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View Poll Results: Cash on hand at beginning of ER?
Less than 6 months of living expenses (LE) 12 11.11%
Between 6 mos up to 1 year of LE 10 9.26%
Over 1 and up to 2 years of LE 23 21.30%
Over 2 and up to 3 years of LE 11 10.19%
Over 3 and up to 4 years of LE 16 14.81%
Over 4 and up to 5 years of LE 5 4.63%
Over 5 years of LE 31 28.70%
Voters: 108. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 11-29-2012, 05:05 PM   #21
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2 years expenses, which I replenish with 1 years expenses annually with dividends and gains.

I also have several years expenses worth of iBonds which serves as an additional emergency cash cushion.
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Old 12-02-2012, 04:39 AM   #22
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with 1 year 9 months to go before i pull the plug at 62 i just finished restructuring our plan.

as it stands right now we have about 3-4 years withdrawals in cash.

thats not total living expenses since we have a small pension ,real estate income , and my wifes ss check but not mine coming in as i may hold off..


our allocations are 100% various bond funds right now with some bond funds actually acting as slightly less aggressive equity funds. up 10% this year and generating about 3- 3-1/2% income.

that will stay as our model until rates p/u at which time different allocations will be made with more going back to equities.

since projections say we only need about 2%-2-1/2% or so from our nest egg we have the luxury of being a little less aggressive in our model
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Old 12-02-2012, 05:46 AM   #23
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We currently keep in cash & short term fixed income our current year budget, one additional year budget and enough additional cash to fund all commitments we have made (weddings, etc) and significant home repair.

When I retired our portfolio was >50% cash. Some was invested during '00, and the result was so encouraging I plowed the rest in '01, just in time to catch the very top and watch it lose 1/4 in no time flat. The good old days...
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Old 12-02-2012, 05:56 AM   #24
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you sound like as good a market timer as me.

i closed on my first rental property 10 days before the 1987 stock market crash . of course the co-op was in nyc . when the smoke cleared i was down 30% right out of the box as real estate plunged here for years to come.

of course today things bounced back beyond our wildest expectations and if i wasnt telling this story from time to time i wouldnt even have rembered it happened.
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Old 12-02-2012, 06:05 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan View Post
I had less than 2 years in living expenses, but I had private pensions that covered 70% of living expenses so the chances of needing that cash was, I hoped, quite small.
This is my case, too. "Living expenses" is one thing, and "cash needed for living expenses" is another.
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Old 12-02-2012, 01:20 PM   #26
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I haven't retired yet but don't see needing a lot of money sitting in cash. My SS and rental income should be fine month to month so I only need for car insurance, property taxes and wants from savings. I might keep a year or worth of taxes and insurance say 10K total or about 1/3 year LE plus maybe some money to fix up my house to sell. I will move someplace cheaper probably so cost might go down.
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Old 12-02-2012, 01:41 PM   #27
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I include a CD ladder as cash.
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Old 12-02-2012, 03:38 PM   #28
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Keep no cash. Sell (usually bonds these days) to eat.
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Old 12-02-2012, 03:59 PM   #29
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I do not recall the amount, so I guessed between 6-12 months. It's about 2 years worth of expenses now.
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