Tag: Retirement

Jay, Age 46, Spent His Way to a 7-Digit Retirement Nest Egg. He’s Happy. I’m in Awe.

There are many ironies in life. Exercising more helps to lose weight continuously is one such irony. Delivering good work in the office gets us a promotion is another one. We can save our way to retirement is the next. Now, now. Hang on a second before you ding me. Firstly, I do believe ...

Jeremey, Age 48, Earns $13,000 a Month and Has Given Up on Retirement. Here’s Why.

Like me, Jeremey is a salaried worker. Like me, Jeremey believed in retirement. But unlike me… he has given up on that dream. Jeremey today is very different from the man I knew 8 years back. Then, chatting about retirement makes Jeremey happy. That is no longer the case...

Renting in Retirement

The decision to retire someplace without snow and ice was made when I was flat on my back on the sidewalk in Minnesota. The black ice was invisible, and I had stepped off my front stoop, and the next thing I knew I was staring at the sky. I was conscious, and carefully moved each limb to identify an...

Retirement Realities: Planning for the Golden Years as a Millennial Mom

As a 36 year old millennial mom, I am responsible for budgeting and planning for my family of 5. While it’s not always the easiest job, I find it highly rewarding. Lately, I have been thinking about what it will mean for me and my husband to move from working full time to retirement (and all t...

The ultimate guide to factoring your pension into your retirement plan

According to pensionrights.org, 91% of pensions aren’t adjusted for inflation. As inflation increasingly takes its bite out of your pension, you’ll want to keep some extra funds laying around to patch over the periods both before and after your pension begins. In other words, the...

The Ins and Outs of 401k Retirement Plans: A Comprehensive Guide for 2023

The 401k is one of the most popular employer-sponsored retirement plans in the United States. As of 2021, there were over 600,000 401k plans holding over $7.3 trillion in assets for over 60 million participants, according to the Investment Company Institute. With the 401k playing such a pivotal r...

Retirement Planning Should Be on Your 2023 To Do List

Planning for retirement is a vital aspect of personal finance management. However, deciding on the best approach can be challenging with so many different strategies and options available. When planning for retirement, individuals must consider their financial goals, risk tolerance, and the timeline...

Retirement Rescue — Get Ahold of Your Numbers

This does not need to be overly complex and can even be handwritten. You need to list your sources of income; wages, dividends, interest, side hustle income etc. Then you list your expenses; rent or mortgage, property taxes, car payments, repairs, utilities, entertainment, retirement contributions, ...

Maximizing your Retirement Corpus with a combination of Traditional 401(K), Roth 401(K) and…

Maximize your contribution to the employer Roth 401(K) to max out your employer contribution. E.g.: If your employer matches up to 4%, you also contribute 4% to the Employer Roth 401(K). · Contributions to Roth 401(K) are after-tax, so this is not tax deductible. · Employer co...

Is Over-Saving for Retirement Holding You Back?

We get it — retirement planning is a must. According to Northwestern Mutual, the average American has approximately $89,300 tucked away for those golden years. Sounds good, right? Well, hold that thought. Over a 20-, 25-, or 30-year retirement, that sum might not stretch as far as you’d ...

Have Multiple Retirement Accounts?

First, the good news, per the Secure Act II signed into law last year effective 2024, there is no longer a RMD stipulation on Roth 401(k) plans. Another advantage to retirees was the additional year a person born in 1951 has to leave their money in their retirement accounts. If you turned 72 in 2...

Save for Retirement. Right the Heck Now.

401(k) plans were created as an alternative to private pension plans which, at the time, were failing in stupendous numbers and being discontinued left and right by employers. So the 401(k) is kind of a “do it yourself” replacement. The sales pitch was compelling enough: Instead of yo...

Invest in (Almost) Anything with Self-Directed Accounts: The Ultimate Flexibility in Retirement Investment

Are you tired of the limited investment options in traditional retirement accounts? Self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s offer a way to invest in a wider range of assets beyond stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. With self-directed accounts, you can invest in real estate, precious metals, private equity...

A Beginner’s Guide to 401(k) Plans: Unlocking the Potential of Employer-Sponsored Retirement Savings

A 401(k) plan is a retirement savings plan sponsored by employers in the United States, designed to help employees build a nest egg for their future. Named after the section of the Internal Revenue Code that governs them, these plans allow you to allocate a portion of your pre-tax salary towards inv...

Do We Need A 401(k), Or Other Work Retirement Vehicle?

You sign up for the plan, you define what percentage you want withheld from each paycheck and you select your investment options. If you select a traditional 401(k), you get a reduction on your taxes in the year you contribute. Hopefully you get a company match, and all is good. For people who...

Maximizing Your 401k: A Guide to Investing for Retirement

A 401k is a retirement savings plan offered by many employers. It allows you to save a portion of your income on a pre-tax basis, and your employer may even offer to match a percentage of your contributions. The money in your 401k grows tax-free until you withdraw it at retirement age. When you e...

My retirement travel bucket list

As I imagine my retirement travels, a list of destinations begins to form in my mind. At the top of the list is a trip to Italy, where I can wander the streets of Rome, sip espresso at a café in Florence, and take in the breathtaking views of the Amalfi Coast. Next on the list is a journey...

Retirement Savers: Act NOW to Prepare for This Sneaky Law

Hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana says this guide “opened his eyes” and sent him down a completely different path to financial protection. He’s now our customer and loved the company’s mission so much that he also became Augusta’s paid corporate ambassador. Joe an...

Retirement Planning: How To Plan For A Successful Retirement? By: Greg McKinney Mineola Texas

Retirement is the time when everyone wants to enjoy life to the fullest after years of working hard. Though, only a few people successfully manage to do so. The primary reason for this is the lack of retirement planning and not a proper understanding of how to go about it. Most people think that ...

401(k)s, Retirement Planning, Employee Benefits and Simple Investing Tips

Most US employees believe you can only contribute $20,500 per year in 2022 ($27K if over age 50) as an employee to “max out” your company retirement plan/401(k). However, if you have the after-tax contribution option through your company, you can actually put up to $61,000 ($67,500 if...

IRA? 401(k)? Both? What’s Really Best for Your Retirement Money?

The HSA provides a triple tax benefit: (a) contributions reduce your taxable income in the year you contribute, (b) any gains in the plan are tax-free, and (c) any withdrawals used for qualified health-related expenses are tax-free (and how many retirees have you heard of who have no health-related ...

7 Easy Money-Related Ways to Achieve My Best Retirement

Sometimes, all it takes is a simple question to really get you thinking. That’s what happened to me this morning. My recent article on what causes the biggest changes in retirement spending received a bunch of comments, including this one from  Tina Lopez , who asked: &ldqu...

Surprise! The Greatest Retirement Spending Changes Come from What Now?

In just a few years, I expect to reach work-optional status. It’s been a long, hard slog, financially speaking, and things can certainly still go wrong. That’s why I keep reading and writing about “retirement planning,” though, as I’ve written before, I hate that ...

Retirement Chronicles: Merry Christmas Ramblings!

First, I understand that not everyone on Medium recognizes Christmas as a holiday. To those who celebrate Christmas, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Retirees who are alone this Christmas. Not everyone has a loved one or family to celebrate Christmas. Normally, I go along with the volu...

Retirement Life: Kindness Comes In All Colors And Ages

I made a comment on a magnificent story by Darrin Atkins (May the Train of Kindness Stop at Your Station This Year) that made me think of this story a few days before Christmas. Kindness shouldn't just be shown during Christmas. It should be displayed year-round. I learned that lesson ...

The Secrets of Retirement No One Tells You

Sitting alone in our trailer, I feel darkness descending on me like a cold shiver that starts in my spine. My body begins to tingle, or maybe it’s more like a buzz, and I slump further under the blanket covering my legs. It’s a beautiful fall day in Washington State, so why do I feel lik...

Retirement is Challenging Because It’ll Come and We Don’t Know How to Deal with It

I wish I could write and express myself better. That I am not deliberately fearmongering to get clicks. But you may not trust me because I write online, and I need clicks… well… let me say this. No clicks, no reads. But retirement has a natural element of fear baked into the t...

The Retirement Newsletter: Happy Christmas — my last one as an employee

I have worked the week running up to Christmas since I was sixteen. As a teenager, I worked in shops during the Christmas holidays. First, it was a gents’ clothing shop, and then I moved on to a local chemist (pharmacy). At university, I worked Christmas in an off-licence (liquor store)....

The Psychology of Retirement: Embracing Change

I want to divide retirees into three different categories. Now, once again, this is all from my experiences as a retiree of many years now (more than I want to talk about). We’ll briefly examine each from my personal and anecdotal perspective. Retirement is a big change in your life....

A poem: Breaking Free from the Chains of Retirement

In the twilight of our years, we find our way, A journey, not an end, in the light of day. No need for retirement, that outdated decree, For we’re not passe, we’re still alive and free. At sixty and beyond, a new chapter to unfold, A chance to find purpose, in the stories yet unto...

My Company Enticed Older People to Leave with Fancy Retirement Packages

After graduation from college, I was lucky enough to find a fantastic, well-paying job with a well-known pharmaceutical company. Figuring I was set for life, as I didn’t plan on retiring until I was at least 72, I was surprised to find they were running what seemed like a sinister program call...

Navigating the New Retirement Landscape: A Guide for Savvy Planning

Retirement planning in the United States has entered a new era marked by increasing complexity and the need for individual initiative. Gone are the days when pensions and Social Security alone could guarantee a comfortable retirement. With longer life expectancy and evolving economic conditions, the...

Retirement Hobbies I’ve Tried So You Don’t Have To

I have written that the two most important things in my life are weather and lunch, and I’ll stick with that. But the third most important thing is hobbies. And I’ve had a lot of them. Wikipedia defines a hobby as “a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically du...

Post-Retirement Essentials: Key Concerns for a Secure Future

Nearing retirement brings a mix of excitement and apprehension, prompting various questions about what lies ahead in the new phase of life. Among the many questions that arise, the concern about the various aspects to address after retirement stands out. Exploring the essential elements that demand ...

Three ways to stay vibrant after retirement

We moved to Spain two weeks after retirement, where we now spend a lot of time exploring Spain and other European countries, thanks to proximity and cheap airfare. (I normally write about our travels and The Gang That Gets Together, the dear friends we’ve made here. A question on Quora, how...

A 12 Min Diary: Retirement Plans

All of it together gives us the freedom of thought to think of new possibilities and new ways of living. An early retirement or the so-called “FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early)” isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Only those who clearly know h...

I Retired At 37: Now I see retirement differently.

I announced it back when I still bothered with Facebook. We Are Retiring! Perhaps I do not really know the response I expected, but I didn’t get whatever it was. Nobody really believed me, for one. It was true. My husband and myself receive a small amount from our lives in the militar...

5 Affordable Retirement Destinations with the Same Charm as California but Without the High Cost

Sunny weather, leisure activities, and a cheap cost of living are typically at the top of the requirements for retirement. Although Florida used to be the preferred destination for these goals, rising expenses are making retirees think about other options. To find out more, continue reading. Thes...

Your Single Best Way to Avoid Running out of Money in Retirement?

Some are obvious (e.g., start saving as soon as possible, save as much as possible, etc.), and some are less so (e.g., avoid lifestyle inflation, invest your retirement money in a prudently aggressive manner, maintain adequate insurance, etc.). Then, I briefly mentioned the best way to avoid runn...

Retirement Life: Sometimes I’m Alone In A Desert

Just last Saturday, I accomplished something I never thought I would do. I jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet. It was my first skydiving experience (and my last) at age 72. This finished my 25-item bucket list. I experienced no problems whatsoever. There was not even a scratch when we landed about...

Is there a need for a shakeup in retirement products?

Current retirement products are often created in a way that does not take into account the changing needs of an ageing population. In addition, many retirement products fail to address the growing disparity between workers’ salaries and their savings for retirement. As such, it is increasin...

Are We Idolizing Retirement Life?

And while they have accumulated assets, they are cash-poor. Because they have rental income from their assets, they get peanuts from the government pension. And while their rental income seemed promising, the phantom costs of holding their principal home and other properties are shocking. P...

I Am Excited to Take the Next Fork in My Life Path But I’m Not Calling it Retirement Yet

Many people have trouble deciding when or whether to retire. After years of working as a psychotherapist where I helped many people with issues around finding or losing work, I know how important a person’s work is and how big a decision to stop working can be. Working is such an integral part...

Generation-X And The Un-Retirement Boom

This story was inspired by a YouTube video I recently watched about working during retirement. It was done by a Financial Coach, Frozen Pennies, and focused on 27 things that women over 50 could do to supplement their retirement income. Sadly most on the list were not digital or even remot...

I Had Possibly THE Most Low-Key Retirement EVER From Ministry

It’s difficult to overstate the impact that just saying the words “I am going to retire” had on my mental health. It felt like a crippling burden had been lifted. Of course, there was an awful lot to do in a short space of time. It was essential to try and finish we...

Getting Your Bushes Trimmed at the Retirement Community

We rent the land in our retirement community. We own our houses. It’s easy to understand who is responsible for what. If a shingle is loose on my roof, that’s my problem. If there is a pothole in my driveway, it’s not. But there are some gray areas. Our homes have lawns, rhodode...

Retirement Realities: A Comprehensive Analysis

Hello Dreamers! Retirement, the elusive horizon of financial tranquillity, has recently been thrust into the spotlight by Vanguard’s illuminating Retirement Outlook Report. In this unique exploration, we’ll delve into the depths of this report, combining insights from two perspectives...

A Smattering of Early Retirement Surprises … Should We Have Known?

Two years ago I bid farewell to the world of full-time work (more on that in a moment), confident my wife and I had planned carefully and well. You already know the punchline, so I’ll get right to it: my Emperor Palpatine moments (hear now in your head the Emperor’s smug gloat to Dart...

10 Years On: 5 Keys to Successful Retirement

Ten years ago today, I retired. I must admit, I’m pretty good at it. A quarter of all retirees return to work, more often because they want something to do than they need the money. If you don’t want to fall into that camp after you’ve collected your gold watch, here&rsqu...

Eureka! I Found The Perfect Retirement Community

When I first started looking for a LifePlan Community (LPC), or CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community), I was warned that retirement communities were desperate for new people to move in. Dismissing that as hyperbole, since most places have waiting lists, I forgot about it until I started loo...

Hit The Pause Button: How and Why Take a Mini-Retirement

A Guide To Going From a High Income to Resetting a cloudy mind and body. Photo by Manuel Meurisse on Unsplash Call us crazy, but we put our life and health first before making more money blindly and without intention. Together, my husband and I made a W2 income of close t...

Jay, Age 46, Spent His Way to a 7-Digit Retirement Nest Egg. He’s Happy. I’m in Awe.

Eureka! I Found The Perfect Retirement Community

Retirement Life: The ABCs Of Retirement

As I continue to recuperate (I’m going to stop talking about my accident, I promise, folks) I have much more time to watch movies I haven’t seen in years. One such movie is what has become a cult classic, “Glengarry Glen Ross.” It is some of the best acting I’ve seen in...

Semi-Retirement

We have a thing here in Chatham County, where I live called “The Chatlist”. It’s an email listserv that’s been around forever. It survived over the years where other listserv’s have disappeared or been replaced by newer tech, I think, because, it’s amassed a good ...

The One Thing You Need for a Happy Retirement

So this week I was going to write about the Happiness U-Curve. This is a theory — popular in the last few years — that human happiness starts to decrease in early adulthood, bottoms out in our 40s, and begins to rise again in our 50s and beyond. My memory being what it is, I needed...

Last Minute year-end retirement deductions

Time is ticking away, and guess what? Your retirement is getting a year closer! But don’t worry, you’ve still got time to make some smart moves before December 31 to boost your retirement funds. Let’s check out five cool strategies that could put a few thousand dollars (or maybe mo...

Investing: avoid this one retirement mistake

Just looking at social media or even books about retirement I’m continually struck by the volume of poor advise out there. The same bad advise is repeated by commenter after commenter who, all too often it seems, lack even a basic knowledge of finance, let alone the detailed exp...

Navigating Retirement: The 4% Withdrawal Rule vs. Dave Ramsey’s 8% Advice with Inflation Considerations and Ramsey’s Controversial Reaction

As individuals plan for retirement, a crucial consideration is how to manage withdrawals from their investment portfolio. The 4% withdrawal rule has long been a staple in retirement planning, emphasizing a sustainable approach to ensure funds last throughout one’s golden years. However, Dave R...

Retirement Chronicles: An Unexpected Payment

I’m sure you've gotten those fake checks in the mail before. “Redeemable only at…..Payable only at…Good toward the purchase of…at….” and so on. I got another of what I thought was a fake check last Saturday. I mean, I wasn’t expecting...

The most important cost for your retirement

Housing is the biggest expense for most people, typically consuming a little less than half of their monthly income most of the time. Ideally you would have a paid off mortgage to allow you to avoid the housing cost entirely. Now you may be thinking to yourself well if this cost is so important and ...