Retirement Financial Planing

[flashback]

If you're fortunate enough to work for a company that matches your saving plan with a contribution. Can be a good thing.

 

[Jeff J]

This being a boating website/forum, I think we need to factor in boats and boating into our retirement planning. Else, what would be the point of retiring???

The thing is, once you get close to retirement age, there is not much time/room for planning . . . what you see is what you got.

I like the concept but I spend much less time on the boat now that I retired than I did when I was working 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.

 

[bruceb58]

One thing that I tell young people, family & friends, etc about retirement planning, which largely amounts to savings, is that you really want to put away about 12-15% of your income from day 1 for retirement.

I tell them the same thing. My dad told me to max out my 401K from day one...and I did! I retired at 59 but could/should have retires 3 years earlier. I also saved money outside of my 401k and invested it.

 

[alldodge]

Retired at 57, but would have worked longer because I loved what I did, but Fed Govt wanted me to move to NJ, no way!

 

[redneck joe]

This being a boating website/forum, I think we need to factor in boats and boating into our retirement planning. Else, what would be the point of retiring???

The thing is, once you get close to retirement age, there is not much time/room for planning . . . what you see is what you got.

my boat budget and yours are wildly different.....

 

[Pmt133]

Retired at 57, but would have worked longer because I loved what I did, but Fed Govt wanted me to move to NJ, no way!

As someone currently battling this lovely state and how expensive it is... Brilliant, and I mean Brilliant move.

 

[Jeff J]

Works great if there was a 401K to deposit money into. I have never held a job that offered one. Never really held a job where I grossed much over $50K a year either but managed to retire thanks to a modest pension plan. Not much left over after the bills are paid but we don’t need much. I have been mostly debt free for 15 years but took on a mortgage last week. Hoping the old house will pay for the new but may have to refinance if it doesn’t or go back to work if it takes very long to sell.

 

[redneck joe]

yeah we carried a note while ours was listed. Not fun.

 

[tpenfield]

I went semi-retired at 66 y.o. and went fully retired at 68. Waited until I hit 70 to start collecting SS. The Admiral retired at 63, but is waiting for a few years to start collecting SS.

So, far we have avoided the common pitfalls which wreck retirement savings. This year (2026) will be our first year of no wage-earning, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out come April 15th . . .

 

[Jeff J]

My wife wants to collect SS as soon as she becomes eligible next year. I think she should hold off. Her money, her choice. I intend to wait until mine maxes out. It won’t be a lot either way. Unless something has changed, 20 years of my payments into it cannot be collected from. That pretty much just leaves maybe 15 or so years of okay money from being self employed and other low paying employment to collect from.

 

[nola mike]

Crazy where you can save a ton of money if you want to...
I ran a few scenarios about car ownership. 1. Buying a new average priced car every 5 years and financing for my wife and I vs. what we have actually done since 2007 (used Mazda6/VW wagen for her, BMW 330/Mini Cooper JCW for me). Scenario involved taking the money saved from monthly payments/car tax/sales taxes and investing in an S&P 500 index fund. It ended up being $900k difference over that time frame. Buying fancier cars (Mid-range BMW X5s) increased it to $1.3 mil. That's over 17 years.

 

[tpenfield]

We tend to keep our cars for 10-15 years. I always say . . . a paid-off car is like money in the bank

 

[Jeff J]

My truck is a 2008. Wife’s car is a 2014. No plans for swapping them out. I paid off the truck in 2010 but kept sending the payment to a saving account. The balance has grown slowly because, after the truck was paid off, I pay our insurance bills from that account. About 6 years ago I moved about $12K into a brokerage account that is now worth $42K. That’s maybe about a hummingbird size nest egg but better than a goose egg!

 

[redneck joe]

My wife wants to collect SS as soon as she becomes eligible next year. I think she should hold off. Her money, her choice. I intend to wait until mine maxes out. It won’t be a lot either way. Unless something has changed, 20 years of my payments into it cannot be collected from. That pretty much just leaves maybe 15 or so years of okay money from being self employed and other low paying employment to collect from.

I'm with your wife. If you wait, die at 70.5 you didn't get much. If you claim at 62 and die at 70.5, you got a few good years in.

I'm claiming at 62. Wife has 6 years to go with a job and we have essentially been living and saving off her money last few years. She will wait until 70, her family history puts her living until mid to late 80s. Mine, maybe 72. so i'll have 10 years, we have the cash to live off of my ssi until she claims at 70.

 

[alldodge]

My accountant said similar, you don't know how long you will live so we should claim SS as soon as we could. That said, he also knew we didn't need it, but if another needs the extra income to not be scrimping by, waiting may be a better option

 

[redneck joe]

here's a pretty good vid. in my research i came to this conclusion but was not fortunate to have all in one place.

677K views · 10K reactions | Many of you asked for a more detailed exploration of my thoughts on Social Security, so here you go! Hope this helps, and as always, not advice, and do what works for your specific situation. There are some key considerat

Many of you asked for a more detailed exploration of my thoughts on Social Security, so here you go! Hope this helps, and as always, not advice, and do what works for your specific situation. There...

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[tpenfield]

A while back, I did the math and collecting at 70 instead of 65 (ish) had about a 9 year break-even point.
YMMV.

 

[bruceb58]

I collected at 62....because of my investments, it was a simple choice for me.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

I plan on taking SS when I reach full retirement age at 67, I don't need it I have a set up where I will have full pay, benefits, vehicle and expenses till I die. Lake house is trusted for my 2 kids so untouchable if we are in assisted living.