What Else Should I Be Doing?

[DoubleDown]

Here are the stats:

Me - 48, DW - 48
Me - federal employee with COLA'd pension at 56, DW - small home business
Kids - 2 in college (freshman and junior), money that will be needed for that is set aside in cash
Home - paid off. We like it here and will probably stay here after retirement (in 7 1/2 years).


Right now we are living on about 50% of my salary and the rest is invested.

TSP is funded to the max (in the very conservative L fund - 20% stock, 80% fixed income). At 50 years old I will start the catch up contributions. Later this year I will switch my contributions to the Roth TSP (later that will be transferred to the regular Roth IRA's after I retire - pssst Wellesley).

The regular Roth IRA's I have mentally set aside in my mind that will be untouched and left to the kids.

My pension will be approximately 55% of my take home pay. So I'm pretty sure our retirement expenses will be covered by that in retirement. Additional monies as needed will come from TSP withdrawals and taxable investments (we plan to travel a lot in retirement).

In my taxable accounts I am keeping it simple and relatively conservative. I have been investing in OAKBX (Oakmark Equity and Income) and PRPFX (Permanent Portfolio) and adding to my cash cushion biweekly.

My question is...am I missing anything? I feel at this point I am in the home stretch and really don't want to blow it. That is where my conservative approach to the stock/bond allocation comes in.

Thanks, DD

 

[LOL!]

Many folks think they have to be 50 to start catch-up contributions. That's not quite right. They can be 49 and start catch-up contributions as long as they are 50 on the last day of that year.

 

[Midpack]

What does FIRECalc: A different kind of retirement calculator say? Not being a wise guy, it's really a very good place to start. You seem to have the bases covered, but without numbers we can't know what to tell you. You may not want to share more detail, and that's perfectly understandable.

 

[Rowdy]

Sounds like you have most of the bases covered. I'm assuming you have medical covered at retirement? What about Long Term Care Insurance?

 

[emkute]

Sounds like you are in CSRS. Then consider opening a Voluntary Contributions (VC)Acct with OPM, loading it with after tax funds using an awards credit card via pay.gov, then roll any earned interest into the TSP and the contributions to a Roth IRA.

 

[skipro3]

If you are retiring at 56, remember your SS kicks in 6 years later. That means your savings need to carry you another 6 years then gets a break with an additional 3 to 5K extra a month. (Depending on DW's SS account). Once SS kicks in, you can back off your savings withdraws.

I used this site to figure my blend of govt. pension, 401K, 457 and SS. Maybe it will help you understand the relationship of your various income and when they kick in and how they might affect each other..

Retirement Calculator - Parameter Form

 

[obgyn65]

I think you are all set.

My question is...am I missing anything?

 

[SpencerM]

Sounds like you are in CSRS. Then consider opening a Voluntary Contributions (VC)Acct with OPM, loading it with after tax funds using an awards credit card via pay.gov, then roll any earned interest into the TSP and the contributions to a Roth IRA.

This is _great_ advice. One of the most underutilized CSRS benefit that is quickly fading away. You can open this Voluntary Contribution account and deposit up to ten percent of your lifetime earnings in a lump sum, and immediately roll into a Roth, no taxes due , unlike an IRA conversion.

SM