Can we talk retirement?

[mommyoffive]

Can we talk retirement for a bit?  

 

What % are you saving for retirement?   Is that pre or post tax? 

 

Do you have a pension? 

 

 

 

Do you focus on paying off debt vs saving for retirement? 

 

 

I always think about this at the end of the year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on the year we save 20% - 35% for retirement.  Pretax. 

 

We are trying to make up for lost time. 

 

 

 

No pension for us.  Sigh.

 

 

 

 

We haven't focused on paying debt off early.  We have a few times just because we had extra $.  But we are on the Dave Ramsey train.  But maybe we should be? 

 

I just don't know if we are really doing enough.   It is hard to balance your wants and desires now to later. 

[The Girls' Mom]

We are putting back 10%, and there is a pension.  In theory, we could be mostly debt free in 10 years, if we are careful about vehicles.  We are behind where we really want to be, for various reasons.  We've only been able to put the 10% back for the past few years.  Part of our retirement plan involves me going to work full time in a few years...I should be able to get at least 20-25 years in if my health holds out.  Dh will probably have to retire early for health reasons, so we are hoping my plan of going back to work pans out well.  

[Arcadia]

What % are you saving for retirement? Is that pre or post tax?

The only retirement savings we have is the 401K maxed out. We are unlikely to start saving for retirement until our kids finish college, so in another decade time.

 

Do you have a pension? No

 

Do you focus on paying off debt vs saving for retirement?

1st) rainy day funds

2nd) paying off debt

3rd) helping out in-laws with no retirement savings. FIL is retired with no pension. MIL works in fast food part time.

4th) homeschool expenses that are nice to have. Like outsourcing versus DIY

 

ETA:

We rely on public transport even though my husband drives. Even my husband rather take the train and buses. He can take the light rail train from home to work, almost door to door so very little walking.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Arcadia

[QueenCat]

Can we talk retirement for a bit?  

 

What % are you saving for retirement?   Is that pre or post tax? 

 

Do you have a pension? 

 

 

 

Do you focus on paying off debt vs saving for retirement? 

 

 

I always think about this at the end of the year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on the year we save 20% - 35% for retirement.  Pretax. 

 

We are trying to make up for lost time. 

 

 

 

No pension for us.  Sigh.

 

 

 

 

We haven't focused on paying debt off early.  We have a few times just because we had extra $.  But we are on the Dave Ramsey train.  But maybe we should be? 

 

I just don't know if we are really doing enough.   It is hard to balance your wants and desires now to later. 

 

 

One tiny pension from an old job, of just under $1000/month. We actually already get this one.

 

12% into a 401K, plus the company's contribution of 4%. All pretax. Right now, we have about 1/3rd of what we need saved, and about 15 years until retirement. Not good at all but we should be able to heavily increase the 401k contribution in about two years.

 

Our only debts are the house and car loans. Our goal is to not incur other debt but we are likely to always have a car loan and a mortgage. We usually keep our cars around 8-10 years, trying to not have loans overlap, so buying one new one every 4-5 years, rotating out which one is the old one, which one is the new one. We typically put 20-25% down on them.

 

We believe in balance. Not everything is about the future. I've seen too many people get too sick for that future so we do travel now.

 

[Carol in Cal.]

One thing that has really served us well is driving older cars.

This might not work where they salt the roads, but here in CA it's a very viable strategy.

We haven't bought a new car since 1989.

Our newest is a 2001.  It is really nice, looks like a million bucks and drives like a dream, but it doesn't have all the newest features.  Our oldest is a 1995 light truck.  The in between is a real beater of a car, a '98 Camry that just recently clicked over 240,000 miles.  

 

We buy cars that Consumer Reports indicates are very reliable, and only from private parties who can prove that they have maintained them meticulously and have a good reason to sell.  Usually they are 8-10 years old.  Then we change the oil very frequently and drive them for a very long time.

 

I do budget more money for repairs than most people, and I target having n+1 vehicles in the family as much as possible, where 'n' is the number of drivers.  That way if one of them fails temporarily or permanently, we can rotate the 'spare' in while we look for a replacement.  It usually takes 2-5 months.

 

I figure if I am widowed, I will then start buying new cars from time to time, because I won't have DH as a back up anymore if I get stuck, but I honestly can't remember the last time either of us had to be rescued like that, and I did spring for the longer tow package from Triple A just in case.

 

We have saved no less than $200,000 this way over the years.  It's awesome.

[DawnM]

We have always put the max into retirement that the company matches.  I think DH puts in 8% and they match 5%.  It changes sometimes so I am not sure.

 

When I worked in CA I put in 8% and they matched 8.5%.  Now I work in NC and they take out 6% but match 15%.  It sounds better, but the pay is less, so I am not sure if it will really be as great as it sounds.

 

We will probably retire in 15-18 years.  We are both 50.  If I go back to CA, I can retire earlier.  We are in discussions about a possible move, but nothing is decided.

[carriede]

We save 10% pretax in a 403b and have since DH started his career.

 

His employer contributes 2%, which will go up to 10% in about 1.5 years. This is independent of what we contribute.

 

No pension.

 

Our only debts are our mortgage and one car payment. We don't pay extra on our mortgage, but pay off our cars early when we can (which we did last year with our other car).

 

 

Retirement is a priority concurrently with living within our means. Luckily we can do both. We emphasise retirement over college funds for the kids, though if we ever feel we can, we will. Right now we're saving for a larger house (10% plus whatever we can muster up).

[FaithManor]

Dh has a pension from EDS/HP however we suspect that with the sale of the services division coming up in March that the courts will allow that to go "bye bye" in the merger since this seems to be the norm.

 

We do not count Social Security in our future because it is not clear that it will be available as we reach a place in the population in which with the baby boomers living long, we have far more retired folks drawing on it than paying in. None of the math we've seen convinces us that it will be there when we need it.

 

So our 401K/Roth IRA's, and independent investments are what we count. We are doing okay. Employer matching on the 401K is 8% so we take advantage of that. All total we currently contribute 20% of income to retirement, and thankfully since the boys have some scholarships are only having to contribute 20% at present to college. So ya, we have to keep a budget where we live on 60%, but the way we manage is that dh's current employer pays a 85% of our health insurance premium and the plan is decent too. They also give us $1500.00 a year in an HSA so that helps with co pays and such. We paid off the house several years ago otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it.

 

If by some miracle the pension comes through as well as social security, well then, I'll party!

[Noreen Claire]

DH (36) is paying into the Mass Teachers Retirement System at 9% plus 2% on earnings over $30,000/year. He's got plenty of years left to work, and will collect his pension based on his age at the time of retirement, his years of creditable service, and his highest three-year salary average. 

 

As for me (42), I need to work two more years to be fully vested in the same pension system (I taught for 8 years total, with one maternity leave, and have been out of work since DS4 was born). I will collect a much smaller pension benefit due to teaching fewer years (husband and I started teaching the same time, but I've been lost years of service due to having 4 children since we married). My years of service will be fewer if we retire at the same age (not the same year) and my salary will be lower due to those missing years. I plan to open a 403b if/when I do go back.

 

I also have a small pension from working in a warehouse (union job) before I began teaching. That is $250/month, starting at age 65.

 

Due to the laws in MA, we will NOT be eligible to collect Social Security if we collect our teacher's pensions, even though we both paid into it before we started teaching in MA.

 

Okay, my head hurts now just thinking about this... off to bed. G'night!

 

 

[Guest]

We are retired now, so I'm writing from that perspective.  

 

We put in every dime we could into 401K, and that was well past what the company would match.  We put every penny we could into stock purchase.  We lived on less than half of our after-tax income while we were working and just socked it away.  That had to stop when I quit working to stay home.

 

We drive our cars for at least 10 years but we buy new (not necessarily smart) but I think we have done that for the last time.  Usually the reason we buy new is to get new safety features as we have always done a lot of driving.  Not so much anymore now, so the next car will be along the lines of what Carol in Cal. described above.  

 

We also just flat out got lucky on an investment...

 

...which we used to pay off our house, so we have not had a house payment since 1992 (?).  That is immensely freeing.  

 

We got a loan for a car we could have paid cash for because it was a .2% loan.  We got better return having our cash in other investments...so we did go "into debt" for that one.  

 

We use credit cards like cash--paid off at the end of the month.  It's just a helpful way of keeping track of purchases...and we have a cash-back credit card.

 

I'll tell you one thing for sure though--if you retire young, you'd better have a lot more money than you think you're going to need.  Because you aren't going to get the Medicare price break on health insurance and you are also still going to be young enough that you want to do a LOT of things that cost money...but without an income, you'd better have a more-than-adequate investment fund. You also can't count on rates of return...I have some older friends who retired and planned on a 10% ROI, but now you are lucky if you get 3%.  They have been able to manage by selling their houses and moving to smaller houses or condos...but that isn't really the way you want this to go down.  

 

My mom pieced together a decent retirement when my dad woke up one morning and decided he was done working forever.  :::eye roll:::  It was $30 a month here and $80 a month there from pensions for jobs she had worked for awhile.  She lives pretty simply--but she would anyway--but can travel and so on (and they did so before my dad got sort of worn out and then died).  Every little bit helps.  

 

Anyway, that's what we did and a bit about what my mom did and a little bit of unsolicited advice thrown in for good measure. 

 

:0)

 

[Liz CA]

We lost one pension fund during the recession but dh's current employer offers 401K pre-tax (employer contributes once a year - have not figured out the percentage), and we have FLEX healthcare contribution (can be used like a credit card at physicians and pharmacies).

We have no debt right now and are able to live well within our income, however we take nothing for granted as we have lived through several recessions.

We don't really "plan" on retiring but if one of us has to, the other will likely still work. Working on a consulting basis may also be an option.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Liz CA

[Shellydon]

10% pretax, no pension.  Often sock back more.  We put back $5000 for me each year in a separate account.  We don't have any debt, paid off the house 7 years ago and pay cash for everything. 

[Laura Corin]

We bought a flat in London in 1995 and it has appreciated. It's rented out. Husband is semi retired. He will get some US SS and UK state pension. He also put large chunks into a private pension when times were good.

 

If I work to age 67, I will have almost a full UK state pension and a fair chunk from my current employer.

 

We have some savings that we are feeding into pension savings year by year to maximise tax benefits. We will move to a smaller house and should be okay, although I worry about the level of the government pensions in the future.

[DawnM]

College hasn't been mentioned yet, but this is a huge money drainer (possibly.)

 

I have gone back to work, partly to allow our kids more college choices.  However, even with me working, we have a cap on what we will spend AND the kids have said they want to go to college locally.  So far, our oldest is at the Community College, which is a HUGE help.  My middle says he would like to either go to the local CC first or go to the local 4 year college.  He isn't college age yet, but he is a Junior.

 

Even though I thing there are some great schools out there they should think about, DH keeps reminding me that having them local would help us tremendously in terms of finances.

[LucyStoner]

We've only saved between 4 and 10% each year but we started at age 21 (yes, we married very young) and had a small windfall injection at 27 when my FIL died so we have compounding to work in our favor. We also get a base amount each year from my husband's employer plus a match.

 

Best advice for young adults: save early. I intend to gift money to my son's retirement accounts when they are newly minted working adults.

[Pawz4me]

Both DH and I started saving for retirement when we were young (early 20's) and have always at a minimum maxed out the amount an employer would match. I think currently we're putting in 12 percent pre-tax and doing some more post-tax. No pensions. We have only very minor worries about Social Security. The amounts may be cut, but there will be something there to supplement our own savings. We've never had any bad (i.e., credit card, etc.) debt. We do use credit cards for almost every purchase. We have excellent credit scores and thus qualify for very good "cash back" rewards cards. We generally earn well in excess of $1,000 in cash rewards every year. We make the cards pay us, we don't pay interest or fees on them. We've also been lucky in that the mortgage interest rates we've had have always been less than the overall ROI on our savings and investments. Our current mortgage rate is so low it's almost free money. It would be financial idiocy to pay it off early in lieu of socking money away in retirement accounts.

[G5052]

DH just retired  for medical reasons. I've always worked all along and presently make about what a beginning teacher does with various gigs. With our youngest graduating, I'm pursuing more work although it won't be a huge change.

 

I think we'll be fine. We paid off our mortgage. He has a very small pension from his union work, and another from the job that he retired from. He'll be eligible for Social Security later this year, but we plan to delay that unless we feel we need it. I'll be eligible for a pension from the university where I worked for a decade in four years. We have savings and investments as well as a long-term care policy on both of us. Because of a small inheritance, we enough for community college and then commuting to an "upper middle" state school that has the nationally-rated programs they want. Both will be in college next fall and both are expected to apply for academic scholarships and work about 10 hours a week.

 

We've always been very frugal and only go on vacation away from home every other year or so.

 

My biggest concern is nursing home costs. DH has early dementia along with other significant medical issues. 

 

One day at a time though!

[Soror]

I think we are at 17 pre-tax, employer matches up to 8 at half. Bonuses we contribute 23.

 

We have contributed since our early 20s, with one short( less than a year break). We are currently at 1-4th of what we would like to have, although I don't know if we'll make it all the way there. It is such a nice thing to see it grow faster and faster the bigger it gets.

 

DH is 40 and I am 37. No debt. Live frugally, no cable, iPhones and older cars driven forever. DH does decent for our area but we don't make a ton and being single income with 4 kids doesn't leave oodles of expendable cash(although I know plenty are worse off).

 

I believe I will go back to work at some point but I have no idea how that will play out at this point. A lot depends on hs'ing the kids. I want to take my son and probably my oldest daughter all the way through, I am undecided if hs'ing is the best course for the younger 2 however. I have been exploring various options for employment and will start very part time this year but that doesn't look like it will be anything substantial, who knows what the future holds.

 

We would like my income to help launch the kids, do some projects around here and more travel of course. It is important for us to squeeze some out for travel even when it may not be the most prudent. We have been on the uber frugal side a bit too far and while I an glad to be debt free I wish we would have traveled more too, so now we are trying to balance that a bit more. Yes, on retirement but we aren't putting every extra penny there. We don't have enough to hit all our goals so we must prioritize.

Edited January 14, 2017 by soror

[Donna]

Dh is retired on a pension due to a work related injury/permanent disability (forced to retire because in law enforcement there was no "light duty"). It is way less than the pension he would have earned had he been allowed to keep working and he came up for a promotion in rank just a month after his retirement. (We laughed when the letter came because they hadn't even "realized" he was retired.)

 

I save 10% of my income in a retirement account and have since my 20s. I will have a very small pension because I work part-time and didn't begin the job with the pension until about 10 years ago. 

 

We currently have our home almost paid off and drive old cars except for the "newest" which we bought used but still have another year or so to pay off.

 

We plan to move to another state with a lower cost of living in 4-5 years and will buy a home outright with no mortgage when we do. I am sure we will need another vehicle at some point because two of ours have over 200K miles and need minor repairs every couple months and we are helping two adult kids pay educational expenses. 

 

We try to balance enjoying life now with saving for later.

 

Editing to add: We downsized our home about 8 years ago to shave money off our monthly budget so we would be in a better position to save and spend for homeschool and extracurricular activities for the kids.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Donna

[FaithManor]

College hasn't been mentioned yet, but this is a huge money drainer (possibly.)

 

I have gone back to work, partly to allow our kids more college choices. However, even with me working, we have a cap on what we will spend AND the kids have said they want to go to college locally. So far, our oldest is at the Community College, which is a HUGE help. My middle says he would like to either go to the local CC first or go to the local 4 year college. He isn't college age yet, but he is a Junior.

 

Even though I thing there are some great schools out there they should think about, DH keeps reminding me that having them local would help us tremendously in terms of finances.

I mentioned college. Yup it is a drain

 

We pay 20% of income to college and save 20% for retirement living on 60%, and we have a third one entering college in fall 2018. We paid off the house quite a while ago, drive used, older vehicles though not so old that we do not have excellent safety features, and have no other debt so we can make it work. But I have to go back into the workforce when ds graduates homeschooling in order to keep the college plan going. We are determined to help so they do not end up with nasty, high interest student loans.

Edited January 14, 2017 by FaithManor

[Night Elf]

DH has a 401K at his job. He puts in 12% and the company puts in 3%. They used to put in 6%  but cut that in half this year which bites. It's invested in a safe way due to politics.

 

We try to pay down debt while we go along but since dd has started school, this has been impossible. We're not focusing on paying off our mortgage because we have more pressing debts, but it should be super low by the time DH retires at age 70. We have a HELOC and Visa that we try to keep low. We will have debt when dd graduates, but so will she.

 

We don't buy expensive cars. We drive them until they aren't worth much so we go a long time with no car payments. When DH retires, we may sell this house and buy in an inexpensive area so we'll expect to always have a mortgage payment but hopefully a small one. Unfortunately, I am 11 years younger than DH so I won't start drawing SS for a long time. We'll be living on his SS and retirement money. DH thinks we should be okay but our style of living will definitely be changed.

 

We do try not to spend on unnecessary things but we do feel we deserve some things so we have money budgeted to cover those things. We could live more frugally than we do but we don't  feel we have to do so.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

We've had several bouts of unemployment over the years.

And, have had to use retirement funds to eat and live.

And, had to pay the taxes and penalties, yes... but you must eat.

We've also incurred debt because of those years... working to pay that off now.

We are at an age when our friends are retiring, but we can't because we like to eat.

We are investing a little in retirement again... but it won't be enough.

So.....???????

[mommyoffive]

If you are retired, was your % enough? 

[marbel]

We've had several bouts of unemployment over the years.

And, have had to use retirement funds to eat and live.

And, had to pay the taxes and penalties, yes... but you must eat.

We've also incurred debt because of those years... working to pay that off now.

We are at an age when our friends are retiring, but we can't because we like to eat.

We are investing a little in retirement again... but it won't be enough.

So.....???????

 

Pam  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

Not that it's really helpful, but there are more people in that position than you may realize.  

 

:grouphug:

[mommyoffive]

One tiny pension from an old job, of just under $1000/month. We actually already get this one.

 

12% into a 401K, plus the company's contribution of 4%. All pretax. Right now, we have about 1/3rd of what we need saved, and about 15 years until retirement. Not good at all but we should be able to heavily increase the 401k contribution in about two years.

 

Our only debts are the house and car loans. Our goal is to not incur other debt but we are likely to always have a car loan and a mortgage. We usually keep our cars around 8-10 years, trying to not have loans overlap, so buying one new one every 4-5 years, rotating out which one is the old one, which one is the new one. We typically put 20-25% down on them.

 

We believe in balance. Not everything is about the future. I've seen too many people get too sick for that future so we do travel now.

 

 

I agree with you on this.

[mommyoffive]

Both DH and I started saving for retirement when we were young (early 20's) and have always at a minimum maxed out the amount an employer would match. I think currently we're putting in 12 percent pre-tax and doing some more post-tax. No pensions. We have only very minor worries about Social Security. The amounts may be cut, but there will be something there to supplement our own savings. We've never had any bad (i.e., credit card, etc.) debt. We do use credit cards for almost every purchase. We have excellent credit scores and thus qualify for very good "cash back" rewards cards. We generally earn well in excess of $1,000 in cash rewards every year. We make the cards pay us, we don't pay interest or fees on them. We've also been lucky in that the mortgage interest rates we've had have always been less than the overall ROI on our savings and investments. Our current mortgage rate is so low it's almost free money. It would be financial idiocy to pay it off early in lieu of socking money away in retirement accounts.

 

What rate do you figure that needs to be for your mortgage not to be paid off? 

 

 

I hear you on the CC and getting $ .  I wish I would have started that earlier.   We don't use them for $ but for travel instead.  We have gotten at least $7,000 or more opening 3 cards and using the points. 

[hjffkj]

What rate do you figure that needs to be for your mortgage not to be paid off?

 

 

 

For us, our interest rate is 5.75%. so once we've put away a comfortable amount in the stock market, which currently is 20% pre tax, and our emergency fund is funded, then we pay off extra on the mortgage. For us, 5.75% is high enough to pay down when the funds are there because theoretically there will be bad years in our stocks where we don't make that much. We have not had a year like that yet because we got into the market right after the recession hit and have gotten some fantastic advice from a cousin.

[Carol in Cal.]

We have an REI Visa and a Nordstrom Visa.  We also had a Costco affinity card that got us an annual credit there, but they changed that all around and now we don't.  If they had a Whole Foods Visa I would switch to that, LOL.  They don't call it whole paycheck for nothing.  

 

I love having the REI bonus.  I get our outdoor gear there but also things like comfortable everyday shoes and boots and sandals.  Those are things that wear out so I need to replenish them every year or two.  And the Nordstrom one is nice--it works at the Rack and online as well as in the stores.  Since I am plus sized, Nordstrom is the main place I shop for clothing, and getting a break on professional clothes and on jeans is awesome.  Again these are things I need every year or two because they do wear out.

[Carol in Cal.]

One thing I've seen a couple of times that is pretty sad--people who are tired all the time, just plain don't feel well, but they don't think there is anything particularly wrong with them, that they are just getting too old to work.  So they retire.  And THEN they find out that they have cancer.  If they had stayed working, they would have been eligible for disability benefits and employee medical, which would have made life a lot easier for them and for their families.  I've seen this happen twice, and it really made me think.  It's something to keep in mind.

[creekland]

From a young age we split saving for retirement with our "enjoyment" budget "now."  There was no set amount due to our expenses varying.  Our retirement $$ went into investments, not savings.  We had a big hit on that in the economic crash, but overall, it's done well for us choosing to go that route.  We have very little in pension money - only a wee little bit from my work teaching.

 

We have no regrets choosing to take half of the money to enjoy now.  We had a blast with our kids while they were growing up and have many happy memories from it.

 

I would not do it differently if we had it to do over again (small details, yes, overall concept, no).  Kids grow up way too quickly and too much can happen not letting someone "enjoy it" in retirement.  (For myself, I seriously doubt I will live that long - my grandpa on my dad's side died 6 months into his - my mom has a bit saved I'm trying to get her to spend and enjoy now while she still can, etc.)

 

I'll admit we have been fortunate with our investment choices (mostly).

[Pawz4me]

What rate do you figure that needs to be for your mortgage not to be paid off? 

 

I think that's hard to say because returns on investments can vary so widely and much of that depends on ones tolerance for risk. DH is only a handful of years away from (hopefully) retiring, which will be several years before he reaches SS age. So for awhile now we've been trending more and more conservative in our investments. We don't need to maximize the return on our investments any more, we need to protect what we have. W/o meaning to get too political all I'll say is that in the last two months we've gone even more conservative/protectionist with our investments (which may be a mistake but is a peace of mind thing for us--more on peace of mind below). But since our mortgage interest rate is only a smidge over two percent even with conservative investments our returns should still make it a no brainer to NOT take the money out of investments to pay off the mortgage.

 

I have no quibble with people who say they want or need the peace of mind of not having a mortgage. If having that payment worries you (generic)--well, you can't put a price tag on peace of mind. But we're much more interested in the big picture of our financial situation than in just one payment. It makes no difference at all to us if we still have that payment going into retirement as long as we know we have plenty enough leeway to cover it.

[FaithManor]

I am with Creekland on this. We budgeted for trips. We have never regretted traveling with the kids, camping, fishing, hiking, seeing new places, road trips. They do grow up so fast, but we have amazing memories.

 

We are taking dd, son in law, and grandson to Mackinaw and the Michigan dunes this summer. Son in law has never seen "our neck of the woods" and dd has not been to Mackinaw since she was 7 and has very fond memories.

Edited January 16, 2017 by FaithManor

[DawnM]

For us, our interest rate is 5.75%. so once we've put away a comfortable amount in the stock market, which currently is 20% pre tax, and our emergency fund is funded, then we pay off extra on the mortgage. For us, 5.75% is high enough to pay down when the funds are there because theoretically there will be bad years in our stocks where we don't make that much. We have not had a year like that yet because we got into the market right after the recession hit and have gotten some fantastic advice from a cousin.

 

Can you not refinance?

 

Our interest rate is just under half of yours (2.67%)

[DawnM]

I mentioned college. Yup it is a drain

 

We pay 20% of income to college and save 20% for retirement living on 60%, and we have a third one entering college in fall 2018. We paid off the house quite a while ago, drive used, older vehicles though not so old that we do not have excellent safety features, and have no other debt so we can make it work. But I have to go back into the workforce when ds graduates homeschooling in order to keep the college plan going. We are determined to help so they do not end up with nasty, high interest student loans.

 

Oh, sorry.....I thought it hadn't been.

 

Yes, we are determined to do the same, although we are telling the boys we cannot just give a carte blanche "pick a college" experience.  we have a finite about of $$.

 

This is one reason i went back to work full time!  COLLEGE!

[DawnM]

Dh has a pension from EDS/HP however we suspect that with the sale of the services division coming up in March that the courts will allow that to go "bye bye" in the merger since this seems to be the norm.

 

We do not count Social Security in our future because it is not clear that it will be available as we reach a place in the population in which with the baby boomers living long, we have far more retired folks drawing on it than paying in. None of the math we've seen convinces us that it will be there when we need it.

 

So our 401K/Roth IRA's, and independent investments are what we count. We are doing okay. Employer matching on the 401K is 8% so we take advantage of that. All total we currently contribute 20% of income to retirement, and thankfully since the boys have some scholarships are only having to contribute 20% at present to college. So ya, we have to keep a budget where we live on 60%, but the way we manage is that dh's current employer pays a 85% of our health insurance premium and the plan is decent too. They also give us $1500.00 a year in an HSA so that helps with co pays and such. We paid off the house several years ago otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it.

 

If by some miracle the pension comes through as well as social security, well then, I'll party!

 

 

Ah, yes, health insurance.

 

We are blessed in that DH's and my jobs provide fairly good health benefits.  We have to pay some to add the kids.  

 

I was so excited when I got a job to find out that dropping me from DH's insurance would save $300/mo.  Only to find out that a newly licensed teen was going to cost almost that much to insure......sigh.....squeeze one end and it bloats the other end!

[mommyoffive]

Ah, yes, health insurance.

 

We are blessed in that DH's and my jobs provide fairly good health benefits.  We have to pay some to add the kids.  

 

I was so excited when I got a job to find out that dropping me from DH's insurance would save $300/mo.  Only to find out that a newly licensed teen was going to cost almost that much to insure......sigh.....squeeze one end and it bloats the other end!

 

Isn't that the way all the time?  

 

You feel like as soon as your doing well something knocks it off. 

[Sneezyone]

DH will receive 50% of his base pay if he retires in two years and 75% if he retires in 12 years so that's a big chunk of our retirement plan. In addition to that we save 15% pretax in an employer-sponsored account (no matching funds) and have a rental house that is building equity. DH will be <50 yo at 'retirement' and he plans to work for at least 10 more years. I have a small pension from my time in state government and we should both have SS. I plan to return to FT work w/in 2-3 years. College for both kids is already 75% funded (we did pre-paid college accounts before having kids) and we will cash flow the other 25%. We could have saved much, much more but we've taken advantage of travel opportunities DH's job provides and will continue to do that. We should have access to Tricare For Life in addition to whatever employer plan comes with his/my job once he retires too. Overall, I'm not worried about retirement. Maybe I should be?

[mommyoffive]

DH will receive 50% of his base pay if he retires in two years and 75% if he retires in 12 years so that's a big chunk of our retirement plan. In addition to that we save 15% pretax in an employer-sponsored account (no matching funds) and have a rental house that is building equity. DH will be <50 yo at 'retirement' and he plans to work for at least 10 more years. I have a small pension from my time in state government and we should both have SS. I plan to return to FT work w/in 2-3 years. College for both kids is already 75% funded (we did pre-paid college accounts before having kids) and we will cash flow the other 25%. We could have saved much, much more but we've taken advantage of travel opportunities DH's job provides and will continue to do that. We should have access to Tricare For Life in addition to whatever employer plan comes with his/my job once he retires too. Overall, I'm not worried about retirement. Maybe I should be?

 

It doesn't sound like you should be at all.  You are one of the lucky ones with a pension.

[Sneezyone]

It doesn't sound like you should be at all.  You are one of the lucky ones with a pension.

 

You never know. It's hard to quantify the value of the benefits we're supposed to receive. Most calculators spit out a $$ figure when much of what we have are state and federal guarantees that can fluctuate.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Sneezyone

[mommyoffive]

You never know. It's hard to quantify the value of the benefits we're supposed to receive. Most calculators spit out a $$ figure when much of what we have are state and federal guarantees that can fluctuate.

 

 

For sure.  I am not sure if your pension is from a state.  But look at what has happened to the State of IL and all their pensions that they are supposed to be paying out. 

[FaithManor]

Oh, sorry.....I thought it hadn't been.

 

Yes, we are determined to do the same, although we are telling the boys we cannot just give a carte blanche "pick a college" experience. we have a finite about of $$.

 

This is one reason i went back to work full time! COLLEGE!

Agreed. We have schools that have dropped off their radar despite being good fits. Looking at NPC, maximum merit aid eligibility, cost of housing, lots of things makes many schools off limits. Thankfulky though the one thing the US has in terms of college is something for everybody. Despite financial hurdles, each of three we have launched so far have landed somewhere that has great education, lots of things that interest them, good fit.

[Sneezyone]

For sure.  I am not sure if your pension is from a state.  But look at what has happened to the State of IL and all their pensions that they are supposed to be paying out. 

 

Yep. DHs plan is fed and mine are state but neither are immune to the whims of state legislatures and Congress. I'm not counting on anything from the state of AR but WA is a little more reliable/solvent.