If you could retire.....

[1tuberider]

Life does not always work as planned.

Unfortunately or fortunately however you think of it I am raising 7 grandkids. I have been raising grandkids since I
started sup. way to long. My two year old comes running to me saying my papa and basically I am hers the rest of the evening.

I am self employed. As I get older, I enjoy my work more. I enjoy my clients and feel satisfied. It would be a loss to
not be able to serve them. By waiting till 70 I maximize my SS benefits. By collecting early I would have to pay back as I make to much and then at 66 I would be taxed on 85% of my benefit. I really have no incentive to retire now.

What I want is the ability to take a month or two off a year and travel. I just bought a travel trailer and next summer
I will park it at South beach in an rv park. Plan is to use it as an annex. It sleeps 10 so my entire family can stay.
What could be better than living at the beach. The kids can have the beach for their back yard all summer.

Bottom line is I have to wait until 70 to get SS. I enjoy working, I have 7 kids to raise so I might as well make the best of it. Life does not always work out as planned.

[PonoBill]

Banking social security income, or putting into other retirement accounts is common, and crazy. But people feel that money they directly control is safer than social security, which seems fragile. Instead of wholesale changes I expect a lot of smaller changes that are hard to argue with. It's not that hard to fix some of the basic systemic stuff, but it's a lot harder to fix the fact that people are living longer.

I might just have sparked a new reason for the chemtrails fans. Oh dear.

Disability is much more difficult to get these days. You almost always have to lawyer up or at least go through a lengthy appeals process to collect. That's a good thing, disability was the most misused of the "entitlements" with lots of fraud. Medicare is getting the same kind of cleanup. Of course there's unintended consequences--tough to get a good doc that takes medicare with the late payments, audits for fraud, and potential to go to jail if mistakes look fraudulent.

[stoneaxe]

Everyones circumstances are different and their reasons for when to start are their own. We each need to educate ourselves as best we can and apply that knowledge to OUR situation. Not much different than buying that magic board...one size does not fit all. If I was single I'd already be semi-retired...just me and a dog living in a tiny house with a big garage and lots of boards a walk from the beach.

[surfafrica]

Here are some pieces of advice that I've been given over the years that are working well for me (I'm 42)....

1.) E equals em cee squared.

2.) You can't push on ropes.

3.) Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

4.) Invest in low fee vehicles (as PonoBill stresses). Invest in all equities until you are 10 years out from retirement, then start phasing in bonds. Equities are higher risk, but will generally give you higher returns, and if there is a crash, they'll likely recover in 10 years. Once you are within 10 years of retirement, start protecting your investments from a crash.

5.) Diversify equities globally.  For those in the US: 50% US, 25% CDN, 25% International. Re-balance this ratio yearly (forces you to sell high and buy low).

6.) Take advantage of dollar cost averaging.  Auto-investing small chunks weekly will give you better returns than monthly or annually.

7.) Work to make a living.  Own to make money.  (sounds nuts?  Look at supdiscobay and his pistachios!).  Passive income for surfers is a good thing. Seek out those opportunities, but make sure you pay attention to due diligence (don't sell the farm!)

8.) Health. Friends. Family.

9.) (haven't tested this one out yet...any thoughts?) Stay in your current place of residence for 1 year after you retire. You may discover new priorities or new things about yourself during that 1st year of your new life.  Or as Treebeard says: "Don't be hasty."

[hbsteve]

If you plan to move to a different area after retiring, visit that area in the off season.
For example, we moved from Marin County, north of San Francisco, to Missoula Montana.  We had visited there during the summer.  My wife got really depressed with the long winter, freezing fog, icy roads etc..  Most of the five years we lived there we actually spent the winters in California.  The winters we stayed, we took vacation in the middle of winter.

[PonoBill]

canada and international make sense, but you take both volatility risk and arbitrage risk with anything in foreign currency. That's why you stay with smaller percentages,

[SuppaTime]

There is a saying on Wall Street that diversification is the only free lunch in investing. That statement is really a simplification of a lot of theory. It is not hard to quantify the effect of diversifying by various percentages, for instance 50% US + 50% international equities. I suggest anyone who has a saving plan for retirement do the calculation and figure out for yourself which the is best risk adjusted mix to own. (You always want to balance a good return with not taking too much risk). The differences in total accumulated savings over many years can be dramatic, so it is worth doing.

[eastbound]

youre a good man, 1tube--seems you got dealt a tough hand, but handle it with a smile and love--karma should look out for you--and enjoy next summer--sounds like a wonderful plan

[supthecreek]

youre a good man, 1tube--seems you got dealt a tough hand, but handle it with a smile and love--karma should look out for you--and enjoy next summer--sounds like a wonderful plan

+1
1tube, you are the best!

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

for me it is never gonna happen, at 62  no savings   thanks to a greedy ex partner ex friend and sub human .  That wiped me out  so my plan is to work  and surf until I die.   or win publishers clearing house, so it pretty much look like that  the first one is it.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

1tube, I'd like to hear more of your story some day. You sound like you're a rock for your family.

[1tuberider]

Thank you guys!

I am trying to do what is right. In this case its for the kids. My oldest is special needs. I am trying
hard to help them think twice and make the right decision or they will end up like their parents, in
jail or without much of a life or future. My house sounds like a school yard. I am sure the kids will have
great memories of their youth.

My oldest is 10 and the youngest is almost three. I have had four kids for over 6 years.
When I was out of town at costco loading the car a few years ago, I heard this voice "Man that sure is a lot
of diapers!" Lucky me.

I can bring it up sometime if you want. I do have lots of stories about the good and the bad.
Yesterday I picked up the trailer and surprised the family. I am on my way to visit my
mom and dad. I have an 8 hour drive to John Day.

Sea ya.

[Board Stiff]

Board Stiff, thanks for bringing that up about pensions. I did a little research on the subject since you raised that red flag, and I'm happy to say that the New York State teachers' pensions are very well funded. Naturally they are increasing everyone's contributions, especially newer teachers (which I am not), but unless something falls from the sky, it looks like that income source is relatively safe. Not that I'm not doing an IRA, well, a 403b, which is the non-profit version of a 401k. And I'm increasing what I put into that every year.

Not that anything is guaranteed, but my financial planner is saying I'm doing fine. I do feel the urge to do more, especially after hearing Bill's stories. Hopefully I'll publish one of my damn novels...

Good to hear,  Ichabod!  There's obviously a lot of variability in public pension funding,  so it's smart to investigate your own particular pension plan.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

[WhatsSUP]

Nalu and Eastbound:  Your statements about Condo's led wifey and I to have an interesting conversation over breakfast this am.  In short, they probably aren't what's right for us, so we're likely to steer clear away.  The fact that we have family in/around Newport makes easier in terms of keeping a watchful eye, managing grass, minimal upkeep much easier between visits.

Stone:  "Everyones circumstances are different and their reasons for when to start are their own. We each need to educate ourselves as best we can and apply that knowledge to OUR situation. Not much different than buying that magic board...one size does not fit all. If I was single I'd already be semi-retired...just me and a dog living in a tiny house with a big garage and lots of boards a walk from the beach."   AMEN! 

1tube: God Bless ya!  You should sleep well at night.

For the time being, I'm status quo....over the course of the next year my goal is to reduce all debt to zero (with exception of mortage) and sell our farmette should the current tenants decide to move out.  And of course, the day dreaming will continue along with frequent visits to Redfin, Zillow, etc........   

This has been a very enjoyable thread!  Thanks everyone! 

[newton333]

im 41 right now looking to retire at 56.5 yrs ago i re-fied the house to lowest percent i could find its still 30 yr mortgage but i make 15 yr. payments as my wife was out of work when i did it. but as soon as i can get out from mortgage I'm gonna bank all that cash. i have government job and have good fers account /savings that they match. basically a 401k. once i retire I'm gettin out of n.j asap! to dodge our enormous taxes. i will go to purto rico for warm weather, good surf , and relative cheeper lifestyle  as long as there sales tax doesn't go to high  otherwise its off to oregon.