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Florida · 03-07-2009, 11:29 PM

I would like 10 years of living expenses since I do not have a pension.

Anyone else?

youbet · 03-08-2009, 12:03 AM

Are you saying you're going for a 30% or so allocation to cash/cash equivalents? Sounds pretty high as a long term position.

Would you let that diminish as you go through retirement? Or replenish it and keep it at 10 years?

rsingh6675 · 03-08-2009, 12:09 AM

Any ideas on Retirement Mutual Funds that have built in cash/bond/Stock mix that don't go down much in down market?

mathjak107 · 03-08-2009, 03:36 AM

i have 14 years of withdrawls in cash, and income stuff.... keep in mind thats 14 years of withdrawls not living expenses... there can be a difference if you have other income from social security,pension, rentals etc

sander06 · 03-08-2009, 04:05 AM

We can live 25 years on our cash. Of course that means a budget that burns through very little $. It's not what you got... it's what you spend.

Rambler · 03-08-2009, 04:48 AM

We keep 3 years of barebones cash, and with the munis we have and my planned muni additions (bonus), we would have barebones expenses in perpetuity, so long as the guvmint doesn't go completely out of business.

This would mean a lot of gardening, from which I get a lot of joy anyway, but it would mean essentially no travel, which I am looking forward to doing with DW. I'm learning still but it appears that longer term GO munis seem to be the safest, so that's where I'm headed.

Any extras are going into AA, GE, ED, a couple medical/pharmas, etc, that make things and pay dividends. The extras/travel will come from dividends, so long as they conyinue to be paid. Not retired yet, and I see this as a great time to buy...may have to buy for a long time, and wait for a while for values to come up, but I'm not too depressed.

R

Rich_by_the_Bay · 03-08-2009, 07:37 AM

If you truly mean cash equivalents (up to maybe short term federal bond fund) I carry about 7 years; throw in intermed fed bonds, TIPs and on up to Wellesley type funds, it's about 15 years.

REWahoo · 03-08-2009, 07:40 AM

~10 years here including everything in Rich's bucket + SS.

Bikerdude · 03-08-2009, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathjak107

i have 14 years of withdrawls in cash, and income stuff.... keep in mind thats 14 years of withdrawls not living expenses... there can be a difference if you have other income from social security,pension, rentals etc

Using the above as a model, I have 22 years (if div & int hold up) with a 3% inflation rate. My pension and SS (at the end of this year) will cover 65% of my living expenses. Just dumb luck that I'm turning 62 this year.

It should be noted that this would be a comfortable retirement not a luxury retirement. The latter would require capital gains.

Architect · 03-08-2009, 08:30 AM

Everything is in cash or short term bonds at the moment. I'm waiting until stocks look like an attractive buy, then will diversify more.

OAG · 03-08-2009, 08:30 AM

If SS and COLA'd "pension" income is counted as cash, or cash equivalent, I just have to keep breathing.

Coach · 03-08-2009, 08:42 AM

I'm at about 5 years of budgeted expenses in cash and equivalents.

Coach

Moemg · 03-08-2009, 08:47 AM

I now have ten years in cash and safe investments .I was at five years but last years market made me too crazy .

Gpond · 03-08-2009, 08:49 AM

8.51 years outside of retirement accounts.

Including retirements accounts 31.01 years.

Dawg52 · 03-08-2009, 08:56 AM

10 years.

jug · 03-08-2009, 09:03 AM

I'm ok, have pension, and about 20 plus years of cash to supplement it, I plan on moving to some foreign place, where ever that may be, who knows in 20 years, if I can't make it here.

Hmmm, maybe siberia will be the hot spot, cheap, plenty of moose meat, hot siberian babes, vodka. Not a bad place to check out.

Jug,
Comrade in arms

W2R · 03-08-2009, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sander06

We can live 25 years on our cash. Of course that means a budget that burns through very little $. It's not what you got... it's what you spend.

I couldn't agree more. These numbers are meaningless unless the level of spending is specified. So, I computed years at four different types of budget - - plush (the most I can imagine spending), nice (the minimum I am planning to spend in ER), current (less than that because I don't have the time to shop while working), and barebones.

If SS and pension both disappeared, and if there was zero inflation (ha!), then I have enough cash and cash equivalents for 11/14/20/27 years, for plush/nice/current/barebones budgets.

This is not counting my Wellesley or my %)^(*& VFSTX (Short Term Investment-Grade Bond Fund) holdings.

Obviously my financial plan is conservative, but actually it is not THIS conservative

- - I have been influenced by recent market events. Although I haven't sold any equities lately, my AA right now is 38:62, whereas my plan is 45:55. Like many here I have lost a lot and I just don't have the guts to rebalance quite yet. Maybe in a few months.

F-One · 03-08-2009, 09:31 AM

7 - 8 years with current spending but it could be longer if we really cut back, like sander06 said - it's what you spend

cardude · 03-08-2009, 10:45 AM

6.8 years at current spending, 10 yrs if we can sell the house and cut back on other stuff and wife gets the job she's trying for. Hope that's long enough to get us out of this hole.

My problem is, if we use up all our cash over 10 years, then we will be 100% stocks with no cushion.