I was chatting with a friend & neighbor recently about Social Security. Paul has just turned 65 and was thinking of jumping on SSI early (his full retirement age is 67). He thought the advantage might be that he could get “locked in” to a benefit before the government potentially cuts back SSI benefits for wealthier households. In thinking through the situation, I put together … Continue reading Social Security Revisited
I recently Googled the term ‘early retirement’ to see how the media is chattering about this topic. Since I’ve been boring readers with this topic for more than 9 years, I felt I had a responsibility to keep up-to-date with how early retirement is being discussed in the media. As usual, the headlines were confusing and at odds with each other: “My Dad Sacrificed Everything … Continue reading Early Retirement: Searching For Answers?
Before my Dad passed away in June, he and my Mom were diligent in getting “their affairs in order”. Now it’s our turn. My wife and I made a real estate purchase on Monday for our “forever home”. We bought a couple plots in the church cemetery next to my parents and my brother and his wife. When my wife’s Mom passed away unexpectedly a … Continue reading Planning Ahead …
I’m flying out to Michigan this morning for a board meeting at ‘SmallCorp’. It’s a trip I’ve made many times over the last 9 years. ‘SmallCorp’ is an automotive industry supplier with thousands of employees and operations in 11 countries. They are only small in comparison to some of the giant MegaCorps I worked directly for over the course of my career. Related (2015) – … Continue reading Congratulations (& Farewell) SmallCorp!
This chart pops up on the internet now and then – and just got updated. It shows how much prices have changed since the ‘turn of the century’ for a number of categories. No surprise, Healthcare and College Tuition have grown much more expensive. They far out pace every other category on the chart, including wages, housing and food. Other things have dropped in price. … Continue reading Retiree Inflation Exposure
We are almost 2 weeks into 2024 already. My goal to get financially organized to start the New Year 2024 has already failed miserably. We did our annual ‘Round-Up Day’ a couple weeks ago, rebalanced our portfolio for last year’s gains, but otherwise haven’t done too much, financially speaking. Instead. I’ve goofed off and been playing with public domain Mickey Mouse memes. Reader Bob, a … Continue reading Starting 2024 Strategies …
When I was a corporate officer at MegaCorp, you were expected to maintain a certain % of your annual salary in company stock. I forget the exact amount, but I think it was 2-3x your annual total compensation. It wasn’t too hard, given the company had been doing well and we all had stock grants and stock options. Still, as personal finance matriarch, Jane Bryant … Continue reading Looking At Returns Over Time
The pandemic seems to have changed a lot about the workplace & retirement, but one thing it hasn’t changed is the average age of retirement. The Gallup organization tracks the age at which people retire annually and for 2022, it remained constant at 61 years old. It’s been 61 every year but one (62 in 2020) since 2016. If you look farther back in history, … Continue reading Later & Later Now?
Do I stick to a budget? No, I don’t even have a budget anymore. I’ve become completely un-analytical in retirement. I used to be good at it. When I was working, I built complex spreadsheets to track our annual budget, our net worth, and projections of what we needed in retirement. Since retiring, much of that has gone by the wayside. I stopped tracking our … Continue reading (I Guess) We Are On Budget …
I’m turning 57 this year, which certainly means I’m on the downhill side of the mountain. Not just in age / likely lifespan, but also in annual spending. This JP Morgan chart shows ‘the other side of the mountain’ in spending. The average American household slows spending quite a bit as they age … more than I would have guessed. I’m seeing a pretty steady … Continue reading Heading Down The Hill …
