Ok, so we are old and retired. Now what??

[crimsonghost747]

Righty. I have about one more week until freedom. Still some flight chaos but if everything goes according to plan then I'll be home with a beer in my hand watching the Superbowl as a free man. The first couple of weeks will be filled with vacation stuff... and then I'll start worrying about what to do.

Can't wait.

[rayray]

(01-07-2022, 11:42 AM)ken-do-nim Wrote:

(01-07-2022, 11:24 AM)crimsonghost747 Wrote: Well.
The decision is in. From my side that is, now it's up to the employer to figure out when to let me go officially.
But in 5 weeks or less, I'll be done with the "must work for money" lifestyle. I consider it retirement, though as I have mentioned before I am pretty sure that I'll end up taking up a job or two somewhere along the way if something interesting enough comes by.

Feels good. Feels really good.
I have absolutely no idea what I'll do.
Apparently that is the point.

Very exciting!  There's a great big world out there so go explore it.

crazy

good luck!!

[fenders53]

Congrats Crimson. You are probably too young to pull the plug on working forever, but if you can make the rules most years from now on that is an accomplishment. When I retired from the military at 54 I knew I would have to work again but I did some cool adventures for a few years and stayed out of actual retirement funds.

[ChadR]

Congratulations Crimson.

[crimsonghost747]

(02-05-2022, 04:20 PM)fenders53 Wrote: Congrats Crimson.  You are probably too young to pull the plug on working forever, but if you can make the rules most years from now on that is an accomplishment.  When I retired from the military at 54 I knew I would have to work again but I did some cool adventures for a few years and stayed out of actual retirement funds.

Thanks everyone.
Yes that is my plan. I think financially, unless something really wonky happens with my portfolio or my spending habits really change, then I can afford a relatively basic lifestyle without working a single day ever again. But that's not really what I want to do, it's just nice to have that possibility.

I need something productive to keep me busy anyway. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself working in some sort of limited capacity relatively soon. Maybe even later this year? Who knows? But from now on I'll be working because I feel like it, not because it's some sort of an obligation. This isn't about doing nothing, this is about having the freedom to choose what I do.

[cemanuel]

"I think financially, unless something really wonky happens with my portfolio or my spending habits really change, then I can afford a relatively basic lifestyle without working a single day ever again. But that's not really what I want to do, it's just nice to have that possibility."

I called that, "If they really piss me off," money. Not that it meant I'd retire but that I could quit on short notice without having something else set up and live on it for a while.

Different from "FU money." To me that meant I could completely leave the workforce.

[rayray]

(02-06-2022, 07:53 AM)cemanuel Wrote: "I think financially, unless something really wonky happens with my portfolio or my spending habits really change, then I can afford a relatively basic lifestyle without working a single day ever again. But that's not really what I want to do, it's just nice to have that possibility."

I called that, "If they really piss me off," money. Not that it meant I'd retire but that I could quit on short notice without having something else set up and live on it for a while.

Different from "FU money." To me that meant I could completely leave the workforce.

FU money, for me, that would be in the 5 to 6 mil range

i read an article, in silicone valley/tech industry that 10 to 12mil seemed to be the magic number for people to just walk away no matter what age

on a side note i was talking to one of the guys at work and he said he was talking to a client who was having a bad day couple of years, he was of all things a CFO of a fortune 500 company, took out some big zero interest multiple million dollar loans from the company, thought they'd be forgiven but no he had/has to pay them back--AS HE SHOULD!! foreclosed on 4 homes!! and was crying the blues because he was down to his last 10 million in his bank account but owed over 8 million in mortgages yet

idk--i don't feel sorry for the guy and i kept thinking and this guy was a CFO?? how can that happen?? guess living above your means and thinking the gravy train is never going to end--no different then that pro athlete or movie star

[fenders53]

$5-6 million? We have different needs for sure. I am certain I would be giving money away long before I got anywhere near that.

[cemanuel]

i read an article, in silicone valley/tech industry that 10 to 12mil seemed to be the magic number for people to just walk away no matter what age

I disagree though I also think there's a "this depends" factor in it. I have 80% of my budget coming from dividends. So you can immediately divide whatever value figure you come up with by 5 - so long as you can make sales without reducing your income relative to inflation.

Then there's location, lifestyle, etc. I like my present lifestyle and don't plan to change it much except for travel. I live in rural Central Indiana. Whatever number I might come up with would be very different if I lived in, say, San Francisco or Manhattan. Indianapolis is a 30-minute drive, Chicago a bit over two hours and I have a car - that's close enough for me to get my fill of "city" whenever I want.

Anyway, my retirement budget is 20% higher than my highest working salary, I have far less than $10m and I have an ample margin of safety to maintain my retirement cash flows. In fact, I have a chunk of change that I shouldn't ever need to touch until the IRS tells me I have to take RMDs.

Whoever says $10m either lives in a very expensive location or has a much more ostentatious lifestyle than I do, or both. I can take that much and turn it into $300k/year dividend income with a 6% annual growth rate pretty easily. If someone needs that much to live on my hat's off to them but it sure isn't me.

[fenders53]

I think we agree. I know I worked hard and have some financial skills like most others here. I was not put on this earth to obsess over stacking cash to the sky, impress anyone, or work an extra 15 hours trying to achieve an unecessary goal, and then die.

If I was told I only get SS/Medicare and $30-40K/YR from my investments, I could move a short distance and have a happy life. I'd still enjoy my hobbies and not dwell much on a few things I might have to give up. I have more than that thankfully.

I am sure there are exceptions, but in most of the US you can move less than 100-200 miles and not need crazy amounts of wealth.

If I was in my 30s a goal of $2M is probably necessary for an assured comfortable retirement. Unfortunately that is probably unachievable for half the population. Average wage is too low and financial education is grossly deficient.

[ken-do-nim]

I'm still shooting for $3,000,000 @ 5% yield = $150k per year. Of course included in that 5% yield is a representation of annual 401k drawdown, so it's not all dividends. Remember that thanks to inflation $150k in 10 years won't be as hot as it sounds now.

[fenders53]

(02-07-2022, 04:28 PM)ken-do-nim Wrote: I'm still shooting for $3,000,000 @ 5% yield = $150k per year.  Of course included in that 5% yield is a representation of annual 401k drawdown, so it's not all dividends.  Remember that thanks to inflation $150k in 10 years won't be as hot as it sounds now.

Inflation is transitory. 

Nothing wrong with your goal.  It's probably achievable if the market cooperates at all. And if it turns out you only hit $2.5K I think you will figure out how to have a happy life.  That was more my point above.  I realize Silicon Valley salaries are sky high but things can change and I can't imagine thinking I actually need $10-12M.

Just read an article today and supposedly 50% of boomers have next to no investment savings.  Net worth under $200K, and a SS pension.  Only about 1/3rd have employer pensions.  Scary stuff.