54 yo freelancer in Hollywood

[auburnin]

Hi! I'm 54 in November, a freelance location scout /mgr in Hollywood (commercials) and planning my retirement strategies. I need help making som decisions: I have a pension that will be worth 215k lump sum at age 60 or 227k at age 65. If I take the lump, I'll make $77/mo or $90 / mo after that at those 2 ages. If I don't, I'll get $1364 / mo at age 60 or $1605 at age 65.
I have a supplemental plan pension with that one that has a lump of $99,000. If I take it at any age it's the same. If I don't, I get $520 / mo at Age 60 and $578 at age 65. I have another pension that is still being contributed to until I retire. At present it has a lump sumworth $36k. If don't take the lump, I'll get $555 / mo at ate 62 or $700 / mo at age 65. Social Security will be on top of those pensions,and at present is worth $1569 at age 62, $2156 at age 66 and $2760 at age 70. My house is paid for and is worth about $500k, and I have about $960k in savings. At present about $500k of that is in long term muni bonds (individual bonds w/ 20+ year maturities) at suggestion of my broker, about $70k in stocks and the rest in a mix of preferreds, cash, cds. (My Roth IRA is in that total and is at about $104 k at present).
Do I take the early retirement pensions or wait? Do I take the early Soc Security or wait until age 70? Do I take the lump sums or not? My monthly nut is $4k which allows for no real extravagances but budgets for car replacement and house maintenance and eating out some. I am single w/ no kids and no prospects for having any, alas, but such is life. I'm interested in world travel (hostels, low cost style) and am scratching my head if a strategy for early retirement is realistic. Travel would add to my budget, naturally. Also, I'm interested in knowing if anybody likes the Ray Luccia "buckets of money " strategy and would that be good for me to consider?
Thanks. I'm new and haven't read anything in the forums but am about to start!

 

[Brett_Cameron]

I suggest you run FIRECalc after you have determined how much you need to live on. See link to the right. You can model your various scenarios and see what works best for you.

 

[westcoast]

I have a pension that will be worth 215k lump sum at age 60 or 227k at age 65. If I take the lump, I'll make $77/mo or $90 / mo after that at those 2 ages. If I don't, I'll get $1364 / mo at age 60 or $1605 at age 65.
I have a supplemental plan pension with that one that has a lump of $99,000. If I take it at any age it's the same. If I don't, I get $520 / mo at Age 60 and $578 at age 65. I have another pension that is still being contributed to until I retire. At present it has a lump sumworth $36k. If don't take the lump, I'll get $555 / mo at ate 62 or $700 / mo at age 65.

If you live to a ripe old age, you'll likely regret taking the lump sums. Compare with single premium annuities. To generate $1,364 per month at age 60, you'd need $409,200 at a 4% return - almost double what you'd receive as a lump sum. If the pension has COLA's, it's even more valuable.

 

[obgyn65]

I agree with this. You may wish to check annuity values here :

Immediate Annuities - Instant Annuity Quote Calculator.

Compare with single premium annuities. To generate $1,364 per month at age 60, you'd need $409,200 at a 4% return - almost double what you'd receive as a lump sum. If the pension has COLA's, it's even more valuable.