Do you have a zero withdrawal rate?

[dtbach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oversoul Ha ha.....I know, many people probably wish they had this problem but it is a very real issue. After you've spent your life sacrificing & saving, you have a responsibility to do something with that money after you die. Being young & broke used to keep me up at night. Now, being old & not broke keeps me up at night. There's no winning at this. Stay well.

You sound like my parents. Never could spend any money, always thought they would need it "for later". So us kids got all the money and I learned from them as I'm a true believer in "blow that dough" now.

[jollystomper]

We could choose to have a zero withdrawal rate today, if we decided on no optional spending and stuck to a strict budget. But why live that way when one does not have to?

Once we start taking SS, based on our current actual spending, we will have a zero withdrawal rate - if we wanted to.

However, we will much more likely choose to increase our spending in some way, shape or fashion to have at least a 1% withdrawal rate. We can't take it with us.

[griffithee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB Yeah, you can have a one hundred dollar CD portfolio and live off your pension and SS with a zero WDR. You can be even stackin' the extra for a negative rate. Woo-hoo!

RobbieB speaking the truth again!!! Living on half pensions for a negative SWR!!! Twenty years to go until SS kicks in and the negative goes further negative.

[W2R]

Last year I spent 0.60% from my investment portfolio. That's not zero but it's lower than planned. The reason it was so low is that my SS and mini-pension covered the rest, and I didn't have any dental implants or other unusual big expenses to pay for.

But I am working on increasing what I spend from my portfolio. Why not? I can't take it with me. So anyway, my projected spending from my portfolio for this year is more than double, 1.25%.

My retirement plan specified 3.5% or the amount of dividends, whichever is smaller. It seems I am under-spending and can cautiously ramp up my lifestyle a bit as desired. The under-spending is not so much due to vast wealth, as it is due to genuine contentment with my present life.

It is nice to be content.

[Oversoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rk911 such as? i can’t imagine anyone not making any arrangements.

My point exactly....one must consider how to handle their estate responsibly.

[Oversoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan If you are serious, this is sad....

It's a concern most of us have or should have.
Those who have a resolution regarding their estate probably needn't worry about the future of their holdings.
Some of us aren't there yet.


Stay well.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oversoul It's a concern most of us have or should have. Those who have a resolution regarding their estate probably needn't worry about the future of their holdings. Some of us aren't there yet. Stay well.

I was talking about your comments that these things keep you up at night...according to what you wrote you have been lying awake for many nights in your life....life's too short for that.

And your comment that there is no winning..

[friar1610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtbach If you are at 0% WR then it seems you worked waaaaaayyy too long and could have retired much earlier. Nothing to brag about IMHO. . .

That's sorta what I discovered. I retired from the military at 51. I'd always had ER (compared to the traditional age of 65) on my radar and had socked away money in our taxable accounts But I figured I would work for a while in a "2nd career" to accumulate a bit more of a nest-egg, particularly since the military was not eligible to use the tax-deferred TSP in those days. Prior to retiring for good, I had worked out a withdrawal plan to supplement my military pension until I was SS-eligible. As it turned out, we rarely needed to take a withdrawal; we got along on the pension just fine. So, my conclusion was that I needn't have worked for as long as I did post-military, if at all. Of course, now that we are retired, having that extra cushion is sure nice. And it provides extra assurance that my wife will not have to work as a Walmart greeter if I die before she does.

I will note that having retired military medical coverage at virtually no financial cost was a big contributor to what I described. If we had been paying for individual medical insurance I'm sure we would gave been withdrawing.

[jkern]

Once I start SS in a few months, rental and SS income will cover 100% of my standard of living and my withdrawal rate will be zero until RMD's kick in about 10 years from now.

[Oversoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan I was talking about your comments that these things keep you up at night...according to what you wrote you have been lying awake for many nights in your life....life's too short for that. And your comment that there is no winning..

Yes. It's true. I've had many late nights with my spouse talking about estate planning & such and this has caused more sleepless nights than we'd both like to admit. It's all a very complicated issue to deal with.
We are always at a dead end in our discussions.

[Oversoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtbach You sound like my parents. Never could spend any money, always thought they would need it "for later". So us kids got all the money and I learned from them as I'm a true believer in "blow that dough" now.

We've always lived a lifestyle that didn't include spending any more than we needed to cover the basic essentials.

We came from parents of the depression era who taught us to work hard, save, and don't waste anything.
Consequently, we grew up learning how NOT to spend money.
Something that seems easy and natural to most people is completely foreign to us. We lack the ability to spend without extreme need and justification.
We recognize this in ourselves as part of who we are. We probably aren't the right types of people to possess these investment resources as we don't know how to best use them.
How does one "blow that dough" I mean, if a person has a house & a car and covers their utilities & eats every day, what does one "blow that dough" on? How does one do that?



Stay well.

[RobbieB]

First class air, hotels with in room jacuzzi, steak & lobster, a brand new car, home improvements, hobbies...

[Oversoul]

Just saw this thread on Blow that Dough.


http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ml#post2292039


WOW!

[Oversoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB First class air, hotels with in room jacuzzi, steak & lobster, a brand new car, home improvements, hobbies...

We been doing that on the cheap for years....


Hanging out on top of the local water tower soaking up some rays, taking a bath inside instead of a shower out in the rain, eating squirrel & crawdads, driving the 96 dodge truck (it was new back in 96), whitewashing the house (the side where most people look anyways), and for hobbies, tractor racing and fishing with dynamite.


All for under twenty dollars.

[gayl]

It varies year by year. Last 2 years I took out 4-5k. This year I'm not planning on taking out anything. But, in that I'm not getting SSA yet, I'm thinking I should roll some into the brokerage account to even out my eventual tax penalty

[Mdlerth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oversoul We probably aren't the right types of people to possess these investment resources as we don't know how to best use them.

Au contraire, Pierre. You're exactly the right types of people to possess investment resources because you invest them.

Recall for a moment the countless stories of lottery winners and celebrities who come into large amounts of money; instead of investing they squander fortunes on self-destructive activities that result in them (not to mention their families and friends) ending up worse off.

I sense that whatever you do with your loot, it will not involve a trail of addictions, social diseases or crashed exotic cars. Keep up the good work.

[mickeyd]

Been living on SS, pensions and VA disability alone for 15+ years. I take RMD and reinvest it as well as all dividends. Some day I will need my stash to live on. But not today.

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd Some day I will need my stash to live on.

Maybe, but maybe not, you can get hit by a bus tomorrow...you just don’t know.
We plan, do simulations, talk about withdrawal rates: 4.0% or 3.9, or 4.1%, and now 0.0%...when in the end it’s all just educated guessing.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oversoul We been doing that on the cheap for years.... Hanging out on top of the local water tower soaking up some rays, taking a bath inside instead of a shower out in the rain, eating squirrel & crawdads, driving the 96 dodge truck (it was new back in 96), whitewashing the house (the side where most people look anyways), and for hobbies, tractor racing and fishing with dynamite. All for under twenty dollars.

So that's living in NW FLA. haha

[Koolau]

Since now over age 70 1/2, NOT withdrawing is not an option as I have a 401(k). I HAVE calculated that I COULD live on SS and modest Pension, but why would I? I saved it to spend and it looks like I'll leave too much on the table when I shuffle off some day (black swans, excluded.)

Can't brag about any huge gains over 14 years of ER so I brag about the fact that NW has never gone down. YMMV