yeah. I figure the $45,000 was way more than that. 
@profparent, when I âretiredâ to be a house-husband and SAHD, more than a decade ago, not many males were making that choice (the recession made it more common :)) ). People would ask me what I did all day, a question I doubt they asked of SAHMs, and I would snarkily reply that I ate bonbons all day, although I had mine by the pool.
Iâm a pretty lazy SOB, since weâve always had help with keeping the house clean and my DW knows better than to ask me to do anything handy around the house. That said, with 4 pets and 4 kids (only 1 still at home), somehow my day still feels busy.
"yeah. I figure the $45,000 was way more than that. "
Seems that 5 years of FICA tax of 6.2% or so, at max earnings, would be pretty close to that.
Or maybe thatâs what the was forâŠ
Some of you crack me up. 
I had to deal with two partners. I knew I had a good chance to talk one partner into giving me something. I did not want to deal with the other partner.
SoâŠI told one partner, âIf I was an employee, I would have received x for this and y for this, and $45,000 for health careâ.
âI just want $45,000 for healthcare. You donât have to give me the rest. Thatâs fairâ.
And the partner said, "That sounds fair. I will have to talk to Alex (the other partner).
I said, "Go talk to Alex ".
The partner did not really want to talk to Alex. I bugged him every day for a week until he did.
Then the partner told Alex what I said. âAlex said, Yes. No problemâ.
Sometimes you have to give up something to get something. I gave up the social security deal and something else. I canât remember. I gave those things up to get the $45,000. I made it sound like the partners got a good deal. In reality, they did get a good deal.
I wasnât really an employee. There was no deal to ever give me health care. 
I hope some of you are satisfied.
wow, dstark. thatâs the longest post you have ever writtenâŠhahah
I work for a guy right now as a âconsultantâ . I am really an employee. He wouldnât give me the job otherwise so I eat the 6.5% because I want the job. Itâs all a tradeoffâŠbut it is wrong of him to do this.
Now the guy I work with (also consultant) plans on filing for unemployment when the job ends. That will be interesting.
He believes he can fill out a form with the IRS which states that he should have been an employee based on a number of criteria and that the employer will be fined for having not done so. He (employer) will have to pay back monies owed and then the guy gets his unemploymentâŠ
maybe he is all talk (which wouldnât surprise me) but thatâs his planâŠ
HmmmmmâŠ
Maybe that will work.
Sounds like a lovely work environment!
hahahahaâŠoh, you have no idea. ~X(
one more yearâŠ
Congrats on those retiring and those adjusting to various life changes.
Many men avoid having their medical care really be âup to dateâ. Our really terrific FP retired, but the good news is he personally sought out and got a great replacement. H and I saw her yesterday for Hâs Losartan prescription - she had read through his chart, and MD and I âoutvotedâ Hâs ideas on minimalist (can I eat a banana a day for the potassium and not take the Losartan?..uh no). H had elevated PSAâs and was followed for several years by a urologist - his dad and all his uncles either have prostate cancer or have died of it (the younger two that died - one was a bachelor and the other was a priest - so neither had a W making sure they were being taken care of; the older 3 are not going to die of prostate cancer - the oldest is turning 89 this year; the younger two died way too young - the cancer had spread to where one died from the lung cancer and the other died from the cancer in kidney and abdomen). Now FP will follow PSA and exam unless there is another elevation or she finds something on examâŠ
Men and women - please be aware of keeping heart-healthy. A female friend died at age 54 of a cardiac issue that was not diagnosed, and not having any screening.
I have known of a number of men who have died of cardiac issues around age 60. One was a fit retired military - coronary, dropped dead. Cardiac and vascular issues will kill more than cancer. I know many are more afraid of cancer - I respect cancer DX - make sure I get all the check ups. Survived Stage III and am cancer free 5 years. Stage III is 50/50 long term survivalâŠ
H had lab work yesterday. I saw our GI guy today as this is my year to get colonoscopy. GI MD looked up Hâs and said he also needs one this yearâŠ
FP is going to send a consult for the $199 test given by our heart center for checking out cardiac, vascular, etc. I donât know the exact name of this test but will share when I know it.
I will give H âgood news/bad newsâ this afternoon about his colonoscopy.
Family history is very important to know about and also discuss with your FP.
H has some excellent family longevity. I hope to avoid what killed my parents - cancer and Dementia. Mother was on heavy psych meds which probably sped up her Dementia.
For those with a great cook at home - H and I are battling the waste of the waist-line. I have more to lose than H. I gained over 40 lb during my cancer battle. I have lost some, but have quite a way to go yet, because I started the cancer journey 30 lb over my goal. When healthy and 10 years younger it took me 2 years to lose the 30 lb - then I made the mistake of not staying âon the planâ with exercise and over the next 2 years the weight came right back on.
Weâre in our mid 60s, so retirement was approaching anyway. Plus my H was in state government and he would have to find a new job once the current govâs term ended. So actually weâd been talking about retirement for a while. Iâve set up my office for genealogy research, which is my main hobby. We signed up for 2 courses at the local state university, I became active in the local DAR chapter, I joined two other groups who do my other two hobbies, and we have 3 vacations planned this year already. And that doesnât count visiting the kids.
I could never be bored or at a loss for what to do next. There is always something new to learn and something different to do. Age is not an impediment, itâs the key that now letâs us do things weâve always wanted to do!
@busdriver11 , ok, I admit we donât do bonbons, but we have added a glass of wine most evenings now. So stress-free.
@SOSConcern You are so right about keeping on top of medical care and heart health. A male cousin in his 40s literally dropped dead of an undiagnosed heart problem right at the beginning of the year. Very sobering and a sad loss. Your husband is lucky to have you help him stay on top of his medical stuff.
A few days ago, I asked,
A helpful member answered promptly.
In case someone else reads the entire thread, it turns out itâs not so simple. I was digging into this more. With some accounts, you have to take RMDs from that particular account. In all plans, it seems that the IRS requires you take the RMD within the plan. If you have 401 and 403 plans, you have to take the RMDs separately from 401 and 403, for example. If you have more than one account in 401, it may also require you take the corresponding RMD from each account. I guess this helps the IRS keep track of RMDs taken but it sure makes life complicated. I think I need a FA 
@iglooo, Iâm sorry that I jumped in with a partial answer that was misleading. I donât know why my answer was intended to only cover âtraditional and rollover (i.e. Non-Roth) IRAs.â If all you have are your own IRAs, my answer is sufficient and accurate, but if you have 401s and/or other non-IRA assets, it is more complicated.
It is also more complicated, or can be, if you have some inherited IRAs in the mix.
Sorry. For some reason I thought you were only referring to IRAs (probably because thatâs what I expect to have when weâre taking RMDs.)
Knowing how little I know about taxes, I should have resisted the urge to raise my hand and say âoooh ooooh iglooo call on me.â :))
I know a brilliant doc who was retired, and at age 62 dropped dead - it turns out he had a rare congenital defect. Donât know if the current $199 testing would have helped him.
Sometimes it really takes picking up cues and probing - you are responsible for your own health (just as ultimately your own finances). I have a terrific team of docs, but even with my medical oncologist I discuss very specific particulars with my case - because it does get him on my patient âpageâ - and I am thankful he had the right aggressive chemo combinations (for my specifics the initial combination is still being used as first course of treatment - east coast relative of a friend is on the treatment now - so it was rather âgroundbreakingâ for as many treatments as I had, but these docs share their practice findings with each other). With all the visits with medical and radiation oncologist, and talking with other professionals, you canât let your guard down - they really canât tell beyond the pathology of the cancer cell smear a lot about how your body can fight it. I know men who had prostate cancer and it should have been treated more aggressively - they canât really tell if it will be a fast growing one. A friendâs dad didnât absorb how aggressive his prostrate cancer should be treated - the familyâs guard was down on that one and no one was at that doc visit with him. Neighbor, and a friendâs father both just died of the results of prostrate cancer - neither which was supposed to kill them.
I know a friendâs son who got cleared for soccer in HS, but the doc said he was monitoring the studentâs heart function on the annual exam. Parents didnât pick up that he should have had a cardiologist following him. Died in his sleep in college - electrical stimulation problem, which I do know kids that have needed pacemakers. Very tragic.
Also on this thread, how tragic if one has spent so much time/energy to maximize their nest egg, only to have early death or disability which may have had a different outcome. IMHO men tend to minimize some of the medical things unless they are over-occupied (hypochondriac).
For H and I, we are fighting the waist-line, really trying to get the exercise and modifying our caloric intake and diet.
@lxnayBob, Donât worry about. It would make more sense to allow RMDs from one pot. Unlike Roth rollovers, thereâs no advantage in taking it from one account other than it makes it simple. Youâd think they could easily track if anyone has taken enough RMDs just looking at all retirement accounts associated with SS#. We have 3 diiferent retirement plans. Each plan with 2-3 accounts, some allows lumpsum distributions, some donât. Fun!
Well that gives me something more to think about. Husbandâs 401k has 3 pots of money - before tax contributions and earnings, after tax contributions and taxable earnings, and Roth 401k money. A withdrawal or rollover is taken proportionally from the various types (I think). I know when he rolled some over the taxable things went into a traditional IRA and the non-taxable amount we received as a check. What I donât know is if that included Roth 401k money, which should have probably been rolled into a Roth IRA. I donât think it is a legal problem, as he didnât violate any Roth withdrawal rules, but if he is going to rollover the rest when he retires, if the Roth just comes back to us as a check there isnât much point to keep contributing to it. I will have to go back through the records to se if they broke it down by type of non-taxable money we received.
H has several potsâan inherited IRA, a small regular traditional IRA and his TSP plan from his employee contributions. He takes RMDs from each separately, as he is required to do due to age and being retired. He also has a nice pension. We live on the pension and TSP.
So far, we havenât touched any of after tax Roth accounts and hope to leave them to our kids.
Other income we get, we save or splurge on travel, gift to our kids or donate to worthy causes, depending on need and opportunities.
I keep reading about hassles from inherited IRAâs. Should I encourage my dad (89 years old) to get more out of it than the required RMD to avoid an inherited IRA? I guess the answer is based on the relative tax rate of his vs. ours. What questions should I ask to make this decision?
It has been VERY nice for us to have inherited IRA and really very few hassles. We did encourage our loved ones to spend it all and enjoy their assets while they were living. It is really up to the beneficiary if he wants to spend it all or allow heirs to inherit. It is a tax deferred piggy bank, so he may need it yet for care as he ages, so best not to deplete it too early, as it can buy him aides, taxi and other care that allows him more freedom and happiness and is less of a burden for loved ones.
Itâs not much of an issue to calculate and get an annual check from the inherited IRA. The amount of the check is always much more than any taxes on the additional amount. The right custodian makes having the inherited IRA much easier and reminds you of the amount of the RMD and to take it out each year.