<p>^^That was me. I don’t understand many of the posts that have advanced investing techniques, and too many formulas. I could probably learn, but I’m too lazy. Plus…squirrel!</p>
<p>busdriver, I have a headache with these techniques too and I used to be finance/accounting major. I just want a rough idea but not down to the details. If anything, I rather control my expense than worrying about details.
BTW, I used to work with one guy and he told me he got up at 3:00 a.m everyday to work on the details of his retirement. Such a poor guy, I would roll over and sleep, forget about getting up that early, I don’t mind eat bean and toast when I retire if I run out of money. The always looked tired or should I say ready to retire.</p>
<p>Dstark, Forever is a very long time, so none of us are ready to go there, but they say it isn’t in the foreseeable future, which is a heck of a lot better than what they were saying 14 years ago. In the meantime, they are working on better treatments and better ways to reduce lung rejections, and other important advances. </p>
<p>It is interesting how popular this and caring for our elderly loved ones and bag a day threads have become. </p>
<p>Prudential was the ad with the ribbons, showing how long different amounts were projected to last. </p>
<p>To me, we can control a significant amount of our costs as we age by choices we make–low or high cost area for retirement, size of home, discretionary spending, etc. taking good care of ourselves and health can cut future med bills some too. </p>
<p>Himom, you must have the gene of longevity of a Japanese.
<a href=“World's Oldest Woman is 114: Here's Her Secret to Longevity”>World's Oldest Woman is 114: Here's Her Secret to Longevity;
<p>“Dstark, Forever is a very long time, so none of us are ready to go there, but they say it isn’t in the foreseeable future, which is a heck of a lot better than what they were saying 14 years ago. In the meantime, they are working on better treatments and better ways to reduce lung rejections, and other important advances.”</p>
<p>That is great.</p>
<p>Prudential… Thanks.</p>
<p>Cutting expenses helps. I agree. Good health helps.</p>
<p>Some day a medicare thread will be a sticky. :)</p>
<p>Yea, I can’t help having an ideopathic condition, but I can and do choose to be as healthy as possible in spite of it and continue to live my life on my terms, with great docs on my medical team, coaching me whenever needed. Have exceeded expectations and plan to continue doing so. </p>
<p>No Japanese genes, but my great uncle was an Econ prof and doubles tennis player thru his 90s. :)</p>
<p>“BTW, I used to work with one guy and he told me he got up at 3:00 a.m everyday to work on the details of his retirement. Such a poor guy, I would roll over and sleep, forget about getting up that early, I don’t mind eat bean and toast when I retire if I run out of money. The always looked tired or should I say ready to retire”</p>
<p>That is very sad. Sounds like his retirement was torturing him, maybe to the point where he wouldn’t even make it to that then! At 3:00am, you should be sleeping (or unfortunately in my case, working). It just wouldn’t be worth it to worry that much about retirement. I think about it quite often, but it doesn’t actually torture me. That’s why I like reading this thread, to get ideas and to consider things. The question of this thread really is a dilemma, how much do you need to retire, and when will you retire? Even with all the information and suggestions here, for me, it’s still a quandary.</p>
<p>Two months into a semi-retriement. The finances–the ebb and flow-- are taking time to adjust to.
Two paychecks a month for the last 12 years and so everything set up deliberately. Now have 4 pays a month so need to adjust. Am now the SS Queen for our friends. </p>
<p>I think getting use to H being around %50 more time a week has been a bigger adjestment that the $$.</p>
<p>
Ha! See, I’m not the only one:
:D</p>
<p>@Garland started a thread about schedules: <a href=“A day in the life of my (eventual) retirement - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1672097-a-day-in-the-life-of-my-eventual-retirement.html</a></p>
<p>It’s interesting.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, but there’s a utility issue. U(X money>0,Y>0 years until death) = log(X/Y); U(X<0,Y>0) = (-)infinity kind of thing. You’d rather spend too little than too much. And given the stochasticity in how long you’ll live and what money you’ll need to live that life, there’s a reason to be frugal when it’s possible. </p>
<p>Are there any great retirement websites along the lines of College Confidential? </p>
<p>@Tonyk, not really, at least that I’ve found. <a href=“Http://Www.bogleheads.org”>Http://Www.bogleheads.org</a> has a lot of great threads about investing for retirement, how to withdraw assets, SS optimization, etc. but not much about retirement itself. </p>
<p>There are some niche fora (early retirement, overseas retirement, hyper-frugal retirement). </p>
<p>Waking up at 3 am to plan my retirement… No thanks. I wake up that eatly only for 6 am flights to nice places. I’d rather work until I die while waking up no earlier than 6, preferably, 7. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ve read some of the blog of Mr. Money Mustache and there’s a forum there as well. </p>
<p>Morningstar.com has some great articles on retirement planning and they also have a forum where retirement is discussed. Here’s a recent good one <a href=“http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=657960”>http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=657960</a>
And here’s a list of retirement-themed articles: <a href=“http://www.morningstar.com/articles/topics/retirement-planning.aspx”>http://www.morningstar.com/articles/topics/retirement-planning.aspx</a>
Here’s their list of forums: <a href=“http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/default.aspx”>http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/default.aspx</a></p>
<p>For the newcomers, here is the chart on age to receive full benefits… you can draw earlier/less and later/more. As far as I can tell, Medicare starts at 65 for everybody (unless disability situation).</p>
<p><a href=“What Is Full Retirement Age?”>http://moneyover55.about.com/od/preretirementplanning/a/fullretirementage.htm</a><br>
If you were born in 1937 or earlier, Full Retirement Age is 65.
1938: 65 and 2 months
1939: 65 and 4 months
1940: 65 and 6 months
1941: 65 and 8 months
1942: 65 and 10 months
1943–1954: 66
1955: 66 and 2 months
1956: 66 and 4 months
1957: 66 and 6 months
1958: 66 and 8 months
1959: 66 and 10 months
If you were born in 1960 or later, Full Retirement Age is 67.</p>
<p>This Retirement Estimator is helpful - <a href=“http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/estimator.htm”>http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/estimator.htm</a></p>
<p>I just got a $60 a month pension COLA…first one in three years! </p>
<p>That brings up a good point. Long ago, I think that Social Security printouts listed projected “future dollar” payouts. But now I think they are all in current dollars … right? </p>
<p>That would be sweet if the projections are in current dollars.</p>
<p>Colorado_mom, you can predicted in future dollars to. I think the online one has that option.
dstark, I tried out the calculator that you provided the link and the number is 8. So Fidelity multiple factor works ok for me too.</p>