public service announcement: organization

[mrfeh]

Thought folks might be interested in this new page on the Boglehead wiki:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Retirement_policy_statement

 

[intent]

That's interesting, thanks for sharing. I've attempted my own versions of this, with limited success (meaning, I can understand what I've done, but whenever I try to show the latest version to DW I'm reminded that it isn't nearly straight forward enough).

 

[steelyman]

Interesting, thanks. I think a snippet is usually encouraged, here’s the intro describing what it’s about:

A Retirement Policy Statement (RPS) is a document designed to clearly lay-out your Retirement Plans, Strategies, and the Tools which will help you over the next 30 years. It is designed to be a living document which will need to be reviewed and revised regularly as goals change, laws are changed, or new challenges are encountered.

 

[JoeWras]

I think these kind of things (also IPS) work well for a lot of people.

I don't connect, however. It seems too much like work, too formal. We leave the formal stuff to the required legal.

I might reconsider my thoughts on this some day, so I'm not against it. Maybe just lazy.

Sometimes on bogleheads people shake down a poster asking what their IPS says. If they ever ask me, I'd have to say: "Nothing" since I don't have one. Informally, in my mind it is "Hold at 50-50 and don't do anything stupid or rash, no matter how bad or good the market looks"

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting, thanks. I think a snippet is usually encouraged, here’s the intro describing what it’s about:

Thank you.

 

[TheWizard]

An IPS/RPS needs to be a dynamic document or concept.
For three or four years before retiring in 2013, I adjusted my allocation to stocks downward a bit, to lessen problems in the event of a stock market crash.

I never had a true IPS, just a few target numbers on a 2" square yellow stickie.
I've been single again for a while, so that simplifies things a bit: no one else to deal with financially.

On retiring in 2013, I had early, but decreasing concerns on how my retirement income would compare with my new, extravagant retirement expenses, mostly travel.

Then after claiming SS at age 70, I've won the game at last and invest all excess retirement income into stock index funds, no bonds or savings accounts.

And still no written IPS/RPS. Fortunately, I have zero tendency to sell any stock funds when indexes are down, aside from sideways transfers for TLH purposes...

 

[Jerry1]

I think these kind of things (also IPS) work well for a lot of people.

I don't connect, however. It seems too much like work, too formal. We leave the formal stuff to the required legal.

I might reconsider my thoughts on this some day, so I'm not against it. Maybe just lazy.

Sometimes on bogleheads people shake down a poster asking what their IPS says. If they ever ask me, I'd have to say: "Nothing" since I don't have one. Informally, in my mind it is "Hold at 50-50 and don't do anything stupid or rash, no matter how bad or good the market looks"

Yeah, I took a quick look at it and thought pretty much the same. The formal stuff is in our legal documents. The rest looked too much like work. It looked like one of those assignments that the new VP gives to all the managers to justify their existence and to help the new VP understand what you do because they somehow got the job without knowing what anyone does. But I digress.

 

[jazz4cash]

My IPS was extremely helpful when i felt oppressed by work, i could see some light down the road. I would never dream of showing it to DW because it would confirm in her mind that i am totally nuts.

 

[Montecfo]

I have not felt the need to write down. But I can see would be helpful in some cases.

 

[Gumby]

Might be helpful for some, but I have never seen a need for the young wife and me to have a formal written plan. I know what needs to be done and how to do it.

 

[mrfeh]

Might be helpful for some, but I have never seen a need for the young wife and me to have a formal written plan. I know what needs to be done and how to do it.

Primary reason I will probably do it is that I am the finance person in the marriage. If I get struck by lightning, the spouse would find such a document very useful.

 

[sengsational]

It's the struck by lightning thing that makes the effort here worth doing. But it seems to me that there's really a different document for that. I recently went over what I do every year (content of this RPS document that I don't have) with DW, who really has zero interest. I kept saying "this is what I do, which is overcomplicated, but you could just..." I don't have any delusions that all my processes will continue after I'm gone. I figured I'd make some conceptual stuff clear and let the implementation details get handled in whatever way seems fit by the survivors. They could use my RPS to some degree, but it's way more complicated than it needs to be. It's a hobby for me now, so I don't mind the complexity.

 

[Gumby]

I am working to simplify and automate as much as possible so that the young wife will have an easier time of it once I'm gone. I am also working on an instruction book for her, which tells her where all the money is and how to get it. But I don't need to write down my retirement goals and activities, which I've been thinking about for decades, or a "giving plan". Nor do I need to be particularly concerned with "metrics." So I would say preparing such a retirement policy statement would just be unnecessary make work


But, as I noted earlier, some people thrive on that sort of forced thinking, and it might be useful for them.