<p>
This is something that one of retirement books I was going through felt should be included in the equity/bond ratios - their recommendation was to look at the net present value of SS and any defined benefit plans you qualify for, lump this amount into the bond side of the assets and then rebalance to the appropriate ratio. Obviously this could greatly increase the equity allocation when compared to the traditional model, with its risk/reward.</p>
<p>Iâm experiencing retirement this week. Itâs hard to think about work next week. So I signed up for Jury duty again. Maybe I get caught in a good case and donât have to go to work for 2 weeks.
On other subject Iâm having a hard time spending money. I thought I would be able to pull the trigger and booked an ocean view hotel costs 4 times what I booked but I was unable to pull the trigger. I now understand when people who said they have been in saving mode and now they canât switch over and start spending. I never thought I have that problem but I guess when I donât have my kids with me I donât splurge as much. Anybody has this problem.
Anyway despite horrendous week in the stock market we are still planning to retire next year because we donât need to withdraw lots of money. Hopefully my second kid find an internship this summer. Then Iâm 100 % set. Right now Im only 95% ready.</p>
<p>^ Congratulations! </p>
<p>We are slowly getting more comfortable spending some money, particularly on travel, as we prefer to get about while we are still fairly agile and can eat what we like. We went on two fun trips this year and have one planned for April. It has been fun so far and we think we will continue to enjoy these little splurges. We had the option to go to TX later this month but have opted to just stay in HI as we feel we have traveled enough lately and will just be staying put for a while. We MAY go to DC in December for my work/volunteer position, but time will tell about that.</p>
<p>It is tough to adjust to spending more money on hotels than I am used to. I have mostly been staying at lodging under $100 (that D considers pretty basic), but are starting to up our standards slightly and willing to stay at places costing somewhat more. ;)</p>
<p>Youâll have a great time, Dr. GoogleâH & I are (even tho I continue to work part-time).</p>
<p>DrG - I hope you find a way to taper off of work and head into retirement soon. Crossing my fingers that google#2 finds an intership soon. It can happen⊠last fall DS had two summer offers last by Nov. (We made it a prereq for his spring semester abroad, and we were pleased and actually a bit shocked that he made it happen.) </p>
<p>Next month we will pay our last college bill. Then We Are Done with funding the education for our 2 kids. Phew 
</p>
<p>Himom, itâs already 4.5 stars hotel but I felt wasteful spending $800 a night. Iâve got a good price from Priceline for $200+ a night.
My husband has earned his retiree health insurance this week. Everything is bonus after this.</p>
<p>Colorado, kid#2 felt a little insecure because her lab mate last year already has an interview with Google, but she applied really early. Mine spent the summer abroad and did get her ball rolling until now. Iâm keeping my fingers crossed that she will get something this summer then I can plan for my 3-week vacation to Spain and Italy next year. Hopefully, this Ebola thing will be a thing in the past by the time Sep comes around.</p>
<p>Yes, I enjoy the reduced prices of Priceline and Hotwire and canât bring myself to pay $800+ for a hotel roomâwould rather eat at great places than stay in a pricier room. I guess everyone has to figure what they like best. Hope things work for your D. Our S had an internship with NASA that he really enjoyed. He was a bit sad that he was never picked up by private industry, other than our local electric company that did offer him an internship (he had hoped for Google or similar). It has worked out well anyway, since the job he ended up with for the feds allows him a good work life balance.</p>
<p>I think 2012 may not be a good year. My daughterâs friend graduated from Cornell Engineering/CS program and it took her 8-10 months before she found a job in California /SF time frame. She ended up working for a company that was started by a USC guy and working with one of my daughters freshman residence hall friend.</p>
<p>S graduated in 2010, which was also supposed to have been a bad year. Many, many of his classmates received no job offers to go with their engineering degrees, so S was just happy to have a few offers in hand to choose among. It has worked OK for him so far. D graduated in 2012/2013 and is still looking for a job in cinema, which is a tough field in the best of times. We are hoping she is able to find something or figure out her âPlan B.â</p>
<p>2010 - makes a lot of sense, nobody was hiring.</p>
<p>Oooh⊠not sure I want to hear about tough hiring economies. DS was sick for the campus job fair last week. </p>
<p>Ha⊠fun discussions. For us, the $200/night hotel rooms are splurge-mode choices. (Once we did spend more on 3i-generation beach house rental, but we mostly did our own cooking.) For $800, weâd wanna stay the week </p>
<p>Yes, I heard that Google sold a property where they planned to expand or at least put the expansion plan on ice in 2010. In many ways, we think S was lucky to end up with the option he did, where he has worked for 3 years so far. Private industry can have long hours, which would really be tough on a body!</p>
<p>Colorado, you can apply a lot online nowadays. The economy is a lot better today than 2010. I told D2 to get lots of interview practice at her career fair. I donât think Microsoft is hiring because the company just had a big layoff.</p>
<p>Himom, my suggestion is for D2 is to work for private for a while and then when she canât stand it anymore she can look for other work, non-private.</p>
<p>Yea, thst was what S wanted to do, but it has been very cozy for him to have his fed govt job and allowed him to grow his lucrative hobby. Life always has different plans for us than we envisioned!</p>
<p>Dr. G- I love Frommers- they have website that helps with feeling good about a pricey hotel room- I honestly have never spent more than 350 and that was in Italy. Insurance benefits is a big deal! congrats. Mine will come in one year 4 months. It has got to feel good.</p>
<p>Rocky, I never spent more than $350 per night except in UK. I will check out Frommers, thanks for the information.
Yes retiree insurance is the whole reason my husband has been working in the last few years. Iâm glad you will get yours soon in 4 months. </p>
<p>We have used Frommers for all our big travel. They really tell it like it is and only recommend one they check out frequently. You have to remember it is relative comparisons for the country and area. D used it for oversees wedding B and B and it was great.
Unfortunately it is one year and 4 months for insurance. 
but I have already asked off alot of time in the coming year. points unknown.</p>
<p>rocky - So glad you will get the insurance. Thatâs such a big factor. </p>
<p>The situation is far different for us for our âPlan Aâ due to work woes along the way⊠but also due to not having the originally-hoped-for annuity pensions with medical. Weâll be ok, but the pre-65 medical is a big deal, never even a consideration at our first retirement outlook planning 20 years ago. </p>
<p>Big reorganzation in my workplace put my job in doubt. Very relieved to be offered a position that works for me and our family. Four more years till retirement with health benefits. Really love my work and team and organization provides incredible benefits. So hope to enjoy these years.</p>
<p>We thought we might have to downsize house if job didnt materialize so weâve been decluttering like mad.
We have much to do if selling.
Great side effect, we can now enjoy our neat basement and closets!</p>