tried to teach me how to crochet and knit.

Hugs Mel

Oh and if the
"Evil Step Mother" who is in excellent health dies I will finally get my inheritance and I will be able to live "Happily Ever After"
seriously.

MrsPete · May 23, 2015

Because I'm in a job with a pension, I'll retire when I complete my 30th year. A pension is really a double-edged sword. You have to worry over whether the pension system is in good shape, and if you don't put in the full 30 years, its value is diminished significantly. And even then, it's a bet: Will you live two years and fail to collect what was deducted from your check all those working years, or will you live to be 102 and collect more than you deposited? It's impossible to know whether you'll win or lose at the pension game.

Our goal is two million + my pension + Social Security + a paid-for house.
This will be "overkill", as we figure our monthly necessities will be in the 2K/month range. We won't be supporting our kids any longer, we won't be saving for the future, and once we finish working we'll downsize to one car. However, we are concerned about having a "buffer" against inflation, and we'd rather over-save than under-save.

Started at age 23. We are not high earners, but starting early is THE KEY! If you start early, you have the magic of compound interest working in your favor. Of course, to start early, you have to make good choices from the beginning: Avoid student loans, buy a small house with a small mortgage, and live frugally.

Unsure what age I'll be eligible for Social Security, but our plan at this point is that my husband (who is older and in lesser health) will collect as soon as he is eligible, while I'll wait for maximum benefits. I don't think Social Security will disappear, but I think we will ALL receive less than we were promised.

We plan to build a smaller, designed for aging-in-place house in the next few years. Once we sell our current paid-for house, we expect this to cost another 50K, which we are prepared to pay in cash.

Our biggest concern is health care. The Affordable Care Act isn't making things more affordable, and health care seems to be a giant question mark.

How to save faster? Saving is like dieting. Everyone KNOWS how to do it; most people don't want to bother with the self-discipline. Start early, set it up so it's automatic, live on less than you earn.

I expect to look for part-time or seasonal work for the first couple years after I quit my "real job". This'll help me avoid dipping into my savings too soon.

As for what'll keep us busy, we have quite a few plans: Hobbies to which we don't devote much time now, other hobbies we'd like to begin, volunteer work in the church and the community, travel, more entertaining, hopefully grandchildren upon which we will dote. And lots of time for each other.

MomToOne · May 23, 2015

I am targeting age 67. If my savings rate holds with what it currently is, I should have enough at that point to live a modest but comfortable life off interest income and social security only. That's my ultimate goal - to be able to live an extended period of time without touching principle at all. (I do think Social Security will be around in some manner at that point. Maybe not at the currently calculated level, but it will provide some sort of income.)

I used to think that when I retired I would want to travel extensively. But now that I've hit the mid-century mark, I already find travel to be more and more tiring each year LOL I enjoy it, but I really don't think I'll want to be roaming the world in my retirement anymore - maybe a trip once or twice a year, but probably not anymore than that. I now see retirement mostly as a time to focus on hobbies around the house, doing "fun" things in the community more than I do now, and doing some volunteer work.

Julia M · May 24, 2015

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? A certain age. For both my dh and I it will be age 60. He;s 3 1/2 years older, so will retire first.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? We both have good pensions (atypical in this day and age) and wanted a million dollars in our 401k's, IRA's, etc. Our only potential glitch is the possibility of dh being laid off before age 60. As of right now, we are confident in him being employed until age 57. Beyond that, not so likely.

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? We both started relatively early. We both started in jobs that had pensions in our 20's and began contributing to retirement acocunts around the same age.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? I don't get SS. Dh is eligible at 62. We plan for it, but can do without it if we have to.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? Our house will be paid off. Our home isn't that big to begin with (just under 1800 square feet). I can't really imagine selling, as we live in an insanely high COL area. If we sell, we couldn't change our mind and return. I do imagine trying out other places to live, but we'd rent.

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Having good enough health to enjoy retirement!

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? Nope. We are paying for college tuition, so that's a ton. I am hoping to have a year or two after college tuition is done where we can save for retirement "extras" we may need (wedding expenses, travel, etc)

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc) Dh doesn't plan to work. I do a job that is highly desired and in short supply, so I could do a few hours, or sub for maternity leaves, etc, if I wanted to. I don't know if I will want to or not. It's nice to know it's an option. I definitely want to travel and hopefully babysit grandkids!

tvguy · May 24, 2015

Without getting into the politics of why these changes were made, I think Social Security would be financial sound, despite the growing number of retirees, if the following, unfunded benefit changes had not been allowed to happen.
1) Allowing retirement benefits before full retirement age.
2) Allowing disability benefits before full retirement age
3) Allowing survivors benefits.
4) Allowing widows benefits.
5) Losing site of Social Security being a supplement to your retirement, not your entire retirement.

Having managed my mom's finances for the last year of her life, I will note that her Social Security benefits more than covered all her expenses. But she always lived within her means. Social security seems to reward those who did not make wise financial decisions in their 40 to 45 years of working.

eliza61 · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
Without getting into the politics of why these changes were made, I think Social Security would be financial sound, despite the growing number of retirees, if the following, unfunded benefit changes had not been allowed to happen.
1) Allowing retirement benefits before full retirement age.
2) Allowing disability benefits before full retirement age
3) Allowing survivors benefits.
4) Allowing widows benefits.
5) Losing site of Social Security being a supplement to your retirement, not your entire retirement.

Having managed my mom's finances for the last year of her life, I will note that her Social Security benefits more than covered all her expenses. But she always lived within her means. Social security seems to reward those who did not make wise financial decisions in their 40 to 45 years of working.

how do you figure that? My dh paid into ss, I paid into social security. why shouldn't I be able to collect his benefits? You do get penalized if you take your social security benefits before full retirement, by quite a lot. Personally I'm pissed that I can't collect both his benefits and mine. we both paid into it and the system will get to keep his contributions simply because he died. so how exactly is that "unfunded"?
My children were not eligible for survivors benefits due to the fact they were over 18 when he died

Not sure how you can to the conclusion for the last sentence. now my experience pool is small, mainly friends and relatives and myself. I made great decisions most of the time, and whether I have 10K, 100K or 10 million when I retire I'm taking my ss.

just trying to figure out the correlation between taking widows benefit or early ss and being financially irresponsible. seems a bit hookey

My dad actually made more after he hit retirement age. He got a military pension, a NYC pension along with his social security (not sure when he started collecting). I have no problem with him being able to collect all three, he earned them.

supersnoop · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
Social security seems to reward those who did not make wise financial decisions in their 40 to 45 years of working.

That's kind of the whole point of Social Security. It's a safety net for those who don't know how to plan, didn't plan, or whose plans fell apart.

tnd · May 24, 2015

Are you waiting to hit a certain age or a certain dollar amount? I think we will retire between 65-70, depending on our health.

How much are you trying to save for retirement? We will likely need a few million dollars. Working on it!

What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game? Late to the game because we spent our 20s and early 30s in professional schools/training. But we are aggressively saving now.

What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan? I have never looked into it, but I'd like to avoid taking it until 70.

Will your house be paid off or do you plan to move to a smaller home or become a snowbird? Our house will be paid off about 10 years before we retire. I could see us downsizing when the kids are out (we have 3 kids, ranging from 10 to 6 months).

What do you worry the most about when it comes to retirement? Getting sick and not being able to work as long as we plan to.

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster? We are maxing out our retirement savings, but not doing anything else because we are also saving for college for 3 kids.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? (fully retire or work part time for extra cash etc). We'd like to travel a lot, but I think we might work part time on things that interest us.

tvguy · May 24, 2015

supersnoop said:
That's kind of the whole point of Social Security. It's a safety net for those who don't know how to plan, didn't plan, or whose plans fell apart.

You made my point. It was designed to be a helping hand, but many like you view it as a safety net. It was never intended to "catch" you entirely financially.

tvguy · May 24, 2015

eliza61 said:
how do you figure that? My dh paid into ss, I paid into social security. why shouldn't I be able to collect his benefits? You do get penalized if you take your social security benefits before full retirement, by quite a lot. Personally I'm pissed that I can't collect both his benefits and mine. we both paid into it and the system will get to keep his contributions simply because he died. so how exactly is that "unfunded"?
My children were not eligible for survivors benefits due to the fact they were over 18 when he died

Not sure how you can to the conclusion for the last sentence. now my experience pool is small, mainly friends and relatives and myself. I made great decisions most of the time, and whether I have 10K, 100K or 10 million when I retire I'm taking my ss.

just trying to figure out the correlation between taking widows benefit or early ss and being financially irresponsible. seems a bit hookey

My dad actually made more after he hit retirement age. He got a military pension, a NYC pension along with his social security (not sure when he started collecting). I have no problem with him being able to collect all three, he earned them.

I agree, everyone should get THEIR benefits. My point is a lot of benefits are being paid to people who did not pay a penny into the system.
You have touched on another issue the system faces. People are being allowed to retire early....and are living longer. According to the Urban Institute, over half the recipients will earn more in benefits than they paid in.

Alexle2007 · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
Without getting into the politics of why these changes were made, I think Social Security would be financial sound, despite the growing number of retirees, if the following, unfunded benefit changes had not been allowed to happen.
1) Allowing retirement benefits before full retirement age.
2) Allowing disability benefits before full retirement age
3) Allowing survivors benefits.
4) Allowing widows benefits.
5) Losing site of Social Security being a supplement to your retirement, not your entire retirement.

Having managed my mom's finances for the last year of her life, I will note that her Social Security benefits more than covered all her expenses. But she always lived within her means. Social security seems to reward those who did not make wise financial decisions in their 40 to 45 years of working.

Disability is funded through a totally separate trust fund than retirement benefits. In order to qualify for disability benefits (Title 2 benefits, Title 16 benefits are different), you have to had paid so many quarters into it.

eliza61 · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
I agree, everyone should get THEIR benefits. My point is a lot of benefits are being paid to people who did not pay a penny into the system.
You have touched on another issue the system faces. People are being allowed to retire early....and are living longer. According to the Urban Institute, over half the recipients will earn more in benefits than they paid in.

Very true but how is that a "reward" for being irresponsible????
Are you saying people are living longer to collect Social security?? lol. I thought (and I could be wrong) that your ss was based on your salary or in the case of widows benefits the salary of the husband.
Who's collecting without someone working? yes, people live longer, that's the result of knowledge and science. in the 1800's children died from simple diseases weve eradicated.

The system isn't flawed, it was based on the knowledge of the day. in the 1930's there was 122 million folk in the US, gove or take a few. we're now at 300 million,
The system needs to be brought up to date but please stop with the " it's broken because people are financially irresponsible". Regardless of whether your rich or poor if you paid into it, you get to apply for your benefits.

I get a pension, if I live long enough I will also get more from my pension than I put in.

Are you saying that if I go out tomorrow and start spending like a drunken sailor, blow my savings that I now am should not get my social security because I was financially foolish??

tvguy · May 24, 2015

eliza61 said:
Very true but how is that a "reward" for being irresponsible????
Are you saying people are living longer to collect Social security?? lol. I thought (and I could be wrong) that your ss was based on your salary or in the case of widows benefits the salary of the husband.
Who's collecting without someone working? yes, people live longer, that's the result of knowledge and science. in the 1800's children died from simple diseases weve eradicated.

The system isn't flawed, it was based on the knowledge of the day. in the 1930's there was 122 million folk in the US, gove or take a few. we're now at 300 million,
The system needs to be brought up to date but please stop with the " it's broken because people are financially irresponsible". Regardless of whether your rich or poor if you paid into it, you get to apply for your benefits.

I get a pension, if I live long enough I will also get more from my pension than I put in.

Are you saying that if I go out tomorrow and start spending like a drunken sailor, blow my savings that I now am should not get my social security because I was financially foolish??

Just seen too many people complain about people having to live on Social Security. Lord, they had 40+ years to save. I collected a SS check for 10 years without ever having to pay in after my dad died. Yes, it was nice, but not sure it was what SS was envisioned to do.

Saimaeve · May 24, 2015

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?

We want to be a certain age range. Early to mid 60's.
How much are you trying to save for retirement?
No set amount yet. We're still ironing out some plans
What age did you start saving for retirement, where you an early planner or late to the game?

mid 20's
What age are you eligible for full Social Security and do you calculate SS in your retirement plan?

I think for 100% I have to be 67. Not counting on it though.

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

We don't own yet,

We've not felt comfortable enough buying while my husband is in the military. We would want a smaller home

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

Boredom. Is that weird? I would have a hard time not seeing people and doing something. I am a pretty big hermit now so that amy not be an issue. But it's my biggest worry about retirement

Are you doing anything special to save for retirement faster?

Husband is military we also have a 401k through my employer and retirement plans outside of our work.

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

travel. I'd be fine doing my current job part time (I can travel while I work)

supersnoop · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
You made my point. It was designed to be a helping hand, but many like you view it as a safety net. It was never intended to "catch" you entirely financially.

You and I disagree on history. Social Security was created because millions of people at retirement age had their entire savings wiped out during the great depression. The program was created to ensure that no American worker would be left indigent through no fault of their own.

eliza61 · May 24, 2015

tvguy said:
Just seen too many people complain about people having to live on Social Security. Lord, they had 40+ years to save. I collected a SS check for 10 years without ever having to pay in after my dad died. Yes, it was nice, but not sure it was what SS was envisioned to do.

I think a lot goes into that tvguy. for example both dh and I started working during a period when people didn't save for retirement. there was NO such thing as IRA's, 401k's and investing in stocks were not as easy as it is now. The first IRA came round the mid 70's, did you know people would live to 90 in 1975??? would you have forecasted that pension were going to be eradicated??? people didn't plan on living until they were 90 and my dh did not, he didn't even make it to 60. it's very hard to plan for what you can't envision. Now 1/2 way through our working years the rules changed.
So no, a seventy year old guy may not have had 40 years.

now I'm going to assume if you collected survivors benefits it was because you lost your dad while you were very young?? but if you think about it, it was designed at a time when mom's did not work, so it prevented a widow with young children from becoming destitute. BUT it was still based on someone's work record.

Without a doubt it as to be revamped but it is a simply not true that the system is failing because folks are somehow "gaming" the system or that we are all relying on it because we didn't save.

Lol, I think folks complain about the cost of stuff no matter what. 40 years ägo would you have believed some one if they said gas would be 3.00 bucks a gallon?? I remember my dad quit smoking when cigarettes rose to a dollar a pack. I can't believe that folks are paying close to 7.00 bucks!!!

Where are you in your retirement planning?

Buzz & Woody

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