58 and curious

[michaelc]

Hi,


I am a healthy 58 year old male, single, no children. I plan to retire in 9 years at 67. Salary is 70K.


I have ZERO debt with the exception of a small mortgage balance of 38K and home worth $187,000. Credit score of 810.
I have a 403(b) with TIAA currently valued at $535,000 and a ROTH IRA with T Rowe Price valued at $127,000. I max out my ROTH every year at $7000 and contribute 22% of my salary to my 403(b). I am currently contributing 33% of my salary toward retirement.


CURRENT RETIRMENT SAVINGS - $662,000



My allocation is 60% equities, 40% fixed.


I have a 18 month emergency fund in Ally Bank.


Am I on tracking for a fairly comfortable retirement, assuming 25 years in retirement and living a modest lifestyle?


Thanks
Michael in NJ

 

[flyingaway]

In order to answer your question, you need to know what are your annual expenses.

 

[michaelc]

In retirement, my annual expenses will just be property taxes and utilities . Home will be paid off and medical insurance if for life with employer after retirement.

 

[Dtail]

In retirement, my annual expenses will just be property taxes and utilities . Home will be paid off and medical insurance if for life with employer after retirement.

And that number is......

 

[obsessed]

I would say you are in good shape to retire then or even a couple years earlier. I assume you will be receiving social security? With just your additional contributions added to your current savings you are close to $1 million not including any growth. With spending less then $50k currently you would need $10k from social security to hit the "4% rule". Try playing with FIRECalc if you haven't already.

 

[michaelc]

Dtail-


If I stay in NJ, about $1800 a month. If a retire to South Dakota or Wyoming, MUCH less.

 

[Dtail]

Dtail-


If I stay in NJ, about $1800 a month. If a retire to South Dakota or Wyoming, MUCH less.

Okay, do you have an estimate of your SS payments and what age you plan on taking it?
If so, there can be an analysis done in Firecalc.

 

[michaelc]

Dtail,


I would like to hold out until 70 to take SS. I do have an estimate.

 

[COcheesehead]

In retirement, my annual expenses will just be property taxes and utilities . Home will be paid off and medical insurance if for life with employer after retirement.

Food, auto replacement, insurance, deductibles, home maintenance, clothes... oh and fun.

Getting a handle on expenses is a BIG part of figuring out your retirement.

 

[COcheesehead]

Dtail,


I would like to hold out until 70 to take SS. I do have an estimate.

Create a SS account and they will give you an estimate.

 

[aaronc879]

Do you need to work until 67 to get the retiree health insurance from work? If not then I think you could retire earlier than that.

 

[Sunset]

Things are sounding good, however I'm curious as to why your savings are not higher.
Perhaps you had a life event that prevented it, as many do.
Or
perhaps you are invested in some very high expense fee type of things, either the investment company and/or the choices of funds picked.

 

[michaelc]

Sunset,
I didnt start saving for retirement until age 32. However, I am savings 33% of my salary now and plan to bump it up to 36, 37% shortly.

 

[Dtail]

Dtail,


I would like to hold out until 70 to take SS. I do have an estimate.

Have you tried using the Firecalc retirement calculator, which is connected to this site?

 

[michaelc]

Dtail,


I took a quick look at it last night and I will definitely try it later today....thanks.


I forgot to mention I will have about a 150K inheritance coming sometime in the future that will be put towards retirement.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Dtail,

I took a quick look at it last night and I will definitely try it later today....thanks.

I forgot to mention I will have about a 150K inheritance coming sometime in the future that will be put towards retirement.

....unless you don't.

Just be sure your plan does not depend on that $150K, because there are plenty of stories here of inheritances evaporating due to medical bills, undisclosed debt, outright lies about wills or money, or estrangements.

If they have already passed, I'm sorry for your loss, it might be less of a chance, but you should always treat money that's not in your control as a gamble (although one that doesn't require a stake or ante to "win").

You can certainly plan for what you might do with that money if it does turn out the way you're expecting, but you should also have a plan as to how you will live without it.

This is also why most of us use models that account for some of the worst market/economic stretches and try to make sure we'd be OK (if maybe not comfortable) in those kinds of economic times, too.

 

[Dtail]

Dtail,


I took a quick look at it last night and I will definitely try it later today....thanks.


I forgot to mention I will have about a 150K inheritance coming sometime in the future that will be put towards retirement.

Most folks leave out future inheritances from their retirement success calculations, as one doesn't typically know for sure that one will be receiving that inheritance at the dollar levels stated.
Unless the monies are sitting in a separate untouchable account waiting for you as one example.

 

[Toocold]

If your spend is $1800/month or $21.6k per year, you'll be fine. Nice job of saving and keeping your expenses low. More likely than not, you'll die with 7 figures.

 

[rodi]

An easy way to figure out how much you are spending is take your gross salary, subtract out the retirement contributions.

If you want to make adjustments for retirement - take that number and subtract out the medicare/SS taxes. Add in any changes to healthcare insurance/copays/deductibles in retirement. (You say you have retiree healthcare - is it the same cost?).

I track my spending - but I also used the method above. I knew I had a valid spending number when I got my tracking to include enough to match the estimate method mentioned above. (A lot of little spending was not being tracked accurately enough.

You still owe income tax and state income tax in retirement so don't forget to include those in your spending numbers. They are also part of the total spend in firecalc.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[cnocmmz]

Hi,


I am a healthy 58 year old male, single, no children. I plan to retire in 9 years at 67. Salary is 70K.


I have ZERO debt with the exception of a small mortgage balance of 38K and home worth $187,000. Credit score of 810.
I have a 403(b) with TIAA currently valued at $535,000 and a ROTH IRA with T Rowe Price valued at $127,000. I max out my ROTH every year at $7000 and contribute 22% of my salary to my 403(b). I am currently contributing 33% of my salary toward retirement.


CURRENT RETIRMENT SAVINGS - $662,000



My allocation is 60% equities, 40% fixed.


I have a 18 month emergency fund in Ally Bank.


Am I on tracking for a fairly comfortable retirement, assuming 25 years in retirement and living a modest lifestyle?


Thanks
Michael in NJ

Hi
Sounds like you are well on your way to easy street, in fact, you could retire much earlier than stated.
Ps. I grew up in NJ across the bridge of the Delaware Water Gap -