probably delaying retirement plan

[anothercog]

This week I got to say goodbye to my uncle. I was fortunate I happened to be on the East Coast at this time. I saw him on Monday and he passed on Tuesday. He was 73, had a wonderful family and far more money than he needed.

He loved his job and his family. When he was diagnosed with cancer 6 years ago, he figured he would be beat it, get back to work and things would be normal. He traveled a lot for work but if humanly possible he would fly out in the morning, make or take presentations, and fly back in time for a late dinner with family.i

He fought the cancer like hell and beat the odds for many years but pancreatic cancer is a formidable foe and a year into battling it he finally realized he would rather spend his remaining time with his family and grandkids than working.

He had more years than expected. I wanted to ask him if he would have retired sooner if he had to do it all over again but he was too far gone by the time I saw him. He really should have had a much longer, fun-filled retirement but the cancer had other plans for him.

We never know how much time we have. If you have something to retire to, and the math checks out, figure out what is keeping you from moving forward before a health crisis makes that decision for you and you find yourself not enjoying the retirement you imagined.

[Lewis Clark]

Lots of people feel the way you do, and with far less resources. Everyone who voluntarily chooses to retire is leaving money on the table. With a six-figure salary you would be leaving more on the table than most.

You have run a few calculators and they all give you at least a 90% probability of success. Yes, these calculators can only back test against what might have happened in the past. None can predict the future. And none of us can know what the future will hold.

If you continue working, then at some point you will be trading time you cannot get back for money you will never spend.

What finally push me over the retirement cliff was the Safe Withdrawal Series of the earlyretirementnow.com blog. It's the best source I know for explaining the math of retirement. It's written by a former economist with a PhD who used to work in wealth management.

This was the point that turned on the light for me: Using monthly historical data going back as far as 1871, the failsafe initial withdrawal rate was about 3.25%. This assumes:
* Portfolio of around 70% stocks and 30% bonds
* Retirement can start at any time
* Withdrawals are adjusted for inflation
* A 60-year retirement
* Capital preservation. Meaning that the ending balance is greater than or equal to the balance at retirement on an inflation-adjusted basis.

For my wife and I:
* Our time horizon is far less than 60 years. More like 35 years. If we are lucky.
* We are willing to spend down some of our capital.
* Our withdrawal rate is less than 3.25%.

So even if the future is worse than the worst case of retirement history, we still have a large margin of safety. Eventually I got comfortable with the idea and retired.

Good luck with your decision.

[wrigley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calico I'm leaning toward troll too. Net worth of 5 million and can't afford to pay someone to mow the yard? Or buy a second car?

^
+1

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anothercog This week I got to say goodbye to my uncle. I was fortunate I happened to be on the East Coast at this time. I saw him on Monday and he passed on Tuesday. He was 73, had a wonderful family and far more money than he needed. He loved his job and his family. When he was diagnosed with cancer 6 years ago, he figured he would be beat it, get back to work and things would be normal. He traveled a lot for work but if humanly possible he would fly out in the morning, make or take presentations, and fly back in time for a late dinner with family.i He fought the cancer like hell and beat the odds for many years but pancreatic cancer is a formidable foe and a year into battling it he finally realized he would rather spend his remaining time with his family and grandkids than working. He had more years than expected. I wanted to ask him if he would have retired sooner if he had to do it all over again but he was too far gone by the time I saw him. He really should have had a much longer, fun-filled retirement but the cancer had other plans for him. We never know how much time we have. If you have something to retire to, and the math checks out, figure out what is keeping you from moving forward before a health crisis makes that decision for you and you find yourself not enjoying the retirement you imagined.

Yeah, I've known too many folks with pancreatic cancer. So far, a year or two is about the limit, so hooray for your uncle to live so long with it. Sounds like his family was very close which is even more important than an early retirement IMHO. So sorry for your loss.

[Mark2024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anothercog This week I got to say goodbye to my uncle. I was fortunate I happened to be on the East Coast at this time. I saw him on Monday and he passed on Tuesday. He was 73, had a wonderful family and far more money than he needed.

Sorry to hear about your loss. If one follows the news, you would see many "rich and famous" left this world in their 70s. Yes, time is definitely more important than money sometimes.

[Mark2024]

Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement

While this is clearly an advertisement article, it did mention that "Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement".

In other words, I am not alone in worrying about outlive my $.

[Alex The Great]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark2024 Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement While this is clearly an advertisement article, it did mention that "Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement". In other words, I am not alone in worrying about outlive my $.

The link does not work for me. But I found through the search:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/even-...123452417.html

It does not matter how much money do you have. There is always a failure ahead when expenses are not under control. Consumer world is designed to push people to spend money no matter what. The main question if someone has a character to stand against it or not.

[momoftwo]

Im a pretty anxious person generally.
Married 40 plus years, raised two kids.
Decided early to stash 20% in 403b and live on the rest of our low 6 figure income.

Husband is cancer survivor, i have a chronic health condition.
It was obviously 'time' in our early 60s, healthwise, stresswise, familywise.
I did a 3 year lookback of expenses, and checked expected SS, pension, IRA withdrawals.
We intentionally downsized housing, retired and are living happily debt free for 4 years. Im still surprised how easy the decision was once I realized I could trust that time with our grandson was absolutely more important than money.

[2HOTinPHX]

Just read through this thread from the start. I think the OP is suffering the same experience a lot of us are. Hard to go from working and getting that paycheck to spending money they worked so hard to accumulate. Retirement takes a leap of faith into the great unknown. I am getting ready to do it in about a month I hope..
LOL...with far less. But with reading a lot here, planning budget, using calculators and watching a lot of videos I think we're as ready as we're ever going to be.
I started a thread with some inspirational videos for those still in the fence. OP I think the first one there may be your situation. No matter how much you accumulate it may not give you the feeling you have enough.
https://www.early-retirement.org/for...d.php?t=118539

[mystang52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark2024 Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement While this is clearly an advertisement article, it did mention that "Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement". In other words, I am not alone in worrying about outlive my $.

Be wary of what I think you are "guilty" of. Confirmation Bias.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark2024 Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement While this is clearly an advertisement article, it did mention that "Even millionaires worry about having enough money for retirement". In other words, I am not alone in worrying about outlive my $.

Of course, there are millionaires and then, there are MILLIONAIRES. My "low, single digit" millions leave room for worry, I suppose. If you're a Gulfstream V owner, I hope you don't have to worry too much (except where to fly for the week end.) YMMV

[HGTVFanatic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredAndLovingIt Just because a few people on here throw out large numbers in this forum from time to time, the OP seems to think we all have 5 million dollars in our accounts. I don't even have close to that, I've been retired for 5 years and have no fear of ever running out of money. Yes the first couple of years were a little scary because I really had no idea how things would pan out but I'm now very confident that money will never be a problem for me. I have not started my social security yet because I don't need the money but when I do it will more than cover all my monthly expenses. I have no bills and I don't need 8K a month to live on. I think it's irrational fear in his case and I don't think he'll ever retire with that mindset and I'm sure he's not the only one. If I had not been laid off which in retrospect turned out to be the best day of my life, I would probably still be working as well because of my own fears. I wish him well.

Same. Laid off at 59. Our daughter had twins two days before and her husband was deployed. We were needed big time so it was fate. I took SS at 64 and with my husband’s pension plus his SS, we are living very comfortably. Only accessed our investments to pay for new roof and water heater. We travel in our RV and have no debts. We are living very comfortably and have more money than we know what to do with.
Please watch the retirearly500k channel on YouTube. This guy is living good on 500K .

[Mark2024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HGTVFanatic Same. Laid off at 59. Our daughter had twins two days before and her husband was deployed. We were needed big time so it was fate. I took SS at 64 and with my husband’s pension plus his SS, we are living very comfortably. Only accessed our investments to pay for new roof and water heater. We travel in our RV and have no debts. We are living very comfortably and have more money than we know what to do with. Please watch the retirearly500k channel on YouTube. This guy is living good on 500K .

thanks for the suggestion. I guess it is all about the definition of "living good". Yes, I did go to YouTube to watch several videos of reirearly500K. Other than making YouTube videos, that guy does not do anything else. Everyday of his "retirement", I bet he was thinking about the idea of next video.

In the theme of many are bragging about BTD, that guy's retirement is just surviving. Anything unusual happens, he will be broke.

[NW-Bound]

I just looked briefly at the above YouTuber channel. He retired in 2021 with 500K, and is now 61. If the guy is frugal and has no debts, he will do OK. And if the economy gets bad, he can claim SS early.

[2HOTinPHX]

I think this video would be helpful to OP from what I linked above thread.....

https://youtu.be/wVhXkerpf6s?si=kuwctSpvZ4pWrhEG

[Mark2024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I just looked briefly at the above YouTuber channel. He retired in 2021 with 500K, and is now 61. If the guy is frugal and has no debts, he will do OK. And if the economy gets bad, he can claim SS early.

well, if you think thinking of what to make for the next YouTube video everyday is a good way in your retirement is doing OK. Then, we are in different channel.

[Mark2024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I just looked briefly at the above YouTuber channel. He retired in 2021 with 500K, and is now 61. If the guy is frugal and has no debts, he will do OK. And if the economy gets bad, he can claim SS early.

So I am a couple years older than that guy, also living very frugally with no debts. Other than that I am getting a 6 figure salary and full benefit and he is getting only $2K a month from YouTube. What is any advantage he has over me? He probably works more hours a week than me. I could quit anytime and do nothing but he has to work for YouTube every week.

[2HOTinPHX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark2024 So I am a couple years older than that guy, also living very frugally with no debts. Other than that I am getting a 6 figure salary and full benefit and he is getting only $2K a month from YouTube. What is any advantage he has over me? He probably works more hours a week than me. I could quit anytime and do nothing but he has to work for YouTube every week.

He seems happy with his current lifestyle. Hopefully you are too.

Have you seen charts like this?

Attachment 47177

[Mark2024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2HOTinPHX He seems happy with his current lifestyle. Hopefully you are too.

Well. He has no other choice. I do. I am going to continue to work to get into a better financial situation. So that I could have a more enjoyable retirement - not to worry about anything.

PS. that attachment link does not seem to work.

[2HOTinPHX]

Try googling James Canole retirement trap. I think you might get something out of it.

One thing I have learned by reading many many post here is no matter how much money you save most everyone questions if it is enough. Just human nature.