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Before we retired at 61 we turned to our CPA/Financial Planner who had prepared our taxes for the prior 10 years but never engaged for financial planning services. Vanguard and FireCalc already agreed that our plans would be 100% successful, but wanted an independent analysis. Provided budget...

5 years retired and will start RMDs in 2030. Shifted cash to new non-retirement account December 2022. Looking to shut down withdrawals from our retirement accounts until 2030 and let them grow faster. Any interest earned on non-retirement accounts need to be included as part of adjusted taxable...

11.4. Increased this tax season due to new non-retirement brokerage accounts and bank CDs. Next year CDs will double results.

Until the current tax season we have been in the 12% tax bracket. Our annual budget for all bills is $44K with no loans. SS & pension covers annual budget so with assumed 4% annual inflation and COLA adjustments that relationship should continue until RMDs start. Sufficient cash available for...

Coming up on 5 year retirement anniversary and this years discussion with our accountant/financial planner will be the pro and cons of these types of accounts. When we initially retired in 2019 we had a 50/50 portfolio of cash/investments. In November 2021 we decided to shift 80% of our cash to...

Coming up on 5 years retired and just shifted plan to adjust for unanticipated CDs that mature in 2024. Closed the retirement income flow from retirement accounts to a trickle and will use CD interest this year to fund discretionary fund to remain in lower tax bracket. Expect CD rates will...

Both have low fees with VOO at .003 and VFAIX at .004.

VFIAX is a large cap blended fund where I found a note stating it is also available as an ETF. Clicked on "ETF" and was taken to VOO where I am already invested and planning to increase my stake. Except for a very modest change in fees they appear very much to be the same. For the VOO ETF I need...

After 4 years of retirement (61) pulled our last working budget vs our current retirement budget and found we are currently spending about $3K less than back in 2018. Lots of money shifts - monthly train fare paid my health insurance, less clothing, work lunches, auto use, etc. allowed us to...

Forecast our investments, savings, expenses, RMDs, taxes, house renovations, car replacements, discretionary spending, etc. out to age 85 and our NW continues to grow so probably looking at major expense due to long term care or income reduction due to one of us passing. Spent every dollar of...

We have been happy with Federal Money Market Fund VMFXX through Vanguard and CDs through a local regional bank. Money Market funds can be converted to a new investment quickly and our CDs are short, non-callable instruments.

Shifted most investor funds to VMFXX earlier this year and kept 5 smaller mutual and ETF funds. Our VOO ETF has had decent returns but the others not so much. Used to keep about a million in local and state banks waiting for rates to rise like they did in the 1980's inflation years. Well that...

Lower Hudson Valley about 65 miles north of New York City regular is $3.47, mid-grade $.4.00 and premium is $4.60 a gallon. Thankfully our vehicles including the camper van run on regular.

Agree with both responses above. We shifted a lot into Fed MM and CDs last year and sleep well at night. Still have 6 smaller stock/bond funds that we are tracking for better times.

Older high mileage cars would have me thinking Toyota, Honda & Subaru with hopefully all wheel drive in a snow state based on my current & past vehicles. People getting rid of vehicles usually stop maintenance so air filters, oil change and possibly brakes, rotors, exhaust and tires would be in...

+3.9% YTD thanks to shift to Fed MM Fund and short term CDs. Still have equity and retirement date funds but the returns are still not there at this time.

We actually found a new tax preparer (prior accountant retired) a few years before we decided to retire in 2019 whose main business was financial planning, who we only used for simple tax preparation until 2019 when we retired 2 years earlier than planned at 61. Our new consultant turned out...

Prior years we have mostly been 60/40 in investments. 4th quarter of 2022 we exited stock and bond funds and shifted to federal money market and short term CDs. I expect sometime in the future to return to about 60/40 but expect the content to be different initially. With the improved...

We retired a couple years early at 61 and initially intended to take SS at 65 or after but with no debt and one pension our bills are paid, travel funded and a bit more for savings. A spread sheet showing inflation, taxes, major house/vehicle replacements clearly showed that our wealth increased...

Started 2022 at 60/40 with larger cash savings (equal to investment portfolio) with final result of -14.7% and gain to $25K additional to savings with 0.7% withdrawal rate. Spent October thru December investigating Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab/regional & national banks/local Financial Planners to...

We design travel around our Black Lab so usually pet friendly accommodations or boating until last year when we sold our cruising boat and purchased a van for travel. Last year we did (2) 14 day trips from New York State through the Northwest to Montana and down south to the Gulf coast. Then (2)...

Thank you for everyone's responses. OverThinkMuch- Energy was only 8.4% of the portfolio so probably a smaller influence on last year's performance. Technology at only 6.4% last year probably helped. Hopefully having faired better than many last year it will perform well when the economy...

Thinking to make an initial small investment in this domestic stock ETF fund (https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vtv) that falls within the Large, Value sector. Low cost at 0.04% with larger investments in consumer staples, financials, health and industrials. Compared...

WR in 2022 was 0.7%. Just completed an overhaul of our investments for positive growth in retirement accounts, opened up two additional non-retirement accounts and purchased short term CDs, essentially putting more cash to work. Original retirement fund WR will increase to 1.75% in 2023 along...

Western scrambled eggs/home fries for breakfast, transitioning to cracker/cheese/shrimp cocktail with wine for midday and then pot roast with veggies/onion salad and homemade apple pie/whipped cream for supper.