OT: Poll: Current State of Your Finances
- Thread starter jmc11201
- Start date
Re: retirement...doesn't it all depend on what you're looking for?
I'm a LONG ways away but I always figured spending part of the time here part of the time in another country (Mexico, Costa Rica, etc)...but if you want to live in a 55+ with million dollar homes (which I don't get) it's different I suppose.
I'm a LONG ways away but I always figured spending part of the time here part of the time in another country (Mexico, Costa Rica, etc)...but if you want to live in a 55+ with million dollar homes (which I don't get) it's different I suppose.
My retirement location will be based on my daughter and granddaughter. If they move to South Dakota I will retire to South Dakota
I will live a similar life to my parents. I attend everything my child and grandchildren have.
I will live a similar life to my parents. I attend everything my child and grandchildren have.
That’s why I married a younger wife in pharma. Seriously I can probably retire in 5 to 7 yrs. but won’t. I’ll probably just slow down to 2 or 3 days a week.Enough to keep busy but not overburden myself😀
Outliving my money. Retired 18 yrs ago with a nice but fixed pension, small 401k and moderate mortgage. Did ok for many years but recent inflation along with passage of time really starting to pinch. You can never have too much $$ when you retire: e.g. home repairs, new car(s), medical expenses or supplement insurance
I do think many homes have come close now but...how many people survived through the past 14 years without being foreclosed or having to sell at a loss.
My wife and I were lucky we had the finances to weather the storm of losing 600k in home value almost overnight in 2008. And were even stuck with a construction loan at 7% during all those years as well.
Hang in there. You’re still building equity. Put whatever you can into 401k or IRA. Things will get better over time.
Having the mortgage during retirement made the different. Your pension and social security doesn’t cover the expenses? I know people that are living solely on their social security but they don’t spend much and I think expenses will catch up to them with inflation In the later years. I suggest they get a PT job now when they can still work to preserve their capital.
Seems the best approach is to have no debt when you retire and have most of your costs be discretionary. You can't avoid food costs, energy costs, property taxes, and health costs, but most other things are pretty discretionary in nature (travel, clothes, etc.). A few stream of income (Social Security), some savings from your working years, and potentially a part time job, should allow most people to cover their unavoidable expenses and hopefully have something left for the things they enjoy.
One of the things that is very scary for a lot of people in their 50's- that is SS...will it still even be there for us?
Under the current calculator - If my wife and I retire at 66 and 4 months- I believe that is the current age- it will be almost $7k per month
That would comfortably cover almost all costs of living. Medical, food, car, (hopefully, no mortgage) but household expenses. And could allow for some nights out and not living like hermits.
This will allow for my savings to be 100% discretionary and also allow for us to leave a fairly substantial inheritance for my kids. OK- they may be close to retirement themselves by then but it is still always a good feeling for a parent to know they are leaving something.
But if SS goes away or major changes to the negative- I will be living by spending and that is always scary.
Under the current calculator - If my wife and I retire at 66 and 4 months- I believe that is the current age- it will be almost $7k per month
That would comfortably cover almost all costs of living. Medical, food, car, (hopefully, no mortgage) but household expenses. And could allow for some nights out and not living like hermits.
This will allow for my savings to be 100% discretionary and also allow for us to leave a fairly substantial inheritance for my kids. OK- they may be close to retirement themselves by then but it is still always a good feeling for a parent to know they are leaving something.
But if SS goes away or major changes to the negative- I will be living by spending and that is always scary.
Zero chance it would go to away entirely. As long as there are still payments made into the system you'll get something. HOWEVER, it could get cut down. Read somewhere, and I place little confidence in that it deals with 10-15 years down the road, that it could be a 1/3rd cut. And this may sound ghoulish, but I wonder it the Covid mortality (while putting more pressure on Medicare) bought Social Security an extra year or two.
SS not likely to go away but definitely in realm that it will be means tested. If you saved, and spent prudently, it could be reduced as the powers to be will say that you are ok without it (or more likely, with a reduced amount). It should be viewed as supplementary income. $7K/month is nice plus inflation adjusted and you paid into it over a long period of time. Couple that with any pension and 401K mandatory distributions will allow you to enjoy a nice retirement.
Wife and I are both 46 and the plan is to retire in 5 years when the youngest graduates college. My wife is "frugal" with a lot of stuff so we've lived way below our means.
If we retired tomorrow, we'd have a monthly income of equal or better what many "well off" people in NJ make without touching any principle assuming only about a 4% return. If we continue to work and save at our present rate for 5 more years, we'd have more each month than we could probably ever spend without touching principle. That's also assuming we use 100% of our 529's for education, which I don't see happening. We planned on 80k per year per kid.
House is paid off and the money is not included in retirement savings.
Zero personal debt.
During covid, when I was concerned about my business, I convinced my wife to get a teaching job, between her salary and healthcare savings it's over 6 figures a year.
I'm trying to sell her on the idea of not retiring in 5 years, her and I potentially both teaching, keep the insurance, combine the two teaching salaries and barely have to touch the retirement money while still having tons of time to travel.
Question for the teachers, I know at 10 years her pension would be basically nothing but can she continue to purchase insurance from the state if she wants to keep state plan?
If we retired tomorrow, we'd have a monthly income of equal or better what many "well off" people in NJ make without touching any principle assuming only about a 4% return. If we continue to work and save at our present rate for 5 more years, we'd have more each month than we could probably ever spend without touching principle. That's also assuming we use 100% of our 529's for education, which I don't see happening. We planned on 80k per year per kid.
House is paid off and the money is not included in retirement savings.
Zero personal debt.
During covid, when I was concerned about my business, I convinced my wife to get a teaching job, between her salary and healthcare savings it's over 6 figures a year.
I'm trying to sell her on the idea of not retiring in 5 years, her and I potentially both teaching, keep the insurance, combine the two teaching salaries and barely have to touch the retirement money while still having tons of time to travel.
Question for the teachers, I know at 10 years her pension would be basically nothing but can she continue to purchase insurance from the state if she wants to keep state plan?
Last edited:
once I left IBM years ago- I have not worked for any company that has a pension plan. So, it has basically always been up to me.
You are where I'd like to be. Except I'm 44 with a 2 year old. Good thing with having kids late is that you can save a bunch before they arrive, which helped us create some income streams that could almost cover our cost of living. Hopefully in a few more years we will be there. I anticipate working for a while longer than I need to, but maybe do something different. I like your plan though...have your wife keep working!
My mom was a teacher and did that after me and my brothers got through middle school. You are right...the pension stinks, but the health insurance is excellent. My mom recently passed away, so now my dad is getting alternative insurance, and every time he mentions it, he can't help but say what a great plan it was...basically paid for everything. It's a reason states like NJ are broke, but for those that can get the health plans, it is an excellent deal and worth a bunch.
Healthcare plan is not the same as it was
They also pay more for it while working than ever before
For example the plan offered by the IBEW is better and cheaper
yes, its not what it was, and it's "expensive" but compare it to what anyone running a small business has and it's amazing. I was paying 30k a year with 70% coverage, huge deductible, no prescription plan, and big copay.
Yes insurance for small business is terrible
I wish they would let businesses buy into the State plan
1% er checking in. I work my absolute ass off and always have. Love what I do. Love creating jobs and making people happy. My advice is keep setting goals, hit them and set new goals. You have one life and I don't want mine to be average.
Just as important as goals is to start saving yesterday. Don’t care how young you are or little you make.
Some good takes here. In our situation, there's really a few factors in play
Definities
1. Get out of NJ, born and raised here, but it's time for us to move on (I'd leave now, wife making us wait until magic 25/55 teacher formula, which I'll thank her for later)
2. Move to FL, preferably Tallahassee for all the aforementioned things (weather, cost of living, culture, FSU)
Wildcards
1. We only have 1 child, and want to be close to her. If she stays in NJ, that makes things more difficult. We want out, but wife might want to stay (downsize home), which in turn would impact type of place we could get in FL. Her staying in NJ is one thing, but if she goes to Idaho or North Dakota, although i like potato's and think the Fargo Dome looks badass on gamedays, we're not going there
2. Second home -as FL summers, especially 45 miles inland, are brutal, and if so, where (Carolina's, Delaware or New England all possibilies, again depends on price, where daughter is, etc.)
3. Wife very close w/her parents. I offered they live w/us in FL if something happens to one of them, but they're both not 80 yet and in relatively good health
From doing some research, it looks like the 2 biggest things in retirement are health insurance and lifestyle. I've been thinking about retirement since I was younger, and now that i'm a bit older thinking of all the free time to do what i want to do, when i want to do it, while having a passion (FSU and boosters) really motivates me.
I'd still like to work, doing a side hustle or 2 for some extra cash, and volunteer. But between exercise, church activities, volunteering, Booster activities, FSU sports events, etc. I honestly cannot wait until the day when it's time to leave the workforce permanently
Definities
1. Get out of NJ, born and raised here, but it's time for us to move on (I'd leave now, wife making us wait until magic 25/55 teacher formula, which I'll thank her for later)
2. Move to FL, preferably Tallahassee for all the aforementioned things (weather, cost of living, culture, FSU)
Wildcards
1. We only have 1 child, and want to be close to her. If she stays in NJ, that makes things more difficult. We want out, but wife might want to stay (downsize home), which in turn would impact type of place we could get in FL. Her staying in NJ is one thing, but if she goes to Idaho or North Dakota, although i like potato's and think the Fargo Dome looks badass on gamedays, we're not going there
2. Second home -as FL summers, especially 45 miles inland, are brutal, and if so, where (Carolina's, Delaware or New England all possibilies, again depends on price, where daughter is, etc.)
3. Wife very close w/her parents. I offered they live w/us in FL if something happens to one of them, but they're both not 80 yet and in relatively good health
From doing some research, it looks like the 2 biggest things in retirement are health insurance and lifestyle. I've been thinking about retirement since I was younger, and now that i'm a bit older thinking of all the free time to do what i want to do, when i want to do it, while having a passion (FSU and boosters) really motivates me.
I'd still like to work, doing a side hustle or 2 for some extra cash, and volunteer. But between exercise, church activities, volunteering, Booster activities, FSU sports events, etc. I honestly cannot wait until the day when it's time to leave the workforce permanently
Re. the second home, I'm curious to see what others think. For us, it'd be more weather and lifestyle related.
Advantages
Summers in FL hot, go up north (Carolina's, VA, Delaware of New England), get a modest size condo, get a small boat / wave runner, be near a downtown, etc.
Disadvantages
Tying up a lot of $, which could be useful elsewhere or collecting $$ in stock market, for a place we might be at 5 months a year
We could rent it out, but having multiple other people / strangers stay at a place i'll be at for 5 months a year honestly grosses me out. Buuuutttt...if the income for those 7 months pays the mortgage / taxes / utilities, etc.... it could be worth it.
All things to consider, and unless I hit Powerball, still a minimum of 10-15 years out from coming to fruition unfortunately
Advantages
Summers in FL hot, go up north (Carolina's, VA, Delaware of New England), get a modest size condo, get a small boat / wave runner, be near a downtown, etc.
Disadvantages
Tying up a lot of $, which could be useful elsewhere or collecting $$ in stock market, for a place we might be at 5 months a year
We could rent it out, but having multiple other people / strangers stay at a place i'll be at for 5 months a year honestly grosses me out. Buuuutttt...if the income for those 7 months pays the mortgage / taxes / utilities, etc.... it could be worth it.
All things to consider, and unless I hit Powerball, still a minimum of 10-15 years out from coming to fruition unfortunately
Tell me more about Tallahassee. My only need is to be close to a major college sports program so that obviously accomplishes it. I also thought the Tallahassee area was ghetto. Is this not the case?
This is what keep Arizona in the running for us. Plenty of affordable Houses in the mountains for summers. Also, if you aren’t in the sun, it’s really not that bad as opposed to the humidity which you can’t escape.
Climate wise I prefer Arizona for sure, as the humidity in FL is downright oppressive in the summer. AZ you get hot, but not as long and not nearly as sweaty. If not for sports and ability to go to beach, plus southern culture, I'd def look into AZ
We bought a second home about 5 years ago (lucky timing) that had real good bones and I fixed a lot of cosmetic stuff myself plus we upgraded the mechanical stuff. We could sell it at a nice profit but will likely keep it for a long time. We chose to buy a modest place and not rent it and fix things as we had the time/inclination. I thought of it as a little investment diversification at the time. We bought a lake place in The northeast (obviously more a summer than winter place) and added a boat and wave runner. I thought about Florida but ultimately the limited season (extreme heat) and distance were too much. (Family up here). If it was today I’d be nervous about Florida R/E prices. I am far from an expert and the worry is likely misplaced but probably would suffer sticker shock if I looked there now. We have no interest in dealing with renters which was another factor of course. I love AZ but too far.
Cons
- Airport is small and expensive - pain in ass to get to. Not a lot of flights and nothing direct from NJ
- Pricey for FL - Some is due to expenseive housing everywhere, but even before that it was a little high
- Ghetto / Redneck - It can get that way quick, but is being built up. Area near FSU / capitol is fine, 3-4 miles outside looks like a scene out of Deliverance in some places. I like the north side of town, lot of old southern money, stately looking neighborhoods, far enough away from FSU to not be around college kids but close enough for an easy drive
- Hot - as in gets super hot from May - September
Pros (might be biased due to my fandom)
- Airport being small and expensive big reason area hasn't blown up like S. Florida. Growing up in Hunterdon county, and living in rural Monmouth now, I like farmland and it's full of it down there
- Seasons - you get all 4 of them, albeit a much shorter / milder winter. It's not all sunshine and 85 degree weather
- Old southern charm - rolliing hills, weaping willow trees, sweet tea, nicest people, etc. - it's a very warm feeling being in the south
- Capitol - with the state capitol being there, as well as 3 universitiies, you have a lot of people working there, and a nice downtown (Red-Bank ish without the water). Theater, bball arena, some nice bars/restaruants, hotels etc and they're building it up
FSU - It's not a quineessential college town (State College, Gainesville, etc.) as it's not the only game in town, but it's a big part of who they are / what they're about. Boosters are a big part of the program, and they take it very seriously. Losing is not tolerated, period. The ability to watch football, basketball, baseball and softball roughly 50 times a year total (once a week average, although there's nothing in the summer, they get kind of bornig there) gives ample things to do if one is into that. Plus Boosters is always having events, dinners, meet and greets, etc. Being down there on a Friday night before a football game, with the pep rally, Booster bar, etc. is really a feeling I cannot describe and one that I can't wait to be a part of much more frequently
That's awesome! I like lakes more than the beach, as they're typically more scenic / peaceful with mountains, etc. - if I may ask, where did you buy your lake house?
Tallahassee 30% below the property level. Demographics 51% white, 35% blacks, 5% Hispanic and 5% Asians . Democrats city and county.
Atlanta might be better. My brother moved there a few years ago after living in Los Angeles for a few years due to the cost of living and he likes it. The wife hates the weather( heat) and is making them move back to NJ shortly. Been away from the family clan for 15 years.
Yep, money is definitely concentrated in certain areas. Gets dicey then "woodsy" in the south part of town, north is where most of the $$ is at.
I think of the route 22 cooridor as an example. Going east, starting in Clinton, it gets less country as you get to Somverville / Bound Brook, then picking up in Scotch Plains it's pretty decent / $$ until you get around exit ~52 (morephed from 22 to Rt 78 highway talk there)
There's clear lines of dilenation to where the $ is and where it's not, like on Rt 22. Vs. an area on say Long Island - you're in Hempstead, then you literally cross railroad tracks and bam!!.... you're in Garden City. No "buffer zone" if you will, simply a set of railroad tracks and it goes from not wealthy to stupid $$
Tallahassee has clear buffer zones. Students aren't living 15/20 minutes outside of campus in a nice neighborhood, nor is the poverty going there either (and being that most of that is south of town, it's more like 30-35 minutes away, e.g. Clinton to Newark timewise on Rt 78 before rush hour)
Lake wallenpaupack. We liked how close it is. There are more pristine choices further away but we liked the convenience and we’ve found it to be actually quite nice and very quiet in the winter.
My parents who are in their late 80’s are seeing several of their friends moving back from Florida. They need family help. A couple who can’t move back are having trouble.
It may not be everyone’s situation but family assistance is important as you age
Love that place, used to get Fireworks at Whistlestop store back in the up there
