Retirement questions

robin ardoin said:
Where is this $70,000 pickup of which you speak? There have been rumors of such still existing but the travel is difficult and the lands inhabited by unruly unicorns.
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I don't get it. My local dealer (sells nearly every make) shows 889 new pickups in stock at or under $70,000. If you remove the mid-size (Canyon/Colorado, Tacoma, Ridgeline, Maverick, etc.) they still have 720 in stock. The cheapest are Silverados with MSRP around $47K, but selling for about $8K under that. At the top end are some F150/250/350 models with stickers over $70K but listed for sale at or below that.

If you look at trucks from $70,001 and up, there are only 297. 9 of them are over $100K.

I just looked out of sheer curiosity. I don't buy new.
 
Matthew said:
The extended ACA subsidies are a good example of how once a government program gets put into place, it becomes permanent. Now that it's about to expire, and resets back to where it was in 2020 or so, there's a big panic and pressure for Congress to "do something". My guess: they'll say, "OK, we'll extend those benefits again, just this once!" and we'll be back to where we are now, with everyone's tax money paying for everyone else's lower ACA premiums.
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Looks like I guessed wrong: I expected Congress to kick it down the road by extending the subsidies again. But that doesn’t seem likely. So it appears the cliff is back.
 
robin ardoin said:
Oh, that's not a truck, that's a RAM. :rofl: I have always been a die hard F-150/250 guy but their product quality has been far outstripped by cost in the last half dozen years or so. I know several very pleased RAM owners, however.
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Bought a RAM 1500 limited back in 2019 (2020 model) because I use it both for hauling and for travelling, and the RAM has the rep for being the most comfortable truck (I had come from two Chevy trucks in the past). Still going strong. The only downside is that the stealership was absolutely the worst (they have subsequently got bought out by another larger dealer) and their service department was outright fraudulent. When I bought my truck the bed cover was back ordered. When it came in a couple of months later I drove over to get it. They asked if I wanted it installed. I had initially thought that this would be complementary since it was SUPPOSED to be on the truck when I bought it. No, they wanted $300 and four hours to install it. I told them to take a hike and that I'd just do it myself. The guy comes out with the box straining like it weighed 200 pounds or something. I picked it up and easily chucked it in the bed.

It bothered me as I'm driving home. I had chosen this cover because it was supposed to be easily removed (my previous Toyota truck had a fiberglass bed lid that was near impossible to remove single-handedly... I used big glass suction cups and my chain hoist). I pulled into a grocery store parking lot and broke open the box and read the instructions. I quickly had the cover installed. It took me longer to stomp the box flat so I could throw it in the bed under the new cover than it took to install it.
 
Pro tip for retiring before going on Medicare...

Let's say you're going to use ACA for insurance in between your retirement date and starting Medicare. Let' also assume your spouse is younger than you, or you're younger than your spouse, so one of you will will stay on an ACA plan after the other starts on Medicare. Be sure to buy the ACA plan with the YOUNGER of you as the primary insured.

I started Medicare in October; my wife will be on a marketplace plan until the middle of next year. I figured, OK, drop me from the plan and leave her on it. Nope! Can't do that. We had to cancel the plan we were both on, and get her her own insurance. So as of October 1, even though she has the exact same plan from the same company, her deductible and out-of-pocket max reset on 1 October. Whoopee, what great news. Naturally we had some significant expenses since then.

But hey, that's OK, at least starting next month we'll be paying double for her alone what we were paying for both of us in September. I'm going to enjoy her next birthday more than she will, I think.
 
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The fact that I retired long before I was Medicare eligible is a reason we had Margy continue to work her federal job until she hit minimum retirement age (56 for her). That way we could continue with access to any Federal group plan. I'd been on her insurance since Textron involuntarily retired me. COBRA would have been expensive (at least it was a reasonable plan). We'd have suffered greatly trying to procure insurance on the open market (ACA or not).
 
Shepherd said:
JMHO, and what I actually did.
I made myself totally debt free, then retired.
Everything is paid off, every month.
I sleep very well knowing I owe no one.
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Me too, Same approach and still debt free.
 
Shepherd said:
JMHO, and what I actually did.
I made myself totally debt free, then retired.
Everything is paid off, every month.
I sleep very well knowing I owe no one.
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I did that and haven't retired yet.

The only exception is a 3% mortgage where I'd rather keep the principal invested than pay it off. Only a couple of years left, anyway....
 
Matthew said:
My premiums will be >$1200/mo next year
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Well all those free breast exams, flu shots, and pre-exisiting conditions didn't magically become free because of the ACA, you're paying for them.

I am hoping for the day people FINALLY understand that when the gov't says 'free' it really means 'we tax you'.
 
pfarber said:
Well all those free breast exams, flu shots, and pre-exisiting conditions didn't magically become free because of the ACA, you're paying for them.

I am hoping for the day people FINALLY understand that when the gov't says 'free' it really means 'we tax you'.
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Most voters apparently think it translates as "we'll tax someone else".
 
pfarber said:
Well all those free breast exams, flu shots, and pre-exisiting conditions didn't magically become free because of the ACA, you're paying for them.

I am hoping for the day people FINALLY understand that when the gov't says 'free' it really means 'we tax you'.
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I’m reading “The Forgotten Man”. I probably shouldn’t, it’s not putting me in a good mood. It’s an explanation of how the stock market crash in 1929 resulted in a 10 year depression. So many things sound way too similar to our current nationalization of health insurance.

The Forgotten Man is a comment: Person X has a problem. Person A and B discuss the situation and come up with a solution. Person C is the forgotten man, the guy who has to pay for it.
 
StraightnLevel said:
The only exception is a 3% mortgage where I'd rather keep the principal invested than pay it off. Only a couple of years left, anyway....
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You'll find this is more popular than most think especially among those who retire early. So long as the math worked out for the specific scenario, some retired with higher mortgages as I did 11 years ago. However, that doesn't mean everyone keeps that mortgage until it matures and pay-off the balance when it fits into their post-retirement financial plans. For me, that will be in 18 months when I sign up for Medicare, SS, and restructure my retirement funds.
 
flyingron said:
The fact that I retired long before I was Medicare eligible is a reason we had Margy continue to work her federal job until she hit minimum retirement age (56 for her). That way we could continue with access to any Federal group plan. I'd been on her insurance since Textron involuntarily retired me. COBRA would have been expensive (at least it was a reasonable plan). We'd have suffered greatly trying to procure insurance on the open market (ACA or not).
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I got pushed out the door back in September. The company I had been working for went through the private equity spin cycle once again, and we weren't "making our numbers", so it was convenient for them to throw a few bodies out the door. I'd been there for 25 years.

At the time, all four of us were on my insurance. Our eldest daughter teaches a fifth grade at a private Christian school that didn't seem to think they needed to provide an insurance plan for their faculty, and our youngest was eight months into her first professional job, and had just become eligible for health insurance with them. Fortunately, my wife is still working full time, and we were able to jump to her employer's policy, thus avoiding being bitten by COBRA. For 2026, my wife and I will continue with her insurance. The older daughter's school has finally provided insurance for them, and the younger one is on her employer's plan.

When I got cut loose in September, they provided me with 20 weeks of severance pay. The last check will be in early January, I'll be 68 years and two months old. My wife will be 64 next week, and plans on staying in her current position until at least the end of 2026, at which time we'd both be eligible for Medicare. She's an RN, and they are in short supply, so we're very confident she'll be there through the end of the year. I'm thinking she won't stay full time into much of 2027, and I definitely will move to Medicare in 2027.
 
Sa
StraightnLevel said:
I did that and haven't retired yet.

The only exception is a 3% mortgage where I'd rather keep the principal invested than pay it off. Only a couple of years left, anyway....
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Same here, I will retire debt free with the exception of a 3.5% mortgage. The home has quite a bit of equity in it and we will likely buy/build a smaller single story home for our later years. My investment accounts have historically yielded over 6% annually so I will pay it off when I sell it and keep the money I would have used for principal reduction invested, earning more than the mortgage rate.
 
When I last refinanced the small mortgage on our N GA home a few years ago, it saved us a mere $86.74 a month. Knowing that small savings would be pretty insignificant in our financial situation, I decided to just invest that amount monthly when we make our smaller mortgage payment, deciding on a Fidelity Alternative Energy mutual fund. It took a few years to “pull ahead” of the closing costs incurred, but that position in the mutual fund is now over $11,000 and growing.

I’m just anal and disciplined enough to formulate and stick to such a plan over many, many years or decades. Wonder if anyone else has played such financial games. Long term, you can come out WAY ahead.
 
Bell206 said:
I found those who fully understand compound interest follow the same route especially when they tailor their financial plan to their specific requirements.
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A great plan to retire while just saving just pennies a day…

Take a chess board. Day 1 place a penny on square 1. Day 2 two pennies on square 2, Day 3 four pennies on square 3, then just keep modestly doubling the number of pennies on each successive square. Voila! Retirement financed in very short order!
 
FastEddieB said:
A great plan to retire while just saving just pennies a day…
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Exactly. The problem I’ve seen is a number of people don’t fully understand with compound interest you make the “big” money with last one or two rollovers. Regardless, the example that was drilled into my head years ago described how a 20 year old who saved $2000 per year for only 10 years ($20,000), will outperform a 30 year old who saved $2000 per year for 35 years ($70,000) simply because that extra 10 years of interest earnings results in an extra rollover of value.
 
using constant dollars can impact the math...
 
Bell206 said:
Exactly. The problem I’ve seen is a number of people don’t fully understand with compound interest you make the “big” money with last one or two rollovers. Regardless, the example that was drilled into my head years ago described how a 20 year old who saved $2000 per year for only 10 years ($20,000), will outperform a 30 year old who saved $2000 per year for 35 years ($70,000) simply because that extra 10 years of interest earnings results in an extra rollover of value.
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I started putting the limit into my IRA 30 years ago. At the time, that was $2K a year. About 18 years ago, I rolled it into a 401K and began contributing the 5% minimum to get my employer match. 6 years ago, I started maxing out my contribution, which was 15K plus 5K catch up.

The balance of that account just went over one million dollars. Compound interest is an amazing thing.
 
Hilarious and unexpected retirement investment story. 18 years ago, I did some consulting for a weird little silicon valley start up. They specialized in software for intelligence analysis and wanted insight on SOCOM, which I could help with.

They gave me and my business partner 3,000 stock options each. The years went by and they never went public, so we figured they had exaggerated their prospects. Finally they went public during a market peak and my partner sold his shares at 20 bucks a share. I ignored all the notices about converting the stock to sellable form, and wound up holding onto my shares by accident. Still got 'em.

That company is Palantir.
 
When I first started at LockMart (Martin Marietta at the time) back in 1984, I wasn't eligible for the 401k in my first year. I dropped $2k (max allowed) into an IRA and invested it in two mutual funds, then never touched it again. The next year I started in the 401k, which included employer matches, and increased my contribution over the years.

But that original $2k just rode in those mutual funds untouched. It's now worth over $100k. Since 1984, there have been all sorts of global calamaties (9/11, for example), there have been booms, recessions, bear markets, bull markets, new technologies, technolgy busts, wars and rumors of wars. But over the long haul, the money grew and grew.

An investor with a long view can do just fine by doing nothing more than regularly dropping money into an S&P 500 index fund and leaving it alone for 30 years. In the last decade before retirement, some diversification can smooth out the big dips and swings and still maintain good growth.
 
I am a self-made hundredaire. Unfortunately us hundredaires can’t ever retire.
 
Half Fast said:
But that original $2k just rode in those mutual funds untouched. It's now worth over $100k. Since 1984, there have been all sorts of global calamaties (9/11, for example), there have been booms, recessions, bear markets, bull markets, new technologies, technolgy busts, wars and rumors of wars. But over the long haul, the money grew and grew.

An investor with a long view can do just fine by doing nothing more than regularly dropping money into an S&P 500 index fund and leaving it alone for 30 years. In the last decade before retirement, some diversification can smooth out the big dips and swings and still maintain good growth.
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There was a young lady I met the other day lamenting "you boomers had it easy" (to be fair I made boomer status by the skin of my teeth at the end of that label) I wanted to explain to her all the economic ups and downs, all the jobs I had including working more than full time and flying in the reserves (along with 4 recalls to active duty) for a decade and taking advantage of of IRA, 403B, 401K and more living below our income level to make sure our nest was feathered and we could be done at 59 and retire happy but somehow I didn't figure she would listen. I suspect the tackle box of hardware in her face is a warning sign.
 
Pugs said:
and taking advantage of of IRA, 403B, 401K and more living below our income level to make sure our nest was feathered and we could be done at 59 and retire happy but somehow I didn't figure she would listen. I suspect the tackle box of hardware in her face is a warning sign.
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It really is that simple. Live below your means, save and invest (401k or similar), reserve bank loans for appreciating assets only, and plan to be debt free by your early 50's. If you can do that, you will have a nice nest in retirement.
 
eman1200 said:
What is considered ’nice’ and will one be able to fly planes with that nest?
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For us? Maintain same net income per month in retirement as when we were working.

Flying? Yeah, I haven't been flying much at all. I anticipated flying more, but then got bit hard by the bicycling bug. I'm riding right at 6000mi per year, and just love it. Second, my wife seems to get more risk averse with each passing year. She's now a nope on flying, and is starting to get to have a good bit of anxiety now with car travel, and I anticipate this to get worse. For better and for worse and all that.

So, I have a nice travel plane but no one to share it with, so I just haven't been flying much. I really need to fly some, and then, as my farmer grandpa used to say, **** or get off the pot. Tough decisions my friend.
 
eman1200 said:
What is considered ’nice’ and will one be able to fly planes with that nest?
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That depends. Do you have a "nice" life now? If so, a nice nest egg will sustain the same lifestyle sans employment for as long as your spouse or friends plan to let you live.

That part can be determined with a pretty straightforward analysis.

BUT....

The financial piece is only a part of it. For me, becoming more self-aware, understanding my own wants and how I derive happiness, was equally important. Do you have to go to Ruths Chris to enjoy a steak dinner, or would you be just as happy grilling steaks on your back patio with a few friends? Drill down to the real crux of what makes you smile, and you may find it can be achieved at a much lower price point than you think.

And there are people with very little money who are flying planes. Clubs, rentals, instructing, ferrying, a little mooching, etc.
 
Bill said:
So, I have a nice travel plane but no one to share it with, so I just haven't been flying much. I really need to fly some, and then, as my farmer grandpa used to say, **** or get off the pot. Tough decisions my friend.
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I like to travel. :)
 
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