gettingthere
Recycles dryer sheets
Hi, All – I’ve been lurking for some time – I finally worked up the courage to post. I feel I have learned a lot from this forum over the last few years of and want to thank you all.
I just turned 54 and am hoping to have socked away enough to retire by age 58. I will have a small pension (non-COLA) from a previous job once I turn 65, and plan to start SS at 62. Other than that, income will have to come from my IRA, Roth IRA & 401K plans. My current employer does not provide a defined-benefit pension – I understand this is rare for companies to provide now.
I have been maxing-out my ROTH and 401K’s for a few years now, and putting away as much extra in non-tax-deferred plans as I can.
From what I have learned here so far, I understand I should plan on using non-tax-deferred funds in my first few years of retirement, and hold off on using any tax-deferred funds as long as possible.
I feel I have a pretty good handle on my expenses, except for that biggie - health care. My mortgage will be paid off by my planned retirement date. I think health-care probably then will be my greatest single expense. My employer currently allows retirees to continue health coverage under the employee group plan, but at full cost to the employee. I will probably plan on doing that unless some more affordable option comes up by the time I retire.
I think I will be able to reach my target as planned, as long as the market doesn’t tank.
I have my non-tax-deferred funds mostly in CD’s and a few individual stocks (the individual stocks are ESPP plans from current & a previous employer). My tax-deferred funds are allocated about 60/40 Stock/Bond mutual funds. I have 401k plans from two previous employers and my current job. I have been procrastinating on rolling over the old 401Ks to IRAs, but plan to do that in the next few months.
I am planning to work on setting up a ladder of CD’s and bonds to cover my first seven years of expenses after retirement, which will include selling the individual stocks over the next few years as the price is favorable.
I’ve also been researching places I might be willing to relocate to. I currently live in an area where housing and other costs are relatively high (New England). Moving to an area where housing and utilities are less would allow me to increase my nest-egg (from selling house, buying a cheaper place).
I’ve run FIRECALC on various scenarios and created several spreadsheets to explore my various options. I am grateful to have this forum to turn to for ideas and information. When I have a bad day at work (unfortunately these seem to be becoming more frequent lately) I seem to spend a lot of time here reading posts and wishing I had only started saving seriously sooner.
I just turned 54 and am hoping to have socked away enough to retire by age 58. I will have a small pension (non-COLA) from a previous job once I turn 65, and plan to start SS at 62. Other than that, income will have to come from my IRA, Roth IRA & 401K plans. My current employer does not provide a defined-benefit pension – I understand this is rare for companies to provide now.
I have been maxing-out my ROTH and 401K’s for a few years now, and putting away as much extra in non-tax-deferred plans as I can.
From what I have learned here so far, I understand I should plan on using non-tax-deferred funds in my first few years of retirement, and hold off on using any tax-deferred funds as long as possible.
I feel I have a pretty good handle on my expenses, except for that biggie - health care. My mortgage will be paid off by my planned retirement date. I think health-care probably then will be my greatest single expense. My employer currently allows retirees to continue health coverage under the employee group plan, but at full cost to the employee. I will probably plan on doing that unless some more affordable option comes up by the time I retire.
I think I will be able to reach my target as planned, as long as the market doesn’t tank.
I have my non-tax-deferred funds mostly in CD’s and a few individual stocks (the individual stocks are ESPP plans from current & a previous employer). My tax-deferred funds are allocated about 60/40 Stock/Bond mutual funds. I have 401k plans from two previous employers and my current job. I have been procrastinating on rolling over the old 401Ks to IRAs, but plan to do that in the next few months.
I am planning to work on setting up a ladder of CD’s and bonds to cover my first seven years of expenses after retirement, which will include selling the individual stocks over the next few years as the price is favorable.
I’ve also been researching places I might be willing to relocate to. I currently live in an area where housing and other costs are relatively high (New England). Moving to an area where housing and utilities are less would allow me to increase my nest-egg (from selling house, buying a cheaper place).
I’ve run FIRECALC on various scenarios and created several spreadsheets to explore my various options. I am grateful to have this forum to turn to for ideas and information. When I have a bad day at work (unfortunately these seem to be becoming more frequent lately) I seem to spend a lot of time here reading posts and wishing I had only started saving seriously sooner.
