For practical tools that you don’t need/want, if you have a local Habitat for Humanity, they often have a sales place that goes with it that funds Habitat projects - and whatever tools they would not be able to use can be sold through them. They accept a lot of things that get sold in their store.
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Wow - thank you for the heads up! I don’t think I would have caught that.
I’ve been following this thread for several years so I am aware that there are many factors to consider beyond “how much?”
However, it is interesting to hear when the “how much” is answered. I live in the 2nd most expensive state in the nation. No wonder I feel the need to work longer than I’d like.
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That article keeps mentioning how much it costs to retire on $1.5M in the selected states “after Social Security,” but it doesn’t mention how much SS, which can vary widely. The amount of SS determines how much you need to withdraw from your investments and, therefore, has a direct impact on how long your investments will last.
We didn’t count on SS in our retirement planning, but it turned out to be enough such that, eight years in, our investment balance is higher than when we left our jobs. No one is more surprised about this than we are. We talk here about how hard it is to switch from building that pile to drawing it down, but SS has enabled us to withdraw less than we’re earning.
That article needs to specify at least an average amount of SS to put context to each scenario. Very poor editing.
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And, as always, is this magic number per person? I read, “household,” I believe?
I agree the magic number doesn’t exist. It’s too dependent on cash flow. If a person’s cash flow is enough via a high SS amount or pension amount or both, the, “pile,” doesn’t need to be as large.
I always tell dh how amazed I am by the number of people on this thread who have a pension.
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The demographic here is hmmmm not youthful.
Today $1.5 mil will secure one about $60k tax free.
Some likely could make do. Some likely couldn’t.
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https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement/delay-social-security-retirement-cc6e1bbc
Interesting take on when to take SS. It’s interesting that people tend to spend fixed guaranteed payments (SS and pensions) vs investment income/gains. I may rethink my take date, but since my wife is likely to greatly outlive me, waiting until 70 may still be the smarter play.
Once one decides on when to take SS, and also their goal numbers, ability to remain in their job/career until retirement (also considering their health). We don’t have any pensions, but we have purchased annuities with our financial planner’s guidance and have cash flow from that in addition to our SS.
One might budget for travel, home relocation, second home or other things in their go-go years. Health issues can eat up money like nobody’s business - we do have limited long term care policies. We plan to live near DD1’s family, and hopefully after our years helping their family and if we need care assistance - DD1 can help navigate solutions for us.
Having one’s care overseen by knowledgeable and caring family members IMHO can lead to best care/best situation.
DH has longevity in his family (including great aunts living to 101- 108) but my hope is to outlive DH. Not in our hands though.
You’re right… MANY factors. Besides just the lifestyle and SS variables, there is also the fact that some retiree couples get a pension (or maybe even two pensions).
Also as we’ve discussed state comparisons can be misleading due to the cost of living differences… for example NYC vs Buffalo vs tiny remote NY towns. Check out zillow for my college town waaaaay upstate NY Potsdam NY Real Estate - Potsdam NY Homes For Sale | Zillow (low price tag, admittedly high property taxes… but less than NYC and suburbs)
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Okay, I have free legal document access online for a week! I have downloaded some things for my mom, and I want to make sure I have the minimum documents needed for her estate and wishes. Does it look like I’ve included everything essential on this list? I picked it out from people’s comments, and this seems like the minimum that someone should have.
Will
Living Will
Transfer On Death form
POA for Health care and POA for Finances
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The linked report is nearly useless. It can get people thinking that they may need to save up for retirement and/or that cost of living varies by location, but the specific numbers are meaningless.
It takes the average annual expense for retired persons according to a survey, multiples that expense by a cost of living index by state for which the largest contributing factor is housing, then divides $1.5M by that number not considering inflation or that savings/investments can have a more than 0% return.
A far better strategy is to consider your expected/desired retirement spending and your cashflow during retirement. This will vary wildly from one person to another. Location has an influence, but greater influence is your unique spending pattern which depends on things like whether you own a paid off house vs renting/mortgage, medical expenses, travel plans, etc. You should also consider your specific savings/investments and other sources of income during retirement.
You should also consider the potential range of returns of your investments/savings across your time horizon. The 4% rule of thumb is popular for a ballpark estimate of how much you can spend without running out of funds during retirement, based largely on worst ever historical returns. Calcs are available for far more detailed estimates, as well as consideration of potential unique events that differ from ones in that have previously occurred.
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Health Directive (end of life directive)
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I would guess that most firms are gonna their own ToD and PoA forms which have already been vetted by their GC.
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We’re just going to have her fill things out and notarize them. This is not through a law firm, it’s just a legal forms online site.
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I’m pretty sure that’s all in the Living Will portion, but I’ll check.
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understand, but places like banks and brokerage firms may not accept your generic online legal form and typically only recognize their own forms for ToD/PoD.
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Agree!
@busdriver11 While you are at it, confirm that beneficiary designations have been updated. Even though my mother went to meet with the Schwab representative after my father died, he was still listed as a beneficiary on one of her accounts. Fortunately, I had looked into this during her last year of life, but that would have been an unnecessary inconvenience.
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Wow, just wow. I am so frustrated. Today was going to be the final closing day of a property that we purchased (and have put a lot of money into, paying interest on our HELOC, withdrew from 401K and Roth), and now another delay. We paid cash, no contingencies.
Turn out that the sellers were selling it through an LLC that they formed many years ago. However, they dissolved that LLC and renamed it a similar name. And someone else now has the old LLC name. But the property is in the name of the old LLC that belongs to someone else. They can’t find the original paperwork that formed the LLC (seriously?) and the state doesn’t keep records of it online. So now there’s a big quagmire of scramble to figure out what they can legally do about this. Are the same people even in the new LLC that owns the property?
Initially the title company told them they could just sign an affidavit, and on the day of closing, the escrow agent asked her manager and now we have a different story where I don’t know that anyone knows what to do.
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Where is your money? Me thinks it should be in an interest bearing account until/if the closing actually takes place.
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The escrow company still has it, since we just found out about this garbage a few hours ago. Going to get my money back ASAP unless they think this will be quick.
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