Hi, I am...

[SierraWoman]

Just found this forum and liked what I saw. Husband retired 2 years ago, I followed him last June. We figured we better get off the work treadmill and have some fun before the Grim Reaper catches up with us. Retirement has been total bliss. Should have done this a long time ago. Last Fall we bummed around Europe for 2 months and had a blast. We are living in a cabin in the Sierra Nevada, California, and the snow is finally melting at our elevation. Looking forward to a season of enjoying the outdoors. Glad I found you all!

 

[Nords]

Welcome to the board, SierraWoman, glad the transition went well!

 

[gozzie]

Hi Sierra Woman. Please give us more information-ages, financial condition (Ok, I'm nosy but I'm very interested in what it takes people to live out there in retirement land.) I'd love to bum around Europe for two months. You're smart. Gozzie.

 

[DangerMouse]

Welcome to the board. I would enjoy hearing more details about what you did to be able to be in a position to take the plunge.

 

[SierraWoman]

Deleted

 

[mb]

This sounds very low!

We tracked our expenses, figured out our personal inflation rate (0.5%),

Are you sure that you were not cutting back on quantity of "things" that were buying and thus got an erroneously low number for inflation?

MB

 

[brewer12345]

Now we are in the process to shift from stocks to longterm bonds and shortterm CDs for monthly income.

Ummm, I think you should reconsider this. Do a little reading before you move money around, at least.

 

[SierraWoman]

Thanks for all your critical responses. We do our research before moving money around, thank you very much. You really make a person feel welcome here.

 

[Nords]

Thanks for all your critical responses. We do our research before moving money around, thank you very much.

Hey, no offense intended, SW, but Joe's asset allocation couldh't handle the inflation of health insurance & housing costs. IMO his final 10 years reflected a gradual reduction in his quality of life that had nothing to do with his health and everything to do with losing to inflation but refusing to admit that fact. If you're planning to do a 30-year retirement on that type of AA then you're going to need more than 25x your initial annual spending.

I'm watching my parents-in-law live off their Treasuries & CDs. Eight years into that strategy their interest rates (and their income) had been cut in half by the Fed's response to the 2000-2002 bear market. They were invested in seven-year CDs and other long-term ladders but the fact was that they had to adjust to a huge drop of income that was nearly twice as bad as our (temporary) stock-market losses. It was not pretty and it's caused permanent changes in their behavior. Their stress/frustration over having to dip into principal is passed right down to us younger generations.

Brewer is suggesting that you can maintain an asset allocation that will handle that type of lumpy inflation surprise and won't lose money over 20-year periods. No one's trying to criticize or annoy you but we've seen other examples of people heading down the road you're contemplating. If that's your reaction to an honest assessment of your strategy, well, maybe you'll find a comfort level on some other subject. Good luck with that.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Congrats to you SierraWoman and to your DH on getting to FIRE. My DW and I are looking forward to traveling and enjoying our hobbies when I get to FIRE at the end of June.

I am a new poster too but have been lurking for quite a while. I wouldn't take the constructive criticism personnally. I have found that the people on this forum have some strong opinions, but they are for the most part, well meaning and trying to be helpful. Some of them are really into the analysis and we 'lazy people' can take advantage of their hobby. They also have a lot of knowledge and experience in this 'stuff' and can point you to resouces, ...etc.

I think the posters may be pointing out that you might be (un)fortunate enough to outlive your funds if you move all of your stocks to bonds and CDs. The answer, as always, seems to be 'it depends'... For all we know you and DH may be sitting on a huge portfolio and can eat off the interest. ....

 

[Achiever51]

SierraWoman,
Welcome to the board and I look forward to reading more of your posts! As another newbie, I have been impressed by the wealth (no pun intended) of information available on this board. And, yes, some of the responses may sound a bit critical, but if you read through the various threads, you'll see that for the most part the criticism is intended to be constructive rather than hurtful. (Some of these folks do have a rather wicked sense of humor, though!)

I agree wholeheartedly with Nords as I am watching an aging family member in the same financial situation -- everything is in Treasuries and CDs, nothing in stocks...and while he feels "safe", his portfolio is simply not as strong as it could have been. Were it not for a COLA'd pension, frankly he'd be below the poverty line!

Achiever51