Curious who else has a zero withdrawal rate. Income that meets or exceeds expenses.
My Mom and stepdad are doing that. They both retired back in 2011, with pensions. She had 42 years in with the federal government. He worked for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, and was able to take early retirement. Between the two of them, their pension is pretty good, and they haven't had to dip into retirement savings/investments at all. In fact, Mom is about to do her first RMD, and doesn't know what to do with the money.
My grandparents, on both sides of the family, were also like that. On my Dad's side, Granddad was a railroad worker, and they used to get nice pensions. I don't know about nowadays, though. On my Mom's side, they were both federal employees. Granddad retired early, at age 55. I'm not sure how many years he had in, but it was enough. Grandmom retired at age 56, when the federal hospital she worked at shut down. But, she went back to work part time/on call at another hospital. I don't know much about the finances on my Dad's side of the family, but on Mom's side, as Grandmom got into old age, between pensions and SS, and very meager spending, she was saving a pretty good chunk of it. It wasn't until the end, that medical expenses really started eating things up. The last ~9 months of her life probably cost about $50,000, but that included remodeling the bathroom to make it wheelchair accessible, when we thought she would be coming back home, and also her funeral.
My Dad was able to make it on his pensions/SS as well. He didn't make much, as his employment had been spotty. He became a federal employee somewhat late in life, so he was under the new system. But, I think he still had about 20 years in. With that, plus SS, it pretty much covered his expenses. He lived very modestly though.
I guess the recurring theme, for my family at least, is try to find employment in a field where you get a decent pension. And stick with it. Oh, and live modestly.
