Bogleheads.org

I'm withdrawing 4% as I'm not of age to collect pension and SS...once that happen I too will drop to 1% or less.. At the risk of stirring up a hornets nest, I think quite a few folks in the less than 1% group likely have a defined pension and SS to go along with their low withdrawal rate, and a few...

By the way, for the 570 or so who viewed but didn't vote (likely due to not being retired yet), you can see that there are good things waiting for those who follow the path to financial freedom...low cost, buy and hold investing with a decent asset allocation.

With 41 votes cast, I think we're seeing a trend. Almost all retirees voting had a withdrawal rate recently of less than 4%, with a large majority having less than 2%, and with a huge number having less than 1%. I'm a little surprised, but not overly so. Most BHs seem to have lived their lives by li...

Res: Sorry, I could not find an appropriate poll question. I retired in June of 1982 at the age of 57. We had about a $1 million dollar portfolio to last us the rest of our lives. I didn't know about safe withdrawal rates (the Trinity Study wasn't published until 1998). We had no computers, Interne...

sscritic wrote:Where are the negative percentages for those of us who add to our retirement accounts from what is left over from our pensions and social security? If a positive percentage is a withdrawal, a negative percentage would be an addition.

I believe a negative percentage would be less than 1%.

Just wondering. Only count what you withdraw from your actual investment portfolio. Don't count pensions or SS.

I drive a 2005 Nissan Murano, with CVT. It's the best thing since sliced bread, really. Not a single problem as of today. It took a few days to get use to not changing gears, but it's really nice.

I don't think annuities would be a good investment at your relatively young age. On the other hand, you have a huge portfion of you investments tied up in extremely low yielding stuff, too much stuff if you ask me. I would start from scratch. How much do you need over and above SS and pensions? What...

"CashYou're talking about the bimodal income distribution. NALP helpfully has charts on this going back to the class of 2006: http://www.nalp.org/salarydistrib Here is the most recent chart, for the class of 2011: http://www.nalp.org/uploads/PressReleases/2011Curveforweb2.gif Yes, but only aro...

The simple fact is that very few law grads get a job that pays even $100K pre year, even after 5 years of experience. Most law grads end up working for the government at some level, earning between $40K and around $90K. Others end up in small firms, where they can earn from little or nothing up to m...

I think you're close, but a 4% withdrawal rate is not a sure thing. On the bright side, you will be eligible for social security within the next decade, which will help a lot. And they're both high earners, so SS benefits are going to be close to 2000/month EACH... They'll be getting at least $40k ...

They must need a large pool of suckers.

I think this thread reveals that there is a consensus that BigLaw jobs suck. So you don't really want to put yourself in a position where your debt load is so great that you are fighting for one of these coveted high paying jobs that actually sucks. Lesson number one to me is do whatever you can to ...

R-I-P O-F-F

Retired partner here from a large firm. Unless you plan on being in the top part of your class, you aren't likely to get a high paying job, regardless of law school. Personally, I would never advise someone I know to go to law school today. As for summer clerk jobs, they are fewer and further betwee...

Ah, grasshopper!

DOW 100,000. I know it will happen, I just know it.

My ex asked me to do exactly that. Divorce for tax reasons and continue to live as a married couple. I figured that he was not really committed to me if the tax issue was more important. (We made nowhere near $300K/yr) It definitely put a damper on any romantic feelings I had. I agreed to the divor...

I don't carry a cell phone. I do have a $99/year TracFone that I keep in my car in case of an emergency on the road, but I've only used about 10 minutes over the past 7 or 8 years.

Financial porn, and not really good at that.

55% fixed (short and intermediate) and 45% equities (SP500 and Total Market). A 50% drop in equities would still leave you with more than $3M, which isn't a bad fallback position, particularly since equities would make a comeback.

Steve K wrote:My goal number is 2.5m, anything over 2m will meet my retirement needs and wants. Hoping, planning, and on track to be there within 6 years.

Sail on, and good luck.

Higher fees are worth it for the financial advisor and the fund company. Wouldn't want them living in small houses or driving old junkers. I don't know about the rest of you, but the main reason I worked hard, saved and invested is to make sure some financial advisor keeps current with his country c...

I am always surprised in these threads how many plan to have multiple millions (over $2 mil) by 40. By my math even saving $50,000 a year starting at 22 (no easy feat) and earning 7% a year won't get you there by 40 assuming you start with $0. Perhaps we have an inordinate number of NYC investment ...

If she doesn't hate her job, she should seriously consider working until 55. You never know what might happen in the future, but a solid pension can't be beat. If she's a teacher, you already get more than 3 months off a year, counting holidays during the school year.

You are correct in that this is an upper middle class number. I had written upper middle initially, then changed it because most people who are upper middle-class don't think they are. I was trying to adjust "modest" to what I believe someone who reads this board would consider modest. Le...

Here is a simple formula that I introduced in my first book, Serious Money: 1) Figure your annual spending in retirement 2) Subtract annual Social Security and other non-investment income 3) Multiply the remaining amount by 20. That's close to your number. Rick Ferri I'm curious. What asset allocat...

I'm surprised that 3% of households have $2M at retirement. Good to hear, because I thought it would be less. That means that a lot more have at least $1M. Success is good, except in certain circles.

At your age, I would go 100% in the SP500 fund. It has the lowest costs, and it will do just fine when compared to all the other funds. Invest enough to get the match, then pay off your debt. As you mentioned, if you and your parents are willing, take advantage of them for your emergency fund, other...

Rick Ferri writes. I find that most people who have lived an modest middle-class lifestyle can live well in retirement if they accumulate $2 million in an investment portfolio (2012 dollars). The latest numbers I looked at showed that about 3% of American households at retirement have portfolios of...

Having worked with thousands of people to help find their "number" for an investment portfolio, I can make a few observations: Your "number" in saving depends on: 1) the percentage of retirement spending for basic needs, which cannot be reduced, and discretionary which can be re...

Personally, I would stay away from Merrill Edge. I have a MM Savings Account at BOA, where I keep my cash. When I set it up, I told the person at the local bank that I would close the account immediately if I ever receved a call from anyone from Merrill. The old ML, and the new ME, are rip-off artis...

I've been with Vanguard for about 25 years now. Except for the first 2 years or so, I've had the same Flagship Rep the entire time. She works out of their office in Charlotte. Vanguard must be doing something right, because I can't think of many businesses where you see the same person for 25 years.

Get rid of the gold and silver. Stay invested. At your age, you won't have squat when you reach 65 if you jump in and out of the market in response to current events or the opinions of talking heads or financial advisors. It's your money, why not make the most of it.

For equity investing to make any sense at all on a buy and hold basis, then "new highs" need to happen all the time, not just once every 5 or 10 years.

VictoriaF wrote:

ResNullius wrote:The safest thing is to work full-time until you die, then you'll never have to worry about your portfolio running out of money.

What if you never die?

Victoria

You're completely correct. Past performance is not a predictor of future performance.

Reminds me of an article I saw about the things you should do "the year before and after you died."

I'd move $300K to Vanguard short-term investment grade bond fund. If taxes are a concern, then go with the tax-exempt version. Just my two cents.

Boy if you figure out some way to do this automatically for rental cars you will make a fortune. I have "lost" a rental car a few times over the years at some hotel or parking garage and could not find it. That is a real PIA. The worst time was when I rented a white small chevy and parked...

The safest thing is to work full-time until you die, then you'll never have to worry about your portfolio running out of money.

4% was supposed to allow for the stock market fluctuation--for the full range experienced historically, and/or in Monte Carlo simulations. And it was supposed to have enough of a safety margin to be a reasonable planning guide for thirty years into the future. And less than 15 years later they are ...

I've got a 2005 Murano. Best car overall I've ever owned, and I'm 63 years old. It's called a poor man's luxury car.

I read this article earlier today, and I thought there was one major flaw. The data on which the 4% SWR is based includes the 30 and 40 year periods following the start of the Great Depression. It's hard to imagine that current or anticipated future events, other than a total financial collapse arou...

So, if you are taking RMDs and don't need the money, but want to keep some or all for your use or for your heirs, then you should pay the taxes and reinvest in either tax-exempt bonds or tax-efficient equity funds. In order to best reduce AGI and MAGI, the use of tax-efficient equites would seem bes...

I just read the underlying article. Wow, it was a well written and informative article, with virtually no junk on the side, which is a little amazing in this day and age. It seems to cover the question completely.

To the OP. You originally mentioned that you want to finish your undergrad degree and possibly get a PhD. If you go the PhD route, there's a decent chance you'll be at least in the running for a fellowship, which would pay your tuition, fees, and a stipend. This is what my son is doing right now. He...

Is it possible to have distributions from bond funds or stock funds transferred directly from the underlying accout to your personal bank account? Vanguard has a procedure for setting up a transfer for money from Vanguard to your bank, but I'm not sure whether it only works for money being transferr...

My father in law spent the winter of 1944/1945 camping out in southeastern Belgium. It was very cold and some Germans were shooting guns at him and his buddies. He has not wanted to leave the U.S. since his return from that expedition (68 years) and would never willingly purchase anything "Made...

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who sometimes has trouble finding their car.

I'm going to neet to get a new computer in the not to distant future. Question #1: Is the machine failing? I want to use my remaining AmEx Reward Points, and I have almost 300K points. Question #2: Are the points expiring? Anyway, I've been thinking about the iMac. Question #3: How is this related ...