Withdraw plans, Bernicke, Social Security????

[dm]

I'm down to the wire and still planning my July 1st escape. Ive run the various withdraw options through firecalc and I think I'll be ok. Budget wise I think we will be fine on 60k-65k which is about 33% of our current salary.

On a 4% withdrawl I get $69,000
If I add Social Security @ 62 I get $76,500
If I add Bernike plus Social Security I get $82,250.

In reality I'm sure we will withdraw what we need and if things start to get out of balance either splurge alittle or cut back.

To those who are already retired what have you found ?

[kat]

I found I need MUCH less.

Have a good time!

kate

[Bikerdude]

Originally Posted by dm

In reality I'm sure we will withdraw what we need and if things start to get out of balance either splurge alittle or cut back.

I think that's what most people do over the course of their retirement.

When you say 33% of your current income do you mean take home net pay or gross? Your take home will not change as much as your gross once you retire.

[runchman]

I'm not sure about that Bernicke deal - when I checked that box, it had my spending decreasing from something like 75k to 20k over a period of some years. Seemed to me like a bit of an extreme reduction, but what do I know.

- John

[dm]

Originally Posted by Bikerdude

I think that's what most people do over the course of their retirement.

When you say 33% of your current income do you mean take home net pay or gross? Your take home will not change as much as your gross once you retire.

Both numbers are gross. I ran turbo tax to get an idea on what the taxes would be at a lower amount. Of coarse taxes can always change, but hopefully I have some cushion. The 33% doesn't seem like much but the kids are finally out of school and we were paying their college cost, and we also paid off the house a few years ago.

My only worry is although we lived below our means we didn't have to worry about money. Now we probably are going to have to be alittle more carefull. No more new Porsche's.

But that golf handicap should come down.

[hogtied]

I personally don't want to reduce my withdrawals 2-3% starting at 56 and this is what happens when you check the Bernicke box. For me, that's too early to reduce spending. At 75 it may be alright!

[aggie]

I'm wondering if there is a Bernicke calculator anywhere that allows you to choose the age at which to start reducing spending. 55 seems too early to me, but maybe at 65. We're 55 now and don't see ourselves reducing spending next year. I think some of the Bernicke (although I've not read much about it) may depend on your average 55 year old having gotten the kids out of college, paid off the house, not feeding and clothing kids anymore, paying for kids cars, etc. That's not us at all. We expect to travel more and have more health care expenses including health insurance. Our work costs will decrease, but that's nothing compared to the health insurance. And our housing costs will go down as we are selling our home and will rent for a few years until we decide where to live. suspect we will eat out less and cook more, but who really knows until we live it.