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My Retirement Checklist

Born2Travel

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Here's the downside I just discovered upon doing more research- He is only in this business since Sept. which is why he wasn't listed when I first searched last year. He seems to only have 4 or so years experience prior to this. (he was in the military) he has an MBA also and worked for USAA. I have to check into his background more.

There's always a catch.....

Don't be discouraged yet. At least talk to him and give him a chance. We've been with our current CFP for many years now, and we are happy with results and trust him, but the first time I met with him, almost the first words out of his mouth were "I think you should know I'm 25 years old" - that kind of surprised me, and made me think about it, but I always just say to him "is this what you'd advise your mother to do?" He now has the experience he didn't have at that time.
 

VacationForever

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I believe for all retirement planning, it must start with realistic anticipated expenses for both and for one. If you can get your reliable income stream as close to expenses as possible, then you can afford to be retired. I used this rule for years in our retirement planning and finally decided to retire last year. Our issue has been the gap between retirement and when the reliable income streams start. We sold our business last year and plan to use all of it, drawing on varying amount each year, depending on when each income stream starts.

SS income, pension and annuities count as reliable income stream. I turned my IRA into future income annuities to increase the pool of reliable income stream as neither of us has a pension. My husband's IRA will provide the variable income through RMD withdrawals. Even if his RMD fluctuates greatly due to the market, we figure we can cut down expenses if we need to in those years. So 2 SS, 1 annuity and 1 RMD will
make up our retirement income to meet expenses.

We also looked into the scenario when one dies first as to how the income will be reduced and balaneed that with reduced expense needs.

We have separate savings/investments that we plan not to tap into, if at all possible, as our emergency funds.
 

Talent312

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I believe for all retirement planning, it must start with realistic anticipated expenses for both and for one. If you can get your reliable income stream as close to expenses as possible, then you can afford to be retired.

Forecasting cash-flow is important, but if you have a decent nest-egg, you can, in effect, provide your own annuity (w/o commissions & fees). Luckily, our income stream will be enuff that we won't need to tap into our nest-egg for everyday expenses.

As I said, it's not only the $$, it's the nuts+bolts that can be daunting.
Including: Collecting phone numbers, addresses & websites, as needed for...

Fixed Income Sources:
(1) Social Security, (2) Pension Provider, and Annuity (if you want).

Lump-Sum Transferees:
(1) Rollover IRA (retirement $$) and (2) Savings/Money Mkt (final comp $$).

Spouse's Health Insurance:
(1) Medicare, (2) Drug Policy and (3)Medigap.

Your Health Insurance:
(1) Retiree Policy, (2) Medicare or (3) Other.

--------------------
I think that covers the waterfront for most folks.

.
 
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cgeidl

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Agree with Elaine's CFP description although some CFP'S specialize in the elderly and may have the right background and possibly when you meet with your CFP by telephone you can ask whether he is an expert in social security and if not if he knows who does.. You will not likely get accurate responses from talking to social security personnel. Paying a few dollars for a real expert is the key to making the best decision. We started taking at 62 and investing the money and with the stock increases I feel we were better off than waiting.I met with social security personnel before retiring and was told I would get a monthly amount of about $1200 but only got a bit more than $600 even though I had 35 years in the system. Got caught under the Windfall Provision Act. Luckily we really can get along fine without it.
You seem financially astute and should greatly benefit from a solid CFP.

I don't know if a CFP will help that much with timing, Medicaire, SS, etc. I think they are more about the planning aspect of financial investments, such as what your portfolio looks like, investment choices to consider based upon tax concerns, explain risk tolerance vs. lower yields, etc.
 

BJRSanDiego

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When I talk to anyone considering retirement, I ask them "what's your plan?". "How are you going to spend your time?". I retired 9 years ago, and I still have some items left on my list. I think it helps to retire in the spring. ...

I agree with Art regarding the benefit of having a personal activity plan.

When I retired (coincidentally, about the same time as Art), I also coincidentally, had a 3 page typewritten list of things that I might be interested in doing in retirement. It has been years since I last located this list, but I think that I am still on page 1.

I have heard from both "camps" - - people who love to be retired and those that are miserable. The ones who love to be retired keep active physically, and mentally. The miserable ones don't seem to have any particular interests and just sit and watch TV.

For my mental activity I subscribe and contribute to several blogs on hobby or travel related topics. I have written a handful of articles on timesharing for an owner group from one of my timeshares. I also LOVE tough Sudoku puzzles. I have taken a few on-line courses in science topics. I also keep abreast of the news (outside of the mainstream news organizations such as CBS/NBC/ABC,CNN)

On a person's retirement activity list, it is important to have some goals for physical activities and physical health. Keeping active and keeping one's weight down or under control is important. I do a fair amount of hiking. I used to swim laps until I injured a shoulder while horseback riding (it wasn't the riding that caused the problem but the sudden deceleration when I hit the ground :eek: ). But swimming is being put back on my list.

So, financial planning is important but hopefully isn't something that you are just starting at retirement. It should be basically a continuation of a lifetime of financial planning. But having a PLAN for what you want to do for enjoyment, enrichment and self-actualization is also VERY important. When I put my plan together my wife and I compared our plans. It was a fun exercise. :cheer:
 

Talent312

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I's say that an activity plan or at least, staying active, is important...
Year 1 -- Party! Travel planned for nearly every month left in year.
Year 2 -- Two cruises and a list of deferred maintenance.
Year 3 -- Serious home remodelling projects.
Year 4+ -- Hobbies (landscaping & gardening) & more travel.
Also, we have a HOA-neighborhood pool half a block away.

.

 
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John Cummings

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I have been happily retired for going on 11 years now. I never made any plans nor intend to about what I am going to do. My wife and I do whatever we feel like doing on the spur of the moment. Both of us abhor schedules or having to be someplace or do something at a certain time.

I was also very happy when I was working because I loved my work. However it interfered with seeing the grandkids so I had to make a choice. My wife has always been a homemaker so she never retires.

Actually I was going to retire when the high tech crash started in 2001 but I actually continued to work another 5 years as I got some fantastic projects with different clients from 2001-2006. It is nice working when you are financially independent and don't have to work. We sold our homes in the SF Bay area and San Diego in 2002 and we bought our new home here preparing for retirement.

The most planning I did was deciding where we wanted to live when I retired. That was very important to us.

I didn't have to do much financial planning other than to make money. We had a financial planner ( CFP and Enrolled Tax Agent ) for several years prior to retiring and we still have him.

I think people need to really plan for where they want to live. I learned what not to do based on my parents retirement. Our first criteria is it had to be someplace where we can live comfortably all year long. That means not cold, not brutally hot and definitely not humid. That was a major factor on picking California. Living in 2 places was out. That seems great when you are younger but as you get older it becomes harder to keep moving every 6 months or so. My parents did that and it was fine when they first retired but 15 years later it wasn't very good. We also wanted to be near good medical facilities and have lots of different things to do close by.

In any event that is our take on retirement.
 

x3 skier

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Three days after I retired, I was in Steamboat Springs, I had a place to live, a season skiing pass and was on the mountain. Been going back every ski season for 20 years now.

Building an airplane to fly myself which I plan to complete next year.

Life can be good if you let it:D.

Cheers
 

bogey21

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One of our big questions was whether to take the full amount of pension and buy life insurance, or to leave spouse part of the pension getting a reduced amount for life.....What have you folks chose in that situation?

I set it up so my ex-wife will get 50% of my pension payment when I die (I'm 20 years older than her). This is a larger amount than the fixed amount she currently gets which she has to give up upon my death. Her lawyer pushed for the life insurance and I refused. I want her to have money for life and know if she ever got a lump sum, she would blow through it in a couple of years.

George
 

DancingWaters

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My Social Security monthly increase for waiting is almost $500 per month.

I am still actively doing my own house and apt rentals ... and looking at selling these places. My gypsy lifestyle which is in "month 5" now of "live 24 months in former rental A, sell as principal residence". Repeat several times. Plus, selling some other rental properties and hold mortgages.
I had 4 options and it wasn't an easy choice: 1. full pension for life, 2. pension for life + 10 years for spouse, 3. pension for both our lives, and 4. pension for life + 2/3 pension for spouse -- each with a different payout factor. Mon Dieu!

Although the reduction in payments was nothing to sneeze at, we ultimately, we went with #3... who knows how long either of us will live. I could die next week and my spouse live another 20. So we felt the joint "annuity" was the safer bet.

For the same reason, I'm taking SS now, while I can still enjoy the fruits of my labor.


.

We have thought about drawing SS now but want to see if we can financially wait. I ended up giving DH my full pension if I pass and he gave me on his pension 50% plus I will get part of his SS since all my pension is through teachers pension and I personally don't get my own SS. Do you or rap mark also carry life insurance? We have 6 rentals and if something happens to DH I personally can't maintain. So I worried what would I do.
 

Talent312

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We're foregoing major life insurance policies, as our surviving-spouse incomes will be sufficient to meet expenses, and retirement savings will serve as our rainy-day funds. We each have a small policy, just enuff to cover funeral expenses.
.
 
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vacationhopeful

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< snip> We have 6 rentals and if something happens to DH I personally can't maintain. So I worried what would I do.

Maintaining a rental property PHYSICALLY in not much different than taking care of your personal single family home. Need a roofer; hire the roofer ... home or rental. Furnace or a/c not working; call the HVAC contractor. Snow removal? You do your home; tenant should do theirs as well as mowing the grass.

If you are seriously worried about it, TALK now to your DH and either start with a plan to downsize your position in rentals OR LEARN how to run the properties.

I have multi-family buildings (three 4-11 unit rentals) and 10 singles/duplexes. Plus a "maintenance" guy who is 6 years younger than me and been working with me for almost 20 years ... full time.

And we keep updating the units ... this month we tore out a bathroom, alternating some walls & door openings, added a pocket door to replace the bath entrance and will replace all the floor in the unit.

I am single ... and very close to a normal retirement age.
 
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rapmarks

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We have thought about drawing SS now but want to see if we can financially wait. I ended up giving DH my full pension if I pass and he gave me on his pension 50% plus I will get part of his SS since all my pension is through teachers pension and I personally don't get my own SS. Do you or rap mark also carry life insurance? We have 6 rentals and if something happens to DH I personally can't maintain. So I worried what would I do.

I was told by social security that the spouse won't get any social security because we have the pension from Illinois. A teacher that I know was told she would get half of husbands ss. So I don't know which is true.
As for insurance, all I have is a two thousand dollar policy started over fifty years ago.
We have one rental property, new last fall, and discovered the loss is not deductible if income over a certain threshold.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

John Cummings

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I was told by social security that the spouse won't get any social security because we have the pension from Illinois. A teacher that I know was told she would get half of husbands ss. So I don't know which is true.
As for insurance, all I have is a two thousand dollar policy started over fifty years ago.
We have one rental property, new last fall, and discovered the loss is not deductible if income over a certain threshold.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Why not contact Social Security and ask them? If you qualify for spousal Social Security you will get 50% of his if you are at full retirement age. One thing that some people don't know is if you receive spousal Social Security and your spouse dies, you then receive 100% of your spouse's.
 

rapmarks

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I did ask social security, and they told me my spouse would not get 50% of my benefit and he would get nothing if I died because he was getting a teacher pension. I am not upset because I get less than $60 a month. but another teacher claims they told her she would get half of her husbands social if he died, direct opposite of what they told me , in person, and on the phone.
 

DancingWaters

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The reason I might get some of my husbands SS is because I only taught 23 years and then I split my retirement and half of it is in a 401 A. Thank you all for your perspective on the life insurance question. Financial advisor wanted my DH to take full retirement and just buy a large life insurance policy. Unfortunately, my DH brother passed away last May and he did not put his wife on his post office pension and his life insurance came due and it was too expensive since he had cancer, so his wife is struggling financially. I was scared to death to go that route and repeat that same mistake. Big decisions
 

VacationForever

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Forecasting cash-flow is important, but if you have a decent nest-egg, you can, in effect, provide your own annuity (w/o commissions & fees).

An annuity shifts the risk of the market to the insurer. Also, there are enough (all) studies to show that people who have pension that makes up part of their retirement income, large or small, are the happiest retirees. Buying an annuity is essentially creating your own pension income.
 

bogey21

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There were 12 of us who took advantage of an Early Retirement Window offered by out Employer and retired together in 2000. I was the only one who took the annuity (Pension). The others all took Lump Sums. Best I can tell only 2, maybe 3 have any of the money left.

George
 

geekette

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Aww, retirement, how cute! As a Gen Xer, I truly doubt that anyone in my generation and below will ever really be able to retire.....maybe if they worked for a public entity, but even then, it's pretty iffy....
Guess again, Amy. I am genX, one of the oldest, and am on track to depart cube life in 2025. Of course, I started saving and investing in my 20s which maybe many of my age did not. I graduated at recession so there weren't any gifts on silver platters, just decades of scrimping and saving so I could quit working before age 70.
 

geekette

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The planner I sent a request to this morning already responded back via email and we have an introductory phone call scheduled for this upcoming Wed. From his website he seems like exactly you what I have been looking for! Even uses the word holistic on the web site! He does not sell any investment or insurance products! Wow! Hope he is affordable. I will, of course, have to get references from him but this could be the one! And- he is located just 45 minutes from my home and in a town that I work in st least 2 half days per week! Plus my husband drives by the town exit on his commute home every day, so would be convenient for us!

He was not listed on the napfa website last Fall when I started this process.

Thanks for pushing me not to get discouraged!
Excellent!!!!

You are much more savvy than the avg bear so
Here's the downside I just discovered upon doing more research- He is only in this business since Sept. which is why he wasn't listed when I first searched last year. He seems to only have 4 or so years experience prior to this. (he was in the military) he has an MBA also and worked for USAA. I have to check into his background more.

There's always a catch.....
Honestly, you seem to have your ducks in row, so why not see what latest academia teaches? One of you is likely to expand the horizons of the other.

I am not sure why you think you need help, as you seem to have it well in hand, so I would instead caution you in assuming whomever you meet with is more knowledgeable than you as to right course for you.

Timing of receiving benefits is a crap shoot. Noodle out scenarios with pen and paper, choose best fit.
 

geekette

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More Gen Xers believe in UFOs than believe that Social Security will exist when we hit our 60s. I, personally, don't count on it. And we're a super-tiny generation. I can't imagine what will happen with Millennials, since there are just so. darned. many. of. you. ;)
Please speak for yourself. When I started out, it made sense to assume no SS, that every nickel needed in retirement would come from me.

I'm 51 and do believe SS will be there for me and I do not believe in UFOs. I do not plan to take SS until 70 unless I actually need it, but I have planned and saved to not need it.
 

geekette

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I believe for all retirement planning, it must start with realistic anticipated expenses for both and for one. If you can get your reliable income stream as close to expenses as possible, then you can afford to be retired.
Yes. I am building a rising income tide to replace work salary. When mortgage is gone and I can reliably pay my bills with investments then I can retire. Not before 59.5 as I must be able to pull from 401k>IRA without penalty, just in case.

Income vs expenses, simple as that. Another 8 years of work ought to do it for me. Wish I could retire today, I would loved to have kept sleeping on this yucky rainy Monday.
 

geekette

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I have been happily retired for going on 11 years now. I never made any plans nor intend to about what I am going to do. My wife and I do whatever we feel like doing on the spur of the moment. Both of us abhor schedules or having to be someplace or do something at a certain time.
yes. I am not keen on clocks as it is, I have no intention of Structuring Retirement, and instead finally being able to be the free spirit that having a career never allowed. First up will be at least 2 weeks of vacation, probably 3, since never in my work life have I had 3 consecutive weeks off. What a joy it will be to not have that angst in the tummy over what I have to return to... and the freedom of not having an external party dictate how long I can be gone, ever again. aaahhhhhhh.... 8 more years, holy crap, that's a long time, just 8 more, after the 35+ ... only 8 .... I used to think I would work to age 70 but turns out, I don't like this any more.

joyous. sleep late on yucky Mondays. Say no to projects I really don't want to do. Say no to seeing people daily that I would not otherwise choose to be with .... and no more living in a cube again ever abiding by no sneakers or no jeans rules... barefoot in cut-offs, yeah, my retirement date is April 1, 2025, close enough to warm spring weather...
 

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I was told by social security that the spouse won't get any social security because we have the pension from Illinois. A teacher that I know was told she would get half of husbands ss. So I don't know which is true.
As for insurance, all I have is a two thousand dollar policy started over fifty years ago.
We have one rental property, new last fall, and discovered the loss is not deductible if income over a certain threshold.
I personally plan for worst case in every event, that way, if a law changes or some party or another goes bk, my contingency plan already thought of that and no disaster. Especially in these cases of "who knows what is true today , in your state or my state, and who knows what is true in a year or 10...."

I run projections from only my main nest egg, ignore the others, so if I'm wrong, I have other streams of revenue "just in case". I can live off the main account and will know in 5ish years whether that will be spartan living or plush.
 

Talent312

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Woo-Hoo! DW's new Medicare card with Part B just arrived. :thumbup:

I've learned the hard way not to blithely accept that anyone who has your future in their hands will do their job correctly. You need to check and sometimes, double check, to make sure that the work is getting done.

This was confirmed by an incident today...
Lab Receptionist: "We never got your doctor's order."
Dr's Office: "We sent it last week, but our servers are down now. Call back."


At Social Security Office, we got time-stamped copies of the docs we submitted.
Called Division of Retirement to confirm they had received my termination docs.
Called TD Waterhouse to confirm they'd keep my rollover IRA open until $$ arrived.
Went online to verify that the Satisfaction of Mortgage had been recorded.
Went online to Medicare to confirm my DW's enrollment in other plans we selected.
Went online to Social Security to confirm that my application was approved.
... Still waiting on state employee insurance office to do their thing.

Six weeks to go.

.
 
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