How much do you need for retirement

And the best financial planning advice that I can give is: Choose your wife wisely... 'cause an ugly divorce destroys even the best of financial planning. 🤔
The most expensive thing a guy can can do is marry the wrong women. He'd be better off spending every dollar he had on hookers and blow... the memories would be better than anything he would have with a shrew of an ex-wife.
 
The most expensive thing a guy can can do is marry the wrong women. He'd be better off spending every dollar he had on hookers and blow... the memories would be better than anything he would have with a shrew of an ex-wife.
Truth. All my coworkers who stayed married are now financially set & secure in retirement. Even Biden's crazy inflation is likely survivable for them. [thumbsup]

Me? Not so much. I lost way too much to ever recover from. Divorce is the number one killer of comfortable, stress-free retirements... so be careful out there. 🤔
 
Story on FOX stated Americans 401K's have declined an average or 23% over the past year, thanks Leftists.
We had a strong run on the stock market and were due for a recession. Did the Biden administration actions make it worse? Probably, but it was coming regardless.

Back when I was a kid, I remember stagflation and the energy crisis of 1973-75. I was in college during the 1980 recession. I graduated in 1982 and the job market was bad due to the 1981-1982 recession. I left grad school for the second time in 1991, during the 1990-1991 recession. I was laid off not too long after the .bomb recession in 2001. We all remember the recession in 2008, and now the COVID recession in 2020 - 2022.

The point is this: during all of these recessions the market went down and then, some time later, it recovered. I've seen my 401k balance go down and I've seen it come back up. I'm only about 3 years from retirement. Stop looking at your 401k balance all the time. Recessions suck while you are in them, but things will get better.
 
Truth. All my coworkers who stayed married are now financially set & secure in retirement. Even Biden's crazy inflation is likely survivable for them. [thumbsup]

Me? Not so much. I lost way too much to ever recover from. Divorce is the number one killer of comfortable, stress-free retirements... so be careful out there. 🤔
That’s why there is Thailand my friend😂😂
 
You are correct especially if you live in Ma. A divorce will change EVERYTHING!
Believe or not MA isnt that bad post 2011 when the alimony laws changed. I say not that bad compared to red states like tx and fl that are far worse. If your married for an minute in FL it’s lifetime Alice isn’t horny anymore money. f*** that!😂
 
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Believe or not MA is that bad post 2011 when the alimony laws changed. I say not that bad compared to red states like tx and fl that are far worse. If your married for an minute in FL it’s lifetime Alice isn’t horny anymore money. f*** that!😂

https://money.usnews.com/investing/...nancial-advisor-a-guide-to-the-fiduciary-duty
people need to understand the difference between run of the mill "financial advisors" and a "fiduciary"
You are correct.
 
Stop looking at your 401k balance all the time. Recessions suck while you are in them, but things will get better.
This...........

I am retired so my 401K is now in an investment account. When the stock market starts tanking I do not look at my account balance.

I made the decision to ride it out a long time ago, when things turn around as they always do then I will start looking at my balance.

In the mean time the fluctuations in the market does not affect my income from the account and that is what is important to me right now.
 
We have never touched any of our savings since retirement which was in 2017 at age 62. I started collecting SS, collect a tax free 40% from Uncle Sam, my wife has her teachers pension. We live modestly and don’t over spend. I live in the country and I was just a blue collar factory worker. One thing good about not being rich your whole life is you learn to do everything yourself to save money. It seems to help when retirement comes. As far as college goes….. all 3 of mine went to Boston U, Cornell, and U-Mass on full scholarships. Perhaps if yours are paying full price, they should look into tech schools etc. BTW, we bought an old farmhouse and paid cash in 1981. Over the years we have rebuilt the entire place And never paid a penny in mortgages. So it is possible for a cheap f*** to retire without 6 mil in the bank.
 
I am my own financial advisor. I studied it in college and read hundreds of books, subscribed to the WSJ and Barrons, etc.. I put every penny possible into my 401(k) from the moment it was offered. I invested aggressively through good times and bad and then moved most to cash a few years before I retired. It was (is) worth well over $2m when I retired. I haven't touched it since I retired 2+ years ago other than to move it to a self-directed IRA where I can trade as often as I like with no tax consequences (I bought AAPL one day and sold it at a nice profit the next day).
I have Medicare and BC/BS Bronze supplement, which takes care of most things, though I wish I had gotten dental coverage. I get a little over $3K deposited in my account each month from SocSec--looking forward to that big raise next year. I cover most expenses, including buying my kid half a house in San Diego, from cash built up in my brokerage account. I don't worry about 4% or any of that crap--if I want to buy something or go somewhere, I do. Some months I spend very little, others I spend a lot (just bought a new vehicle for $50K). The house, four cars, two boats, and all other toys are paid for--I don't intend on ever taking another loan. If I start to run out of money, I'll change my lifestyle. If I end up in a nursing home, I have a contingency plan.
I know this isn't an approach for everyone, but I busted my ass (averaged 50+ hours a week) for 42 years and the last thing I'll do is become a slave to a planned retirement approach. If I see a mint Colt Python at a reasonable price, I won't be worrying if it will fit into by 4% budget. YMMV

My financial advisor advice: save as much as you can--in your 401(k), IRA, and non-tax advantaged vehicles. If you are young invest aggressively and don't look at statements more than few times a year. Open one or more mutual funds that you treat as a regular monthly bill--send a $100 every month and increase the amount as you get raises. One day the state of Massachusetts will declare you rich.
Define ‘young’ please. I’m WAY behind the 8-ball at 40 years old and have only been saving for 4 years, but am subscribing to some of the things you list here already. Putting 16% of base pay into 401k with a 4% company match. Bought a 1yr CD @ 4.7% recently. Have about 15% of my total holdings in PM’s and will stack more when appropriate (I’m currently at my ‘max’ percentage for holding PM’s.)

No BTC or crypto and I’m starting to wonder if I should put a little into it (BTC only) and see how it shakes out, but I’m not much of a gambler.

I’ll never have a million dollars because I started so late, but I’m also not very fancy and don’t require a lot to be content. I travel for penny’s on the dollar compared to most people and am actually pretty content just staying around my house/land 99% of the time and that SHOULD carry over to retirement as well.
 
Define ‘young’ please. I’m WAY behind the 8-ball at 40 years old and have only been saving for 4 years, but am subscribing to some of the things you list here already. Putting 16% of base pay into 401k with a 4% company match. Bought a 1yr CD @ 4.7% recently. Have about 15% of my total holdings in PM’s and will stack more when appropriate (I’m currently at my ‘max’ percentage for holding PM’s.)

No BTC or crypto and I’m starting to wonder if I should put a little into it (BTC only) and see how it shakes out, but I’m not much of a gambler.

I’ll never have a million dollars because I started so late, but I’m also not very fancy and don’t require a lot to be content. I travel for penny’s on the dollar compared to most people and am actually pretty content just staying around my house/land 99% of the time and that SHOULD carry over to retirement as well.


Unless you really know what youre doing with BTC (cold wallet, etc), I would stay the f*** away from it in todays current climate. Theres a storm coming.
 
Unless you really know what youre doing with BTC (cold wallet, etc), I would stay the f*** away from it in todays current climate. Theres a storm coming.
Definitely planned on waiting until if/when I feel comfortable…nowhere even near a point where I’d feel ok buying in just yet.

Educating myself in the meantime and realizing just how little I understand it and it’s definitely keeping me at arms length. Still kicking myself for not getting in when it was a few hundred bucks though.
 
I am retired so my 401K is now in an investment account. When the stock market starts tanking I do not look at my account balance.

I made the decision to ride it out a long time ago, when things turn around as they always do then I will start looking at my balance.

In the mean time the fluctuations in the market does not affect my income from the account and that is what is important to me right now.
YUP!
I stopped my monthly disbursement from Fidelity when I started receiving SS 1 yr. ago. I meet with a Fidelity Advisor once a year to review my investments, they recently opened an office in Littleton, right down the street from the Mill.
 
Also, the IRS still hasn’t given final guidance on RMDs with the current new IRA rules for inherited IRAs. Initially it was believed that beneficiaries could opt not to take anything in certain years so long as it was fully distributed by year 10. However, that is now being disputed by the IRS. They are waiving any penalties for ‘20, ‘21, ‘22, but starting in ‘23 folks will still be required to take some distribution annually with the full amount gone by year 10.

As is the case always, the federal government can’t get their shit together and the tax code grows in assclown f***ery.
Got any further reading you can point to on that? I heard about this push early this year (from Fidelity I think), but nothing recently, and everything I can find in writing from the IRS itself (looking at pub 590-B, including revisions from earlier this year) still says withdrawals are totally optional until the ten-year mark.

They're still complete f***ups though, and I could easily believe it's all lies.
 
Got any further reading you can point to on that? I heard about this push early this year (from Fidelity I think), but nothing recently, and everything I can find in writing from the IRS itself (looking at pub 590-B, including revisions from earlier this year) still says withdrawals are totally optional until the ten-year mark.

They're still complete f***ups though, and I could easily believe it's all lies.


I don’t; the IRS still doesn’t know what they’re doing, but as of now it appears relatively small RMDs will be required annually, then the total nut by year 10.

They haven’t issued their final guidance yet because the government is retarded.
 
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