Bogleheads.org

Thanks. I also have just FZROX at Roth IRA which has no ER and is the replica of VTSAX. Also, have VTSAX in my taxable. So all in all I am 100% U.S total stock market in my entire portfolio. So I am doing well with managing ER’s Thoughts? Yes! :beer Why is the point of having international exposure? That’s always one of the hot debates on these forums. You certainly could consider the S&P 500 contingents that have a percentage of international sales as some coverage, or even “enough” coverage. That meets the needs for some, but not for others. Currency differences, GDP, the business cycle, governments, etc factor in as well. Our household’s stated goal is to keep 15% percent in international stocks. You can read plenty of discussion on...

Raycpact wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 8:04 am

LadyGeek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 7:12 am Before this discussion goes further into tithing perspectives of different religions, please remember that religious discussions (and quotes of religious texts) are off-topic. Please stay focused on the financial aspects.

In BH speak, tithing would be a subcategory of legacy planning. As such for me and maybe others it's not a extravagance.

Or simply just talk about it as a weekly/monthly/annual expense within their budget for those who do tithe. That's how we view it.

CyclingDuo

Vanguard User wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:49 amThanks. I also have just FZROX at Roth IRA which has no ER and is the replica of VTSAX. Also, have VTSAX in my taxable. So all in all I am 100% U.S total stock market in my entire portfolio. So I am doing well with managing ER’s Thoughts?

Yes!

What do I pay attention to in that link? In your particular case, the section entitled: Approximating total stock with two funds https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52769876851_709a7e3db8_z.jpg https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Approximating_total_stock_market As you see in the visual above from the link I provided in the previous post, regarding Vanguard's funds it is the S&P 500 Index fund at 85% and the Vanguard Small Cap Index fund at 15%. That is the closest representation of your two new Fidelity funds for approximating the Total US Stock Market Index Fund. CyclingDuo I had FXAIX 85% and VSCPX 15% so that was closely equal to VTSAX? Yes, what you had was closely equal to VTSAX by way of approximating it using the two funds you had ...

If I was on my own, I'd probably set the thermostat just warm enough to make sure the pipes don't freeze - I have zero issues with cold. We also totally turn it off about an hour before bedtime and then I turn it back on in the morning. It's a lot more comfortable to sleep. Research suggests "ideal" sleeping temperature ranges from high 50's to high 60's, depending on the individual. It often gets well below 60 in our home overnight, and that's how we like it. Keep in mind while the entire house is set at 60, they are - during Winter - mainly spending their time in two rooms that I imagine are heated above 60 degrees... To save on heating bills, the Joneses turn down the thermostat to 60 degrees in winter and mainly live in two r...

What I can say is that they have been dealt some difficult health issues, but manage. The church family is a big part of the their lives and tithing is simply something that makes them happy. It is always given anonymously and the church wouldn't even know its source. Certainly nothing to be sad about. The house is old, drafty, huge and a great gathering place for family. We have been trying to convince them to downsize for health and financial reasons, but it holds a lot of memories for them. The sad part for me is knowing that poor advice and panic in 2008 along with subsequent inaction resulted in a permanent loss of retirement funds. All in all despite health and financial missteps, they are happy with lots of loving family around them...

Vanguard User wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 1:11 amWhat do I pay attention to in that link?

In your particular case, the section entitled:

Approximating total stock with two funds

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Approxi ... ock_market

As you see in the visual above from the link I provided in the previous post, regarding Vanguard's funds it is the S&P 500 Index fund at 85% and the Vanguard Small Cap Index fund at 15%. That is the closest representation of your two new Fidelity funds for approximating the Total US Stock Market Index Fund.

CyclingDuo

Hello. I work for a big corp and have a traditional 401k through Fidelity but the funds I was invested in was changed on 8/8/22. Old investment: Fidelity® 500 Index Fund Ticker: FXAIX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.0150% (85% allocation). Old investment: Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Institutional Plus Shares Ticker: VSCPX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.03% (15% allocation). New investment: Spartan® 500 Index Pool Class F Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.0075% (85% allocation). New investment: Small Cap Index Fund Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.028% (15% allocation). It picked the closest fund to put in from old to new and does have a lower ER. Should I stick to these funds and allocation? I chose the old 2 funds and allocations based on...

Hello. I work for a big corp and have a traditional 401k through Fidelity but the funds I was invested in was changed on 8/8/22. Old investment: Fidelity® 500 Index Fund Ticker: FXAIX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.0150% (85% allocation). Old investment: Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Institutional Plus Shares Ticker: VSCPX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.03% (15% allocation). New investment: Spartan® 500 Index Pool Class F Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.0075% (85% allocation). New investment: Small Cap Index Fund Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.028% (15% allocation). It picked the closest fund to put in from old to new and does have a lower ER. Should I stick to these funds and allocation? I chose the old 2 funds and allocations based on...

I was sad to see that one couple are donating $400/month to their church. Meanwhile, in the winter, they confine themselves to two rooms in their home and set the thermostat to 60F. While I'm not judging their choice, it seems like they cannot afford to do this. I hope folks from there church see this article and advise them to cut back, but I doubt that will happen. That works out to 9.1% of their SS/Pension income. I guess I wouldn't use the term sad to describe their devotion to tithing. However I would agree that they could certainly explore tithing a lower amount if striking a better balance would meet their needs. The 13 room Victorian home with the high ceilings way up on the Canadian/Maine border that experiences cold winters certa...

Hello. I work for a big corp and have a traditional 401k through Fidelity but the funds I was invested in was changed on 8/8/22. Old investment: Fidelity® 500 Index Fund Ticker: FXAIX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.0150% (85% allocation). Old investment: Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Institutional Plus Shares Ticker: VSCPX Gross Expense Ratio: 0.03% (15% allocation). New investment: Spartan® 500 Index Pool Class F Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.0075% (85% allocation). New investment: Small Cap Index Fund Ticker: N/A Gross Expense Information: 0.028% (15% allocation). It picked the closest fund to put in from old to new and does have a lower ER. Should I stick to these funds and allocation? I chose the old 2 funds and allocations based on...

“Buy when others are fearful”. Does it make sense to back up the truck to sector funds such as financials? Seems like a good time to get a huge discount. You might have to sit on it until it rebounds but you would do that with any holding. What would having 10-15% of portfolio in this matter as far as the downside. Could go down more. If it does just DCA into it. Is this any worse or riskier than holding something such as a REIT fund at these percentages? What does that mean for all of us home gamers? Err on the side of caution by buying your investments out of each and every paycheck over the course of your working career. That's the strategy that gives most of us a solid three to four decades of being able to capture plenty of purchases ...

Backroads4Me wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:17 pmHe is a healthy 81 and mom is 80 and bed ridden after a stroke last year. Dad lost some money in the start market 40 years ago and has literally refused to have anything to do with it since then.

Glad he has been covered by the pension and SS.

Always curious about these stories of “losing money in the market 40 years ago and refusing to have anything to do with it since”. Was it a single stock? Or group of stocks? How did he avoid 40 years of investing with all of the news over the past 4 decades regarding investing?

Pretty amazing returns were missed from 1983 to 2023. Oh well, was just curious what it was that happened back in 1983 to keep him far and away from equity investing all these years…

It’s important to learn lessons from current events in the financial world. Just wondering where we as Vanguard investors are at risk in the current state of financial affairs of the banks. The bond holders got wiped out in the UBS Credit Suisse deal for example. Are investors in Vanguard high yield/junk bond funds on the hook for a significant loss on the deal? Was Vanguard invested in those bonds? Will Vanguard come clean and tell shareholders? Where else might we be at risk and not know it? You previously wrote... I am 70 years old and just started collecting Social Security and my two pensions this month. I am still working part-time and also have rental income from a condo I rent. My annual income from SS, pensions, pt work and rental...

DS03 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:16 am
You are fine with the switch to VBILX. It is close enough to the old fund not to worry about the differences. I would keep your allocations the same personally. It might even be helpful to have the mix of both of them in your portfolio.

Thanks.

After spending the weekend studying VBILX, I agree that the switch will be fine.

If I don't sell my stocks, then my monthly payment including taxes and insurances will be around $5500 and I may have to work more days and nights just to keep up with payments . I just can't seem to make a decision whether selling my investments to pay more for downpayment vs working more to keep up with mortgage payment and not sell my investments... :( Thank you in advance for your insight! Removing the issue of selling investments for a larger downpayment, if you have to increase your workload to afford the house, then the price is out of your range to purchase at this time. You will be "house poor". If you sold your investments to increase your downpayment, how much of a downpayment would that be and what would the monthly p...

Total bond VBTLX includes mortgage-backed securities, of which roughly a third are GNMAs. Another difference is that VBILX holds intermediate bonds only, while VBTLX achieves an intermediate average duration but also holds short-term and long-term instruments. Older thread I am responding to, but I am responding with a question due to my spouse's plan switching all participants within the plan from VBTLX to VBILX next month. Is it okay to assume that they are similar enough funds that for her tax deferred plans (403b and 457b) bond coverage (she keeps 30% in VBTLX in one plan and 40% in the other) it will more or less be a wash? CyclingDuo Historically higher returns with higher volatility, good risk-adjusted returns, and the same correlat...

If I don't sell my stocks, then my monthly payment including taxes and insurances will be around $5500 and I may have to work more days and nights just to keep up with payments . I just can't seem to make a decision whether selling my investments to pay more for downpayment vs working more to keep up with mortgage payment and not sell my investments... :( Thank you in advance for your insight! Removing the issue of selling investments for a larger downpayment, if you have to increase your workload to afford the house, then the price is out of your range to purchase at this time. You will be "house poor". If you sold your investments to increase your downpayment, how much of a downpayment would that be and what would the monthly p...

Northern Flicker wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:16 pm Total bond VBTLX includes mortgage-backed securities, of which roughly a third are GNMAs.

Another difference is that VBILX holds intermediate bonds only, while VBTLX achieves an intermediate average duration but also holds short-term and long-term instruments.

Older thread I am responding to, but I am responding with a question due to my spouse's plan switching all participants within the plan from VBTLX to VBILX next month.

Is it okay to assume that they are similar enough funds that for her tax deferred plans (403b and 457b) bond coverage (she keeps 30% in VBTLX in one plan and 40% in the other) it will more or less be a wash?

CyclingDuo

02nz wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:58 am Anyone know what's going on with VIOV (Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF)? Its NAV dropped by about half at open. That doesn't seem right even if there's an upcoming distribution. The NAV of Vanguard's other small-cap value ETF, VBR, is about where it was yesterday. IJS, which I believe is iShares' equivalent to VIOV, is also about the same as yesterday.

Share split...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vanguard ... 00392.html

Add your name to this Wonderful Retirement Roll Call, post your R-date and age, get ready for punch-out day, and please share with us your exciting glidepath into retirement. We enjoyed joining your banquet table at the conference in Chicago, Miriam2! Oh for sure we had a great dinner table! We were pretty well behaved and never banned :D Half of CyclingDuo is retiring this year. My wife will join the 2023 retirement roll call at age 65 1/2 in June. Congratulations! And Welcome to this Most Extraordinary Retirement Roll Call for 2023 and to all the benefits attached hereto (and trust me, there are many great benefits :beer Her exciting glidepath into retirement? I'm not sure I can pedal to keep up with her anymore, but her glidepath into r...

InvestorHowie wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:37 pm Sharing this link as the annual update just dropped in the past few days. I always enjoy diving into this document as I learn something new from it each year.

To View Online
Direct PDF Download

Enjoy!

Thanks for posting.

I like some of the nice additions to the Guide this year! It's always a nice trove for planning.

That being said--the annualized USD dividend yield on a global stock portfolio is going to be something like 2% these days (note the US-only dividend yield is lower, something like 1.7%). If you invest in a global stock portfolio and set a withdrawal rate of 2%, that of course is an extremely "safe" withdrawal rate. So it "works" in the sense that your withdrawal rate is really low. And in fact, if you have a really low withdrawal rate anyway (say you want to leave a large inheritance), you may well find yourself mostly just withdrawing the dividend income despite that not being a per se goal of your plan. Agree with your comments as to the why it "works" . Due to the yield being low enough that just taking di...

I was recently gifted some money through two demand promissory notes. I can keep the money in both accounts, collecting interest based on the fixed rate of the 5-year US treasury bond (currently 4%). Interest would be paid out yearly, which I would be taxed on. I would not be taxed if I pulled the money out. It would generate more money to pull it out and invest vs leaving it in the account, collecting interest payments, and then investing. The most I can take out between the two notes in year 1 is roughly $200k, year 2 $97k, year 3 $97k, year 4 $97k etc. In total the two notes equal roughly $700k. I am 34, married with 2 kids. Our mortgage rate is 2.75% with 290k left. Vehicle loan is 2.45% with 20k left. I am currently maxing out my 401k...

Beensabu wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:15 pmFrequency? Duration? How long has it been part of your lifestyle?

Yes, I (and we) do go for walks.

At least one, if not two dog walks per day. 1.7 miles per walk. Been doing that for 20 years. Only skip the really bad weather days (deep snow, heavy rain).

I walk 30-40 minutes per day 5X a week during my lunch hour at work. Been doing that for the past 5 years. Can walk inside or outside, so weather is not a factor. Prior to the past 20 years, we lived in major cities where we took public transportation and walked several miles each and every day. So, I guess from 1985 to 2023 it has been a part of our lifestyle.

Now, if you want to ask about how many hours and miles we put in on our bikes...

CyclingDuo

7 days in Europe (9 days travel) in early summer. -DW, 2 teenage daughters and 1 teenage 10 year-old. -Focus is food, cultural experience (rare time before eldest heads off to college) -considering France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy Was planning on Rome, but would appreciate suggestions! What's your family history? As in what country did your family emigrate from? What about war? Any relatives that were involved in either WWI or WWII? I wouldn't rule out two of the most beautiful European countries that you did not mention - Austria and Switzerland. We would skip England as being on the list (sorry if that offends anyone). We've traveled extensively through France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium,...

hudson wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:45 amI never do extended warranties or the like...except I now have AppleCare. I want to make one phone call and have a replacement phone on the way.

We do too. In particular, it's the AppleCare+ with Theft & Loss that offers the best protection if one is worried about losing their phone or having it stolen. We travel a lot, so buy the coverage on our phones just in case.

I was looking at the lifetime income from social security site and comparing to networth. Is financial effectiveness a function of Net worth / lifetime earning? If so, mine is around 45% in my 50s. One can increase this effectiveness by better earning, better savings, better investments returns, accrual time? What's yours thoughts? How does this change with age? What can we learn from this? This is actually my 49th year of earning income according to SS. Sure, the jobs I had during the years as a kid and in high school/college are low contribution numbers, but they are right there on my record. Income as a musician, driving range attendant, short-order cook, fried chicken cook, stocking shelves, and painting houses all filled my formative ...

james22 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:02 amRemember, in 1999, an S&P 500 index fund did offer diversification benefits. You owned 500 stocks. But when everyone owns the same 500 stocks, there are no diversification benefits. It’s essentially as if all investors were piled into[/i] one stock.

https://www.mauldineconomics.com/the-10 ... qus_thread

Click on the link of one of his other articles and notice his first sentence...
https://www.mauldineconomics.com/the-10 ... -decisions

"I’m a trader, so take all this with a grain of salt."

Pass the salt shaker please.

Greetings, DH and I are planning a trip with family to Europe in May/June. My SIL is planning the first part of our trip around Italy: Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast, then back to Rome. However, we will be staying longer than they will and I'm trying to get some ideas for the second leg of our trip (to last about 11 days). I'm thinking that we can start in Milan, spend a few days there, take a train to Zurich and rent a car. From there, we could drive west to Basel, then cross into France and drive north on the French side of the Rhine River. From there, cross over at Strasbourg, then drive back down the German side and come back to Zurich, where we will fly home. We are trying to avoid excessive walking due to some physical limitations , but ...

I think it's a short-medium term risk. Wife plans to be at a full-time position (~60K/year position) around time we would need to make first mortgage payment (June). Ah, well that's a bit of a horse of a different color compared to the current $85K + $20K. Going with the more liberal version of mortgage affordability being 28% of gross... $85K + $60K = $145K gross 28% of gross = $40,600 (could cover a mortgage of $3383 a month) Going the other direction to take the more conservative view - as in the Ramsey Solutions Group - would be quite a bit tighter... No more than 25% of your take home pay goes to cover a mortgage. https://www.ramseysolutions.com/real-estate/how-much-house-can-i-afford?campaign_id=857638515&adgroup_id=81606987812&a...

I know this is all personal preference, but just looking to take a poll and see how others would handle this. I have 3 kids (14, 12, 11) and we have been pretty diligently saving for college for their entire lives. I checked the balance today and we have roughly $232K in total saved for the 3 kids. I use the calculators and it tells me I'm close to funding 70% of the cost of a state school for all 3 kids (tuition only). My oldest is very smart, will do all honors/AP in HS, very diligent. Younger ones are smart too, but too early to tell what HS tract they will be on. Really have no clue on the college process and how easy it is to get scholarship money and whatnot. I know there is still room/board, but people also tell me that the "st...

4) For investments in future years, I would assume that as long as she continues to use the FEIE on her US tax return, a taxable investment account is the best option? Yes, taxable is one of the options. The other option, which we used based on a suggestion from our CPA while we lived and worked overseas for many years, is Fidelity's Personal Retirement Annuity. The money goes in after tax, and is tax deferred until you pull money in retirement when only the gains are taxed as ordinary income. You can begin pulling at age 59 1/2, but there are never any RMDs. https://www.fidelity.com/annuities/FPRA-variable-annuity/overview Caveat being, one pays a 0.25% administrative fee on balances below $1M (0.10% over $1M) on top of the underlying ind...

cbox wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:52 amMy long-time tax preparer just retired at 78. After every tax season, though, he jetted off to Paris or his other residence in Jamaica for extended periods of R&R. I suspect that he basically worked intensely from February through April most years and left the rest of the "small stuff" of running the business to his staff.

That kind of life probably makes a huge difference in when one decides to "retire."

Those of us who had careers that included having 2-3 months off in the summer, a 10 day Spring Break, about 2-4 weeks during the December/January holidays can attest to that. It was like practicing mini-retirement each and every year throughout a multi-decade working career.



CyclingDuo

passive101 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 11:51 pm This is the first year I’m doing taxes on a tablet. I know I can’t use the most basic form of the software. I have a 401k, Roth IRA, HSA, taxable investment account, and crypto. Should I use the iPad app or the website? Does the app version have all the features of the website?

I notice on the iPad when it runs low on memory it refreshes and loses things in the browsers. It happens with Brave, Chrome, and Safari. That makes me a little nervous to use for taxes since I’ll be switching apps and websites for forms and such.

Download the Turbotax App for iPad!

Thanks to all who have posted, especially those to whom I have not replied individually. I would remind everyone that the purpose of the story is not really to diagnose errors made by Mom and Dad. The purpose is to help you think through your retirement income planning by dramatizing the impact of unexpected longevity. To make this concrete, please re-read longinvest’ posts and consider the following contemporary example. 1. In early 2023, you are a couple in their mid-60s who can reasonably expect retirement income of $70,000 if you retire (somewhat early) tomorrow. Your income sources are a mix of fixed pension (call it $25,000), social security ($30,000), and income from investments ($15,000). You have $300,000 to $400,000 in savings/in...

I'm ready to retire financially but am having trouble pulling the trigger. Reasons: job is fine. Income is nice. And not really sure what I want to do with myself in retirement. But I fear that with this set of circumstances, I could well stay stuck in place until I'm dead. You often don't get a warning sign, after all, that the end is near, and if you do, you probably won't have much energy to travel or explore yourself in retirement. Colleague of mine is a case in point. Kept coming to work until 70. Heart attack. Triple bypass, and now he's just home, all the time. Anyone else find themselves in my situation and retire anyway--by forcing yourself, if necessary? If so, how did it go, and how did what you found compare with what you expec...

I am just currently not investing in the taxable account as I am focusing solely on saving up for my house down payment. I will in the future when my income increases and I can easily max the Roth out each year and have a house so any extra income can be invested in the taxable as another way to make money long term. I see your point regarding just moving that money into a money market, CD, high yield, etc as it is just sitting there. However, the money is invested in the S&P 500 Index Fund so over 20 years or more, just having that $5,000 will grow to way more if I do not even touch it due to compound interest and the end of the year dividend that gets reinvested. So that is another reason I really never sell anything of that nature. ...

Energy prices have been forced higher, driving inflation. The Fed doesn’t control energy policy which is why higher rates have had a negligible impact. $210 in S&P 500 earnings with a fairly rich 16 multiple = 3,360. We’re going much lower. Maybe a rate cut in December but that’s because the economy will be on life support. Cash is king for the next several months. Is this accurate? You scaring me . NYStrip has been posting similar posts since joining the BH forums. A bear market is a feature of the market. Rather than being scared of it, just keep on with your regular contributions week in and week out, or bi-weekly, or monthly (however your paychecks are distributed) on automatic pilot during your decades of accumulation. https://www...

2.5M is much more than you or most posting here realize. They are arguing if you are or are not set for life. Frankly its possible it is more than the net present value of your entire working career, and at the very least is in the same order of magnitude. Let that sink in, that pile of money is worth more or less then same as your entire career. Learning everything you can about finance and investing is more important than finding a job right now. Manage it well and you never need to work, manage it poorly, and you will be broke in no time. I disagree regarding the insurance. I think the purchase of umbrella insurance was indeed a very wise choice to protect the OP's financial assets. Regarding lifetime earnings, keep in mind the OP said ...

Don't forget that (many) workers automatically save 6.2% of their own salary every month into Social Security, and employers contribute an equal amount. How to count this is hard to say, particularly whether the employer's contribution is part of your gross income, but it is automatic retirement savings and it is roughly 12% or so of what might be your gross income otherwise. This became very clear to me in the years when I was self-employed and had to pay it myself! This is the genesis of the debate. We can't even agree on the definition of saving and gross income. It's hard to extract meaningful information out of saving % based on gross income. Let's say your salary is $100,000. Let's round up SS tax employee portion 6% to be $6,000 and...

ddurrett896 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 9:22 am John Goodman said it best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI

One must counter that with the excellent JL Collins version promoting Vanguard's Total Stock Market Fund and Total Bond Fund:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eikbQPldhPY

Hello bogleheads, I am 22 years old and very recently received a $2.5 million dollar windfall due to the death of someone I love in my family. Not taxable based on my research and the circumstances (meeting with someone this week to verify this). I know there was a similar post here a few years ago (https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=301519) but I decided to make a new one since my situation is a bit different About me -Currently no stable income as I am finishing up my Masters this spring. Have a bachelors degree. $20k in student loans -$500 a month rent, paying using savings from previous internships -Plan on getting a permanent job in my field that pays $55-60,000 this summer -No credit card debt, good credit score -Planni...

coachd50 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:43 pmRegarding the health insurance, after 20 years (3 more for me) the district will pay 100% of what they currently pay for health insurance. So that works out pretty well.

Excellent!

I have seen several posts mentioning "maximizing pension". My pension calculation is 2.5% x Highest 3 year consecutive Earnings (which are likely the current years as lucrative summer programs funded by COVID funds) times years of service. So technically, maximizing the pension means just keep working until 40 years of service (23 more years) which equals 100% pension benefit. I am going to say that isn't going to happen. I have an opportunity to participate in a DROP program in 8 years- allowing me to "double dip" (work while also having retirement benefits deposited into an account)- but that freezes the growth in pension benefits. I estimate that for me each year of service equals about $1500-$1700 dollars a year in ...

retired@50 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:38 am

jonybogle wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:27 am
emergency funds (~ 2year)
personal checking: 50,000 (0%)
“personal savings”: 50,000 (4.19% on 2.14.23)

debt:
credit card: 7,300 (11.9%).

Welcome to the forum.

Job #1 is to pay off that credit card. Today.

jonybogle wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:27 amestimated yearly budget: 60,000 (need to do taxes to put a finer point on this).

Job #2 is to get a job to help produce an income stream as there is no way the $600K portfolio is going to produce $60K a year for very long. You are only age 55, so should be able to land some income to help reduce that yearly budget need of taking $60K from your portfolio.

Can you land something that brings in at least $50-60K a year?

CyclingDuo

"In more modern times (let's say the period including the 1970's, 80's, 90's and up until the present day that most of us have experienced), It's difficult for my wife and I to even grasp the concept of a single income household in your hypothetical example, as well as the context of the time period ..." To counter- There is no one in my extended family or social circle that has anything but a single income. (born 1949) Agree not everyone experienced a dual income household. So your counter is valid. We’re a little over a decade younger, and certainly have been surrounded by dual income social circles. I’m sure there is updated data since the Pew Research study from a decade ago. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52700128984_7d...

If you don’t like the outcome of this tale, please tell me how you will invest to obtain a better outcome for yourself. Disclosure : Fiction / made up / rhetorical intent . This post is written as if it were a factual account of my family, but most of the details are made up, especially anything that tugs at your heartstrings, or seems to be a personal disclosure. These are characters that I created, but I call them Mom and Dad, and add color, the better to engage you. Setting a fictional story in the past also allowed me to use specific numbers for inflation, stock returns, housing costs, etc.—realized past values, rather than the uncertain future we all face when looking forward from 2023. Although fictional, this story could have happen...

Moving into some parts of net worth, I'l just point out the 401k metric... Retire by 40 blog updated the table to the end of 2022 for those who max out their 401k. This table is an example of maxing it out every year with 100% going into the S&P 500 Index Fund and does not include any employer match, or any age 50 and over allowed catch up contributions. Pick the year you started working and see what the portfolio value would have been at the end of 2022 if you were 100% S&P and maxing out your 401k each and every year... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52695945866_6bee63ac4a_c.jpg https://retireby40.org/what-if-always-maxed-401k/ Some have been working longer than 35 years. Some have dual income households and have been contrib...

Can’t believe I forgot this but I also have a 10 year pension from a previous employer currently valued at $600 a month. The cost of living adjustment on it is inconsistent though and I basically think of this as golfing money. Hoping they offer a buyout so I can roll it in to my 403b but of course I am not counting on that. Even better! :beer With each additional year of your wife's teaching and both of you continuing to add to your investments via your paychecks (after the non-mortgage debt is retired), your household is building each of the three legs of the retirement income stool. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/42907056550_544cd38e1c_w.jpg As I mentioned above, you can do some long range forecasting in today's dollars of what the...