Hi I am 53 from Texas. Want to retire SOON

T

Terryjm51

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Messages
164
Location
Texas
Hello all, first of all thank you so much for this site. I've been looking for others like me :).
Reading through these boards lots of experience at retirement.
Ok here's my situation looking for advice.
Want to leave at 55 to 57. Of course the longer I stay the better things get no doubt. Currently have right at 1m
My wife is 52 and is a school teacher her full retirement is at 59. We are debt free other than house which doubling up I should be done in 2-3 years. "Thank you Dave Ramsey".

I have spread sheet after spread sheet I am the nerd. Following Ramsey it has put us in touch with living in our means.

I have counseled with different retirement folks. I don't like giving someone 1% to manage. In my megacorp 401k I have the vanguard 2020. So I started my own account with vanguard I haven't really talked to them just yet on moving my lump sum pension and 401k over. I will need some help managing.
What do you all do ? Self manage your accounts ?
Thanks
Jack



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In addition to the bogleheads' site, I recommend the book "The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning". You can self-manage your investments just fine.
 
Welcome!

I self manage. I was nervous at first and put part of my money in a low(er) fee managed portfolio at Schwab - but didn't like seeing the fees for assets under management withdrawn every quarter. So I started reading... and reading some more. First I put the money not under management into a lazy portfolio... (3 funds, balance periodically). I started comparing the results... and mine was as good or better, before fees... and much better after fees. So I pulled the money out of the management and was 100% diy. I haven't regretted that at all. It's easy and takes about an hour a year (to rebalance.)

Some books that helped me learn:
bogleheads guide to retirement
millionaire teacher
four pillars of investing
 
Thank you for the much needed advice.


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I self manage. It is pretty easy once you have a plan and an AA decided. You could consider having Vanguard do a financial plan for you and once you have your program set you only need to get a checkup every few years.
 
I will add to the recommendations to use Vanguard. They are a low cost company, the fees at other fund companies add up over time. I manage my portfolio myself using Vanguard mutual funds and couldn't be happier.
 
Down loaded the bogle head book reading reading!!! Thanks. Vanguard will be my first call Monday morning


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Same age as you, also in Texas (Austin) and also fairly new here. Self managed. Definitely go to bogleheads. I also recommend the two books by William Bernstein, ...4 pilllars... And the intelligent asset allocator. I picked up used copies of both at Half Priced Books. Read up on Lazy portfolios on the web.




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Another vote for self manage at Vanguard.

You can take about 4% a year in retirement. Do you really want to give 1/4 of that to your adviser? Would they really earn that $10,000 a year? That is 100 hours of work at $100 an hour. It takes me about an hour a year to re-balance my portfolio. What do they do the other 99 hours, besides churn the account?
 
One more tip if you want to save even more...

check out the books from the library. :)

(I'm embracing my inner cheapskate.)
 
I never liked the idea of paying someone to manage my money. I'm about 10 years older than you, retired almost 3 years ago and never looked back.

I self manage.

Welcome from another Texan.
 
You can do the self-management, it just takes a bit of education and learning what portfolio you want that meets your risk tolerance and desires. Nobody is perfect and always makes the best decision, the key is to make the good or better decisions most of the time and avoid the bad decisions. Do this and your savings will keep you in happy retirement. Look at it this way, assuming advisor takes 1% and gets a 7% return, you can do 6% return and you still have the same money in the end. However, I think you can do better and match or exceed the 7% results with some good choices.

You will do fine, now is the time to learn and then enjoy the benefits of that education for many years.
 
Hi, Another Central Texan here. I retired at 52 and self-manage also. One thing that might be a factor (it was for me) is knowing your risk-tolerance. Going into retirement in '03 I was 70/30 equity/fixed. During the 2008 downturn it made me painfully aware of how much I could handle in terms of downside. I stayed the course mainly because I had set up a CD ladder that would take me to SS eligibility. I plan on re-balancing to 50/50 this year and move from a income based scheme to a "lazy" portfolio of index funds. I no longer enjoy the ups and downs of individual stocks. I have found that even some of the most "blue chip" steady stocks can have black swan events and they tend to be slow to come back.
Once you get the hang of retirement it is a blast. Also one last word of advice....start a regular exercise program and stick with it now that you have the time. It will change your life in a very positive way as you age.
Peace
 
One more question on Roth ?

If your combined income is over $185 k a yr you can not put into Roth right?
I am maxing 401 k plus another 12% in my retirement funds. Plus we are saving cash for a car and to pay off house early. How ever I would love to put into a Roth
I am trying to figure out conversion for Roth once I retire. I need to read more on the subject.
Thanks!!


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
What you might want to look into is making post-tax contributions to your 401k while you are working and then rolling your post-tax 401k balance into a Roth when you stop working as this allows you to effectively make Roth contributions with generous limits.

Another option might be a backdoor Roth if you don't have any tax-deferred IRAs. See Backdoor Roth IRA - Bogleheads
 
What you might want to look into is making post-tax contributions to your 401k while you are working and then rolling your post-tax 401k balance into a Roth when you stop working as this allows you to effectively make Roth contributions with generous limits.



Another option might be a backdoor Roth if you don't have any tax-deferred IRAs. See Backdoor Roth IRA - Bogleheads

I am not giong to lie this is confusing to me. I current contribute to a 401 maxed out plus the catch up contributions. Another 10% of my check to after tax money's ($1000 a month)
I called today trowe and vanguard to figure out what to do
Should I continue after tax money or move the 10% to either after tax Roth or 401k Roth if there is such a thing :confused:?


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Pb4. Thanks again I tell you all have more knowledge than some of these finance advisors out there. Vanguard gave me the same info


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