How much do YOU think YOU need to retire? ...and at what age will you (and spouse) retire? (Part 1)

Parent Cafe
1201

<p>In HI, even tho our personal income tax tops out at about 11% currently, we also have an excise tax on 4.5% on pretty much everything, fairly low property taxes, but the real estate buying and rental prices are VERY HIGH. Those costs are important to keep in mind, as well as the fact that just about everything costs more in HI, irritatingly (due to shipping and other charges).</p>

<p>The one boon is that there is NO income tax on pensions, so if you retirement income is largely from a pension, that can be a signficiant tax sevings. Of course, the rest of your income from non-pension sources WILL be subject to state tax. A few other states also have no tax on pensions and some none of any income.</p>

<p>in considering where to live, consider the services (especially medical care). As we age, we will liekly need more servcies and access to medcial care than young healthy people. When we were in Rapid City, Keystone and Deadwood, as well as around Yellowstone, we noticed how far away medical care can be; ias we drive less when we age, access to medical care can loon very large!</p>

1202

<p>I guess you have to pay to live in paradise! Sounds like it’s more reasonable for some who gets most of their income from pensions, and bought a house a long time ago. For newcomers who get their money other ways, sounds cost prohibitive for many.</p>

1203

<p>I’ve heard Hawaii is a great place to be homeless, I don’t mind living on a tent next to the ocean. Just came back from Hawaii and my husband and I still wear a smile on our faces. We vow to come back again this year before the year end. Such a beautiful place, clean and green. Come back to LA and we immediately notice the smog.</p>

1204

<p>I think HImom should consider letting us camp out (me in a triangular mini camper) on her back lawn for retirement. Sounds good to me, and I’ll buy the beer!</p>

1205

<p>I’ll bring my tent, it doesn’t take much room!</p>

<p>@fireandrain, I bookmarked this article a while ago. Not sure if it is the same on you referenced:</p>

<p><a href=“Can't Decide Where to Retire? - WSJ”>Can't Decide Where to Retire? - WSJ; </p>

1206

<p>BD, if you’re nice enough to buy the beer, I’ll be mic enough to drink it. Only fair. :)</p>

1207

<p>intparent, the woman who wrote that article doesn’t look a day over 60. Retirement must agree with her. As my husband said after we got back from our vacation that work doesn’t agree with us.</p>

1208

<p>@DrGoogle, maybe they took the photos on a scouting trip 10 years ago.</p>

1209

<p>Actually, I can’t imagine any place where homelessness is very pleasant. I’ve read that it can lead to many mental health issues and cause premature aging. Of course, you shouldn’t get frostbite in HI, but there is a lot of UV and heat and sun, as well as some violence against some of the homeless in recent months.</p>

<p>Sadly, there are many who miscalculate how much it will cost to live in HI (or other locations), how low wages are, and how hard it can be to get a good, steady job with benefits. </p>

<p>Lot sizes in HI are measured in square feet–7500 to 5000 square feet that the 1000 or 2000 foot house is built on is pretty typical and will likely sell for about $750,000 and WAY upwards. Said homes are often single-wall construction and 50+ years old. Multi-family living and people holding many jobs at the same time is quite common.</p>

1210

<p>busdriver: That analysis was interesting. Especially since I do like the PNW. However, I like Portland more than Seattle, one of our best friends lives in Portland, and (if I were to relocate tomorrow), it’s more likely I could afford to buy a home in Portland than Seattle. Those factors are more important to me (right now) than relative tax burdens. </p>

<p>While I’m pretty much retired, my husband won’t retire for another 10 years. Things can change a lot in 10 years. </p>

<p>And yes, intparent, that was the article. I don’t see doing that indefinitely, but it sounds attractive for a couple years. In fact, I feel like starting my list of 24 places right now! (Maybe I should start a new thread to get ideas!)</p>

1211

<p>Bus driver, I have a relative who lives in Vancouver, Washington. He says he has the best of both worlds- he’s in a suburb of Portland, OR so he gets to shop in Oregon but lives in Washington. </p>

1212

<p>Any thoughts on investments outside of retirement accounts? Do you do it yourself, have a broker, etc?</p>

1213

<p>@eyemamom, Entirely DIY on all accounts. I live in a neighborhood of brokers, “wealth managers,” etc. – nice enough neighbors, but I would not trust most of them to run a lemonade stand for Little League. </p>

<p>It is not difficult to invest. You might miss a slight nuance here or there, but the price for that marginal improvement is too high. Determine your risk tolerance (which is affected by your personality, time horizon for the money, pensions and SS, etc.) and put your money in an appropriate Life Strategy fund at Vanguard. It is reasonably tax-efficient, low on drama, and pretty much “set it and forget it.” Vanguard also can help determine your risk tolerance. Best of all, in addition to its low Expense Ratios, Vanguard is the only mutual fund company owned by its participants – they are not trying to take money from you to give to shareholders or private owners.</p>

1214

<p>Hot off the press, especially if you do not want to start taking drawdowns at age 70-1/2 in your IRA or 401-k:</p>

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1215

<p>Rest of article:</p>

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1216

<p>Next question - I drive hubby a little nutty with my ‘lockbox’ theory of saving. We have an emergency fund, kids 529’s, plus an account we saved for college outside the 529 that paid for private school and now will cover tuition as well, a vacation fund, a car replacement fund. All of it is automatically taken out of my paycheck with the theory that when it’s time to take a vacation or buy a new car, the money has been earmarked for that. </p>

<p>We’re almost to the point where college is fully funded and we’re a bit more than a year from paying off the house. We already fund retirement accounts as much as possible. </p>

<p>The college savings and the house payment can then go for investments. But, do you do keep money in a vanguard kind of account if you decide you want to fix up the house a little or something else a bit larger pops up or would you just make an extra large emergency fund to use for discretionary spending?</p>

1217

<p>Dadinator, my intial posts in this thread were about similar annuities.</p>

<p>The rate of return is pretty low on these annuities unless you live a very, very long time. If the return is poor, what difference does it make that you can buy them? </p>

<p>Have you seen any deferred annuities with decent returns? </p>

1218

<p>If we have a brokerage account but want to change managers, do we have to sell everything and put the proceeds in the new account, while incurring horrendous tax liabilities? Ideally we’d like to move from one firm to another but keep the same stock portfolio. Is there any way to do that? It’s not a 401(k). </p>

1219

<p>@hayden - yes, your new manager should be able to help you transfer the securities with no tax consequences
</p>

1220

<p>^ We don’t have an emergency fund per se, and we don’t use multiple accounts to track money that will be used for different things.</p>

<p>Instead, we use the HELOC on our house as an emergency fund, and dip into it when we need to. This can be for a large expenditure, like when we did some work on our house, or just to smooth out cash flow if we are short in any particular month (DW’s income is variable because she is self-employed).</p>

<p>Any extra money goes into reducing the balance, rather than piling up in a savings account paying 0.1% or less.</p>

<p>It works for us.</p>