How many sources of income do you have?

[COcheesehead]

Dividends from mutual funds are reinvested so does that count?

I view income as adding to my assets. Like the day I get a paycheck, I now have more.

The value of the dividend is already reflected in the net asset value of the equity fund so when a dividend is received and reinvested you still have exactly the same amount. The fund goes down on the ex dividend date and returns to its original value on the pay date putting that days market returns aside. So your assets do not increase. A dividend is a taxation event.
Some will debate this, but it’s true.

The old analogy is a loaf of bread. A dividend is like cutting off a slice, making you pay taxes on it and then giving it back to you. In the end you still have one loaf of bread.

 

[Beachcomber]

How can you count the ways?

4 shopping centers - income as partner
1 franchise - owned for 34 years
SS from my wife and I
Trailer park investment
Inherited Roth
Boat slip rental
Diversified market portfolio
Weekly poker game - friends could be better

 

[rhrihm]

We have several sources for retirement.
* US Army pension
* Federal LEO pension
* VA Disability (Afghanistan)
* Wife's SS
* My SS (waiting until 70)
* Federal Civilian TSP (gov't 401k; no withdrawals yet)
* Federal Military TSP (gov't 401k;no withdrawals yet)
* Brokerage account (no withdrawals yet)

Wife retired in 2010. I retired for the final time in 2017. So far so good!

 

[RobLJ]

It's all IRA (DW) and 403b for us. Period.

I sweep the dividends (which are automatically reinvested required in my 403b, which is a bit of a pain, but I can't change it since it is required), then decide what to sell, usually based on an analysis of different portfolio allocation percentages.

In 18 months, I might start taking my SS at FRA. Depends on how the market does.

I withdraw to the top of the 12% tax bracket, so what is unspent goes into a brokerage taxable account for emergencies or spend the dough. It's tripled the last 7 years, but we only withdrew from it to fund part of buying the RAV Prime 3 years ago. Once DW achieves FRA in 6 years, all our essential spending will be covered by SS, so the last couple years I've started to relax. We made it through the tough part of ER starting 7 yeas ago.

 

[Retired Expat]

I am pretty geeky when it comes to tracking income and expenses. Some may find it tedious, I enjoy it. I update a spreadsheet once a month over a cup of coffee.

I receive my retirement income from the following:
Tax free interest
Taxable interest
Capital gains
Dividends
eBay
Credit card points in cash
Paid research
A part time W2 job
Cash back apps - 2 of them
RMDs from a small inherited IRA
Asset sales - Facebook Marketplace and such

So a total of 11 sources.

How about you?

Well depends how you count them

6 rental properties
1 vacation rental AirBnB earnings
3 properties that can earn Home exchange points
Dividend fund
Bond ladder interest
Tax free IRA investments
Taxable equity investments. Dividend
Taxable Equity investments capital gains
Consulting fees
Payout on property sold where I hold the mortgage (interest/principal and capital gains.

So 17 perhaps. Looking forward to SS and giving up the consulting!

 

[Maidensong]

Multiple Streams of Income

That was the title of the book I read back in 2003 and it changed my way of looking at planning for our retirement. So here are our streams:

Rental income from 10 units
SS for both of us
Small pension for the DH
Taxable Stock account (which we tap only for travel)
DH's IRA (which we won't touch until the DH turns 72)

And here's one I haven't seen on anyone's list:

Royalties from romance novels I've written Monthly sales appear in my checking account from Amazon, B&N, Apple, & Kobo from ebooks. Twice a year, my publishers send royalties from print sales or foreign language sales (my books have been translated and published in German, Dutch, French, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, and Polish.)

 

[Tracer]

-SS which I took at 62
-Monthly payouts from 2 lifetime annuities (SPIA's) I purchased 12 years ago
-Monthly RMD payout from 2 IRA's
-I reinvest all interest and dividends from banks and brokerage accounts so I don't even count that
-Everything else like cashbacks, rebates and gift cards I get is pretty much small change in comparison so I don't count those either.

 

[Time2]

All we have is our savings for now.
That is more than enough. I'm 68, was waiting until 70 for SS, but one of the latest SS threads has me thinking I might take it at 69, I'll be ahead until I'm 81 and if you add growth on the money the first year produces it would be 82. With SS, we will have a WR under 1%.

We need to put concentrated study into the BTD thread!

 

[jfn111]

We have- 2 X SS
My Mega Corp Pension
Her IRA
My 401K
Brokerage Account
1099 Income from my Real Estate sales.

 

[Slipp]

What is a "Small Pension" ?

I'm curious...
For all you lucky Pensioners who have listed a "Small Pension" as one of your sources of income... What is "Small" ? $500/mth... $5000/mth ?

 

[Gumby]

I'm curious...
For all you lucky Pensioners who have listed a "Small Pension" as one of your sources of income... What is "Small" ? $500/mth... $5000/mth ?

Wouldn't that necessarily be a relative rather than an absolute descriptor? For example, if I have a pension of $5000 per month, someone might say that is "large" pension on an absolute basis, but if my other income is $20,000 per month, my pension is only a relatively "small" part of my income.

 

[Slipp]

I was trying to keep it Simple, not Philosophical... just wanted to hear what some Pension $ amounts were out there... Each person can determine if they are small or large based on their finances.

 

[House Divided]

I had not thought of credit card points as an income source before, but last year that amounted to about 750.00. We use CC's for just about everything and pay them off each month. It helps in tracking our budget categories, because we use a different card for groceries, gas/car maintenance, utilities, entertainment/eating out, Insurance and online shopping/miscellaneous.

Pension (100% survivor benefits)
My SS
Wife's SS
CD Interest
IRA Withdrawals
Credit Card Cashback (We use this for Christmas presents)

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

My wife and I have these:

Dividends from stock portfolio (US)
TIAA two lifetimes annuity (US)
Social Security (US)
Inherited Traditional IRA (US), RMDs
Roths and a Traditional IRA (US), but not taking income yet, nor RMDs, reserved for LTHC
Swiss Pension from Employment (Switzerland)
Swiss Social Security from Employment (Switzerland)
Swiss coins spotted on the ground (Switzerland) Hey, I'm not proud!

The stock portfolio produces 45% of our income stream
The others are all fixed income (55%)

-BB

 

[EarlyandLate]

If I look at the $ that goes into my checking account that I pay my living expenses from, I have one source. Dividends from a single Megacorp stock.


The rest of my income is dividends and interest from investments (both pre and post tax).


At the end of this year, I will start to receive a modest pension from that Megacorp. I don't plan to take SS until full retirement age or perhaps age 70.

 

[GaryInCO]

I've essentially been semi-retired, working half-time or less, for about 30 years. Now I'm getting more serious about it.

I hit my FRA a few months ago. I'm (I was?) self-employed and my clients have been slowly disappearing. I intended to work until about FRA, then gradually slow down until 70ish. Then in March I learned my primary client (my meal ticket for over 10 years) was taking their work in-house, kthxbye. So suddenly my income, which had been fading for years, almost vanished. I have another client but their work is sporadic. Sooo, I decided it was time to start SS. I also have health issues that mean it's not a good bet that I'll live past my mid-80's, so there's less incentive to delay SS.

I'm still getting this figured out, but my income sources are:

SS
Two rental properties
Consulting / training gigs
Retirement savings / IRA / etc (Small IRA/Roth, 8x larger taxable)

The SS is inflation-adjusted, and the rentals essentially are too, so I feel comfortable there.

I still have a sizeable mortgage and a hefty car payment. SS & rentals cover everything with a sliver to spare, and for the time being I'll have periodic consulting $$, so I don't expect to tap into savings much. In a few years the consulting $$ will probably fade away, but so will the $1000 car payment, and then I should be in a stable and comfortable situation. Just working to grow my net worth for my two sons.

 

[pacergal]

Two gov't. pensions (both 100% survivor bene)
Two SS
Inherited IRA RMDs (very small)
Inherited Taxable brokerage-small (pull from occasionally)
Future:
DH and my IRAs

 

[PatrickA5]

My SS
Div/Interest from Retirement Accounts.

That's it.

 

[rodi]

Over the last twelve months - most are rather small:

1. Amazon gift cards from the Red Cross for donating blood products
2. Spare change from the ground (found a quarter a few days ago)
3. Credit card points (usually convert to travel somehow)
4. Upside cash back ($5.13 yesterday)
5. Interest
6. Dividends
7. Capital gains
8. Credit card SUBs
9. Credit card cash back
10. My E-R.org sponsorship
11. Gifts
12. Tax refunds (some years I have a negative effective rate)
13. Working as a poll worker
14. Class action lawsuit settlements
15. USAA auto insurance dividends
16. Health insurance gift cards for gym membership which exceed the cost of my gym membership
17. Credit card piggybacking

Several of these, of course, are not technically income but are some sort of refund or rebate. The way I do Quicken though they show up as income.

Later:

18. RMDs
19. SS

I gotta get me one of those er.org sponsorships!

 

[jollystomper]

I was trying to keep it Simple, not Philosophical... just wanted to hear what some Pension $ amounts were out there... Each person can determine if they are small or large based on their finances.

This thread may help you gain information: https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/poll-do-you-have-a-pension-109239.html

 

[rodi]

ok, I'll play...

Main, regular, reliable sources:
* DH's SS
* my inherited IRA RMD
* my tiny pensions (non COLA, $480/month combined... I think that qualifies as tiny)
* rental income from our granny flat/ADU.

We reinvest divs/cap gains in our taxable account so I don't count that but do pay taxes on it.

Misc other, smaller, less reliable income:
* cash back rewards applied towards travel.
* cash back rewards from costco executive and costco citi card.
* jury duty
* found money (laundry when the kids are home, on the pavement, etc.)
* gifts
* savings/checking account interest. (<$40/year)

FUTURE:
My SS (but not for another 8+ years.)

Now if I could monetize that er.org participation like 2ndCor, I'd be swimming in income. LOL

 

[COcheesehead]

I had not thought of credit card points

I would have overlooked credit card cash too, but once I started tracking it, I realized it was over $1100 a year. Not big, but certainly big enough to be spent.

The other surprising category was instant cash rebate apps. They were also over $1100.

 

[Koolau]

I'm curious...
For all you lucky Pensioners who have listed a "Small Pension" as one of your sources of income... What is "Small" ? $500/mth... $5000/mth ?

I've solved the problem of calling it a "small pension." I refer to mine as "modest." More descriptive but no more well defined.

 

[mickeyd]

My SS, DW's SS, Military pension, Corp. pension, DW's teacher pension, VA disability, RMD. and various investment income sources too numerous to list (but not too numerous to spend on good times and top-shelf adult spirits.)

 

[eytonxav]

SS, RMDs from my IRA, interest and dividends from taxable account, DW's small non-COLA pension.