Poll:Which are you/will you be? SIRE or FIRE?

[Khan]

Have been living on a small federal pension since 1 Jan 2005. Pension decreases in '12 and assumes I will take SS. Haven't yet touched TSP or IRAs.

 

[W2R]

Have been living on a small federal pension since 1 Jan 2005. Pension decreases in '12 and assumes I will take SS. Haven't yet touched TSP or IRAs.

See, that's the difference between a small federal pension and an itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie federal pension. After deductions mine is projected to be maybe three hundred something per month, and as much as I respect your phenomenal LBYM capabilities I think that would be too small for you to live on. Mine will not decrease when I get SS, though. Soon I will find out for sure how itsy bitsy it really will be!

 

[megacorp-firee]

Technically SIRE, I have a megacorp pension. However, we could maintain RE on our 401k and taxable portfolio, if we had to. The luxuries would be slim to none, but we could do so (but not like it)
Voted SIRE

 

[Khan]

See, that's the difference between a small federal pension and an itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie federal pension. After deductions mine is projected to be maybe three hundred something per month, and as much as I respect your phenomenal LBYM capabilities I think that would be too small for you to live on. Mine will not decrease when I get SS, though. Soon I will find out for sure how itsy bitsy it really will be!

~$2100/month.
$300 is definitely teeny-weeny.

 

[73ss454]

I'm a FIRE guy and 18 months from my first SS check. I still can't believe that I'm going to get a check, if I live that long.

 

[youbet]

I'm a FIRE guy and 18 months from my first SS check. I still can't believe that I'm going to get a check, if I live that long.

My first SS check came late last month! It was a great feeling seeing that direct deposit right there in the ole checking account! I got all tingly and giddy and silly and ran right to the liquor cabinet and made myself a Manhatten. I tell ya, there's no money like the money your govt sends ya!

I voted FIRE. Had to do some calculating and assumptions about inflation since I'll collect modest non-cola MegaCorp pension sometime down the road. When I do, It plus SS will cover at least 50% of expenses for a while. But thanks to inflation, I'll be back to portfolio withdrawals covering more than 50% until I croak and stop withdrawing......

I agree with the comments that the number of SIRE folks is surprisingly small. Just based on reading threads, I'd think they'd make up the majority.

 

[REWahoo]

My first SS check came late last month! It was a great feeling seeing that direct deposit right there in the ole checking account! I got all tingly and giddy and silly and ran right to the liquor cabinet and made myself a Manhatten. I tell ya, there's no money like the money your govt sends ya!

It does feel a little strange having the govt send me money instead of the other way around. I'm sure you can get used to it - I did!

 

[hankster]

Non-COLA pension should cover the majority of our income needs initially with small portfolio withdrawals as needed until SS kicks in. We'll need to preserve as much of the nest egg as possible to offset the effects of inflation further down the road.

 

[grumpy]

SIRE here. I have COLA'd pension from Uncle Sam that equates to about 60% of my highest salary. DW has a small partial COLA'd pension and will get her first social security payment in February. All of that, combined cover all of our regular expenses. In addition we have very close to a 7 figure portfolio of stocks and mutual funds in both taxable and tax deferred accounts. This allows us to live a very comfortable life with virtually no money worries. We provide some ongoing financial assistance to our daughter who lives in NYC and earns only a very modest living working very hard at a job she loves. We intend to fully fund the cost of college for our grandchildren when we have some (son and daughter-in-law are working on this now).

We probably have lived more modestly than necessary and have gradually been allowing ourselves to spend more freely. The LBYM habit is hard to break.

 

[Shawn]

I'm about 60% FIRE and 40% SIRE, so I selected FIRE. However, I will live on my pension. I have no immediate or long-term plans to touch my investments. In fact, my partially COLA'ed pension will allow me to remain in an accumulation stage for sometime.

 

[Katsmeow]

People have been warning me all my life to not count on Social Security...so when planning for retirement it has never entered any calculations. When I hit 67, if I get anything at all it'll be gravy!

I guess that partly depends on your age. I kept hearing the same thing and so sort of didn't even think about SS and I was fairly despondent since it looked like DH and I would be working much longer than we wanted to in order to entirely fund our own retirement.

DH had sort of vaguely mentioned a couple of times that he would get a pension from work when he retired and I asked him how much when he didn't know. We looked it up a year or so ago and realized that if he took the lump sum (which for various reasons he probably would) at 65 that would be a little over $700k.

Then I started thinking about SS. DH is 62, I'm 55. How likely is it that neither one of us will collect SS? I just realized it was probably insane for me to assume that SS was going to be zero. Doing that was going to mean each of us working years more than we really want to do. I do assume that all of SS will be taxable but since then I've more or less assumed that we will collect SS which means that we can retire much earlier than I would have otherwise thought.

I do think that for someone younger making the assumption SS won't be there might be prudent but for those over, say, 50 assuming it won't be there may result in needlessly working extra years.

 

[traineeinvestor]

100% FIRE wannabe

I have no pension and what passes for SS in Hong Kong is means tested with the threshold set so low that I sincerely hope I am never eligible.

 

[Alan]

I should certainly start off SIRE'd next year with a megacorp pension covering 60% of expenses initially. Since it is non-COLA then over time the % covered by investments will increase.

I am very optimistic about SS since we are only 54.

 

[Maurice]

I don't really see the difference ...

Spoken like someone with a pension...

 

[DayDreaming]

FIRE right now, age 48 through 55 or 60, depending on when I choose to start collecting a pension, then SIRE after that.

 

[LoftyNotions]

100% SIRE on a non-cola'd megacorp pension. SS will be a nice bonus whenever we decide to take it, and investments will hopefully cover inflation and some toys in the future.

 

[Gumby]

I expect pensions will cover over half of our basic living expenses, but we could easily increase our spending (e.g. for travel and riotous living) so that a 4% withdrawal rate on our own assets would exceed half of our total spending. (I assume zero for SS)

 

[bbbamI]

FIRE for me. Even though we have a pension and will be able to collect ss, I never wanted to depend on them. As a matter of fact, I've never really depended on anything. Hmmm. Uh oh...I'm getting deep...gotta stop that...

 

[calmloki]

FI on me. the RE part is rapidly getting away unless it's Real Estate, which is how I've understood it anywhere other than this forum. Going on month two with a property manager and modest involvement on my part with the rentals. There's a chance I can pretend to be out of rental management just before my 60th. No pension, health care is out of our pockets, SS might feed the cats...

 

[audreyh1]

FIRE is still maintaining an almost 2 to 1 lead.

Pretty impressive!

Audrey

 

[Achiever51]

SIRE'd for now. Retired early in 2006 with a non-COLA pension from MegaCorp that covers more than 75% of monthly expenses. (DH is still employed and covers the rest.) Pension includes a temporary benefit that ceases at age 62, so I expect to apply for SS at that time. Not withdrawing any investments for now...

 

[CyclingInvestor]

FIRE, no pension / benefits. Living on IRA dividends via 72t withdrawals for 3 years now. If I ever see any SS it will just be gravy.

 

[Midpack]

FIRE is still maintaining an almost 2 to 1 lead.

Pretty impressive!

Audrey

I'm a little surprised, I thought it would be just the opposite based on earlier answers. I am guessing that while there are quite a few here with pensions and/or retiree health care, most have considerable private holdings as well.

 

[W2R]

I'm a little surprised, I thought it would be just the opposite based on earlier answers. I am guessing that while there are quite a few here with pensions and/or retiree health care, most have considerable private holdings as well.

We are living (or have lived through) a time that is thought to be a time of transition from pensions to 401K's. As 401K's take on more of the "load" of supporting retirees, pensions have often simultaneously decreased in size. Frank's megacorp pension will be about the same (tiny) size as mine, for example, and I think that a fairly common situation.

Also, with this being an Early Retirement forum, many here are planning to retire (or have retired) before SS eligibility kicks in. Many are assuming that they will not even get any SS.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm a little surprised, I thought it would be just the opposite based on earlier answers. I am guessing that while there are quite a few here with pensions and/or retiree health care, most have considerable private holdings as well.

That's what I am so impressed by. In spite of pensions/benefits, a lot of ERs and wannabe ERs have aggressively saved and invested as well.

That was a really good, specific poll question.

And like W2R said, since pensions started to really disappear in the 1980s, maybe it is not so surprising, especially since this is an "ER" forum.

Audrey