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So, I took a deep breath and told my Megacorp boss that I want to downshift into a part-time position, basically spending the next few years running some low-stress projects and working with the company to shift some of my higher-profile projects to other places. My boss was surprisingly cool...

Didn't want to hijack watchman's thread, but the mention of tests just leading to more tests is starting to hit home. I've mentioned here my ER visit for the TIA that perhaps wasn't a TIA. Hospital did head MRI, chest x-ray, and head and neck CT angiogram. Then I had to go get an echocardiogram...

So, as I'm trying to figure out my strategy for pre-tax/Roth/maxed after-tax (for in-plan conversion), I see that Megacorp allows a 100% paycheck deduction for over-55 catch up contributions. Has anyone ever done this? I assume it's 100% after all other pre-tax contributions? But Medicare and...

We are finally getting a Health Savings Account option next year, with lower premiums (but higher deductibles). Up to now it's been a Health Fund that didn't allow for separate HSA contributions. Last year they added the option to do in-service Roth conversions (as well as adding a Roth 401k)...

As I finish up a two-week retreat in a part of the country I have spent many summers in, I am dreaming of being able to come out here for longer stretches of time once I am ER'ed. (and, given how wonderful these two weeks were, that might be coming sooner rather than later!) But the one...

Hi all, I know there are often questions (which I even asked here myself a few years ago in my former life) about stopping 401k contributions or just cutting down to the employer match level to help fund the "bridge" years before 59.5 in early retirement. This is kind of the opposite question...

Is this new? I don't remember hearing about it before, and I know folks have talked about wishing there was a way to have something like this set up for parents..... Act now to name a trusted contact Did you know that you now have the ability to add a trusted contact to your account? By naming...

This has been surprisingly difficult to find via Google, so I'm figuring someone here knows. And I'm not going to spend a couple hours on hold with SSA. DH died at 55. I am 51. Is there anything I need to do right now to declare myself with SSA, so to speak? I am intending to take my survivor...

Hey, all-- I have some questions about funding ER starting at 51 and specifically about good strategies for dealing with an inherited IRA. I am expecting to no longer work full-time after the end of this year. I have about $300k in a taxable account at Vanguard (VTSAX, VTIAX, and...

Hi, I've posted a few times in the past, as DH and I began plotting our future early retirement either this year or next year. Alas, fate doesn't always play fair, and last year DH was found to have an aggressive cancer, and recently passed away, before we could pull the FIRE trigger. (And to...

Hi-- I've recently received $250,000 from the sale of inherited land. I have had it in my mind for awhile now I would use $170,000 of that money to buy a house that's a part of the same estate. Not to rent out or anything, just to keep it in the family and to hopefully use it as a summer home...

Those of you out there who are already semi-retired or are planning on a semi-retirement in your 50s--what's your financial setup? I'm 49, married, no kids, I'm starting to think at least about cutting back at work sometime in the next couple of years. I feel pretty good about my 401k/IRA...

My Megacorp has followed the herd and announced recently that it is freezing the defined benefits pension at the end of this year. They are moving employees who were still in the DB plan to a Cash Balance plan (but new employees won't even get that). They are supposed to be sending us...

Hi all-- I have some financial decisions to make soon, and would be interested to hear various points of view. It's also not the sort of stuff easily discussed with "real-life" friends, as will become apparent. A parent just died, with a trust that bequeaths about a half-million dollars each...