What was you age when you retired?
- 50 or less
- between 51 and 57
- between 58 and 64
- between 64 and 71
- over 71
0 voters
1 Like
For a long time I wanted to have things in place so that if layoffs or early retirement package offers came around, Iād be ready:
-Have a plan
-Understand how much social security I could expect
-Be prepared to be told āwe canāt make you stay, but weāre not going to pay you to leaveā
-Have my own investments, allocated so that if layoffs came when the economy was bad (like often happens) I wouldnāt have to āwait for the next upswingā before being able to stop working on my terms.
Then, as it turned out, the corporation was sniffing around for people willing to take a severance when I was 60 (when many businesses were cash strapped due to half a year of COVID quarantine). The severance offer was even more generous than the handbook promised. I grabbed that offer and left skid marks on the way out.
10 Likes
57
I had a failed business at 40, which basically left us with no net worth. Got a āreal jobā and retired 17 years later with enough to live on, mostly due to investing success. After retirement, continued to build our portfolio.
I completely ignore the advice to split funds between bonds and stocks (because ābonds are safeā). IMO, bonds are not āsafeā because they do very little to generate the assets you will use to retire and go on to live well in retirement. Before this latest downturn, we withdrew money at incredible rates (up to 15% per year and even beyond) and STILL multiplied our portfolio 5X in the period of 2011-2021. (Unfortunately, I was too stubborn to sell in the latest downturn and we lost a lot of $$$ā¦ rebuilding now and doing fine).
Bottom line: Investing for growth overcomes all intervening āissuesā short of a collapse in society.
Rob
Former RB and BL Home Fool, Supernova Portfolio Contributor & Maintenance Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
3 Likes
You need the option for not yet.
I will be 65 in December 2022 and plan to work to 66-because I want to do so.
I am visiting this TMF forum for preparation.
5 Likes
I can answer this poll on August 31.
2 Likes
I can answer this poll on August 31.
Maybe do some math and figure out how old youāll be on Sep 1?
Mike
10 Likes
I agree bonds are not āsafeā. But they supposedly can smooth out the ride when you no longer have to hit home runs. I already did well, and had enough to retire this year. I donāt need any more āswing for the fencesā. I just need not to lose it all. (I had a coworker who retired wealthy, but didnāt adjust his risk-taking, and ended up back in the office about two years later because he was broke.)
Iām still mostly stocks, with some bonds in a 2030 target date fund. Overall, the bond amount in my portfolio is trivial. My biggest concern is that about 60% of my assets are in my ESPP (i.e. ONE stock). I need to diversify that without taking a huge cap gain hit. Which I think I will be able to do now that my ordinary income is near zero.
1 Like
Depends on how you define retired. I quit working full-time around age 40 to be a stay at home dad and then never returned to full-time employment, but my wife continued receiving a paycheck until 57. Most of that time that we were both working, she was earning more than me. Not what a younger me would have imagined, but it all worked out. Now weāre both 60 and living off savings, investments and retirement distributions.
" Overall, the bond amount in my portfolio is trivial. My biggest concern is that about 60% of my assets are in my ESPP (i.e. ONE stock). I need to diversify that without taking a huge cap gain hit. Which I think I will be able to do now that my ordinary income is near zero."
Even if you are working, most plans allow conversion of ESPP stock to something else and certain age limits - like 55. Check your manual or HR department.
There is HIGH RISK in owning mostly one stock. If you are retired, check to see if you can roll it over to an IRA.
t.
1 Like
Even if you are working, most plans allow conversion of ESPP stock to something else and certain age limits - like 55. Check your manual or HR department.
Really? Got any proof of that? ESPP shares canāt be āconvertedā to something else without selling and paying any taxes due. Maybe you are thinking of an ESOP? Thatās a completely different type of plan, as itās a retirement plan, while you purchase ESPP shares in a taxable account.
If you are retired, check to see if you can roll it over to an IRA.
Again, ESPP shares are purchased in a taxable account. They cannot be rolled into an IRA. Again, maybe you are thinking of an ESOP?
AJ
7 Likes
Not yet retired but pondering options.
Most likely will retire from government job (I could keep it for as long as Iām alive, probably) at the end of the year or early January.
My dilemma, a good one, is whether to work after retirement. Iāll be 60 but Iāve been talking to several smaller company and I can make about 40-70% more money if I work for them once I āretireā. Essentially I can easily make more money doing 32 hrs a week than I make now doing 40 hrs.
So it might be tough to turn down a rather lucrative paycheck for another 6-12 months of work.
My biggest issue now is figuring out where I want to retire to. I had a plan of having a paid off home and retiring in Arizona but then a variety of things happened and now I donāt own any real estate and am living back east for now. A combination of family, covid, etc. factors occurred.
Rich
Actually, a person at Fido told me I could do a sort of conversion. He said it was a loophole. I have to commit the ESPP shares for 7 years. After that I would pull the money out with a resultant lower tax rate.
Sounded weird to me, so I didnāt pursue it further. But Iāll keep it in the back of my mind if I think I will need something like that.
1poorguy
Actually, a person at Fido told me I could do a sort of conversion. He said it was a loophole. I have to commit the ESPP shares for 7 years. After that I would pull the money out with a resultant lower tax rate.
Thereās something where people who have a ton of money all in one assetāa stock or a single piece of prime investment real estate. You enter into a contract with others who are in the same situation, so you all diversify with each othersā assets. So, you wouldnāt āsellā your ESPP shares, but commit them eventually to the pool.
Because I wasnāt in that situation nor likely to ever be, I didnāt research more about that, but just recalled having seen such a thing.
I can answer this poll on August 31.
Great! Congrats!
Iāll be a little slower ā¦ probably around 8 or 9 months from now.
culcha