http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ An online community to exchange knowledge about FIRE (Financial Independence and Early Retirement), discussing all aspects of early retirement including planning, challenges, rewards, expense management, investment strategies, and more. Start planning your early retirement today! en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:07:43 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/images/early_r/misc/rss.jpg http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/social-security-retirement-calculator-47392-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:28:34 GMT Benefits Calculators: About the Social Security Retirement Estimator I recently received...]]> Benefits Calculators: About the Social Security Retirement Estimator
I recently received my Social Security Statement in the mail and it got me thinking about SS estimates. I remembered something about additional credits being added for certain years of military service, so I tried to find out if these were factored into the estimates I received. NO real joy there. It says it is OR will be done automatically when you apply for benefits. Sooo, anyways I run the calculator estimator and it comes back with different results from what my statement shows. Hmm.... +$33 at 62; +43 at 65; +$57 at 70... Could this be the elusive additional military credit OR just some kind of a COLA difference between my statement dated on 6 Nov and now. I know it isn't additional income, since I haven't earned any in the last 7 yrs. Anyone else use the estimator and get different results from their statements?

BTW: For those still working the estimator lets you run some additional scenarios of stopping work prior(after) to 62 and seeing the effects on benefits. Nice what ifs... ]]> FIRE and Money JustNtime http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/social-security-retirement-calculator-47392.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/the-stars-are-aligning-47391-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:33:44 GMT I don't have a count down meter like W2R did, but looks like things are falling in place for me to retire. The official date on paper will probably be 1/02/2010 but I have not signed on the dotted line yet. I am taking one week vacation this next week and two weeks vacation at the end of December. So I've basically got 3 weeks of actual time on the job to do. I have already started bringing home personal items and mentally retiring.

Megacorp as of yesterday informed me I could choose a private individual health plan (which I'll have to apply for) with their blessings. They will funnel some dollars to me to help with cost. Something that put the icing on the cake for me. Not full funding and no promise on number of years but the amount will not change unless they change the amount going to all retirees and current employees. So good news on that.

Once again I'm looking for help, advise and input on how to apply for (how much info to give etc.) and choose my family health plan.
Thanks,
Steve ]]> FIRE and Money Stevewc http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/the-stars-are-aligning-47391.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/if-you-volunteer-47390-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:57:28 GMT For those that do or have volunteered I would be interested in hearing what you do volunteer wise and what you enjoy or don't like about your particular opportunity.

I find I have too much time on my hands and thought it is probably time I used those hours in doing something different from what I am currently doing. I have been doing a bit of internet research and have found a couple of opportunities that might suit my personality. The first is as a volunteer tax preparer for United Way - as an accountant this would probably be a good fit for my skills. The second is as a food packer at the Food Bank (Freebird think you do something similar?).

I'm not going to pursue any opportunities with death or dying as I am not good emotionally in those areas, so anything hospital or hospice related is out. Most interesting volunteer opportunity I did find on Craigslist was someone wanted some zombie volunteers for a movie they were making. ]]> Other topics DangerMouse http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/if-you-volunteer-47390.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-did-you-do-while-the-board-was-down-47389-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:02:40 GMT It is a given I spend way too much time here. I was forced to find some other way to entertain myself yesterday so... Going through my deceased... It is a given I spend way too much time here. I was forced to find some other way to entertain myself yesterday so...

Going through my deceased FIL's old tools, I found an old Lufkin "Mezurall" tape measure. It's in great shape and I wondered how old it was, so I googled it and this was the first hit:

Popular Mechanics June 1951- Google Books

I spent a couple of hours sucked in going through the almost 300 pages (!) of the magazine. Closest thing to time travel I've ever done. The articles are priceless and some of the ads are amazing. ]]> Other topics REWahoo http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-did-you-do-while-the-board-was-down-47389.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/alabama-er-health-care-47388-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:57:52 GMT Morning Group,
Looks like I'm now shopping for family coverage so I can enter retirement at the end of the year.
I've always had coverage through megacorp so I'm a little lost doing the shopping for my self.
How do I determine if an Individual Blue plan (blue Cross) is the right way to go? Or one of the Health savings plans?
We are a family of 3, one being a kid in college. I'm 55 yrs and the wife a few years younger if that info helps.
I'm mostly looking at Blue Cross, they are big in my area and it is currently what I have with megacorp.
If this link works these are the plans I'm looking at now. The 750 plan has been recommended to me by BCBS agent.
UpDate: I am beginning to think megacorp may give me some help ($) with the cost (maybe 1/2) of the first year but no promises for years down the road.

https://www.ibcbsal.com/plans/iblue/...arison2009.pdf

You folks that have been through this please glance at these plans and give me input,
Thanks for help,
Steve

Heres a link for the HSP type: https://www.ibcbsal.com/plans/hsa/pdfs/comparison.pdf ]]> Health and Early Retirement Stevewc http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/alabama-er-health-care-47388.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/hulu-com-youtube-com-and-47387-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:09 GMT Can anyone suggest other video sites that are worth looking into other than Hulu.com and Youtube.com? I understand there are sites where you can see... Can anyone suggest other video sites that are worth looking into other than Hulu.com and Youtube.com? I understand there are sites where you can see movies and tv shows on the computer, but I have no idea what the internet site addresses are. Does anyone here know?:coolsmiley: ]]> Other topics Orchidflower http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/hulu-com-youtube-com-and-47387.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:28:20 GMT An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between... An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between the time it happened and the time we took the servers offline Thursday.

In an effort to minimize damage to the board we opted to shut everything down while we investigated the issue and formulated a game plan. Our team (server admins, programmers, and software vendors) coordinated and developed a plan to remove the malicious files and secure the servers. We believe that forum members should not have any system issues associated with this so long they didn't visit the malicious site AND install anything.

While the service interruption was unfortunate, it was important to us to make sure this issue was fully addressed before returning to business as usual. Protecting our community from this kind of intrusion is paramount and we'll post more info here as it becomes available. It's possible that we may need to continue tweak the forum setup and if so, we may have another service interruption.

We thank you for understanding :flowers: ]]> Forum Admin Janet H http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:39:01 GMT :frown: I received a malware warning upon entering the forum today. :frown:
I haven't received these warnings before, but I did find a trojan during a McAfee scan a couple days ago.
Anyone else receiving warnings OR malware from this forum? ???:frown:

I'll be doing another scan tonight... ]]> Forum Admin JustNtime http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/for-those-already-in-er-47383-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33:31 GMT ... what % of your net worth is invested in real estate? *And not*, real estate for investment. Real estate for personal use only (which would... ... what % of your net worth is invested in real estate? And not, real estate for investment. Real estate for personal use only (which would include "vacation/2nd homes" assuming not rented out for income). ]]> FIRE and Money LARS http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/for-those-already-in-er-47383.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/101-year-old-driver-buys-400-horsepower-camaro-47382-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:39:31 GMT truth is stranger than fiction...

A 101 year old driver bought a 400 HorsePower "Transformers" edition canary-yellow Camaro.

I'll bet he gets the girl too.

Driver, 101, digs new generation Camaro | detnews.com | The Detroit News

]]> Other topics MasterBlaster http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/101-year-old-driver-buys-400-horsepower-camaro-47382.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f52/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-47381-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:22:45 GMT The Senate finally has a bill. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’’. At 2074 pages it longer than the house bill, so it must be better. No... The Senate finally has a bill. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’’.
At 2074 pages it longer than the house bill, so it must be better. No summary yet, but one is sure to pop up soon. People with nothing better to do and trained in foreign languages can read the bill here http://www.democrats.senate.gov/refo...e-care-act.pdf ]]> FIRE Related Political Topics MichaelB http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f52/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-47381.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/heres-an-interesting-dilemma-advice-47380-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:14:30 GMT So I starting chatting with someone on a forum as we seemed to have some common interests, etc. We've exchanged some friendly emails over the last couple weeks but nothing particularly personal.

Since I have too much free time, I Googled their forum user name yesterday. It turns out that they post to multiple forums frequently and use the exact same username for each forum and list their hometown as well.

They've posted a lot of very personal information on various forums (2 Google pages worth) including financial sites and self-help type forums. Everything about them from their medical conditions, financial information, "secrets" about past abuse, you name it. In 10 minutes I had this whole persons life history including address, spouses information, location of extended family, the works!

None of all that is my business but the person seems genuinely nice (perhaps a bit too naive) but I wonder if I should somehow mention to them that their entire life story is available to the world because they post under the same username everywhere?

Or should I just keep quiet and let them continue this trend? I don't want them to think I'm some weirdo internet stalker having been able to find all that, but I'm sure it's not unusual for folks to Google other people? I'm willing to risk losing them as a friend to help them out, maybe they can still delete some information or something.

But the big lesson for all forum people is DO NOT use the same username on each forum you use unless you want people to be able to track you. Google sure must be helpful to the police and private detectives.

Advice? ]]> Other topics Trek http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/heres-an-interesting-dilemma-advice-47380.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/were-you-always-an-lbymer-47379-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:50:07 GMT I thought it might be interesting to see how many people here were always LBYM types (saving money from their first jobs, etc) and how many "got religion" later.

This isn't necessarily about when you set your sights on ER--I know I tended to "save up" for things I wanted and went with the least glitzy items that would serve my purposes long before I started worrying about SWR issues. ]]> Other topics samclem http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/were-you-always-an-lbymer-47379.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/flooding-at-jones-beach-11-16-2009-a-47378-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:24:12 GMT pretty amazing flooding at jones beach. what looks like a boat launch is actually the stairs to the beach Image:... pretty amazing flooding at jones beach. what looks like a boat launch is actually the stairs to the beach











]]> Other topics mathjak107 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/flooding-at-jones-beach-11-16-2009-a-47378.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/formula-to-convert-partially-colad-pension-to-equivalent-colad-amount-47377-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:18:35 GMT OK all you math gurus out there, I need your help. I am still trying to figure out my "Magic Number"—how much I need to have in my retirement account to leave my job with reasonable security. My pension has a quirk that makes it difficult for me to say how much of a shortfall my savings need to be able to make up. It's a defined benefit pension, with a fixed increase of 1.5% a year plus a guarantee that it will never go below 65% of the original purchasing power. Since inflation is almost always more than 1.5% a year, this isn't a fully COLA'd pension. If I live long enough (and I definitely intend to) it will almost certainly hit the 65% floor. OTOH, it isn't a fixed amount. Eventually the shrinkage of purchasing power will stop. By playing around with spreadsheets, I've found that, assuming constant 4% inflation, it takes about 23 years to hit the floor. I hope to retire before age 60 and am assuming I live to be 100, so 23 years is only about half of the time span the model needs to consider. This feature of the pension makes it tricky to figure out how much income my portfolio needs to produce. Even the financial planner I went to last year didn't have software that could model the pension accurately. The Monte Carlo simulations she did for me assumed the purchasing power of the pension would never stop shrinking, and IMO the "magic number" she calculated was grossly overestimated as a result.

It occurred to me a while ago that it might be possible to treat this pension in a way that made it equivalent to a fully COLA'd pension with a smaller benefit. Obviously, it could be considered a fully COLA'd pension for 65% of the starting benefit. But if I only spend 65% of the starting benefit, I could invest the remainder and at a SWR of say 3%*, generate a COLA'd stream of income from it also. The first year's income stream {1} would be 3% x 35%=1.225% of the original pension. If I did this for n years, until the pension had shrunk to 65% of its original buying power, I'd have what amounts to a COLA'd pension at 65% of the original benefit amount, plus a series of COLA'd income streams {1} through {n}. Put together, it would all add up to a fully COLA'd stream of income for (65+1.225+{2}+...+{n})% of the starting benefit amount. What I'd like to know is the formula, if there is one, to calculate what percentage of the original benefit all those income streams add up to. By playing with the spreadsheets some more, I found that with constant 4% inflation my partly COLA'd pension would be equivalent to a fully COLA'd pension up to age 100, for between 71 and 72 percent of the original amount. I haven't quite figured out how to make the spreadsheet tell me what happens when the inflation rate varies. I suspect that the equivalent amount will be strongly affected by the sequence of rates. My guess is that a few years of high inflation at the beginning of a scenario would have a drastic negative influence, just like a bear market during the first few years of withdrawals makes it more likely that the portfolio will be exhausted.

*I used a SWR of 3% rather than 4% because the amounts have to last longer than 30 years, and because it might not be possible to defer tax on all of the "remainders". ]]> FIRE and Money kyounge1956 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/formula-to-convert-partially-colad-pension-to-equivalent-colad-amount-47377.html