Recent content by ChicagoGal

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I retired! I have had zero regrets - don't miss the office at all. I'm still in touch with some folks from work and every time I talk to them, well, let's say I'm happy I am where I am! My financial activity was about what I anticipated. I put off...

Jackpot!! :clap: I practically begged to be put on the list, but it didn't work out that way. Congrats and ENJOY!!

Congrats to tmitchell and all of the rest of the newest retirees!! Enjoy :)

Congrats! It will be here before you know it. Start the celebrating now! :dance:

Totally get that. I worked in banking operations for 28 years. It wasn't proof of assets they were asking for - they had that with the statements I provided. It was proof that I was going to take a certain amount of income from those assets. And a confirmation of an automatic withdrawal wasn't...

I retired in April and juggled the same decision - lump sum or pension annuity. I took a couple of months to think about it, but just this week decided to take the lump sum. My concern about inflation eroding the purchasing power of the annuity over what could be a 40 year retirement outweighed...

The letter was very odd. Sidetrack here: They wanted a letter that said I intended to withdraw $6K/month from my brokerage account as a substitute for income. I didn't actually have to make the withdrawal, just say that I intended to (both my broker and I thought it was ridiculous, but worth a...

I'm so frustrated with Vanguard these days. Might be the end of the road for me. I opened my Vanguard accounts (brokerage and IRA) 10+ years ago. Transfer of assets into Vanguard was super easy. And I let them sit there relatively untouched ever since. All good. Fast forward to this year. I...

Nice! I've been out 5 months now and it's been pretty sweet.

Yes, I do them by myself and love it. Definitely possible, although I do delve into the hints now and again when I get stuck. I'm hoping to find other local folks who like this sort of thing, as I do think it might be fun with a small (2-4 ppl) group. Then again, I'm a little bit of a control...

Oh, and I've discovered a new hobby that I'm working on accommodating in my budget. My sister gave me a mystery game subscription for Christmas (deadboltmysterysociety.com, although I'm finding there are a ton of companies that so similar things) and I'm hooked! They're about $25/each, so if I...

Congrats! And as for that decision... good luck! I went back and forth so much that my decision ended up being to defer my decision :angel:

Congrats on making your decision!!

My budgeted travel is part of my regular expense/withdrawal plan. As a solo traveler, it's targeted at $20K/year. But since I just retired, it's actually hard for me to pull the trigger on spending it! (Don't worry ... I'll figure it out :) )

Like many here, I'm anticipating a changing WR. Just retired earlier this month. Plan is ~6% WR for the first 12 years (more travel, 7 years left on my mortgage), then down to about 3% after SS. A bad sequence of returns early on can shift that, as there is quite a lot of discretionary built...