No. As others mentioned, you must have earned income, such as a W2 from an employer. You can't add to a retirement account just because you have cash.
When you retired did you just let compounding to have your account go up
- Thread starter mebden
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No. As others mentioned, you must have earned income, such as a W2 from an employer. You can't add to a retirement account just because you have cash.
GhostofTomJoad
Recycles dryer sheets
Wife still works, so that makes it easy. What's the total in my account? Approx. $212k.
I handle monthly rent with SS and pension combined. She handles the other bills. We live rather well is an average apartment. It's expensive: island living. I take a SMALL chunk from the IRA and normally it grows back by the end of the year, or even better. She's the spender. I'm the saver. She makes sure I never reach the goal, which is one-quarter of a million dollars.We were not too far away at the end of 2021. Market's fallen since then.
I'm still adding, but not to the IRA. I put it in a regular taxable account. Taxes are not an issue for us. The taxable account is still only just about 12% of the total. I've been buying single stocks in there. The mutual funds in the IRA give me assurance, ballast and more safety.
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I view my "retirement portfolio" as all the money I have. Some of it - the part in a tIRA, 401k, 457, or 403b - has an embedded tax liability. But, in general, money is fungible. My goal in life is to have more of it next year than I have this year. That may be because my expenses are less than my pension and SS income or due to investment returns or both.
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rk911
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yes.
We started investing in mutual funds around 1972 in a taxable account. We added to it monthly and expanded our investment by adding new funds into the first account and also adding new accounts with different compsnies. Our strategy was invest-and-hold.
When traditional IRAs were introduced we each hopped on board, even though we were both covered by pension plans at work. We each contributed the maximum amount allowed by law to non-deductible tIRAs. We switched our IRA contributions from traditional to Roth when that program was introduced. IMO one of the few errors we made was not converting our tIRAs to Roth IRAs.
But, overall, our invest-and-hold strategy paid off handsomely. It took 17-yrs for our NW to break into 7-figures. 12-yrs later we doubled that. 3-yrs after that it increased by another 33%. We attribute that growth to several factors:
- Buy-and-hold: During the run up we sold shares only twice, both times for planned expenses.
- Timing: We were lucky in the sense that our decision to invest (and how we reached that decision is a story for another day) coincided with one of the longest, if not THE longest, bull market in history. No doubt.
- No debt. Simultaneous to investing we were shedding debt. Having no debt makes room in the budget for maximum investing. As I look back I regret not dumping debt faster. But, we've done well. Thanks to an inheritance we now have a NW in the mid 7-figures which is more than we can spend in whatever time we have left. The vast majority of our nest egg will be going to charity when we're both gone.
We're happy, still living well beneath our means, have a monthly positive cash flow, are relatively healthy, support many different charities and want for nothing.
mickeyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I retired 20 years ago @ age 58. I still add to my investment funds ( mostly MMF), but when I RMD I usually stash the money (less taxes) in TSM or TBM, depending on many factors.
Ditto I simply love this forum!
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Same here. On the one hand our retirement portfolio is the same as when I retired over 11 years ago, but if I add the value of the condo that we bought with a withdrawal from the portfolio and the cost of the garage that we added to our other property that increased its value, then I am substantially ahead.
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flyingaway
Full time employment: Posting here.
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I have read similar statements many times by many people:
Pension and social security cover my expenses and I add money to my retirement portfolio each year and it keeps growing.
My question is: What is the purpose of your retirement portfolio and when will you spend it?
Pension and social security cover my expenses and I add money to my retirement portfolio each year and it keeps growing.
My question is: What is the purpose of your retirement portfolio and when will you spend it?
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Is there some rule that you must spend it? If I need to spend it for something I want, I will. But I'm not spending money just for the sake of spending money.
Koolau
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As others have asked, what is it you are really trying to figure out?
I started with a given amount when I retired and I never added a penny to it. It grew on its own. It has grown to 50% more than when I retired 17 years ago. The "adding" came from growth and interest. During the 17 years, I have been taking from 1% to 5% every year from the original retirement stash of money.
I hope this helps.
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
It's not a 'simple question' to answer as you've given few details about what your age, assets, or expenses are currently. Lots of great knowledge here, but we need more to go on. For what it's worth, I retired in 2018 at age 62 No, I didn't contribute anymore to retirement savings, nor have I withdrawn a dime from the accounts since. I'm blessed with great cash savings, corporate pension, and now about to start SS benefit next month. Have always lived below my means. Your situation depends on that. Peace.
This, +1
athena53
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I retired 9 years ago and have been withdrawing about the same amount every year from investments- average annual is about 3.5%. Investments AFTER withdrawals have increased at about 2%/year. That number used to be much higher but, oh, well. Still the right direction.
I feel no urge to put money back in if I don't use it. There are always home improvements, the grandkids' 529s, charities, etc.
I feel no urge to put money back in if I don't use it. There are always home improvements, the grandkids' 529s, charities, etc.
TheWizard
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My portfolio money has shifted its location to a degree since I retired in 2013.
Back then, 98% of my financial assets were in my tax-deferred 403(b) retirement account, with just a modest amount in my Roth IRA retirement account. I had essentially zero money in a taxable investment account back then.
I did moderate Roth conversions each year from age 63 to 70, when I started SS. This was just a shifting of money between my two retirement accounts with some tax payments as well.
I worked part-time on two occasions back in my 60s and was able to CONTRIBUTE new money to my Roth retirement account those two years. Otherwise no earned income and no contributions.
I did start a taxable investment account (non-retirement) around 2016 rather than deal with a savings account. I had a modest amount of excess retirement income from pension/annuities+ spousal SS back then.
Once I started my own age 70 SS, I had much more excess retirement income each month which went into my non-retirement taxable account.
Presently, my account distribution is:
403(b) tax-deferred retirement account, 62%
Roth IRA retirement account, 22%
Taxable non-retirement account, 16%
Over the next decade, I foresee:
403(b) shrinking due to RMDs and small Roth conversions.
Roth IRA growing somewhat due to "compounding" and small Roth conversions.
Taxable account growing significantly due to excess retirement income contributions...
Back then, 98% of my financial assets were in my tax-deferred 403(b) retirement account, with just a modest amount in my Roth IRA retirement account. I had essentially zero money in a taxable investment account back then.
I did moderate Roth conversions each year from age 63 to 70, when I started SS. This was just a shifting of money between my two retirement accounts with some tax payments as well.
I worked part-time on two occasions back in my 60s and was able to CONTRIBUTE new money to my Roth retirement account those two years. Otherwise no earned income and no contributions.
I did start a taxable investment account (non-retirement) around 2016 rather than deal with a savings account. I had a modest amount of excess retirement income from pension/annuities+ spousal SS back then.
Once I started my own age 70 SS, I had much more excess retirement income each month which went into my non-retirement taxable account.
Presently, my account distribution is:
403(b) tax-deferred retirement account, 62%
Roth IRA retirement account, 22%
Taxable non-retirement account, 16%
Over the next decade, I foresee:
403(b) shrinking due to RMDs and small Roth conversions.
Roth IRA growing somewhat due to "compounding" and small Roth conversions.
Taxable account growing significantly due to excess retirement income contributions...
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pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Same here. Shift is a combination of withdrawals for living expenses and Roth conversions and paying taxes on th conversions. Interesting thing about the Roth conversions, even though I have been pretty aggressive... since retiring I've converted to the top of the 15%/12% bracket that totals almost 30% of my retirement date tax-deferred balance it has hardly made a dent... first world problem.
| Current | 1/1/2012 | Change | |
| Taxable | 10% | 44% | -34% |
| Tax-deferred | 54% | 53% | 1% |
| Tax-Free | 36% | 3% | 33% |
| 100% | 100% | 0% | |
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jollystomper
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Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Enough.
No.
Yes.
Simple question, simple answers...
'nuff said!
Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
My retirement was a work in progress over the course of a few years where I worked 1-2 days a week. I was technically retired at the beginning of the 1-2 day gig and the sum of my accounts (all my accounts are retirement) rose during these years. So the $ amount of the retirement accounts varied during this time period.
I wasn't concerned about how much - I was only concerned about when.
And I have added to my accounts since retiring, but no additions since 2019.
marko
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Inflation, catastrophic health issues and potential for higher taxes are thieves that can put pensions and SS at risk from covering all expense scenarios. What works now isn't a long term guarantee.
Most folks here have retired early and can have 30, 40 or even 50 year horizons...a lot can change. I think most of us here would rather die with $7 million than to be 87 years old and wondering how to pay for groceries.
There are hundreds of books written on how world class fortunes were lost. (Mostly through Charlie Mungers "3 Ls")
At some point however, I think it becomes a game; it has for me. "It's never enough" according to Rockefeller.
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