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How will\do you fund your retirement?

jpr62902

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer
SUPER Site Supporter
Do you have a pension? IRA? Stocks? Bonds? Will you just rely on Social Security payments?

Or will you work yourself into a box?

I've been sockin $ away in a company sponsored IRA for quite some time and in more recent years, I started buying individual stocks with a focus on dividend payers automatically reinvesting the dividends. Some of these are in a Roth IRA. The plan is to retire somewhere between 60 and 62. I'll live off the company IRA for a few years, then start drawing Social Security and eventually, dividends from my stocks. If all goes well, the dividends will cover all my expenses so I won't have to worry about timing the market to sell stocks at the right price.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Some savings in various IRA accounts. Mostly savings put into real estate that spins off income. Occasional real estate 'flips' when a nice opportunity presents itself.

Taking any income from SS is more than a decade away from my age. I retired a few days after my 47th birthday and set up real estate as an income stream.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I been stealin out of the FF coffee funds when no one was looking .....


I started investing in stocks about 1990 . I had been given some bank shares of a new National Bank my father started after he retired . I used his broker which I am still with today . I played the stocks and did well . I loss some but made more . I also paid uncle sam huge bucks on those profits . Then I started buying low risk investments and never looked back . I forgot about em and let them grow . To this day it keeps building each year . Debt was never a option for me as that was not the way I was raised . You did not spend money you did not have . So to this day , everything I own is mine , No loans , no mortgages . I pay cash or I don't own it . I hold lots of real estate in my portfolio and also do private loans which is a great source of income if done correctly .
About 15 years ago I was asked if my portfolio could be used as a "case study" for new A.G. Edwards stock investments brokers as I kinda did things outside the box that most investors have done in the past .
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well at least you have a plan. You'll never know how important that is. My opinion is that it is less important what vehicle you use for your savings and investments and more important that you just save and invest.

My wife retired at 50 and I retired at 52. We lived on savings and my part time consulting until social security kicked in. In truth, SS doesn't make a major contribution to our living expenses but it's nice to have. It's better in my pocket than in the Governments.

It all really depends on what kind of life you want after retirement. For us, scraping by wasn't an option so we worked until we had enough total funds salted away to keep us in the style we were accustomed to and wished to maintain after we stopped working. That was our starting point, how much income we would require to enjoy our retirement, doing what we wanted to do allowing for the ups and downs of the market and inflation.

Now I don't want to start a war here, but these days the total net worth needed to have a very comfortable retirement without too much worry would be several million dollars.
 

jpr62902

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer
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Several million is a little high for some regions, IMHO. If you have 1.5 million throwing off dividends yielding 4%, that's $60,000/year AND at a reduced tax rate (if any tax at all). That's a pretty comfortable income for a debt free person living in the Midwest.
 

Leni

Active member
California is an expensive place to live.

I burned out at 62 and retired. Just couldn't take it any more. Being a government employee is not always the piece of cake it is thought to be.

I have my retirement, social security and the portfolio that I inherited from my parents. DH has social security and his retirement. My daughter lives with us and get minimum disability social security benefits. She costs us more than she gets but we are not about to place her when we can still care for her.

So far we are comfortable and living the way we did before retiring.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
JPR, I wouldn't argue with you. As I said, it all depends on what kind of retirement you want to have. Besides, "1.5 million" is getting pretty close to "several million", meaning more than one.

I think that the vast majority of people wouldn't have any problem at all living on $60K a year plus Social Security .... but how many of them are going to have that and be debt free when they retire?

You also have to consider that when you retire you will have, hopefully, a good 20 years ahead of you. At the end of that time your nestegg, if you are living on return from investments, will have about a quarter of the purchasing power it did when you retired. You don't just have to plan for the beginning of retirement but the end of it.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
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Several million is sure out of my realm of possibilities. That 60k a year sounds good till catastrophic medical bills come along. I am limited in what I can save but I have a hard time thinking I will have enough with inflation and health care costs. As long as health holds out I plan to work past 62 ....maybe to 65 or so. Then I would at least have put in all I could and hope for the best from there.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Several million is a little high for some regions, IMHO. If you have 1.5 million throwing off dividends yielding 4%, that's $60,000/year AND at a reduced tax rate (if any tax at all). That's a pretty comfortable income for a debt free person living in the Midwest.

I would generally agree that 1.5 million in savings can make for a pretty wonderful retirement, but I'd point out that for the $60,000 per year to work out well for most people it presumes their house is also paid for, which means that they may have about $2M in assets when the house is factored in.

Clearly area of the country makes a big difference on house values, living costs, etc. A $150,000 house in one area of the nation may be the equivalent of a $400,000 house somewhere else. A sprawling estate worth $750,000 in another area may only buy a 'fixer-upper' in NYC, Wash DC or San Fran.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Several million is a little high for some regions, IMHO. If you have 1.5 million throwing off dividends yielding 4%, that's $60,000/year AND at a reduced tax rate (if any tax at all). That's a pretty comfortable income for a debt free person living in the Midwest.

I think any broker worth his salt could get you higher than 4% right now .
I have picked up some in the 6% bracket a few months ago . That may have changed as I have not been paying much attention lately to stocks .
 

jpr62902

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer
SUPER Site Supporter
I think any broker worth his salt could get you higher than 4% right now .
I have picked up some in the 6% bracket a few months ago . That may have changed as I have not been paying much attention lately to stocks .

I could get better than 4% if I wanted to constantly trade in and out of the REIT or BDC du jour. But I don't. I'd rather buy the dividend payers when they're on sale and let triple compounding work its magic.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I could get better than 4% if I wanted to constantly trade in and out of the REIT or BDC du jour. But I don't. I'd rather buy the dividend payers when they're on sale and let triple compounding work its magic.

You're going to have a happy retirement. :clap::clap::clap:
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
This makes me think a bit... I have invested in stocks for the last 10 years, because I wasn't getting any where with mutal funds. Too many fee's.... My stock values are much better. More risk I suppose as well?

Besides S.S., I will have land to lease out for income as well. If I retire at say 65 I should easily get by. Not much debt to pay off either. The stock market is a bit top heavy as of now, and I expect a correction at some point. With the FED no longer injecting money into the economy, I wonder if the house of cards might fall after the elections are over. Nothing will happen before then IMHO...

Regards, Kirk
 
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