surprised today

[Mulligan]

And yet......, DW was a teacher and IMHO the most clueless about 403b investments were teachers, a friend founded the 403(b)wise web site, even with data and presentations its hard to get through about investing for a lot of otherwise educated people.

For me a 403b was worthless. Due to our pension system and escalation of pension from final 3 best years, I retired with pension into the top tax bracket I was working in. So most of the years I would have got a ~15% tax deduction just to pay ~24% tax when withdrawing. And the fees were horrendous back in the day also.

 

[rt-texas]

Have cousins by marriage that are 69 (she) and 67 (he) I believe I remember. She's retired 100%. He worked a city utilities job for years, retired, now works for another city in a library position. Both can draw SS, have contributed to it.

Shocked we were retiring mid 50's. Said they couldn't fully retire until the both had SSI income.

When I asked about SSI they said neither were going to claim until each was 70 because they got the most money that way. I asked if they knew "file and suspend"? No clue.

Wife finally kicked me under the table and gave me "that" look. So I shut up.

They're basically raising three grandkids and have a 30ish son still living in his bedroom and works occasionally. Have hinted that if we have enough to retire early that maybe we could loan them enough to buy a new "used" car because they can't get a loan evidently.

So yep, some clueless people out there.

 

[REWahoo]

I asked if they knew "file and suspend"? No clue.

Wife finally kicked me under the table and gave me "that" look. So I shut up.

Smart lady. File and suspend went away in 2015.

https://www.thebalance.com/file-and-suspend-spouse-social-security-strategy-2388922

 

[rt-texas]

But they could have back then before it was phased out. Old enough. Sorry didn't express myself well.

 

[MissMolly]

But they could have back then before it was phased out. Old enough. Sorry didn't express myself well.

Actually, no, I don't think they could have. She may have been old enough, but if he is only 67 now, he could not have done anything. They would have both had to be full retirement age to do file and suspend. He would have only been 64.

 

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

"Now that I'm 50, I decided it was time to sign up for the 401k,".

this makes me nauseous. Thank the 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn infant baby Jesus that I started saving soon out of college.

 

[harley]

They do absolutely none (zero) onboarding counselling for new DOD employees and ive onboarded with 3 diff dod agencies. You take a civilian oath and fill out I9 and tax paperwork. My friend in HR said they are forbidden from doing any type of benefit counseling. They will give you the websites for health/dental/vision options and tsp(401k equiv). Never heard of any type of retirement counseling/estimates etc other than what you can find online if you're smart enough to find your file. Interestingly also, no annual reviews follow you if you change (say from air force civilian to maby civilian). You're a new baby on probation with zero reviews on file. The good news is it doesnt matter because they have zero to do with promoting. also all the estimates i found even TSP work under the assumption you continue to work a super long time.

Luckily I've been FIREd for so long that I have absolutely no idea what onboarding means. Ah, blissful ignorance!

 

[Gumby]

Luckily I've been FIREd for so long that I have absolutely no idea what onboarding means. Ah, blissful ignorance!

Just another example of people creating nonsense verbs. Onboard is an adjective - e.g. an onboard computer - not a verb. One does not onboard. I see the same process at work in the use of gift as a verb - "He gifted them a new car." Wrong. To give is the verb. Gift is a noun or an adjective. It should be "He gave them a new car."

English is a rich and wonderful language, with an immense vocabulary. There is no need to invent nonsense words.

 

[target2019]

Onboarding is in the dictionary.

"The process of bringing a new employee on board, incorporating training and orientation."

Language evolves as most human contraptions do.

 

[steelyman]

I see the same process at work in the use of gift as a verb - "He gifted them a new car." Wrong. To give is the verb. Gift is a noun or an adjective. It should be "He gave them a new car."

Gifted to the language by Seinfeld?

 

[racy]

.... Another thing that caught me off guard was the comments from so many of the attendees. So many of them seemed clueless regarding most of the topics. Social security, 401K's (TSP for the gov folks), insurance, etc....

This is the same crowd that'll be at one of those free steak dinners to hear the annuity sales pitch.

 

[Gumby]

Onboarding is in the dictionary.

"The process of bringing a new employee on board, incorporating training and orientation."

Language evolves as most human contraptions do.

If the dictionary is a record book rather than a rule book, I suppose that would be the case. That doesn't make it any less stupid.

You can add an Académie Anglaise to my dream world.

 

[goingtotravel]

Fed here, DH is also a fed. Have never and will never attend a retirement seminar but have been studying our benefits for years and seem to know more than every person I've talked to in my office. Sadly not surprised about the level of knowledge of people attending those seminars. Have a few co-workers that retired in the last couple of years and none of them even knew the total amount that they would be getting in pension payments. Kind of blew my mind that someone would turn in retirement paperwork without knowing if they could survive financially.

 

[target2019]

If the dictionary is a record book rather than a rule book, I suppose that would be the case. That doesn't make it any less stupid.

You can add an Académie Anglaise to my dream world.

Language does change and evolve, even when we don't want it to. I'll side with Webster's. Onboarding is a word I hear around the office. It's not something I'd get angry about.

 

[stephenson]

Participating in the occasional educational seminar still seems reasonable, unless one does truly already know everything.

 

[jazz4cash]

Fed here, DH is also a fed. Have never and will never attend a retirement seminar but have been studying our benefits for years and seem to know more than every person I've talked to in my office. Sadly not surprised about the level of knowledge of people attending those seminars. Have a few co-workers that retired in the last couple of years and none of them even knew the total amount that they would be getting in pension payments. Kind of blew my mind that someone would turn in retirement paperwork without knowing if they could survive financially.

My wife is a Fed but has little interest in studying the details so I try to keep up. I think one of the big issues is the time required to verify pension amounts which doesn’t happen until the paperwork is submitted.

Question for you.....are the annual estimates reasonable estimates of the pension amount? I guess no one bothers to read them.

 

[jimbee]

All words are invented.

 

[stephenson]

It is a goofy word, but inventing words is something Americans have always done.

 

[isisdave]

Sadly, people like Gumby's blissfully-ignorant colleague also tend not to get regular medical checkups. Some folks just have a mindset that "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it" or "I can't do much about it anyway."

If she's in that group too, she may not need much retirement.

 

[scrabbler1]

Onboarding is in the dictionary.

"The process of bringing a new employee on board, incorporating training and orientation."

Language evolves as most human contraptions do.

Onboard as a verb was just added to the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary this year (OSPD6) and the Official Word List for club and tourney play.

 

[FireFool]

If the dictionary is a record book rather than a rule book, I suppose that would be the case. That doesn't make it any less stupid.

You can add an Académie Anglaise to my dream world.

I for one am glad that other people than you allow for the language to evolve. I would very much hate to still use the vocabulary that was forced upon me in my high school British Literature course - I considered it then, and still do, as being all gobbledygook (although I am also appreciative of the fact being retired that I no longer have to tolerate daily corporate-speak).

 

[harley]

Sadly, people like Gumby's blissfully-ignorant colleague also tend not to get regular medical checkups. Some folks just have a mindset that "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it" or "I can't do much about it anyway."

If she's in that group too, she may not need much retirement.

While I don't really care if people invent new words, I absolutely don't see how not knowing about one that appears to be related only to the working world while I've been retired for 13 years results in thinking that I don't have regular medical checkups. That leap of something other than logic is just stupid. Another word in the dictionary.

Also, Harley has always been a male name until the Joker's girlfriend came along. I'm old enough to be grandfathered in on that one.

 

[Gumby]

While I don't really care if people invent new words, I absolutely don't see how not knowing about one that appears to be related only to the working world while I've been retired for 13 years results in thinking that I don't have regular medical checkups. That leap of something other than logic is just stupid. Another word in the dictionary.

Also, Harley has always been a male name until the Joker's girlfriend came along. I'm old enough to be grandfathered in on that one.

I think isisdave was referring to the woman in my office who I described in Post #8.

 

[target2019]

I for one am glad that other people than you allow for the language to evolve. I would very much hate to still use the vocabulary that was forced upon me in my high school British Literature course - I considered it then, and still do, as being all gobbledygook (although I am also appreciative of the fact being retired that I no longer have to tolerate daily corporate-speak).

I received a decent education in English, and had Latin and Spanish in catholic high school. I read El Cid in Spanish while in college. So I appreciate language, and work with grammar and technical word questions daily. I'm not a word snob, though, and can go along with whatever youse wanna do.

 

[harley]

I think isisdave was referring to the woman in my office who I described in Post #8.

Ah, I was misled by the blissfully ignorant part of the post as those were the words I used.