Assets Depleting after Retired

[Hexanova]

Wow... is it really possible?

Yes, if your pension/ss covers most of your expenses and your asset withdrawal rate is less than its return rate your assets will grow.

 

[imoldernu]

Retired @ age 53, in 1989... no pension, minimum (tiny) stock market investments, and our dollar assets are almost exactly what they were when we retired.

Though we don't use any retirement calculators and don't use or figure on Safe Withdrawal Rates our system works essentially the same way, except that it uses actual dollars, and we plan each year on a simple calculation to decide what we can spend. Assets aren't growing, but they've stayed pretty steady over the past 28 years. We DO use our Social Security

Not very much money, but it looks like we may be good 'til we reach age 92 in 11 more years and that includes a few years of nursing home care, if necessary.

Don't feel that we lost a lot over the years in terms of enjoying life.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/sharing-23-years-of-frugal-retirement-62251.html

 

[Looking4Ward]

Like several others this month marks the end of three years of ER for me. It sure has gone by quickly and despite drawing exclusively from my portfolio it's still up 10%. Would be even more if 2015 hadn't been an essentially flat year.

 

[Scuba]

My experience during the 2008 recession was extreme. I had multi million dollar margin loans and large amounts of employee options that all went under water. I didn't do much other than to ensure enough liquidity to ride out the storm. Luckily my cash balances were very high and I supplemented that by putting some HELOC's on some property. Everything worked out fine and much sooner than I thought.



Since then my financial position is very much less risky. No debt. Live off divs and pension. Almost seems boring, but in a good way. All you can do is have an asset allocation that reflects your risk tolerance. My risk tolerance is quite high but nothing like 2008/09.

Thanks for the insight. We had a lot more debt back then too - owned 3 properties in So CA. Decided to sell all but our primary residence. We were able to live off our W-2 incomes and buy low through our 401K's, but did not have a stockpile of cash as we were 100% equities. Since then we've dramatically reduced debt and now hold more cash/short term bonds so that we have some "dry powder" to use to avoid having to sell investments at depressed values and to capitalize on opportunities. Hopefully this approach will serve us well when the next downturn occurs. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[523HRR]

Since retiring in October 2012, our investable assets are up over 40% after cumulative withdrawals of 13% of beginning balance.

 

[Enuff2Eat]

Since retiring in October 2012, our investable assets are up over 40% after cumulative withdrawals of 13% of beginning balance.

that's pretty amazing that you can get out of the rat race at 49 and assets increased since..

congrats 523HRR... you're my hero.

 

[David1961]

Since retiring in October 2012, our investable assets are up over 40% after cumulative withdrawals of 13% of beginning balance.

I retired around the same time and mine is up also, but not as much as yours. My investments have gone up about as much as the salary I'd have earned had I kept working. It a great feeling. but I know it won't continue like this.

 

[mickeyd]

With pensions and delayed SS (along with life-long LBYM) one can easily end up with a higher cash-stash, as many other folks have attested to here.


What did Einstein say about compound interest?

 

[523HRR]

that's pretty amazing that you can get out of the rat race at 49 and assets increased since. congrats 523HRR... you're my hero.

I have plenty of company on this site!

 

[marko]

that's pretty amazing that you can get out of the rat race at 49 and assets increased since..

congrats 523HRR... you're my hero.

Respectfully, I wonder if you're not fully appreciative of the benefits of investing. This is not a critique but just trying to understand your perspective.

Most folks here invest wisely and spend less than those investments pay out. As a result they eventually end up with more than they started with.

 

[scrabbler1]

I retired in late 2008 and have been living only off the taxable portion of my portfolio which has grown 49%. My tIRA which I haven't touched has grown 132%, so combined they have grown 72%. Unfettered access to my IRA is one of my "reinforcements" which await me when I reach my 60s, the others being SS and my frozen company pension.

 

[Koolau]

I retired around the same time and mine is up also, but not as much as yours. My investments have gone up about as much as the salary I'd have earned had I kept working. It a great feeling. but I know it won't continue like this.

One of the things that convinced me I could ER back 12 years ago was that my investment results were better than my salary several years running. It's a great feeling indeed! Hasn't been true these past 12 years since I've had to live from those assets. Still the NW total exceeds my starting point (or is that "ending point", heh, heh) 12 years ago. YMMV

 

[ejman]

Since ER at the end of 2002 I've been living off the income (dividends and CG distributions from mutual funds) and occasional draws from my taxable portfolio which is up 52% from retirement. I haven't touched the tax advantaged funds which have increased by 351%. Started SS at 62 in 2012. RMD's start in 2020 which might be interesting tax wise.