Anyone else here forced to retire and scared to death?

[pb4uski]

Exactly. But since he needs the money to live on and is over 59.5 just taking it out and spending it gets the MAGI where it needs to be IF he is in tax advantaged accounts which we don't know because he has been silent on that fact.

Agree that OP should clarify whether his savings are tax-deferred or taxable and that he needs to consider both rents and the cost of health insurance in deciding where to move to.

However, even if his money is taxable if he has had these investments for a long time he would likely have significant appreciation that he could gains trade to generate tax-free LTCG to get his income to the level that he needs to get some substantial ACA subsidies.

If the money is tax deferred then between distributions needed for living and Roth conversions (only up to no tax cost in his case I think) can be used.

Either way, it seems possible but unlikely that he can find a way to generate the necessary income to avoid the Medicaid gap and in 4 years he can go on Medicare.

 

[CountryGal]

Forced, It looks like you are on the right path and have great advice here. Keep moving forward!

Please don't beat yourself up. In my outplacement counseling from my "retirement" they offered the following emotional path people take after leaving their job:

Endings = Anger, Sadness, Depression, Denial, Bargaining, Resistance
Neutral Zone = Anxiety, Looking back, Scattered, Unclear goals, Push/pull, Acceptance
New Beginnings = Anticipation, Looking forward, Focused, Goal-oriented, Energized, Optimistic

Just know that some of what you are feeling is normal and will change over time. Unfortunately you will need to push hard to get to a steady state sooner, rather than later.

 

[Llep]

OK Thanks to Jim584672 I have an error correction that makes life a little easier for Forced. I have been carping on and on about 138% FPL and as Jim points out it should be 100% FPL which means Forced needs to show MAGI of about $11,770. If we count 2 months of SS for November and December of 2017 at 1250 x 2 = 2500 and 300k at 60/40 VTI BND in a taxable account at 6000ish, he would need to either earn (or as pb4uski points out have capital gains) of another 3200 to maximize his subsidy. All is moot if he has a 401k or IRA for then he has no problem. And his SS income alone should take care of him in 2018 and get him to Medicare. So not as potentially dreadful as I feared.

 

[ivinsfan]

OK, someone asked me to stopping complaining and make some changes to my attitude and DO SOMETHING about my situation. So here is my plan for today:

Go to every temp agency in the area and push hard for temp work to tide me over until I can move.

Do more research into how I can use my $300K in my Fidelity Account to pay for my expenses so it won't run out before I die.

Talk to a legal aide attorney about how I can break my lease without destroying my credit so I could not rent in the future.

Look into selling some of my stuff to get a cash infusion.

Look into cancelling my $800 a month COBRA health insurance and going on Obama Care with federal subsidy.

Drive down to suburban Richmond VA and check it out. I can live there and be within 100 miles of my friends and family in the DC area but live in a cheaper more low keyed town. I see nice apartments advertised there for under $800 a month. I will talk to them about how I can rent without a job but with assets. (Maybe pay a year ahead in rent?)

That's a great and is a week's worth of accomplishment, if you have done all this by Friday, pat yourself on the back.

 

[W2R]

So here is my plan for today:

Great plan!

Go to every temp agency in the area and push hard for temp work to tide me over until I can move.

This is a wonderful idea. It would be so helpful to get some temp work to tide you over until you can move. That would completely solve that problem for you, and also it would give you something to do with your time and I think it might be a lot more fun than looking at old people at the mall.

Drive down to suburban Richmond VA and check it out. I can live there and be within 100 miles of my friends and family in the DC area but live in a cheaper more low keyed town. I see nice apartments advertised there for under $800 a month.

That would be terrific - - you would still be close to your friends and family.

I am so glad to read a post from you that sounds less depressed and down in the dumps, and instead shows that you are attempting to take care of some of these problems and move on with your life. It may take a few months of effort to accomplish that, or more, but it will be worth it.

 

[CountryGal]

Also check out the following thread of new retirees and add your name to the list. Not of all of those on the list were planned.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/class-of-2016-a-56133-13.html#post1774904

 

[SumDay]

I'm so glad you're taking some positive steps to help yourself.

The dog walking is a great idea, but as a relatively new pet-parent, I can tell you that finding a pet sitter is a real hassle. All the good ones are always booked up. You could spend weekends/weeks in someone else's home while getting paid and you just have to feed Fido and let him out to do his business. Rover.com is a great place to advertise your services. Or have some flyers printed up. Get creative. This is extra cash and could be done on top of whatever part-time job you find.

 

[aida2003]

OK, someone asked me to stopping complaining and make some changes to my attitude and DO SOMETHING about my situation. So here is my plan for today:

Go to every temp agency in the area and push hard for temp work to tide me over until I can move.

Do more research into how I can use my $300K in my Fidelity Account to pay for my expenses so it won't run out before I die.

Talk to a legal aide attorney about how I can break my lease without destroying my credit so I could not rent in the future.

Look into selling some of my stuff to get a cash infusion.

Look into cancelling my $800 a month COBRA health insurance and going on Obama Care with federal subsidy.

Drive down to suburban Richmond VA and check it out. I can live there and be within 100 miles of my friends and family in the DC area but live in a cheaper more low keyed town. I see nice apartments advertised there for under $800 a month. I will talk to them about how I can rent without a job but with assets. (Maybe pay a year ahead in rent?)

Congrats!! The plan is written and now all you need to do is to execute it. I'd advise not to rush and do it in ONE day. Don't push yourself too much because you could get frustrated and revert to your 'old' self

Yes, you're curious to check the new cheaper place out, but first you need to find out if you could break this lease w/o damaging your financials. If you cannot get out of this place, then save time/energy looking for another apartment for now. Next step would be looking for a temp job: landscaping, Uber, handyman help if you have such skills, etc. Oh, and that health insurance is also not so great, research it. Are you in very good health? If so, you might be interested in researching alternative healthcare "insurance" (I don't exactly know if you can call it insurance per se). I've read on blogs that some families join them to save on the exorbitant ACA premiums/deductibles as they don't qualify for the subsidies. However, the big drawbacks are you must be quite healthy and has a $1M cost cap and I don't know if such 'alternatives' are offered in VA.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I agree with all the great advice on lowering your cost of living, especially housing. As a parent who has supported college kids, even in a high COL area, I think they lived pretty well on not lavish budgets. College towns are often set up to have lots of low cost housing, public transportation and other amenities for low income students which might work for seniors as well. To get an idea of how much an area costs to live, you can look up the cost of attendance at various schools, add in 3 months for summer and subtract out books and tuition costs.

On the income front - check out the Reddit forums for beer money and slave labor. There are lots of ways to make money online without having a real job. Some posters there make livable incomes (in a low COL area) just from odds and ends online tasks alone, and you'll have SS and your investments, too, for your main retirement income streams. Fatwallet finance and Slickdeals also have some good ideas. If you can just find 20 ways to make $50 a month, and there are many ways posted on those various forums to do that regularly, there's an extra $1K a month in income. Combined with lower expenses you would be in much better financial shape. Sometimes it is easier to find many small ways that add up to $1 -2K a month than it is to find a single job with many other applicants vying for the same position that pays the same amount. I do the odds and ends stuff just for hobby income and it is surprising how much it can add up to be without any actual job, boss, commute or set hours.

You have a great plan started. Good luck!

 

[imoldernu]

While I would not pretend to give advice, the change to retirement covers more than calculating how long the savings will last. My dear wife and I have been happily retired for 27 years, beginning with little more than what "Forced to Retire" stated in his opening post.

We spent a lot of time putting together our plans, and made ourselves open to changes in lifestyle, while always being aware that nothing would be set in stone.

This thread is a long read, but covers most of our retirement experience... the good, the bad, and what turned out to never be ugly.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/sharing-23-years-of-frugal-retirement-62251.html

 

[ESRwannabe]

I'm late to this post and haven't read all the replies yet.

Anyway, OP, I think you are in fine shape. You will have SS very soon and you have $300k nest egg. You don't have any family ties keeping you anywhere specifically. So obvious answer is to just move somewhere cheaper.

You can easily find small towns where you can buy a nice house for $70k or so and then SS should cover your living expenses. You'd still have $200k next egg which could generate at a minimum 3% per year ($6k). I don't think 5% is that outrageous either for 30 years. Firecalc might give it a 50% chance or something but you could also be dead in a week too... i.e. I would enjoy life day to day and not worry about it. Spending 5% for 30 years is not crazy dangerous as in reality you will know if it is sustainable or not way before it runs out.

Oh I will also add, that just a minimum wage part-time job can make a huge impact. I know you had trouble finding work in your area, but you have the whole world as an option to move to. Without a doubt there is somewhere you can move to where you can find a part-time $10 an hour job to bring in some extra money. I like the part-time golf course idea some mentioned. I think there are plenty of minimum wage jobs that would be fun.

Anyway, I am only 40 and I would feel completely comfortable switching to early semi-retirement if I had $500k investments + paid off house. I'd find some kind of part-time job as well.

 

[ESRwannabe]

Yes, I know the logical thing is to move out ASAP and go to a more inexpensive spot.

I am afraid that it will be impossible to move into a new apartment in another cheaper town where rent is not $2500 a month like it is in Alexandria/Fairfax County VA.

Every place I have ever rented went through a complete background investigation where they checked my credit, criminal and salary information. The rent could not be any more than 1/3 of my income. Because my unemployment benefits have run out I have no income now at all.

I have applied for hundreds of part time and full time jobs since losing my career job last year, and have got no where. They don't want old, white haired overweight men like me. The jobs now days seem to be set aside for young kids and immigrants.

Being retired for me is not as pleasant as the typical poster on this board to say the least!

You can easily find a cheaper place. I am living in an expensive apt for my city and pay $940 a month. If I bought a $120k house my mortgage would be about half my current rent. You have cash, so you can definitely get a mortgage. There actually descent houses in my city for only $70k or so. You could pay cash or get a ridiculously low mortgage.

Some good side jobs I personally know of: working at grocery store, doing taxes during tax season, working retail during christmas time, providing telephone support for home shopping network ($10 an hour, 100% from home), tutor college students in math (I made $20 an hour doing this in college a few hours every weekend. always had as many hours as I wanted to do it), buying stuff and selling it for a small profit on ebay, taking wedding pictures, selling stock photography, selling your art at arts and crafts shows, working as a janitor, working as night security, selling real estate. Anyway that's enough.

 

[highlow65]

OK, someone asked me to stopping complaining and make some changes to my attitude and DO SOMETHING about my situation. So here is my plan for today:

Go to every temp agency in the area and push hard for temp work to tide me over until I can move.

Do more research into how I can use my $300K in my Fidelity Account to pay for my expenses so it won't run out before I die.

Talk to a legal aide attorney about how I can break my lease without destroying my credit so I could not rent in the future.

Look into selling some of my stuff to get a cash infusion.

Look into cancelling my $800 a month COBRA health insurance and going on Obama Care with federal subsidy.

Drive down to suburban Richmond VA and check it out. I can live there and be within 100 miles of my friends and family in the DC area but live in a cheaper more low keyed town. I see nice apartments advertised there for under $800 a month. I will talk to them about how I can rent without a job but with assets. (Maybe pay a year ahead in rent?)

A great start, but don't forget diet and walking, having all the money in the world means nothing if you don't get healthy,Good luck

 

[VFK57]

Many countries have nice living standards for $2,000 per month including medical insurance: Philippines, Thailand, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Reddit has a Work Online forum that might be a good resource, too, if you can't find a local job. There are also quite a few mostly passive ways listed in some of the forums, so you can do many of them in addition to having a regular or online job, for some easy extra income.

 

[NW-Bound]

If I were single and without much money, I would get an RV and go camp out in the state parks of New Mexico. The annual permit is $180 for state residents, and $225 for non-residents. If you want electric hookup for AC or heating, it's extra, but only $4/day.

The drawback is that these state parks are in the countryside and outside of cities, and NM does not have that many cities to start out with, this solution works better for people who are recluse. Some RV'ers whose blogs I happen to find travel from north to south of the state of NM to follow the season, and be in comfortable weather year round. When they are tired of state parks, they go to the national forests or state forests.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

Congratulations, Forced, I'm so glad you are beginning to take charge of your new life! As others have said this plan sounds like several days worth of tasks, not just one. I would also prioritize the ones related to relocation and getting out of the lease. Richmond has some very nice areas. An Aunt lived there for several years and enjoyed both the rural and small city aspects of the area. One thing I would put a low priority on is the consult with Fidelity rep. i assume it is free so worth doing sometime but the likely outcome will be a push to buy an annuity. I'm not a big fan of those. Some on this forum are and you can search on the topic. But, not a decision to be made quickly, in any event, especially as your funds seem to be invested in an acceptable manner for the time being. best to get your expenses reduced, and then think about how you will manage your $300k.

 

[l8_apex]

Forced - Hope all is going well on your end. Please check back in here sometime and let us know how things progress.

 

[Forced to Retire]

Forced - Hope all is going well on your end. Please check back in here sometime and let us know how things progress.

Thanks for asking and caring. There has been an incredible number of replies and views of my posting. It shows that early retirement is not all smiles and joy for many. Or maybe the word fear got someone's attention.

An update on my situation.

I pushed the property management company again about letting me out of my lease and they again said ...NO! I thought I had six months on my lease, but instead it is eight months. My rent is about $2500.00 a month so I will be paying about $20,000 to pay off the lease. If I were to move to a place like Richmond I could move into a nice one bedroom for about $800 a month, so could have saved $13,600 in the next eight month and forward.

QUESTION: Do you think towns with an older population and less immigrants are more open to hiring people over 60 years old? (I have no proof but it seems like most of the part time jobs here go to immigrants or kids.

Until I can get away from my overpriced apartment, my life is on hold.

 

[Teacher Terry]

YOur life is not on hold unless you choose that. Do as many have suggested and rent an apartment where you want to live and can afford to and then give notice in writing to your landlord with no forwarding address. People walked away from mortgages with little consequences and what you are doing is much less then that. It won't be worth it to them to sue you. I have seen many people refuse to take action until they run through all their $ and are going to be homeless which is just stupid. Why some people can't face reality is something that I can not understand. I have been in some tough spots financially and never did I just wallow instead of taking action. You don't have to love something to take action. Once you have an apartment your credit rating won't matter.

 

[mystang52]

As a few other posters alluded to - or flat-out said - I think you're too concerned about your lease. To be frank, if I were in your shoes I'd:
1) Find another place to live, NOW.
2) When you have a firm start date for the new apartment, move out of your old apartment one day after then (e.g., new apartment rent begins October 1, move out of current apartment October 2nd).
3) Make sure your rent on the current apartment is paid through your departure date, and let them keep your security deposit.

I leave it to you whether to give them 2 weeks notice, but I wouldn't.

 

[samclem]

Thanks for asking and caring. There has been an incredible number of replies and views of my posting. It shows that early retirement is not all smiles and joy for many. Or maybe the word fear got someone's attention.

No, we pretty much pile on everybody like this!

I pushed the property management company again about letting me out of my lease and they again said ...NO! I thought I had six months on my lease, but instead it is eight months. My rent is about $2500.00 a month so I will be paying about $20,000 to pay off the lease. If I were to move to a place like Richmond I could move into a nice one bedroom for about $800 a month, so could have saved $13,600 in the next eight month and forward. . . .

Until I can get away from my overpriced apartment, my life is on hold.

In your shoes, I don't think I would let it rest with that. If you move out now, the management company gets to keep your deposit and pretty much nothing else. Sure, they can put a black mark on your credit report, but that does nothing to help them. Your idea to contact a legal services attorney might be worth it. At worst, just offer prop management company a few thousand dollars to let you out of the lease right now (you'll have to deal with a real decisionmaker, not the person who takes checks at the desk). And, as you noted elsewhere, you'll be going somewhere and won't have a job to put on your rental applications, so you'll probably be a "cash up front" payer anyway-- in these circumstances, would a ding on your credit rating really hurt you as much as the cost of staying in this high COL area?

 

[Hermit]

Thanks for asking and caring. There has been an incredible number of replies and views of my posting. It shows that early retirement is not all smiles and joy for many. Or maybe the word fear got someone's attention.

An update on my situation.

I pushed the property management company again about letting me out of my lease and they again said ...NO! I thought I had six months on my lease, but instead it is eight months. My rent is about $2500.00 a month so I will be paying about $20,000 to pay off the lease. If I were to move to a place like Richmond I could move into a nice one bedroom for about $800 a month, so could have saved $13,600 in the next eight month and forward.

QUESTION: Do you think towns with an older population and less immigrants are more open to hiring people over 60 years old? (I have no proof but it seems like most of the part time jobs here go to immigrants or kids.

Until I can get away from my overpriced apartment, my life is on hold.

Time to find a legal aid lawyer.

Here are some quotes from the local legal services pamphlet: "The Colorado Legal Services provides legal services to seniors (60+) and to those under 60 who meet income and asset guidelines." ... "CLS provides legal advice and representation to eligible persons in civil matters. Priority is given to legal matters involving physical safety, prevention of homelessness, and financial stability (i.e., protection orders, foreclosure, landlord-tenant, access to public benefits, protection of exempt income and assets)."

This organization is supported by the local county and city governments and the local bar associations and includes Pro Bono work as needed.

I am sure all the counties and cities around Washington, DC have similar organizations. I found the local one when I went to a "Senior Law Day" meeting. There was lots of good information at the Senior Law Day meeting.

 

[travelover]

Agree with the advice to rent a new place ASAP, move and let them keep security deposit. They have no real recourse and are, bluntly, being pricks.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[VFK57]

Do not worry to break the lease, in your circumstances it is necessary. It happens very frequently. If your landlord is not going to return your security deposit, you still save large amount by moving out to $800 rent. Yet you may try to threaten a lawsuit, if they keep your deposit while apartment is in good condition and nothing was damaged. Most likely they would not fight for the deposit, it will cost them more.