Retirement Thoughts

Investing Strategies Retirement Investing
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I get what you are saying. I maybe should have realized some of my extreme capital gains in the fall of 2021.I was very reluctant to take capital gain due to the fact that I am still earning a salary and I don’t really need that money, and a big chunk of my portfolio is in a taxable account. That is something I have to deal…wished that most of it were in a non-taxable or tax deferred account. I am quite limited by the amount I can put in these latter type of accounts. Any suggestion in that regard? I am already looking into to convert my IRA into Roth. Most moneys are actually in a 401K.
At any rate that capital gain has mostly evaporated. I may have been better off taking the capital gain tax hit or some of it. Thanks for that tool.

I pitched into income generating stocks a bit in early 2021 to prepare my portfolio for retirement and reduce its beta.

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Another Retirement thought. I noticed something while my wife was watching Dr Phil the other day. This guy and his wife were trying to decide if they should sell their house, buy an RV and travel. Dr Phil rolled out a long 30ft strip with numbers from 0 at one end and 90 at the other. He then asked the guy to go stand on his age (seems like he was 72±). Dr Phil’s comment was that the average death age for women is 86yo and men 83yo. Now look back, then ahead of you. What do you think you should do?

We have been doing lots of things and traveling on and off ourselves with usual annual tours since retirement. We are in good health, but it really hit me & I’m surely reviewing our bucket list and undoubtedly will be re-prioritizing.

Russ

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“This guy and his wife were trying to decide if they should sell their house, buy an RV and travel. Dr Phil rolled out a long 30ft strip with numbers from 0 at one end and 90 at the other. He then asked the guy to go stand on his age (seems like he was 72±). Dr Phil’s comment was that the average death age for women is 86yo and men 83yo. Now look back, then ahead of you. What do you think you should do?”

Keep the house, rent it out if need be, and travel. Go where an RV can’t go. If you want the “camping” experience rent a cabin.

That’s what I’m going to do.

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Retirement thoughts…

Ours are not about travel much at all. Wife and I have travelled the world for our jobs and vacations already. The thought of getting on a plane does NOTHING for me at all.

We do have a couple of places that we would like to go that we have never been, but getting on a plane right now, or in the near future is not something that we see as enjoyable. So, we’ll probably wait a bit to hit those spots.

In the meantime, we LOVE our place and staycations are OK with us. We live south of Boston and can hit many beautiful tourist spots within 1-2 hours drive. Our home is very relaxed, homey, and we love being here.

DW and I want to chill, enjoy our less stressful life, and look forward to grandkids :wink:

Cheers,
'38Packard

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Ours are not about travel much at all. Wife and I have travelled the world for our jobs and vacations already. The thought of getting on a plane does NOTHING for me at all.

Happily, the nature of travel can change when you are no longer limited to vacations. Though I have never been a fan of getting on planes, I am looking forward to spending a few months here, a few there to become part of the culture for a brief period of time. I like exploring in depth.

One of our best vacations was a 10 minute drive from home. We were living in St. Croix at the time and not looking forward to getting on a plane with two little kids we got a vacation rental a short drive away. Had a pool and ocean view, with our favorite beach restaurant down the street. Sure beat our refinery view at home. It was a last minute rental and I was able to get it for about what our planes would have cost us to the mainland. Nice upgrade for family that flew in to visit us.

Staycations, or this hybrid version, are wonderful.

IP,
who has gotten stuck at the airport too many times to like flying

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Most folks who sell a house, buy an RV…wind up doing full time travel for 18 months to a year, then winding up buying a ‘home base’. It gets old to be on the road 12 months a year. Either that, or they spend six months south, six months north in the same places to meet and socialize with people each year.

I bought my house while working here in TX. My mom was alive and lived with me for six months a year - and insisted on ‘one story house’. Good for her - she was in her 70s and had bad arthritis and hated steps…especially after my 3 story townhouse in Arlington VA…up/down/up down all the time. Still have it 32 years later.

My taxes are frozen at the age 65 level. Now I’m going on age 76.
tax $4000/yr. Insurance $1700/yr. No state income tax in TX.

Didn’t have much of a mortgage when I moved here in 1990 so it was quickly paid off.

Dallas is decent area - and I haven’t found any place I’d rather be YEAR ROUND. Oh, I like being up north in summer to escape the 100 deg days here. Winters are mild…if you snooze too late you’ll miss the inch of snow…six weeks of winter…4 months of summer.

Was good place to hop a plane anywhere in the world. Now, seen enough and no plans to be traveling by air any time soon. Good doctors, hospitals…which become more important as you get older.

Now being single I managed to stash a bunch of cash…diversified a bit… about 70% stocks overall now. Half of holdings in index funds.

First 20 years of retirement lots of travel - Europe, Asia, central America…Caribbean. All over the US by car…everywhere…every county. Now slowing down.

Someday maybe I’ll move into a retirement community … but that is ‘far off’ I hope.

Get my grass cut. The cleaning lady comes every two weeks. Pool service takes care of the pool. Life is good.

t.

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87

The DFW news every morning is weather and the latest killing.

Sounds like the Houston Chronicle. Drive by shootings, road rage, drunks driving the wrong way, etc. Amazing what happens between 10 pm and 3 am. Good time to be home sleeping.

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Collin County - ‘school taxes’ frozen at age 65 - and that is 90% of the tax bill.

Denton County school taxes are not frozen. Also they are not 90% of the tax bill; closer to 60%.

RE tax laws in Texas are written very vague to give the counties the leeway to do what they want (per Tx Controller office).

When I lived in Round Rock - Williamson County, 65 exemption went with the house. When I moved up here (Prosper) part Collin part Denton county, 65 exemption went with the person, not the house. Since I bought that house with my daughter, only half of the house got the 65 exemption. I am now in Little Elm - Denton and sole owner, but as I mentioned, over 65 not frozen.

(not so) funny story about the Prosper house. We got 4 tax bills, (1) Collin with 65 exemption, (2) Collin no 65 exemption, (3) Denton with 65 exemption, (4) Denton no 65 exemption. Since they continued to make mistakes with this and the house valuation, they were issued 3 separate times, thus getting a total of 12 tax bills before paying!!!

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This is so OT that I’m not going to comment about the politics. This is “retirement investing”. However, who knows how many lurkers we have here. Or what their political persuasion may or may not be. And it really doesn’t matter, so long as we focus on the subject of this board.

JMHO.

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90

This is so OT that I’m not going to comment about the politics. This is “retirement investing”. However, who knows how many lurkers we have here. Or what their political persuasion may or may not be. And it really doesn’t matter, so long as we focus on the subject of this board.

JMHO. - 1pg

Exactly, I agree with you.

That is why I called out Alphawolfs post, not so much for his words which I had seen earlier, but I was surprised by the 19 recs it had received when I checked in on the board again. Many here apparently like what he posted on this ostensibly investing board.

It had twenty recs by the time it was pulled down. BTW, I didn’t FA, I don’t FA anything)

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That is why I called out Alphawolfs post, not so much for his words which I had seen earlier, but I was surprised by the 19 recs it had received when I checked in on the board again. Many here apparently like what he posted on this ostensibly investing board.

Didn’t see your call out, Mike. Otherwise I would have responded (nicely, of course).

My post was in response to another poster’s political dig. It appears both our posts were pulled. Fair enough.

If it wasn’t for me, think of all the MF censors who wouldn’t have a job, and therefore, no retirement savings.

How’s that for bringing it back home? :slight_smile:

AW

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Rich, I’m a little late to the discussion, so at the risk of being somewhat redundant, as other people have mentioned aspects of this:

Your allocation of investments between stocks, bonds, and other things is indeed something to consider. And I won’t get into whether a 60-40% stocks vs bonds, or whatever, is the optimal ratio. I aim for 70% stocks, myself but that’s just me. And which accounts hold which assets can make a difference tax-wise, whether in IRA, 401(k) and other pre-tax retirement accounts, or in taxable investment accounts, or Roths, can make a difference too.

However your target allocation breaks down, don’t wait until the year you retire to get there, and have to diversify and reallocate and sell things you have to sell when the market is bad. Especially if you’ve got a retirement plan full of your employer company’s stock. That’s something to plan around and diversify to a reasonable level. If bad events happen to your company, that’s a double threat to your job and your investment portfolio.

I specifically worked and made adjustments to make my portfolio look the way I wanted it to look in retirement, 2-5 years ahead of time, doing it gradually. Prior to that time I was more heavily invested in stocks.

This also allows you to have a realistic view of how much current income your portfolio will produce, and how that will affect your retirement budget. Also keep in mind that current income from dividends and interest let you sit through market dips and dives without having to sell when you don’t want to.

In any case, good luck. I retired at 62, took Social Security at that time, and have made other decisions that smart people here disagree with, with very few regrets. It has worked out well. Bull markets have a way of paving over imperfections in the path you take.

Bill

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