LitGal
Full time employment: Posting here.
Hello, Everyone--
It's been fun (and VERY educational) to get acquainted with this on-line community. Along with books read and research done over the years, your first-hand experience has added to our confidence to "take the leap."
DH retired on disability last winter and I retired in June. We have enough monthly pension income to cover expenses, a paid-off house (from which we could comfortably down-size, but don't need to), plenty of savings, and our pre-residency contract paid for long-term care in a local continuing care retirement community. We have health insurance (including prescription coverage) through his former employer.
I am 59, and DH 63, but he is quite ill; in fact his SS Disability was approved with his first application. We want to enjoy life. While his ability to travel is limited, he and I are able to enjoy much volunteer work, visiting with family and friends, discussing our reading, etc. We moved to the midwest from the SF Bay Area in the '90s, which tripled not only our quality of life, but also the square footage of our house and our ability to save for ER. It all worked.
We live next to a 400 acre woods, so Emerson and Thoreau make for great reading any day, any season.
We have one grown son who is fairly independent.
So that's our background. But, back to the title. When anyone asks how we like retirement, the basic answer looks something like this:
. Yeah, DH might be sick, but life is heavenly with self-made schedules; sleeping in; staying up late to watch whatever we like; no need to schedule weekends of chores just to get ready to go back to work on Mon. No 50-60 hr. work weeks with nightly paperwork, computer work, and (for me) 33 years of grading essays. No more research papers to read!
So, here's our basic question (and I'll also ask it on the FIRE thread): has anyone had any experience with Fisher Investments? They keep contacting us, wanting to manage our rollover IRA's (from 401Ks). We've invested quite well on our own over the years, between Vanguard,T Rowe Price, and my husband managing his 401K options through his employer.
From what I can tell, Fisher would simply create for us a portfolio that they think is appropriate, but charge us 1.5% in fees annually, whether the acct. makes or loses $. Vanguard and T.Rowe Price have done the same, in theory, through the specific funds we have chosen from them.........but their fees are quite reasonable. Plus, funds are easy to track on their websites. If they decrease in value, at least we are only paying low fees to watch our $ drop a bit.
We spent years as "do-it-yourself"ers, selling our own house and cars, painting, doing home maintenance, etc. But, we are getting tired...........and, again, my husband is not well. (No, he doesn't have cancer or heart issues; it's a rare form of lung disease, though he never smoked).
Your input would be appreciated. Thanks!
It's been fun (and VERY educational) to get acquainted with this on-line community. Along with books read and research done over the years, your first-hand experience has added to our confidence to "take the leap."
DH retired on disability last winter and I retired in June. We have enough monthly pension income to cover expenses, a paid-off house (from which we could comfortably down-size, but don't need to), plenty of savings, and our pre-residency contract paid for long-term care in a local continuing care retirement community. We have health insurance (including prescription coverage) through his former employer.
I am 59, and DH 63, but he is quite ill; in fact his SS Disability was approved with his first application. We want to enjoy life. While his ability to travel is limited, he and I are able to enjoy much volunteer work, visiting with family and friends, discussing our reading, etc. We moved to the midwest from the SF Bay Area in the '90s, which tripled not only our quality of life, but also the square footage of our house and our ability to save for ER. It all worked.
We live next to a 400 acre woods, so Emerson and Thoreau make for great reading any day, any season.
We have one grown son who is fairly independent.
So that's our background. But, back to the title. When anyone asks how we like retirement, the basic answer looks something like this:
. Yeah, DH might be sick, but life is heavenly with self-made schedules; sleeping in; staying up late to watch whatever we like; no need to schedule weekends of chores just to get ready to go back to work on Mon. No 50-60 hr. work weeks with nightly paperwork, computer work, and (for me) 33 years of grading essays. No more research papers to read!So, here's our basic question (and I'll also ask it on the FIRE thread): has anyone had any experience with Fisher Investments? They keep contacting us, wanting to manage our rollover IRA's (from 401Ks). We've invested quite well on our own over the years, between Vanguard,T Rowe Price, and my husband managing his 401K options through his employer.
From what I can tell, Fisher would simply create for us a portfolio that they think is appropriate, but charge us 1.5% in fees annually, whether the acct. makes or loses $. Vanguard and T.Rowe Price have done the same, in theory, through the specific funds we have chosen from them.........but their fees are quite reasonable. Plus, funds are easy to track on their websites. If they decrease in value, at least we are only paying low fees to watch our $ drop a bit.
We spent years as "do-it-yourself"ers, selling our own house and cars, painting, doing home maintenance, etc. But, we are getting tired...........and, again, my husband is not well. (No, he doesn't have cancer or heart issues; it's a rare form of lung disease, though he never smoked).
Your input would be appreciated. Thanks!
