TwinkleToes
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2016
- Messages
- 12
Hello! I've been lurking for a while now and learned a lot. I am a little bit out of my element because I am too old to be considered as an early retiree candidate. However, considering the fact that a few years ago I didn't think we would ever be able to afford to retire at all, and I'm 62 and now considering retiring, that's kind of early...
So here is my story: DH and I have one grown and married daughter. For most of my working life, I was a "secretary" and my husband was a draftsman. I am a saver and DH is not; neither of us are numbers people. When our daughter was born, so I could be home with her, I quit going to work and started my own administrative services company. I set up a retirement plan and my own disability insurance with American Express. DH got laid off after 11 years with a large defense firm. He didn't have benefits for over a year and we got into some credit card debt for the first time in our lives (Cobra is expensive). At some point, when DD started school, one of my clients asked me to work for her so I started working at her office while DD was in school. My job morphed a few times and I ended up making more money and possessing a new skill set. One year, my boss (mom and pop shop) decided she would give everyone an incredible bonus, 75% of our salary. I paid off our debt immediately and put the rest in savings. Then the company established a Vanguard SEP plan, then we were purchased by another European company and we had a Vanguard 401k. (Sorry this is getting long). Somewhere along the way, I started learning about investments and dropped American Express -- my ignorance cost us some money from front-load funds and her commission.
Anyway, fast forward... in 2012 at 64, DH was laid off from retail megacorp after working there 17 years. He got a nice severance package and he has a small pension with the company AND a card for a percentage off purchases from the store for life. Not bad for a guy who never made more than 50k a year. He couldn't find another job, though, so he is now "retired" and 68.
So I now work for a very large defense firm and my salary has been a little over 100k for the last 3 years. I now max out my 401k and put in catch up $$. I also feed the HSA about 4k and put several thousand in a regular savings account. At the beginning of this year, my MIL passed away and DH inherited some cash and 6 annuities (variable deferred). We have sought advice from a couple of FAs. That has been interesting. The most recent one seemed like he was going to be good, but it turned out he was a charlatan. He was not fee only as he advertised. One guy was really good about advising us on all the aspects of retirement, except he wasn't all that great with helping me with investment choices and tax planning. That's what I really need now. We now have over $100k in taxable savings and 400k in IRAs and 80k in the 401k. We still live in our starter home and have refinanced 4 times for cash flow purposes over the years but our interest rate is 3.75 and I always pay some extra principal each month. We still owe 74k. (Almost what it cost to begin with when were at 12.5%).
Anyway, this has gotten really long so if anyone is still awake after this, thanks for being here and letting me join such an interesting and varied group of folks.
So here is my story: DH and I have one grown and married daughter. For most of my working life, I was a "secretary" and my husband was a draftsman. I am a saver and DH is not; neither of us are numbers people. When our daughter was born, so I could be home with her, I quit going to work and started my own administrative services company. I set up a retirement plan and my own disability insurance with American Express. DH got laid off after 11 years with a large defense firm. He didn't have benefits for over a year and we got into some credit card debt for the first time in our lives (Cobra is expensive). At some point, when DD started school, one of my clients asked me to work for her so I started working at her office while DD was in school. My job morphed a few times and I ended up making more money and possessing a new skill set. One year, my boss (mom and pop shop) decided she would give everyone an incredible bonus, 75% of our salary. I paid off our debt immediately and put the rest in savings. Then the company established a Vanguard SEP plan, then we were purchased by another European company and we had a Vanguard 401k. (Sorry this is getting long). Somewhere along the way, I started learning about investments and dropped American Express -- my ignorance cost us some money from front-load funds and her commission.
Anyway, fast forward... in 2012 at 64, DH was laid off from retail megacorp after working there 17 years. He got a nice severance package and he has a small pension with the company AND a card for a percentage off purchases from the store for life. Not bad for a guy who never made more than 50k a year. He couldn't find another job, though, so he is now "retired" and 68.
So I now work for a very large defense firm and my salary has been a little over 100k for the last 3 years. I now max out my 401k and put in catch up $$. I also feed the HSA about 4k and put several thousand in a regular savings account. At the beginning of this year, my MIL passed away and DH inherited some cash and 6 annuities (variable deferred). We have sought advice from a couple of FAs. That has been interesting. The most recent one seemed like he was going to be good, but it turned out he was a charlatan. He was not fee only as he advertised. One guy was really good about advising us on all the aspects of retirement, except he wasn't all that great with helping me with investment choices and tax planning. That's what I really need now. We now have over $100k in taxable savings and 400k in IRAs and 80k in the 401k. We still live in our starter home and have refinanced 4 times for cash flow purposes over the years but our interest rate is 3.75 and I always pay some extra principal each month. We still owe 74k. (Almost what it cost to begin with when were at 12.5%).
Anyway, this has gotten really long so if anyone is still awake after this, thanks for being here and letting me join such an interesting and varied group of folks.