Good news from our financial planner over the weekend. We had some large gains after the stock market lows. These are investments we are using to pay off our mortgage over the next few years so we will take out a chunk and pay the tax and pay down the mortgage.
@showmom858 , can you sell some losing positions at the same time to eliminate the tax?
@shawbridge - our planner is trying to balance things out so that taxes will not be too large.
Hope his fee for this is not going to be too large either.
@BunsenBurner - our financial planner is a friend I have known since I was a teen. We feel that what he charges is more than worth the results we have gotten for many years with him.
Just an update from my earlier posts. With my wife retiring tomorrow at age 54, I just changed all of my 401 and 403 plans in TIAA-CREF into 100% Traditional, which has guaranteed 3% interest regardless of the market fluctuations. Since Iāve been retired since 2007, I donāt have all that much but enough to produce retirement income until my wife can start to tap into her more sizable retirement savings. The 403 portion of my accounts is 100% liquid, so I can withdraw whatever emergency funds I may need down the road. Itās going to take some getting used to with both of us being home 24/7 starting tomorrow.
Congrats to TiggerDad and wife. Hope you two can do what you enjoy!
Thanks! My wifeās passion is growing and painting flowers, and my passion is photography, primarily birds, wildlife and nature. I also have a DIY photography studio built in my basement, so thatās where I spend most of my time during winter and go outdoors in warmer seasons. We plan to travel based on our mutual interests. Even with both our kids in college, weāll be quite preoccupied!
Congratulations! (And now I donāt feel so bad about planning to retire at 59.5!).
I recall we discussed crypto currency a while agoā¦
^^^^^^
How strangeā¦If I were the cynical type, I mightā¦be cynical.
I have been thinking hard for some time about stepping off the hamster wheel that career has become for me. I am a partner in a fairly large public accounting firm. I have have been having some pretty good years financially. My wife and I have lived well below our means for the entirety of our married life of over 20 years. We are in our mid forties. I know that is young to āretireā. I donāt anticipate that I would never work again. Iām just burnt out on the type of work that I do I guess. Want to regroup and find something that makes me look forward to going to work.
Anyone have any advice or perspective to share? Anyone done anything like this?
Hereās a link to some threads on the subject in the Bogleheads forum. The issue comes up frequently there and thereās lots of very good advice offered. Hope this helps!
@LOUKYDAD , If you are not familiar with this already, I recommend you check out Mr Money Mustache (sic), and his online forum. He has created a whole industry around the concept of thrifty living and early retirement. I think people that love their work should keep working (if they want to), but many people who hate what they do and keep working because they are afraid of running out of money, or not being able to maintain lifestyle, or not being able to get health insurance - donāt realize what is possible.
Mr. Money Mustache might be a bit extreme, certainly is for me. Early retirement now is a great site to check out.
My DD who just got her Masters in Accounting said her professors who had been partners at their firms seemed like happy people - they had lots of money from their partner days, and were enjoying their time teaching and whatever else they were doing.
I used to work in a business that was high-energy, high stress, and lots of people used to muse that they might simply leave the big metro area for a more bucolic setting and become a CFO or Treasurer of a decent company and have a more manageable, happy life.
My boss and I used to reflect on this syndrome, and his view was that he watched carefully the people in the jobs that were coveted as being more humane. His conclusion was that they worked just as hard as he did, had as much stress, and the only difference was that they earned less money.
I understand the sentiment, and it might be possible to successfully execute what youāre thinking about, but it has its risks. Iāve always told my kids āDonāt fire yourselfā. Good luck. Be careful. Maybe youāre flush enough to make it work.
Mr. MM acknowledges that his lifestyle is extreme but offers it as a model for others who are interested in early financial freedom to follow at a level that works for them. You donāt need to build your home with your own two hands using your bike to haul supplies like Pete does to reach your retirement goals, but his extremism does point out where everyoneās money is going. He has his own āspendyā habits, but what he encourages is mindfulness of what our choices really cost us. Each reader then has to decide what to do with that knowledge. These principles worked for us (though we started when Mr. MM was in high school), and weāve passed them on to our son who is not even out of college yet and is well on his way to early retirement.
There are many advocates of various financial freedom plans. The best one is the one you can embrace and actually follow through on. And, of course, with ALL methods of wealth building, the key is to start as early as possible.
I will be starting a new job in a week. After having had retirement contributions go to Vanguard with the job Iāve had for nearly 20 years, my new employer gives a choice between TIAA CREF and Voya. Iāve heard more about TIAA CREF over the years. If anyone has any guidance on how to decide, please let me know.
Iām about 8 years away from retirement and will want a mix of some low- and higher-risk funds. Or perhaps a target-date retirement fund.
In the back of my mind Iāve always thought I wanted to have three basic things accomplished before I would think seriously about any big change or slowing down. The first was to be completely out of debt including the house. Was fortunate to get that one done about eight years ago. The second was to have a nest egg of a certain size. And the third is to have a separate fund that I can pull from to help DS18 and DD20 launch. Most of the way two and three have always looked like a long way off, but it has kind of snuck up and surprised me how close I am getting to hitting the numbers. Sometime in the next year or two at my current savings rate, if the market cooperates, the creeks donāt rise, etc.
Biggest asset is a being married to a great lady who went back to work a few years ago not because we needed the income but mainly so I could have choices. She is teaching in a public school. Year three for her and she seems content in it. Salary isnāt great but solid health plan and benefits. We would be in a position where a 4% withdrawal rate plus her income alone would be enough for us to maintain our current lifestyle. So it doesnāt seem scary high risk but Iām still struggling with the decision.
Maybe it isnāt quitting entirely that makes sense. Maybe just slowing down a little at a time? Hang onto skills so you can always work if you need to. Work out something with my partners. I donāt know, but Iāve always thought there has to be some point where you have enough put away where you can say I am not going to spend much time doing what I donāt enjoy doing.
Quote from a former boss - you eventually get to the point where you just donāt want to look at another spreadsheet.
Iām glad to run into Mr. MMās blogs, so thanks @NJres.
Since I was a young man in college, Iāve been heavily influenced by Buddhist philosophy (not as a religion), Gandhi, Thoreau, Emerson, etc. who all have emphasized and practiced living a simple life. So, given where Iām coming from, I find a kinship with Mr. MMās financial approach to managing a retired life. No, Iām not a proponent of living a spartan life style. As @ChoatieMom pointed out, itās up to each individual to adopt the principles that would work best for that individual.
Given my philosophical influences of the past, I donāt simply approach this topic (retirement budgeting) from a mere financial point of view but as a way of life, i.e., itās intentional that I do seek a meditative, frugal, efficient, simple life. With our disciplined life, weāve paid off our house mortgage long ago and we donāt have any debt to deal with and have diligently placed our earnings in retirement plans and long-term equity investments. We do plan on living our retirement years with around $30,000 annual budget. Of course, weāll have to see how this plan works out in actuality. In Mr. MMās blog article of May 2017, he spent the total of $22,000 in the year 2016 for all his expenses. I think thatās doable for someone whoās proclivity has already been leaning toward such a life style as myself. Iāll target $30,000 as a starting annual budget, however. 