"Hi, I Am Tonice and from NJ"

[Tonice]

Hi, I am Tonice and we live in NJ. My husband and I are both 66 years old. I am not working and my husband was let go from his previous job this past September. He is currently collecting unemployment. We are trying to see if we can make it on our SS payments that began this year $3300 monthly and his pension of $24,000 yearly. We lost a lot of our money, as did everyone else, and we are unsure if we will make it with the $300,000 we have left. We have not needed to start taking from our retirement fund but I was thinking of buying an annuity to bring in extra money during the year. .. Any thoughts on that idea?
Thanks,
Tonice

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonice Hi, I am Tonice and we live in NJ. My husband and I are both 66 years old. I am not working and my husband was let go from his previous job this past September. He is currently collecting unemployment. We are trying to see if we can make it on our SS payments that began this year $3300 monthly and his pension of $24,000 yearly. We lost a lot of our money, as did everyone else, and we are unsure if we will make it with the $300,000 we have left. We have not needed to start taking from our retirement fund but I was thinking of buying an annuity to bring in extra money during the year. .. Any thoughts on that idea? Thanks, Tonice

Hi Tonice!

Depending on your expenses, you may well be OK. Tell us more if you want, for more complete comments from budget savvy members.. I would hold off on the annuity until you are sure you really need to spend down your liquidity in favor of immediate liquidity.

Ha

[Cattusbabe]

Do you have a budget? It is the road map you'll need to know and control where your money is going. As HaHa said a lot depends on your expenses. At 66 you are eligible for Medicare so at least you have health coverage.

[freebird5825]

Welcome to the forum
I see you also live in a high tax state. However, I'm in a very low cost area. Hope you are too.

There are many software programs out there for tracking expenses and doing a budget. The decision to purchase a license all depends on your level of computer skills and how much you will utilize the software.
This thread may be useful to you:
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...use-45806.html

A low cost solution : Before I FIREd, I needed to get my hands around the incoming/outgoing money situation. I started with a generic spreadsheet like this one (free download)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...CT101172321033
and kept adding line items until I captured the entire data set.
Here is a much simper one:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300063831033.aspx?CategoryID=CT101172321033
There is an entire collection here
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...172321033.aspx

The start-up time and effort was considerable, but once I completed it, it is a very valuable tool. I added actual and estimated (what-ifs) columns as I went.

[Moemg]

Welcome , I lived in New Jersey for most of my adult life and I currently live in Sarasota ,Fl.