In a country of failed pension plans, unprecedented mortgage foreclosures, a trillion dollar in student debt, and a large percent of the population financially unprepared to retire, I'd rather be a conservative financial outlier like obgyn65 than broke with the mainstream.
Me too, but what makes me frustrated with Obgyn's posts is that he doesn't seem to fill in the whole picture for us. In any group, a person who is an outlier in any way will generate interest. I for one, am interested to learn more about Obgyn's approach, but he spends a lot of time telling us how conservative he is (which is fine)
without helping us understand how his plan will work for him.
I seem to remember him mentioning that he has a pension which I think is COLA'd. If that's the case, I'm curious as to how big a part of his plan it is. Could he manage w/o the pension? Is the COLA an essential part of his plan, or just the icing on top of the cake?
I can only speak for myself but as someone who is comfortable with the concept of risk and volatility in a portfolio containing equities, I would be interested to know a little more about the ER's here who have plans that appear to rely heavily on fixed income investments. Obgyn stands out because he beats the drum for conservatism without (IMO) adequately explaining how it will work for him. That's all I (we?) want to know.
No animosity, but I will admit to some annoyance at the controversy he generates here on a regular basis because of his apparent unwillingness to help us understand his approach. I think that's all any of us want.
Here's what I think I know about Obgyn's plan -
1) He invests heavily in muni's, bonds, CD's
2) He has a pension of some sort
3) He is happy to continue working in some capacity after ER, if necessary, to bolster his income
4) He is very frugal, which will help him live from a conservatively invested portfolio
I'm quite envious actually. I (almost) wish that I could generate the interest that Obgyn does here, and he seems to accomplish it without even trying
PS - my version of conservatism is a ~2.5% WR from a 60/35/5 portfolio. We all have our individual and personally crafted styles.
PPS - I do have an appreciation for the idea of very conservative investing. I think much of my frustration would be lessened were there as much in-depth discussion of it here as there is for the more popular approaches involving substantial positions in equities.