I must be financially thick

[sengsational]

sengsational- already using my credit union account (checking up to $10K) that gets 2% with good debit card usage. No problem for me to hit the limit on using the debit card....more than 10 times.....hardly use money anymore. Several of those CD/corporates are getting well over 2% as it is.

Cool! My CU had me at 2%, then knotched down by 0.5% every few months. Finally had to bail on them when it went to 0.5%. Now I've got 50k at 1.5%. It's not much, but better than the alternative (Discover rewards).

 

[AndrewJackson]

Making yet another effort to become self-sufficient with the whole financial deal. Almost 2 years now in retirement (56 this summer, wife soon to be 53). Just getting tired of paying the Edward Jones fees...yet I like the hand holding. I have several of the recommended books (4 pillars, couple of Bogle books etc), but when all is said and done....just don't know enough to do it on my own. At this moment if I had to move the $365K out of EJones (and possibly the $420K in TSP) and into Vanguard, I would likely just stick it in either the Total Stock/Total Bond +/or Total International........or a Wellington/Wellesley combo....simple. But the steps on taking money out, taking money out to CD ladder, where to take the money from to ladder those few years of easy/cash money..... If nothing else, I understand the diversification theories well enough....and the concepts of rebalancing....but the other bits kill me. Just started reading the old FAQ section to pick up some more....but if someone could point me to a really really really simple....way way less than 150 pages book/articles....would be much appreciated. I can show you how to play Bach on mandolin.....at times I play close to scratch golf.... just plain thick with the investment world.

I am not sure where to point you to, but after working some in the financial world, I will say that only you have your best interests in mind. You can manage your money on your own and you honestly probably are underestimating yourself. A simple diversified conservative plan will beat out 95 % of investors. Find something that works and you are comfortable with (especially focusing on the simple part) and just execute the plan. Investing isn't hard, the financial world just wants everyone to believe that.

 

[obgyn65]

The OP has 365k + 420k, plus 1k / month in pension, 0.7k/momth from SS, no debt. A 230k house he could remortgage if needed. He does not seem to have an expensive lifestyle and could cut down his golf habits if need be. He could get an SPIA. Maybe his wife has a pension too. I was just trying to be positve and encourage the OP. I have seen better financial situations, and I have seen much worse also.

What is your definition of 'good', and how did you come to that conclusion?

 

[F4mandolin]

obgyn- yep, wife will get a pension, not much however....being from the UK she will get a little over $7,000 a year when she hits 66 (damn, they changed that one recently from 60)....and a very very small one of about $1500 a year at 60. Luckily the UK gives her credit for the years she raised her kids.

I need to give Vanguard a call today (and EJones) and check out the process. Wouldn't be surprised if I just chuck most the EJones stuff into the Wellington. Article today online in Bloomberg (I think?) about Wellesley.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by ERD50
What is your definition of 'good', and how did you come to that conclusion?

The OP has 365k + 420k, plus 1k / month in pension, 0.7k/momth from SS, no debt. A 230k house he could remortgage if needed. He does not seem to have an expensive lifestyle and could cut down his golf habits if need be. He could get an SPIA. Maybe his wife has a pension too. I was just trying to be positve and encourage the OP. I have seen better financial situations, and I have seen much worse also.

That strikes me as a very odd response.

Why 'encourage' someone with a success rate of ~84%-89%? How is that being 'positive'? I prefer reality to unfounded optimism.

Those ~84%-89% numbers were based on the OP saying he needed to WD $30K from that portfolio (he said pension & SS covered other expenses). I didn't follow the exact timing of the SS/pensions, and if the pension is COLA'd, so I took the $30K from a $785K portfolio (50/50 and 60/40) at face value, and ran that in FIRECALC.

I would say the OP & DW need to positively take a closer look at their ER plans. If they are comfortable with a historic 15% failure rate - well, then I guess they are 'OK'.

-ERD50

 

[Brat]

There are members of this forum who are experts on investing for retirement. Over the years many of us have lamented the lack of consumer education in this area but I did happen on an interview of Salman Kahn that discussed preparing financial education learning modules. Here is what I found today: Investment vehicles, insurance and retirement | Finance and capital markets | Khan Academy

 

[F4mandolin]

That strikes me as a very odd response.

Why 'encourage' someone with a success rate of ~84%-89%? How is that being 'positive'? I prefer reality to unfounded optimism.

Those ~84%-89% numbers were based on the OP saying he needed to WD $30K from that portfolio (he said pension & SS covered other expenses). I didn't follow the exact timing of the SS/pensions, and if the pension is COLA'd, so I took the $30K from a $785K portfolio (50/50 and 60/40) at face value, and ran that in FIRECALC.

I would say the OP & DW need to positively take a closer look at their ER plans. If they are comfortable with a historic 15% failure rate - well, then I guess they are 'OK'.

-ERD50

ERD- What settings are you using on Firecalc?.....every time I use it I end up at 100%....and that is without putting in assets like the house. Even without my wife's small pensions at 60+66 ($1500 + $7000 yr) I get a good result.

 

[obgyn65]

A patient of mine comes to see me. She is overweight. She needs to lose 100 pounds. I tell her she should pay attention to her weight. She comes to see me 6 months later, tells me proudly she lost 10 pounds. About 10 percent of what is needed. Well, I WILL tell her "good job, now keep doing what you have been doing". What is so "odd" about saying this?

If you prefer to use "reality", (i.e telling your patient "you are still morbidly obese") instead of encouraging using positive feedback ("good job!") and reinforcement, so be it.

That strikes me as a very odd response.

Why 'encourage' someone with a success rate of ~84%-89%? How is that being 'positive'? I prefer reality to unfounded optimism.

-ERD50

 

[Sparkie67]

I drink WAY too much beer/sodas/junk food...there goes a couple thousand.

I mean this in a caring way but....

I wouldn't be worrying too much about a 40 year timeline for your funds if this doesn't change.

Just sayin. No offence intended

 

[ERD50]

ERD- What settings are you using on Firecalc?.....every time I use it I end up at 100%....and that is without putting in assets like the house. Even without my wife's small pensions at 60+66 ($1500 + $7000 yr) I get a good result.

See the links I included in post #33.

Note that I 'normalized' the withdraws/portfolio of $30K/$785K to a % of $1,000,000 - that just makes it easy to translate WR to %. $38,300/$1,000,000 = 3.83%.

I focused on the portfolio - I didn't add your SS/pension, or the spending you say it offsets, so it should be a wash as far as portfolio survival. Partially, I didn't follow all the details of timing and COLA, and it still is valid if that $30K inflation adjusted needs to come from the portfolio. Maybe you are entering more pension/SS than the added spending you mentioned? I don't understand those details, so you would need to post that info concisely if you want an opinion that includes that data.

You can post the links as I did - on the results page:

Link to this set of data (Right-click and either "Copy Shortcut"
to paste into an email, for example, or "Add to Favorites")

A patient of mine comes to see me. She is overweight. She needs to lose 100 pounds. I tell her she should pay attention to her weight. She comes to see me 6 months later, tells me proudly she lost 10 pounds. About 10 percent of what is needed. Well, I WILL tell her "good job, now keep doing what you have been doing". What is so "odd" about saying this?

If you prefer to use "reality", (i.e telling your patient "you are still morbidly obese") instead of encouraging using positive feedback ("good job!") and reinforcement, so be it.

Two very different things, in my view. Both your patient and the OP have made progress towards their goal, and that's good and I encourage both. But that's is not what we are discussing here.

I don't think it would be helpful if you told your patient that all was good, she doesn't need to lose any more weight, let's just be happy with where she is (90# overweight)? And I don't think it would be helpful to the OP to tell him all is good, let's just be happy with what might be an 85% success rate, and let's pretend it's much higher, just to be 'positive'?

The OP has obviously done well to be this close. What many of us are saying is that he better take a closer look at those numbers - he may not have the confidence factor he is thinking he does (devil's in the details, but better safe than sorry).

-ERD50