Down the Rabbit Hole

[cxr133]

Hi Guys

been a lurker for about 6-8 months now. have read lots of threads and followed lots of links for Bogleheads, firecalc, etc.

turned 50 Oct. of last year and just now decided i really need to get serious. will try to use the search function but definately will probably start redundant threads and ask stupid questions.


but i am over here now...




So where do i start? lol

 

[Dtail]

Welcome to our forum.
No questions are stupid here. Ask away. We are here to assist you.

 

[REWahoo]

We are here to assist you.

+1

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money will be grumpily refunded, no questions asked!

 

[rodi]

Welcome to the forum... It's a great place to learn/ponder/decide what path is for you.

I know I asked a bunch of questions when I first joined... and posted my plans... which brought up questions I hadn't thought about... which made me refine/work through things.... So questions are good!!!

 

[braumeister]

Where to start?

Some Important Questions to Answer Before Asking - Can I Retire?

Acronyms and Slang Frequently Used on the Forum

Early Retirement FAQs

 

[Clone]

So where do i start? lol

There are two generally accepted ways to introduce yourself and start a lively discussion. One is to definitively declare that you know the correct time to start taking social security, the other is to explain how confident you are in your future retirement because you have embraced variable annuities.

Other than that, feel free to ask questions that may be on your mind!

Welcome to the boards!

 

[Red Badger]

There are two generally accepted ways to introduce yourself and start a lively discussion. One is to definitively declare that you know the correct time to start taking social security, the other is to explain how confident you are in your future retirement because you have embraced variable annuities.

Other than that, feel free to ask questions that may be on your mind!

Welcome to the boards!

Also, lest we be remiss, one should also have a definitive and universal decision about carrying a mortgage (or not) while retired.


Welcome!!

 

[Rianne]

Welcome! I went through the same thing, asked redundant and dumb (no question is really dumb) questions, made political comments. The posters here generally guide you through. Stay away from politics in every way, shape or form. That's what I like and appreciate about this forum and what makes it unique and helpful. There are many intelligent and knowledgeable posters here.

 

[cxr133]

ok so 1st question...

how does the Social security estimator work if i want to retire early?


im 50m now, thinking of if i going to retire @ 55 or 60.
i just made an account at SS and it shows my estimated benefit a full retirement @ 2,777 a month. How do i calculate the amount if i want to start taking at 58,62, 65, etc? and where do i account for this in my retirement planning/portfolio?
( remember i just started thinking about this yesterday)




Also need info on Medicare. i have a Pension so i am deciding whether to take the lump sum without any healthcare or the monthly pension with healthcare included. but i didn't want to start another lump sum thread

 

[Bob_Walter]

There's a page that has a "calculator" on it to calculate what you'll receive. it will ask you what you plan on receiving between now and when you stop working, i put in 0.

 

[Rianne]

ok so 1st question...

how does the Social security estimator work if i want to retire early?


im 50m now, thinking of if i going to retire @ 55 or 60.
i just made an account at SS and it shows my estimated benefit a full retirement @ 2,777 a month. How do i calculate the amount if i want to start taking at 58,62, 65, etc? and where do i account for this in my retirement planning/portfolio?
( remember i just started thinking about this yesterday)



Also need info on Medicare. i have a Pension so i am deciding whether to take the lump sum without any healthcare or the monthly pension with healthcare included. but i didn't want to start another lump sum thread

This is a great website. Check Advanced Options at the top. Then, at the bottom...scroll way down, check alternative strategies.
https://opensocialsecurity.com/

 

[cxr133]

This is a great website. Check Advanced Options at the top. Then, at the bottom...scroll way down, check alternative strategies.
https://opensocialsecurity.com/

i didnt know what the PIAA was so i left it at 1000
but says dont take until 62/70 so i have to account for those funds from 55-62? or do i consider that a raise at 62? and still trying to find out best for Lump Sum wiht no healthcare or monthly payments with helathcare

where do i got to ee what medicare covers and prices? ACA is basically dead right



You file for your retirement benefit to begin 5/2032, at age 62 and 7 months.
Your spouse files for his/her retirement benefit to begin 6/2038, at age 70 and 0 months.
The present value of this proposed solution would be $417,158.

 

[Rianne]

i didnt know what the PIAA was so i left it at 1000
but says dont take until 62/70 so i have to account for those funds from 55-62? or do i consider that a raise at 62? and still trying to find out best for Lump Sum wiht no healthcare or monthly payments with helathcare

where do i got to ee what medicare covers and prices? ACA is basically dead right



You file for your retirement benefit to begin 5/2032, at age 62 and 7 months.
Your spouse files for his/her retirement benefit to begin 6/2038, at age 70 and 0 months.
The present value of this proposed solution would be $417,158.

Your PIA is 2777.

 

[Scrapr]

Also, lest we be remiss, one should also have a definitive and universal decision about carrying a mortgage (or not) while retired.


Welcome!!

There are two generally accepted ways to introduce yourself and start a lively discussion. One is to definitively declare that you know the correct time to start taking social security, the other is to explain how confident you are in your future retirement because you have embraced variable annuities.

Other than that, feel free to ask questions that may be on your mind!

Welcome to the boards!

It's the Holy Trinity of RE advice! Or the Third Rail. I'm not sure which

Welcome aboard from the back of the classroom. We are just goofing on ya.

 

[stepford]

Download the AnyPia calculator from SSA: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html

This lets you input your earnings for every year you work and estimate the resulting benefit at various retirement ages.

 

[HI Bill]

Download the AnyPia calculator from SSA: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html

This lets you input your earnings for every year you work and estimate the resulting benefit at various retirement ages.

+1. This is by far the most accurate way to determine your benefits. You have to enter each years's SS earnings, and put 0s for the remaining years.

 

[cxr133]

lol i don't know what i am doing wrong but firecalc has me -7 million for a 0.0 chance of success

 

[CardsFan]

lol i don't know what i am doing wrong but firecalc has me -7 million for a 0.0 chance of success

I think that means you must keep working for another 150 years.

Seriously, make sure you enter your info correctly, make sure you hit every page, and do NOT use defaults, unless they are really what you intend.

If you have a specific question, most here are happy to assist.

 

[cxr133]

I think that means you must keep working for another 150 years.

Seriously, make sure you enter your info correctly, make sure you hit every page, and do NOT use defaults, unless they are really what you intend.

If you have a specific question, most here are happy to assist.

Pension Income is monthly or yearly in the calculator? when i put in a yearly amount im now 100% i think the spending estimates are confusing to me.

from what i understand estimate what my expenses are now and multiply by 25, correct? that puts us at about 2.5 million. i think with our current 401K (about 1.2m) and my estimated lump sum pension estimator (1-1.3m) we should be ok.

i just dont know about healthcare, taxes, etc.

 

[CardsFan]

Pension Income is monthly or yearly in the calculator? when i put in a yearly amount im now 100% i think the spending estimates are confusing to me.

from what i understand estimate what my expenses are now and multiply by 25, correct? that puts us at about 2.5 million. i think with our current 401K (about 1.2m) and my estimated lump sum pension estimator (1-1.3m) we should be ok.

i just dont know about healthcare, taxes, etc.

All income and spending inputs in FC are annual. Sounds like that was your problem.

You do need to account for healthcare and taxes in your spending number. Don't forget to input future SS as well as the pension (in today's dollars), if applicable. It can make a big difference.

 

[cxr133]

Are there any Fire financial advisers? if so how do you go about finding someone.
have accounts with Fidelity and Voya.

just want to make sure i am on the right path for the next 5 years and will be ready to pull the trigger. work is stressful

just dont trust my own numbers

 

[cxr133]

Are there any Fire financial advisers? if so how do you go about finding someone.
have accounts with Fidelity and Voya.

just want to make sure i am on the right path for the next 5 years and will be ready to pull the trigger. work is stressful

just dont trust my own numbers

Also almost all of our funds are in pre-tax accounts. 401K and 403B . how much of a HIT does the balance take to convert to Roth IRAs?

 

[HI Bill]

Are there any Fire financial advisers?

I'm not sure about Fidelity, but Vanguard will prepare a Financial Plan that is around 30 pages long. They take all of your assets, liabilities, budgets, retirement goals, time horizon, spending needs, and create a general plan for how to draw from your investments tax-efficiently, while maintaining what they consider a reasonable AA. You start by filling out a profile/questionnaire that includes info for you and your spouse, your assets outside VG, any goals you have (like funding retirement or college education), and ultimately give you % likelihood of success that's based on a Monte Carlo simulation. They also recommend rebalancing to within their bands of recommended AA (foreign/domestic/equities/bonds, and no cash). The document makes recommendations for changes to your investments, and provides a five-year outlook for income and spending. It includes SS and/or pension income. The service is free, for those with a certain level of invested assets with VG. In my march through OMY syndrome, they've created three of these for me, one in 2015, 2017 and 2019. They gave me a great deal of comfort that my plan is solid-enough to FIRE, but also encouraged me to OMY to increase spending levels.

P.S. This service now no longer appears to be free.

 

[cxr133]

I'm not sure about Fidelity, but Vanguard will prepare a Financial Plan that is around 30 pages long. They take all of your assets, liabilities, budgets, retirement goals, time horizon, spending needs, and create a general plan for how to draw from your investments tax-efficiently, while maintaining what they consider a reasonable AA. You start by filling out a profile/questionnaire that includes info for you and your spouse, your assets outside VG, any goals you have (like funding retirement or college education), and ultimately give you % likelihood of success that's based on a Monte Carlo simulation. They also recommend rebalancing to within their bands of recommended AA (foreign/domestic/equities/bonds, and no cash). The document makes recommendations for changes to your investments, and provides a five-year outlook for income and spending. It includes SS and/or pension income. The service is free, for those with a certain level of invested assets with VG. In my march through OMY syndrome, they've created three of these for me, one in 2015, 2017 and 2019. They gave me a great deal of comfort that my plan is solid-enough to FIRE, but also encouraged me to OMY to increase spending levels.

P.S. This service now no longer appears to be free.

Thanks Firecalc says 100% success right now on the current path, and fidelity had a online retirement calculator that said i was on track also


now im just concerned about i didn't budget for upcoming expenses: Daughter wedding (one day , only a teen now), college- parent responsibility $$ and new truck/camper

 

[Time2]

lol i don't know what i am doing wrong but firecalc has me -7 million for a 0.0 chance of success

Oh, so you're part of that 70%!


I'd try to be helpful, but you didn't give a lot of info.