<p>Lol…</p>
<p>My wife is great. She is prudent. She is happy with what she has. She is a big plus. And I am not just saying this… She doesn’t read CC.</p>
<p>NJRes,</p>
<p>LOL :D</p>
<p>My mother whose family rarely lives over age 60 is pushing 90. My MIL is 86 and her family hits three figures regularly. It’s hard to say how long one is going to live.</p>
<p>I think we should all assume we’re going to live a very long time unless we have a serious chronic illness or history of cancer.</p>
<p>There are people that were wealthy in the 70s that have outlived their money.</p>
<p>It sounds easy to spend your assets, but what I have heard from listening to the elderly is that spending your assets takes a toll on a person. It is not easy. It is stressful.</p>
<p>I think it would be stressful to spend down the assets. I would be very worried about the environment changing (health care costs, SS reductions, pension changes, LTC ins. company going bankrupt so not having that to rely on). We have been very careful and intentional about retirement planning, but I am still going to have a hard time spending once the wages are not coming in.</p>
<p>Momof2kids, your post rings true to me.</p>
<p>Momof2kids,</p>
<p>Me too.</p>
<p>Our family lives a very long time. Even tho I have serious chronic illness am sad we have required minimum distributions which are so high because H is now old enough he has to make them. </p>
<p>We will try to save most of them and live on the pension, which is pretty generous.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But what exactly does it mean? Maxing out 401K/IRA? Paying down mortgage before retiring? What else?</p>
<p>We paid off our mortgage and kids’ ed expenses before retiring. It seemed sensible and let’s us sleep at night. Those two major expenses were biggies. We also installed photovoltaic so electric bills are nil.</p>
<p>Lerkin: “We have been very careful and intentional about retirement planning”</p>
<p>For us, this means making projections assuming NO SS (I fear it will be means tested at some point), maxing out all retirement options including 401K/IRA/deferred comp, converting a portion of our IRAs to a Roth (and taking the resulting tax hit now while we have two incomes) and purchasing LTC insurance. We live significantly below our means. We also refinanced to a 15 year mortgage a while back, so that we can be mortgage free in our golden years if we chose to do so (we like the deduction!).</p>
<p>The biggest thing we do, though, is stay in our jobs. I don’t enjoy mine much and we could “afford” for me to quit or go to a more fulfilling/lower paying job, but the 401K growth from staying put is compelling. H would much rather retire outright! </p>
<p>We are close to the line of sacrificing too much now for enjoyment later (we could get hit by buses tomorrow or get ill and be unable to enjoy the plans we have made). However, we have elderly relatives that are really financially strapped and we had one parent need a crazy amount of money for his long running final illness. Also, H has a sibling that will likely be dependent on us. And, we all know that adult kids can boomerang. So, this uber-conservative approach gives us peace of mind.</p>
<p>[Don?t</a> trust those expected returns | Features | Fundweb](<a href=“http://www.fundweb.co.uk/fund-strategy/issues/4th-march-2013/dont-trust-those-expected-returns/1066499.article]Don?t”>http://www.fundweb.co.uk/fund-strategy/issues/4th-march-2013/dont-trust-those-expected-returns/1066499.article)</p>
<p>"“Both corporate and public pension plans are digging themselves into a hole,” adds Lynn Turner, former chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Over the next decade, that hole will get so big it will eventually collapse upon itself.”</p>
<p>"J Michael Martin, president of Financial Advantage, cautions that “the future won’t be like the past.” He references the annual growth percentage rate of GDP, starting in the 1950’s, with a trendline at 5 per cent.</p>
<p>He points out how “the wiggles keep coming down,” until they reach a more modest current level about 2 per cent. One can build a case that that even that level of growth would be a blessing, since many of the factors that affect GDP appear weaker, going forward. Besides, even if that elusive 2 per cent should be realised, it will likely consist of a series of plus 3 per cent’s and minus 2 per cent’s.</p>
<p>The crux is that widely-held earnings rate assumptions depend on economic expansion at a 3 per cent or 4 per cent real basis. “The chances of that happening with declining demographics, an inflexible overleveraged system and no significant innovation make those numbers very doubtful,” says Gibb."</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.milliman.com/expertise/employee-benefits/products-tools/pension-funding-index/pdfs/pfi-february-2013.pdf[/url]”>http://www.milliman.com/expertise/employee-benefits/products-tools/pension-funding-index/pdfs/pfi-february-2013.pdf</a></p>
<p>“It is extremely dangerous to project the past into the future.”
-Not just dangerous, very highly desirable especially if it is based on many historical precedences. That is where we lack 200%, nobody is referring to history as a very valid evidence (I would say referring to history in scientific way, I know that nobody will agree that it is highly desirable to analyze what has happened in many historical cases when certain similar events occur, I know that History is just a collection of dates, names, places that mean nothing according to “correct” view of today. However, there are many around me who are completely disagree. These people have valid experiences that CAN predict what will happen next based on what is being implemented currently. there is also a crowd of others who listen to this group very carefully and taking their experiences into account)</p>
<p>Well I doubt I’ll get much from SS under nearly any scenario. H as a fed employee never contributed. I did for a few years decades ago and then more recently for some years. We’d likely means test out, especially if total assets are considered. Not sure if the small nonprofit will make enough from that I can count 4 quarters this year. Thankfully H’s pension is for his lifetime with a lesser amount for mine.</p>
<p>It’s disgusting that our government will fail many Americans by throwing away their money into other programs.</p>
<p>
You only need around $1200 in a quarter to get credit for the quarter, and less if you are self-employed.</p>
<p>How many more quarters do you need? It only takes 40 to qualify for benefits.</p>
<p>^wrong, they do not throw away, they carefully buying off what and who they need to buy, very careful planning…not for you and me for themselves, they are not stupid, they have tried so hard to get to the feeding tube, now when they are there, they feel complelled to be fed and fed and fed until their belly is about to blow up…they deserve it after gaming the system all the way to the top…</p>
<p>MiamiDAP,</p>
<p>who are “they”?</p>