Recent content by pdhenry

Let's just say that the parent is a British Aerospace company. ;)

I originally got the HELOC in '02 to combine a ~$25k first mortgage and a ~$20k car loan into a single payment. Since then we've put about $12k of a kitchen remodel through it. We'll need windows in the near future and some other work before selling - probably will ride at least partly on the...

Susu. (I guessed lucky with the spelling.)

too late. I crossed the boundary in the wrong direction last week... :(

A slightly more conservative method than max(last year's withdrawal + CPI, 4% of current balance) might be to use max(first year's withdrawal adjusted to current year CPI, 4% of current balance).

Not COLA'd. Based on current salary I'd earn $1560/month at 55, or $2450/month if I deferred to age 65 (still retiring at 55). Pensions are changing within the next year - not going away but they might (for example) increase the averaging period for final average compensation. But the...

Let's see, where to begin? 49, working as an engineer for a defense company (you've seen our stuff on the news). Have around $1 million in various accounts - 401(k), wife's IRA, Roths, a taxable brokerage account. Mostly mutual funds, maybe 5 or 10% bond funds. A couple of stocks. No mortage...

I'm struggling with the mental math on this as well. On the one hand, you should have a 95% probability of lasting 30 years beginning in year 2 because probability has no memory - the fact that you had a portfolio increase in year 1 doesn't factor into the future. On the other hand, it's...