What's funding your retirement?

[LiveBelowMeans]

Retired at 53. Living off taxable account. Dividends and cap gains.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Better check on whether you are required to pay estimated taxes on those withdrawals this year. If so, and you wait, you'll get whacked with a penalty next April 15.

thank you, i did already this year it was 700 between the feds and the state. last year too, my tax guy sent me home with 8 envelopes the first 2 went out with my owed taxes.

 

[Fedup]

Rental income
SS
Non-cola pension
Cola pension
Taxable account for discretionary spending, aka travelling.

 

[rodi]

Rental income
DH's SS
My micro pensions
Inherited IRA RMD
taxable accounts.


DH has full access to his IRAs but hasn't tapped them yet. I'll have access to mine in another 4 years. And I've got 7 years till my SS can be taken (at the earliest).

 

[Totoro]

Near 100% taxable accounts. SS (equivalent) so far away, and I'll probably won't get anything meaningful.

 

[Souschef]

I retired in 2009. About 70K income from 2 small pensions and 2 Social Security checks.
No mortgage, small property tax. 55% in IRA's. 45% in taxable accounts. I divide up my RMD among our 4 children on their birthdays every year.

 

[Walt34]

Pension and SS for us. I retired at age 52. The pension is DB and COLA. The pension dropped at age 62 by what the expected amount of SS would be then, but since I'd stumbled into a nearby low-stress job I put off SS until FRA at age 66. Quit the job at age 63 when things went downhill there and until SS started savings made up any needed differences. Now the pension and SS more than covers expenses. We do keep a large stash because if I pass before DW reaches SS FRA the pension takes a 30% haircut and SS goes away for her until FRA. The savings and IRA would more than make up the difference in the meantime.

 

[friar1610]

Retired @58 (now 72)

Military pension (covers great majority of expenses)
SS x 2 (occasionally used for expenses but generally saved/invested)
Small RMDs x 2 (saved/invested)

 

[CardsFan]

Retired early 2016 at 60. No Pension. Spending is supplied by dividends, interest and cap gains distribution from both IRA (about 65%) and after tax accounts (about 35 %). We don't have the need to qualify for ACA subsidies, so we are pulling more from the IRA, along with some Roth conversions, to reduce later RMD's. We also have about 8% in after tax cash to cover any large "one time" expenses.

We expect to take SS at FRA, which will reduce our WR to less than 2% of current assets.

I guess we should be spending more, but we really don't deprive ourselves of anything. We just don't have expensive tastes.

 

[ownyourfuture]

Retired mid 2015 @ 53.
Very nice private sector pension, but no cola or healthcare included.
Have a large taxable account @fidelity which generates about $1,100.00 per month in dividends (80% qualified) but haven't had to use any of that... yet.

Have 401-k & IRA total of 300k, a smaller pension of $284.00 per month @ age 60, & SS for later.

Very fortunate

 

[GravitySucks]

Retired four years ago. Plan is:
54 - 55 cash from RIF incentive.
55 - 60 401k and a bit from taxable.
60 - 70 IRA plus SS survivor pittance.
70 - 92 SS and IRA.
92 + I plan on being the governments problem or a new career as fertilizer.

Plan is to spend down assets but so far I have more than I started with in real terms....not that I'm complaining, and sure some years it'll not be true.
If I hit SS at 70 with a quarter of starting portfolio I'll consider it a win.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I learned a long time ago to always answer that question with:
"The kindness of strangers"

 

[NW-Bound]

No pension, so I had been drawing down my after-tax investments while waiting for 59-1/2. Was able to draw from tax deferred accounts last year.

I just looked up Quicken to see that my last earned income was deposited on 5/18/2012. So, that's 5 years ago. Darn, I have been spending a lot of money. Looking at what Quicken tells me makes my head spin. And on 5/18/2012, the Dow was at 12369 and the S&P at 1295. The indices close today at 20958 and 2388. Imagine how much more money I could have if all that money stayed invested instead of spent.

And because I was not able to tap 401k until recently, I drew down my after-tax accounts. No more being able to make use of low tax-rate on dividends and cap gains, I now pay full-fare on taxes on the money drawn from retirement accounts. Man, that hurts.

 

[DrRoy]

First year 40% pension and 60% investments. Pension is not COLA'd so that % will fall over time. Too young for SS.

 

[GravitySucks]

I learned a long time ago to always answer that question with:

"The kindness of strangers"

Ha! Funny Blanche.

 

[Hermit]

Retired July of 2013 at 63.

Investments (all are tax deferred): 36%
Pension: 47%
SS on the late DW's account: 17%
Income taxes consume about 18% of income.

When I hit 70 DW's SS and Investment withdrawals will be replaced about dollar for dollar with my SS. As long as cost of living stays tame, the Pension will work great. If not, I will tap the investment accounts and pay lots of taxes.

 

[ABQ2015]

Retiring in October:

Pension: 54%
SS at age 62: 23%
401K: 23%
Roth IRA: ?

But I may delay SS while the market is good and take more funds from my 401K. I need to run calculations to see what approach is most tax effective and results in greatest income and whether Roth conversions are worthwhile. Being single, 25% or 28% tax bracket, and not in a category that would favor delaying SS means there are no clear cut answers.

 

[phil1ben]

Just retired January 1 at 57 and our income comes from:

1. Non-Real Estate Investments (Individual Stock Dividends, Individual Muni Bond interest and CD interest). I do not own any mutual funds and do my own investing in individual stocks and bonds.
2. Various Real Estate Investments, and
3. Income stream from sale of business

The above funds more than our annual expenses. I do collect a relatively small pension in three years and social security but neither ever played a role in our decision.

 

[kimcdougc]

DH retired Feb. 2015 at 57 / Me retired March 2010 at 50

1/5 of budged from non-cola pension
The rest is from after tax accounts.
SS at 62 for DH
SS for me at 70

We will start taking funds from our IRA's this summer up to the limit of the 15% tax bracket. (Taxes will be paid from our after tax accounts) Will roll over these funds into a Roth IRA and let them grow until and if needed.

 

[rdy2go]

Wife retired at 50 and me at 65, but both have pensions and I have started SS and wife to start next March. We are not planning on touching our retirement money accounts until RMD's are required. But heck, I may just decide to buy my Triumph TR3 if the markets help and cooperate and will have to draw out enough to buy myself a toy.

 

[fritz]

We retired at 58/57 (in 8th year now).

Used taxable account dividends and a special set aside cash account until Social Security at 62 for living expenses. Use SS (both of us) and taxable account dividends for current living expenses. We both have IRAs (start at 70.5) and Roth accounts. No pensions or annuities.

 

[FlaGator]

My good looks


Taxable accounts will see me through for awhile, IRA and SS down the road.

 

[RobbieB]

Right now;

SS - 25%
Me - 75%

 

[Cobra9777]

I retired 4 years ago at 52; DW at 56 last year. At the moment, expenses are covered by his-and-her pensions, dividends from taxable account, and a small amount of rental income. After 4 years, I haven't actually sold any shares, but we have worked the cash balance down from 5% to 1%. At 59.5 we'll have access to tax-deferred and SS at 62. If the market cooperates, we'll defer both to 70 and prioritize Roth conversions. We both have employer-subsidized retiree health insurance and a growing HSA.

 

[Rambler]

I've been retired 4 years and 4 months. The first year, I had income in the form of my retention incentive (I had been enticed to stay an extra 4 years with this incentive), but for living expenses, we lived essentially off the dividends and interest from our taxable acct. We are still doing that. In 2 years and 8 months, my deferred income starts to pay out, over a 10 year period. All of that will essentially go into the taxable acct, and will begin to generate more dividends and interest. At that point, we may start spending a little more. No pension. Tiny 401k for a variety of reasons, still untapped.