Where to invest the money

[Lvus101]

My wife and I retired approximately 5 years ago at around the age of 56. My wife is slightly younger. By the time we retired we had paid off our home and actually had no debt after the first year of retirement.

We purchased an RV so as to be able to travel the country and visit other relatives.

Total combined retirement pensions are slightly over 20,000 dollars a month before taxes and medical insurance payments. After taxes and medical insurance we clear approximately 16k monthly. We typically move between 5000k to 8000k a month into our savings account. The rest we live off as we travel.

We have approximately 700,000k + in cash and 350k in a 457 account that earns us 4% yearly.
The question I have for you all is what to do with this cash and the monthly sum of between 5000k and 8000k.
While we have good pensions, we are always concerned with the stability in these retirement pensions. We are looking for a safe place to put this income and not our mattress.

Thanks for any and all thoughts and suggestions.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I think the standard response would be to start with a risk tolerance calculator like https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsInvQuestionnaire

Assuming you want to stick with conventional stock & bond assets, as opposed to real estate, or something else.

At first glance it looks like you're living way below your means. I would start with thinking about what you want to use the money for (or be able to use it for): long term health care, charitable giving later in life, charity upon death, inheritance to offspring, etc. that would set the timeline for when you need the funds (one of the key questions in the risk tolerance calculator).

 

[SevenUp]

Consider going through Getting started - Bogleheads and digesting the parts applicable to you. E.g., you can probably skip things like "paying down bad debt."

A couple of specific items, if you don't run across them while doing the above: Asset allocation and Three-fund portfolio.

You'll have to pick your own desired asset allocation, but one might guess it will be somewhere between 30/70 and 70/30 stocks/bonds. There is no "correct" choice beyond one you can maintain for many years without losing sleep.

 

[LOL!]

Perhaps for a real treat, you might ask your same question directly on the Bogleheads.org forum. You will get very personalized advice commensurate with the amount of details you wish to divulge. No details and the advice will not be very good. Lots of details, then the advice will be outstanding.

 

[RobbieB]

I'd put it in stocks and bonds, keep a quarter mill in cash for fun and RV repairs.

 

[kgtest]

Keep 2x annual expenses in cash, no more! And for me that is too aggressive but I think plenty for you. When will you need the cash for 2years of expenses? Medical bills trickle in, you own the home...you have your toy, and even then toys don't need to cost 100k.

The rest put into an asset allocation strategy at VG with X% Stock Y % Bond.

Likely the 403b account should/could be rolled over to VG. For the 100k cash portion, keep it in VG Money Market and just take monthly transfers/withdrawals to cover expenses.

 

[pb4uski]

It depends.

Do you want to grow the pile or preserve the pile?

What are the most likely ultimate uses of the money? Heirs? Charities? Other?

 

[yakers]

keep a quarter mill in cash for fun and RV repairs.

Wow, those are some big RV repairs