H had planned on retiring in four years (at least) after hitting 67.5, possibly even later. With his position and everything that’s going on, that may be coming sooner than expected, not by choice.
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Yep a worry no doubt many will have tomorrow.
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Reminder this isn’t the PF. Please move the conversation there if you’d like to continue the impacts of political policies on retirement.
TIA!
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The good thing about spending money for travel is it’s easy to curtail if you are short of funds. If the market goes bad one year and you’re uncomfortable about a big trip to Europe, for example, you can do a US based trip instead. Some expenses, such as a mortgage if you have one, can’t be adjusted so easily.
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Agree. We don’t have any serious debt. Before we got married, my husband asked if I wanted an engagement ring.
I said No. I wanted a down payment for our house instead. I got what I wanted.
We worked hard to pay off our mortgage and all other debts. I am happy that we are debt-free before I retire.
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I’m sorry,but I email my personal adviser/group with a question. I let her know if not an emergency
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Well we probably have figured out our retirement date. My DW took a job with another school system which will start on 5/5. She is in administration never a teacher. The job comes with a pay increase of 30-35% net.(we are still learning about the ins costs, but that is our estimate.) If she stays with that school system for 10 years she will have single coverage health insurance in retirement. So it appears she will work for the next 10 years. She like me will be just shy of 63 when she reaches 10 years. I will stay working during that time. We do have to make up for some lost time in retirement funding as she stayed home with the kids for a period of time. The only debt we have is the mortgage at 2.375% and it will be done in about 10 years as well. One kid is launched fully and has her own house. Younger kid is a sophomore in college. That college is paid for by scholarships. So all excess funds are currently going to retirement/investments. Well except the kids got us a cat for Xmas and he has been a little more expensive than first thought. Just a note we weren’t planning on getting a cat or dog.
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Your plan sounds great except for the unplanned cat. 
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You’re a cat dad now. Won’t belong before you’re addicted to cat videos (or making them!)
I agree. There’s a good article from Kitces discussing this framing that I often refer people to:
…it’s not always easy to determine what constitutes an “essential” vs. “discretionary” expense in the first place. The classic approach is to tag the food, clothing, and shelter kinds of categories as “essential” (along with perhaps healthcare in the modern era), while travel and entertainment expenses are discretionary.
Except in practice, if a retiree lost out on such “discretionary” expenses, it would likely not only be a traumatic impact to their real-world lifestyle, but such discretionary expenses often support genuinely psychological needs (e.g., funding activities that empower social well-being). And at the same time, many classically “essential” expenses in the areas of food, clothing, and shelter, really aren’t essential at all. From the house that’s bigger than what a retiree couple truly needs to survive, to eating out at expensive restaurants instead of dining frugally at home, or buying “designer” clothes versus generic or lower-cost brands (or buying at a second-hand thrift store).
In essence, separating “essential” vs. “discretionary” expenses by looking at categories of spending doesn’t necessarily work. Instead, the better approach is perhaps to segment spending within each category into the “Core” expenses that form the nucleus of the household’s lifestyle, from the truly discretionary (and more easily adaptable) expenses within each category (from the upscale restaurants to the designer clothes). In other words, there’s a potential layer of Core vs. Adaptive expenses in every spending category.
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Today ended up not being as bad, so far, as many feared. But, as always, stay tuned.
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Yes, the market had a bit of an upturn after the opening dive because of the fact that Mexican tariffs are temporarily on hold.
I was avoiding specifics lest someone think it’s political.
No kidding. We were well on our way to no responsibilities and now we have a cat.
DW and I are definitely trying to make life more and more simple. We are already planning on downsizing to a condo. Trying not to buy stuff and if we do then something has to go. Back in the fall we started using a prepared meal service 4 nights a week. We prep our lunches on Sundays. But every morning I am feeding the damn cat and the tortoise(DD2’s pet which will launch when she launches)
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What prepared meal service are you using?
I’m sick of cooking
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Haha! We still have our DD’s Peace Corps kitty. Been here since 2012…
And DD is launched.
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I have made some changes. Upped the allocation to fixed income. Plus upped the allocation to alternative investments that are less correlated with the overall market. I already have an investment in a big PE infrastructure fund and a bridge lender (somewhat enhanced yield), but am adding a small investment in a VC fund and I plan to roll a 403b into probably a PE fund or other much less correlated vehicle.
I gather @Twoin18 that you focus on dividend stocks. Have you changed your allocation?
I have a question.
We have our IRA, which is 30% bonds, the rest is in index funds.
Last year our account gained 14%. The bonds were up 1%, the stock market was up 25% I believe.
Is this an accurate and appropriate margin for our portfolio?
Do you mean does 14% make sense based on your allocation? Back of the napkin math got me 14.8% so, yeah, it’s close.
I understand that the math makes sense. I guess my question is does our allocation make sense?
Are most in bonds that have a 1% gain a year? Is 30% too much or too little? It is good to do this at our age?
Should we talk to another FA? We’ve parked our portfolio with a FA and I’m questioning if they are doing a good job for us.
And yes I understand that the stock market is up and down, but in a year that’s predicted to be up, should 30% be in basically a net neutral position?