Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[MossRoad]

While the left side of the circle of Baby-boomers wealth is impressive we know in a few decades will have shifted to the people now on the right side. For those of us that grew up as poor farm kids of first generation land owning parents today's this wealth graph seems impossible.

Visualizing $156 Trillion in U.S. Assets, by Generation

We've visualized data from the Federal Reserve to provide a comprehensive break down of U.S. assets by generation.

www.visualcapitalist.com

That chart does not concern me all that much.
We're early 60s baby boomers and have been pretty successful at doubling our net worth every 7 years. The chart shows gen X as having more than half of what the baby boomers do, and they are younger by up to 30 years than the boomers. In about 7 years, they'll have double what they have now, and it'll be more than we had at that age.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

That chart does not concern me all that much.
We're early 60s baby boomers and have been pretty successful at doubling our net worth every 7 years. The chart shows gen X as having more than half of what the baby boomers do, and they are younger by up to 30 years than the boomers. In about 7 years, they'll have double what they have now, and it'll be more than we had at that age.

That is a good point plus they have what we leave them.

My big wakeup call came at age 62 when I checked with SS about signing up due to failing health. It was a sad day. By working another 8 years I have 3X my monthly check size. My wife is drawing off of my account until she turns 70 since our birth years are before 1954. She only gets half of my age 66 benefits while she builds up her account benefits. Now we need to focus staying alive.

 

[newbury]

Now we need to focus staying alive.

That's a good focus 24/7.

 

[riptides]

That is a good point plus they have what we leave them.

My big wakeup call came at age 62 when I checked with SS about signing up due to failing health. It was a sad day. By working another 8 years I have 3X my monthly check size. My wife is drawing off of my account until she turns 70 since our birth years are before 1954. She only gets half of my age 66 benefits while she builds up her account benefits. Now we need to focus staying alive.

You know up until a few years ago, I had forgotten my wife was younger than I.

That put a bump in SS planning as her "retirement" was not the same as my "retirement".

I wonder how may other people may fall into that trap with their calculations.

Staying alive is good, enjoy living is better!

 

[goeduck]

I have both. I feel Fidelity has more products to offer. Plus their market research seems more extensive and super easy to use. Vanguard is slightly lower in fees.

Vanguard is my super aggressive portfolio, high risk, high reward. Fidelity is my conservative outlook. I will probably roll the Vanguard into Fidelity in two to three years time as I attempt to full disengage from the work force.

Fidelity seems to check on me more often via a human being too. I like that reach out. Only heard from Vanguard once since I set the account up many years ago.

If you are paying for a Vanguard advisor, maybe request a different one. My Vanguard advisor schedules future appointments with me at the conclusion of each session and this year we will have 3 meetings. I add it to my calendar at that time and he calls me on the phone, sets up a webex session and off we go. The Fidelity advisor is local (but I have never met him or been invited to) and at the end of each session says that they will reach out to me for the next session. I always seem to be on my tractor when they call and don't hear it. Then we phone tag for sometimes weeks before I talk to them and agree on a day and time. Then my advisor or a specialist (or both) will do my session with a zoom link and invite. I will have 2 sessions with Fidelity this year. So 6 of one and 2 dozen of the other. Fidelity has more people involved and a higher fee. The fee was immaterial in my earlier "comparison" where they were within 1% of each other since I only looked at end results. Vanguard had the 1% better performance over the 2.5 years, negligible.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

You know up until a few years ago, I had forgotten my wife was younger than I.

That put a bump in SS planning as her "retirement" was not the same as my "retirement".

I wonder how may other people may fall into that trap with their calculations.

Staying alive is good, enjoy living is better!

Yes on the enjoy part.

There is confusion about SS even inside the same SS office I found. The day after I signed up to start drawing at 70 the rep called me back to tell me my wife could start drawing off of my account since she had reached her FRA. When she called another Rep told her she would have to draw off her own account. He was a new Rep but the office got him up to speed on old laws. In our case it was like $30K windfall less the income tax thing.

Lots of people think you have to sign up and pay Medicare premiums at age 65 or triggered a penalty. As long as I am on the wife's family and she is still employed we don't have to sign up for Medicare coverage. Should she loose her employment then we will sign up for Medicare Part B. We have Part A since it's free in our case.

SS advice is best received directly from SSA. I cringe at some of the SS advice from McDonald's coffee drinkers.

 

[goeduck]

Yes on the enjoy part.

There is confusion about SS even inside the same SS office I found. The day after I signed up to start drawing at 70 the rep called me back to tell me my wife could start drawing off of my account since she had reached her FRA. When she called another Rep told her she would have to draw off her own account. He was a new Rep but the office got him up to speed on old laws. In our case it was like $30K windfall less the income tax thing.

Whoa, tell me more, tell me more.... PLEASE.. (sorry to use a John Travolta lyric)

I assume you were not dead when they called, and you answered. .

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Whoa, tell me more, tell me more.... PLEASE.. (sorry to use a John Travolta lyric)

I assume you were not dead when they called, and you answered. .

What more you want to know? To get max SS benefits one must not sign up and start drawing their SS before his or her 70th birthday.

 

[old and tired]

What more you want to know? To get max SS benefits one must not sign up and start drawing their SS before his or her 70th birthday.

I need to know more... to lazy to (and I don't trust "financial" people). Might as well get good information from TBN!!!

So, I plan to take my SS at 62 in 6 months, I don't need to (I have pensions and savings) but when else do I plan to actually USE the money?

Regardless, my question is about what you mentioned above "...My wife is drawing off of my account until she turns 70 since our birth years are before 1954...." Is that only for people born before 1954 and my wife, who was born 1962, could not get half of my SS early???

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My SS understanding is you can take it at 62 and must take it by 70 (double check me). The longer you wait the more you get. However! Although my wife & I worked from age 15 to 60, paying in all those years, ours together is enough to buy 1-2 dinners a month . That's because of IRMAA, deduction based on AGI. Basically socialism: the more you pay in before retirement as well as the less income you have after retirement the more you receive regardless of what you paid into it all your working years.
My advice was take it at 62 since the "flipping point" is about 82, meaning if you die before 82...take it early. If you live beyond 82 you should have waited until you were 70 to take it. Not being a gambler we took it at 62 and basically it just pays for Medicare at 65.
My wife gets $23.15/month SS.
I get a bit more but impossible to live on.
It should be taught in high school how to plan for your retirement, not relying on SS.