Do I have enough?

[rodi]

I'm also on Kaiser and chose to downgrade from my employer provided super coverage to a high deductible plan. Even with hitting the deductible 2 years in a row (darn kids) it is cheaper than paying for a platinum Kaiser plan. I'm a big fan of their coverage and services.

 

[CindyBlue]

I have always been a fan of Kaiser, too, but holy cow, the yearly maximum costs have gone way up. Now, on the Deductable Bronze plan, I would have to pay over $13,000 before I get to the max out of pocket. That seems like a lot when I'm already having to pay $690 a month for the plan!!!

 

[KB]

I also have Kaiser, but I have a Bronze HMO plan and pay $684 a month at age 64. I only see my PCP once or twice a year, so not a huge amount of OOP costs. Unless you need a more expensive plan, you might consider the Bronze or the next more expensive plan.

Once I get Medicare later this year, my Kaiser will bet less than $100 a month for the same plan.

 

[Teacher Terry]

With your DH being 9 years older I think both of you should retire now. I have had a fair number of my friends either die or become very disabled in late 50's and early 60's. You have the $ to bridge the gap before pension and SS kicks in and still have extra. Look at the obits and see the number of people that die in this age group. If you want to travel do it while you both can.

 

[Sunset]

With your DH being 9 years older I think both of you should retire now. I have had a fair number of my friends either die or become very disabled in late 50's and early 60's. You have the $ to bridge the gap before pension and SS kicks in and still have extra. Look at the obits and see the number of people that die in this age group. If you want to travel do it while you both can.

+1 if he really is a "sweetie".

I find it odd, OP is not considering the retirement as a couple, perhaps thinking as she suggested he could die?
Well if that is true, would OP not inherit his retirement savings/pension/stuff ?

Perhaps this is something OP needs to consider, do they have a will and is she in it ?

 

[pb4uski]

This is a great analysis! It is very encouraging!
I just tried $68000 in FireCalc with my numbers and they weren't too encouraging, though...sigh...

You are correct... I think the flaw in my logic was that your pension is not COLAed and the impact of inflation over 30-40 years is significant...if you change the pension to a COLAed pension then the success rate is over 95%.

But the reality is that your pension isn't COLAed so $68k is too high... but if you lower your spending to $54k a year then it works well and since you think you can live well on $48k you still have some wiggle room.

 

[CindyBlue]

+1 if he really is a "sweetie".

I find it odd, OP is not considering the retirement as a couple, perhaps thinking as she suggested he could die?
Well if that is true, would OP not inherit his retirement savings/pension/stuff ?

Perhaps this is something OP needs to consider, do they have a will and is she in it ?

Yep, got a will and a trust, everything is good.
Just want to be sure that I can make it alone if I have to. By the will and trust, we will each get each others savings, and half of each other's pension, and none of the other's social security. I'm just trying to make really sure. I know what I need to make it now, with our separate earnings, so I'm trying to see if I can equal that or close after retirement. I figure if I can, then he can, also, and we can make it without a job income.
And he really really is a sweetie - he's my life!

 

[pb4uski]

One thing that will be much higher for you if your DH predeceases you is taxes... but you can get a good idea by doing a tax calculation as if he died and you were alone... your taxes will be higher but your living costs might be slightly lower and you would have 1/2 his pension and savings to cover any gap.

You might also want to do te same calculation for him as if you died prematurely.

 

[CindyBlue]

With your DH being 9 years older I think both of you should retire now. I have had a fair number of my friends either die or become very disabled in late 50's and early 60's. You have the $ to bridge the gap before pension and SS kicks in and still have extra. Look at the obits and see the number of people that die in this age group. If you want to travel do it while you both can.

Ok, that's really scary!!!
We are lucky in that we can travel in the summer months, and now that our kids are out of college, we do (we worked every summer for most of our career, until recently!) We have made serious inroads in our bucket list
You have given me some serious food for thought, though...I will talk to him about this perspective...
We've talked a little about the fact that both of us have a fear of retiring, beyond the money issues. We think that we will "get old' and die soon if we aren't working, since we are both "type A's" and work a lot of hours...does that sound too strange? We vacillate - one moment one of us thinks we should retire and the next it's the other one. We are so lucky in that we both like our work...so why retire, right? But why not? Sheesh, this is a hard decision to make!!!
I'm so glad for you folks here - thank you for the discussions and opinions and advice!

 

[Whisper66]

Responding to your 3/20/17 post in thread "Thinking I'm Ok...." on how to get Firecalc to estimate the maximum you can spend yearly and still be ok.

Here's a first pass at running Firecalc in your situation. Don't accept my input / results as is. I may have misunderstood something in your situation. Suggest running this way first and make sure you get same results, then look through every single firecalc input on every tab to be comfortable you have modelled your actual situation.

In "Start Here" tab:
spending = 60,000/yr
portfolio = 600,000
yrs = 37 (takes you to 95 yrs old)

In "Other Income/Spending" tab:
ss = 24,000 starting in 2021
pension = 30,000 starting in 2020, NOT inflation adjusted

In "Your portfolio" tab:
Total Market....your % in equities = 60%

In "Investigate" tab
leave default 1st box titled "Success rate" checked off, hit "submit" button at bottom........ RESULT = 78% success rate

Go back to "Investigate" tab
check off box for box titled "Given Success rate....spending level", hit "submit" button at bottom........ RESULT = $54,647 can be spent yearly with 95.4% chance of succss (the default I left as it was in the tab) that your money outlasts you.

Hope this helps!

 

[CindyBlue]

Thank you so much! I followed and input your steps exactly, and it worked exactly as yours did. But this is really strange...on my home computer, the "Investigate" tab produces an error message. On my work computer, it works! I wonder why??

 

[Whisper66]

.... this is really strange...on my home computer, the "Investigate" tab produces an error message. On my work computer, it works! I wonder why??

Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) Some programs react funny to some browsers or even different versions of same browser. I have two browsers (Safari and Firefox) always on my MacBook to get around programs with a problem in one or the other. Might try a different browser on your home computer to see if that works around the problem. Also could update your current browser to see if that helps.
(2) Your home computer is lazy and just doesn't want to spend the effort to "investigate". In other words, it's retired already and waiting for you to do also!

 

[CindyBlue]

Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) Some programs react funny to some browsers or even different versions of same browser. I have two browsers (Safari and Firefox) always on my MacBook to get around programs with a problem in one or the other. Might try a different browser on your home computer to see if that works around the problem. Also could update your current browser to see if that helps.
(2) Your home computer is lazy and just doesn't want to spend the effort to "investigate". In other words, it's retired already and waiting for you to do also!

I have Safari, and supposedly it's updated. My computer is a 2008, I think, so I wonder if that makes it too old?? Ugh, I hate planned obsolesence! I will download Firefox - if my computer will let me. Thanks for the recommendation.
I know my personal "obsolesence" isn't "planned" but I sure feel ready to retire. Best I can figure, I have one more year, though, because I feel the nagging need to build up my reserves for that health or dental emergency that will surely appear when I least expect it. Though the last year will be tough, I am determined to enjoy it no matter what...no fun spending a year feeling bad (smile!)
I sure appreciate all your help! Thank you so much!

 

[Whisper66]

I have Safari, and supposedly it's updated. My computer is a 2008, I think, so I wonder if that makes it too old?? Ugh, I hate planned obsolesence! I will download Firefox - if my computer will let me. Thanks for the recommendation.

Interesting coincidence. Sounds like we might be running similar computers.
My computer = MacBook 13", Aluminum, late 2008
Operating system = OSX 10.11.6
Safari version = 10.0.3
Firefox version = 52.0.1

The input I provided runs fine on both my Safari and Firefox browsers.

My Mac is standard except that I (1) replaced broken hard drive with new one and (2) upgraded original RAM to 8GB. The later was to address the slowing of the computer over time due to RAM memory always getting loaded up (an obsolesense issue). Now it runs almost like new so no plans to buy a new computer. My only regret was I wish I had bought a SSD (Solid State Drive) rather than the standard drive. That would have made this machine even faster than it was new. Live and learn.

I'd still suggest trying Firefox and seeing if that gets rid of your problem. Best of luck.

 

[CindyBlue]

I wonder...do you think that if I take my computer to the Mac store they would upgrade the RAM? Will they think it's too old to work on? I just hate the idea of getting a new computer because this one has the built in disc drive.

 

[Whisper66]

I wonder...do you think that if I take my computer to the Mac store they would upgrade the RAM? Will they think it's too old to work on? I just hate the idea of getting a new computer because this one has the built in disc drive.

When I upgraded my RAM, I think Apple only offered an upgrade from 2 to 4 GB. I wanted more. I ended up buying 8 MB upgrade replacement RAM (physically this is just two small circuit boards) from a company called OWC (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/ ). Their website walks you through exactly how to find the RAM you want, provides reasonable prices and videos on how to install.

For example, this link shows that I can buy 8 GB of RAM today for my machine for $67. And found this link which has a video on exactly how to install the memory. It was easy to do and took only about 15 minutes. If I wasn't comfortable doing this, I could easily have found many friends (or even my kids) that could identify the right RAM to buy and then follow the video easily to install.

 

[target2019]

I wonder...do you think that if I take my computer to the Mac store they would upgrade the RAM? Will they think it's too old to work on? I just hate the idea of getting a new computer because this one has the built in disc drive.

Apple will probably not work on that system. Upgrading RAM will give you some relief.

 

[CindyBlue]

Target2019, If Apple won't do it, do you know a place that does? Will Best Buy or one of those places work on Macs?

 

[CindyBlue]

When I upgraded my RAM, I think Apple only offered an upgrade from 2 to 4 GB. I wanted more. I ended up buying 8 MB upgrade replacement RAM (physically this is just two small circuit boards) from a company called OWC (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/ ). Their website walks you through exactly how to find the RAM you want, provides reasonable prices and videos on how to install.

For example, this link shows that I can buy 8 GB of RAM today for my machine for $67. And found this link which has a video on exactly how to install the memory. It was easy to do and took only about 15 minutes. If I wasn't comfortable doing this, I could easily have found many friends (or even my kids) that could identify the right RAM to buy and then follow the video easily to install.

Thank you for the links! Maybe it's worth a try...I am a coward with computers, but I can follow directions...most of the time...(smile!)