Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[goeduck]

Well I made an appointment to have a web meeting with a Vanguard Senior Advisor. Fidelity pushes you to a local advisor. I have not checked T.Rowe Price yet.

I will settle on either 1 or 2 of them. Ameriprise is out.

 

[ultrarunner]

Fidelity has been missing in action... two appointments cancelled with the first by a note on the door and second by email when he left the firm.

Any thoughts on LASER fund for retirement also known as rich man's Roth?

 

[dmccarty]

Have you settled on a particular boat? I always wanted an RV but that changed about 15 years ago when sailing replaced it. I致e read countless blogs and several years back people started making vlogs (YouTube)

I do worry that world cruising won稚 be normal for some time due to COVID. As an American hopefully at the very least the Bahamas will be welcoming. I could do that for a few years alone.

*edit.. If it were me in your position I壇 consider selling now before the next correction and buy something small that you could rent after you shove off.

As they say in Harry Potter, it is complicated. :laughing:

We first wanted a specific design of trawlers. Still kinda do but the designer died a few years ago so that made things problematic. We had traveled to China to see the yard where many of the boats are built, we have met and talked with many owners, and the designer before he died.

Now we are looking at few sail boat designs. We had planned to visit a builder in the EU last March but that did not happen. The builder is first class and happens to have built two of the designs we like.

We have had sailing classes, have more to do, and we have lived on boats for a couple of weeks. We love the lifestyle. Having said that, sailing is physical, which is a good thing, but could be a problem as we get older. Having said that, we "know" a couple that are around 80 and still sailing. Soooo, we are still interested in sail boats but trawlers are still in play.

Regarding the pandemic, almost certainly we will return to having vaccine "cards" as was used in the days of yore. There is already talk of this in the EU to allow people to cross borders.

Later,
Dan

 

[JethroB]

Well I made an appointment to have a web meeting with a Vanguard Senior Advisor. Fidelity pushes you to a local advisor. I have not checked T.Rowe Price yet.

I will settle on either 1 or 2 of them. Ameriprise is out.

I have been very pleased with Vanguard advisory service. My needs match their philosophy and service level. Note that the level of service increases along with $ amount managed. I believe they used to have decreasing % fees, now it seems all are 0.30% but get more personalized as you go up $ wise.

 

[riptides]

I have both Vanguard and Fidelity. It's complicated. Lol. Vanguard is more aggressive and Fidelity is more conservative looooonnnnggg term. When I sit with them....they both acknowledge the mix and really cannot outdo the other for the particular portfolio.

 

[JethroB]

I have both Vanguard and Fidelity. It's complicated. Lol. Vanguard is more aggressive and Fidelity is more conservative looooonnnnggg term. When I sit with them....they both acknowledge the mix and really cannot outdo the other for the particular portfolio.

Huh, I would have expected the opposite. My only experience with Fidelity was when i shopping for a new administrator (TPA) for our company retirement plan. Fidelity guy was a fast talking sales type that turned us off. We weren't big enough for Vanguard sadly.

 

[goeduck]

Huh, I would have expected the opposite. My only experience with Fidelity was when i shopping for a new administrator (TPA) for our company retirement plan. Fidelity guy was a fast talking sales type that turned us off. We weren't big enough for Vanguard sadly.

I would have thought the opposite as well. My current employer has my 401k at Fidelity so maybe they are into conservative investments if they are chasing 401Ks from multiple companies.

 

[goeduck]

Anyone using T.Rowe Price?.

 

[RickB]

Not I. I've been with Schwab for almost 20 years and after relocating we have consolidated various older accounts by moving them to Schwab. I've been very happy with their breadth of service.

 

[MossRoad]

My 401k is with Fidelity through my past and present employers. 30 something years. The only time I ever met with them in person was 3 years ago when my past employer gave me a lump sum buyout of my pension and I had to sign the papers and make sure I didn't take possession of the funds. We set up a rollover IRA through Fidelity and had the funds deposited in that. They offered us a look-see at our financial situation. I gave them our info and went back a week later with my wife and we went over it with them. Guy had a nice folder for us, went over it all thoroughly, and then said we did everything right and keep up the good work. No changes.

Wife and I left and had a good chuckle.

We do meet with a person from our credit union once a year to go over our investments and get her opinion on how we're doing. It's a free service. She's also very happy with our choices. She has pointed out a few stinkers to us a few times in between annual meetings, so I know she's keeping an eye on the funds that she knows her people are invested in. Great service and free.