Who was Confident in Their Retirement Stability?

TailoredLinen

TailoredLinen

New Member
When you got to the point of ready for retirement. How confident were you your money would last throughout its entirety?
 

As confident as I could have been.....

There's always going to be  something lurking out there that could affect your financial stability (Will Social Security fail? Will my pension plan fail? Will something wipe out my savings?), but I felt that I was on a good foundation, so I took the leap at 62.

I still think it will last me for the duration. I'll never be livin' it BIG but I'll be livin'.
 
It will always be a concern for me but it has been twenty years and I have more now than I did when I retired.

IMO it’s a mistake to assume anything or to just set it and forget it.

I spend an hour or two every year and a few minutes every month to review my situation and make slight adjustments.

I spend a bit more when times are good, tighten my belt when things get rough, and avoid debt, much like I did when I was working.
 
Aunt Bea said:
It will always be a concern for me but it has been twenty years and I have more now than I did when I retired.

IMO it’s a mistake to assume anything or to just set it and forget it.

I spend an hour or two every year and a few minutes every month to review my situation and make slight adjustments.

I spend a bit more when times are good, tighten my belt when things get rough, and avoid debt, much like I did when I was working.
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That's awesome!
 
jujube said:
As confident as I could have been.....

There's always going to be  something lurking out there that could affect your financial stability (Will Social Security fail? Will my pension plan fail? Will something wipe out my savings?), but I felt that I was on a good foundation, so I took the leap at 62.

I still think it will last me for the duration. I'll never be livin' it BIG but I'll be liv
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It may not be grand, but at least you're making it happen! As we have seen the government cannot hold their end of the bargain.
 
I slowly prepared for it about maybe two years before. Moved into a smaller affordable place, collected things I wanted to have to enjoy my time with. Just social security is enough for me since I've always been cheap. I don't need or require much. I've lost everything a few times and survived. I can pretty much roll with the punches of life.
 
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Oldeagle66 said:
I slowly prepared for it about maybe two years before. Moved into a smaller affordable place, collected things I wanted to have to enjoy my time with. Just social security is enough for me since I've always been cheap. I don't need or require much. I've lost everything a few times and survived. I can pretty much roll with the punches of life.
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Tenacious and a mind of steel! Life is full of hardships for many people, but not everyone can sustain the damages.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I had about $40,000. I am 73, retired at 64. now have about $7000. :eek:

We had to put a new roof on our 🏠. And have a new water well drilled!
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That's very tragic. Emergency expenses can really dig into your funds! I feel as though education about retirement should be more common, so it easier to visualize what to expect when the time for retirement comes around.
 
My co-workers thought I was crazy when I told them I was taking early retirement. I retired 24 days before my 51st birthday. Of course that meant I couldn't collect social security for another 11 years. But I knew I'd be fine and that was because:
~My retiree health and pharmacy benefits were great. My out of pocket expenses for excellent medical care were next to nothing.

~Our co-op mortgage payments were incredibly low, about 37% of average comparable apartments at the time. And I knew the board and management strived to keep those expenses as low as possible. Heat, hot water were included and there was no extra HOA fee.

~My husband and I shared some of the expenses but I never asked him to pay my personal expenses.

~I had a nest egg, but not a much as I had hoped. Still, most of that was invested and I knew that untouched it would grow nicely, which it did.

~Although I lost 12% of my pension because I took early retirement, my pension was more than enough to cover my expenses.

~I learned by my mid 20s how to make a dollar out of 15 cents, as the expression goes. That served me well.
 
I really think you have to understand your individual or couple dynamic well to judge what a retirement would look like. If you can not tell me what your monthly written in stone expenses consist of I have little faith you can survive the long haul. Retirement education is “out there” to be looked at and considered…but is worthless without understanding yourself. None of us can predict a future…but I can make stone soup for the foreseeable future to make emergent expenses doable…and that makes a difference.
 
Muskrat said:
I really think you have to understand your individual or couple dynamic well to judge what a retirement would look like.
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And I would just add: when looking ahead, don't even plan on being a couple in the years ahead. Fotunately, we considered that possibility in advance so that one of us could make it on just one income if it came to that. It did.
 
TailoredLinen said:
How confident were you your money would last throughout its entirety?
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I'm still not totally confident, but the current lack of confidence is just for financial disaster scenarios and for dementia/stroke care scenarios.

I ran retirement calculators before I retired, and at work we had a retirement analysis by ML benefit that I took advantage of (they were useful for reminding me to plan for lumpy costs like car replacements).

Also I practiced living on my expected retirement income for two to three years before I retired (the first year I forgot about property taxes so failed the exercise!).

Then my first year of retirement I was ridiculously frugal (but I've made up for it since!).
 
I was concerned when I first decided to retire, but research, spreadsheets and FIRE calculations eased it somewhat. Twenty years on and it was clearly a good decision, with my nest egg, even adjusted for inflation has remained stable.
 
FIRE is the way to go for sure. That is a idea I could of sunk my teeth into. Mr Money Mustache website has so many ideas I wish I had used earlier and better. As it is I am comfortable in spite of myself.
 

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