Age 56 and Still Close to Ready (Update from Aug 2017 Post)

[Travis Bickle]

On my pension, I looked at my lump sum decision as simply an opportunity to purchase an annuity at better than market rates and make a portion of our retirement income not dependent on investment returns so I chose the pension benefit over the lump sum. The pension makes 20% or so of our current spending... SS will cover another 50% or so.

I took a look at this, and my employer's annuity would be about $80/month higher than what I could get from Fidelity for an annuity. I bet dollars to donuts that Fidelity is probably who manages their annuity programs anyway.

I also ran this calculator: https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/lump-sum-or-payments

And it told me that with a 4.2% ROI and life expectancy of 85 it was pretty much the exact same.

Anyone else have a calculator or recommended way of evaluating lump sum vs. annuity?


In other "update" news, I am heavily leaning towards doing another year and firing at end of 2019 as long as the impact to my pension from the interest rate changes is not too bad. It just removes a lot more uncertainty and makes the decision a sounder one, including another year of college expenses in the rear view mirror. It also means barring a big market downswing after I go I probably won't have to work again unless I want to.

 

[pb4uski]

immediateannuities.com