Waiting to 65 to retire - death risk versus finances

[Kirk W]

7 hours ago, packnrat said:

even trying to work with the predatory cc holders.

No question that sometimes they try to trap people. I haven't carried a balance on one for a long time, but I still get frequent notices that encourage me to carry a balance. Trusting one of the credit card marketers is a lot like trusting a used car salesperson. We got sucked in by them a long time ago but were fortunate to have been young enough to recover well before retirement time. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Kirk W

[packnrat]

4 hours ago, Kirk W said:

No question that sometimes they try to trap people. I haven't carried a balance on one for a long time, but I still get frequent notices that encourage me to carry a balance. Trusting one of the credit card marketers is a lot like trusting a used car salesperson. We got sucked in by them a long time ago but were fortunate to have been young enough to recover well before retirement time. 

sad for me i got hooked hard in the trap. this specific card is the oldest one i have, got it long back when a bought a (cow) computer. i forget the name but the box was printed up line a white/black cow. it has been owned by a number of banks. but the owners now, just want to hurt people. kinda like "that" bank that kept the moneys that was to help mortgage holders. and just foreclosed on them anyhow.

[GlennWest]

Cost has really gone up in the last 2 years. At this trend I may not be able to retire next year

[gjhunter01]

On 7/7/2022 at 1:49 PM, GlennWest said:

Cost has really gone up in the last 2 years. At this trend I may not be able to retire next year

There is always a reason not to do something. When I was forced retired in 2008, the housing market was way down and the stock market was tanking. The best thing I did was go FT, sell off the house and leave my stocks in tack to live off the land. Now at age 65, the stock market has bounced back enough to build a new house just from the profits. The point is, you just never know how things will turn out.

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, gjhunter01 said:

There is always a reason not to do something. When I was forced retired in 2008, the housing market was way down and the stock market was tanking. The best thing I did was go FT, sell off the house and leave my stocks in tack to live off the land. Now at age 65, the stock market has bounced back enough to build a new house just from the profits. The point is, you just never know how things will turn out.

We sold our house and went full time that same year and are now doing very well. It helps if you have enough resources to wait for the stock market to self-correct.

Linda

Edited August 4, 2022 by sandsys

[palmeris]

Gateway computers had the cow boxes 

[Kirk W]

On 7/7/2022 at 12:49 PM, GlennWest said:

At this trend I may not be able to retire next year

If you wait until you are sure that you have enough money to retire, you will probably never retire. The only person that I have ever known who believed that they had enough money and so retried was the only major lottery winner that I have ever known. He wond $28 million from the TX lottery that was to be paid out over 20 years when he was 36 years old. He then drank himself to death in just under 8 years. 

[GlennWest]

39 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

If you wait until you are sure that you have enough money to retire, you will probably never retire. The only person that I have ever known who believed that they had enough money and so retried was the only major lottery winner that I have ever known. He wond $28 million from the TX lottery that was to be paid out over 20 years when he was 36 years old. He then drank himself to death in just under 8 years. 

That is sad story. I am debt free. First time in adult life. Going to stay that way as long as possible. I am building up savings now to build that small home I posted about. But my comment was regarding rising cost. It is going way too fast. Wages are not. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by GlennWest

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, GlennWest said:

It is going way too fast. Wages are not. 

The same is true for pensions. Most government pensions and social security get at least some cost of living adjustments, but the vast majority of pensions from public industry have no such adjustments. My check from 3M was the exact same last month as was my check when I first retired in 2000. Like you, we are debt free as we were before we began to draw SS and we will stay that way. 

Just don't wait too long to take that retirement as you only have so much time and no amount of money will change that by even 1 day. Your time is the one thing that you have which once gone can never be recovered or replaced. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Kirk W

[gjhunter01]

When we priced plywood for our house last Dec, it was $17/sheet and when I placed the plywood order in Feb, I pre bought it for $32/sheet. The plywood price then went higher and has now gone back down. At which point do you pull the trigger and just buy?? Concrete is currently $170/yard, oh well!!

Another key is to always live below your income level, "no exception", then you will come out ahead and never have to worry about $$.

Edited August 5, 2022 by gjhunter01

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

When we priced plywood for our house last Dec, it was $17/sheet and when I placed the plywood order in Feb, I pre bought it for $32/sheet.

With plywood at any time there is a very wide range in prices as how thick it is and what type it is play a major role. A quick Look at my Lowe's online site and I see plywood from as low as $7.19 for 1/4" sheeting to as much as $89 per sheet for 3/4" red oak. But I do agree that plywood prices have become shocking and like most lumber products, the quality has fallen.

[gjhunter01]

12 hours ago, Kirk W said:

With plywood at any time there is a very wide range in prices as how thick it is and what type it is play a major role. A quick Look at my Lowe's online site and I see plywood from as low as $7.19 for 1/4" sheeting to as much as $89 per sheet for 3/4" red oak. But I do agree that plywood prices have become shocking and like most lumber products, the quality has fallen.

I was quoting the 7/16 OSB plywood. For the barn and house, I needed 165 sheets. The quality appears to be the same plywood as 20 years ago when I built my last pole barn.

Edited August 6, 2022 by gjhunter01

[RV_]

When I was younger my friends told me I was being robbed in the military and I should get out and make real money. I was active 1971-1998. After I retired some of those same people said "man I wish I had stayed in for that retirement!"

As one wise lady SKP posted here - "We're all living with the results of decisions we made decades ago."

I retired at 45 and we full time RV'd for seven years starting at age 45. Except for a four year break in retirement I've been retired ever since. We've been fortunate.

I am the oldest of five boys. My next youngest brother, two years younger than me died still working for IBM at age 56! My next youngest after him died at age 62 a year ago. I'm 70. We've done our bucket lists and took SS at 62 with no regrets! The two remaining are only five and seven years older than my two sons.

Nothing is guaranteed in this life, not even tomorrow. I say go for it, or don't. Then be happy you got to choose for better or worse.

 

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

I was quoting the 7/16 OSB plywood. For the barn and house, I needed 165 sheets.

I was actually rather surprised by how much those prices have fallen back from the highs. That may well apply to Glenn since he is building his retirement home. 

[RV_]

On 8/4/2022 at 7:51 PM, gjhunter01 said:

When we priced plywood for our house last Dec, it was $17/sheet and when I placed the plywood order in Feb, I pre bought it for $32/sheet. The plywood price then went higher and has now gone back down. At which point do you pull the trigger and just buy?? Concrete is currently $170/yard, oh well!!

Another key is to always live below your income level, "no exception", then you will come out ahead and never have to worry about $$.

I totally agree. But age 62 is usually too late to do that. We did that and used sweat equity in just about everything. I planned to have no problem living on my military retirement and SS, and we do.

[gjhunter01]

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

I totally agree. But age 62 is usually too late to do that. We did that and used sweat equity in just about everything. I planned to have no problem living on my military retirement and SS, and we do.

Our master plan was to FT from 55 to 65, then build a retirement home and slow down to a quieter life style. With forward planning and good luck we were fortunate to have very good health, resources, and ambition to begin our new life. We now plan to be S. Texas snowbirds for the next couple of years. I plan to collect SS at 66.5.

[gjhunter01]

12 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I was actually rather surprised by how much those prices have fallen back from the highs. That may well apply to Glenn since he is building his retirement home. 

Building prices are fluid and they change often. If that flux in prices is a game changer to building a house, then that would be a red flag of being over extended. Concrete prices are ridiculous today, but where will they be next year?? For a modest 2 bedroom 1500 sq/ft house, the builder is estimating $400k+. That don't include any excavating cost which we are doing ourselves, basement, driveway, septic, and landscaping.

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

We now plan to be S. Texas snowbirds for the next couple of years. I plan to collect SS at 66.5.

We retired and went on the road when I was 57 with a goal of fulltime for at least 10 years. We managed almost 12 years when wife's health was causing problems so we bought a home base. My retirement had a "bridge to SS" that amounted to 80% of the estimated SS that lasted until I was elgible for early SS and then ended so I began SS at age 62. Between the bridge and early SS, along with the fact that my employer also provided healthcare insurance, we were able to leav all of our investments and IRA/401k money alone until we left the road, but we did use some investments to buy the home-base. Unfortunatly the wife's health has continued to be problematic so we have since sold the home-base and moved into an independant living community. At age 71 you begin mandatory Required Minimum Distributions (RMD's) so we have now been doing that but no more. So far the growth of my funds has exceeded the distributions each year but one wonders how long that will continue? Even so, we are not particularly concerned as we always figured to at some point begin to "spend down" as leaving our kids a lot of money was never our goal.

We still have our truck and travel trailer but we have bengun to wonder how much longer we will be able to use it. I don't want to give it up but at some point it is likely inevitable. 

[2gypsies]

17 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

Building prices are fluid and they change often. If that flux in prices is a game changer to building a house, then that would be a red flag of being over extended. Concrete prices are ridiculous today, but where will they be next year?? For a modest 2 bedroom 1500 sq/ft house, the builder is estimating $400k+. That don't include any excavating cost which we are doing ourselves, basement, driveway, septic, and landscaping.

Do you really have to build a home?  That's an expensive way to go.  Have you looked at used?

[TXiceman]

18 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

Building prices are fluid and they change often. If that flux in prices is a game changer to building a house, then that would be a red flag of being over extended. Concrete prices are ridiculous today, but where will they be next year?? For a modest 2 bedroom 1500 sq/ft house, the builder is estimating $400k+. That don't include any excavating cost which we are doing ourselves, basement, driveway, septic, and landscaping.

I know nothing of your age or health, but the way we have looked at going back into a house is, why the major expense of a home plus the upkeep and maintenance.  We have switched our planning now toward a small condo-type or garden home as we would still want a small garden.  Maybe even a small house with a small yard...a lot less maintenance and upkeep.  Right now, real estate values are totally nuts and we are planning to just live in the 5er and hopefully the housing bubble will pop, and we will see a much larger inventory of homes.

Ken

[2gypsies]

2 hours ago, TXiceman said:

I know nothing of your age or health, but the way we have looked at going back into a house is, why the major expense of a home plus the upkeep and maintenance.  We have switched our planning now toward a small condo-type or garden home as we would still want a small garden.  Maybe even a small house with a small yard...a lot less maintenance and upkeep.  Right now, real estate values are totally nuts and we are planning to just live in the 5er and hopefully the housing bubble will pop, and we will see a much larger inventory of homes.

Ken

You've chosen the right way to go.  Now is not the time to buy or build a house.

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, TXiceman said:

I know nothing of your age or health, but the way we have looked at going back into a house is, why the major expense of a home plus the upkeep and maintenance.  We have switched our planning now toward a small condo-type or garden home as we would still want a small garden.  Maybe even a small house with a small yard...a lot less maintenance and upkeep.  Right now, real estate values are totally nuts and we are planning to just live in the 5er and hopefully the housing bubble will pop, and we will see a much larger inventory of homes.

Ken

We love having moved back to apartment living! All the amenities with no maintenance. The complex we live in even offers garden plots to those interested. Although, those who want a garden often find a way. Years ago we lived in an apartment where our neighbor developed a garden behind the garages where it was unlikely anyone would notice it since it was otherwise an area left to grow wild between the garages and the highway.

Linda

[gjhunter01]

5 hours ago, TXiceman said:

I know nothing of your age or health, but the way we have looked at going back into a house is, why the major expense of a home plus the upkeep and maintenance.  We have switched our planning now toward a small condo-type or garden home as we would still want a small garden.  Maybe even a small house with a small yard...a lot less maintenance and upkeep.  Right now, real estate values are totally nuts and we are planning to just live in the 5er and hopefully the housing bubble will pop, and we will see a much larger inventory of homes.

Ken

We considered that route of going smaller but decided in the opposite direction. We asked our truck owner/operator son what he would do with our inheritance in 20/30 years and he replied he would like to someday own a small farm. So we invested in a piece of farm land and plan to go into corn, bean, wheat farming, and 1980's style equipment with our son as a new write off hobby farm. Our son will build a new house next to us next year and we will be able to spend time with the grandkids and we can help around the farm as much as we want too. In our travels, we have seen too many people retire to the rocking chair and then loose their desire to live. During our FT travels we worked on a couple of farms and discovered grandparents that were still involved with the family farm seemed to enjoy their life the most. That's the life I want, a reason to get out of bed in the morning to feed the chickens, chop fire wood, and help out where I feel like it.

Note: Ken have we met in Custer SP and again in Patagonia AZ?

Kirk - My retirement was to also have the bridge option, but the 08 Delphi bankruptcy took that away. Our plan B became to sell the house, eliminate expenses and workamp to avoid using our savings.

Edited August 8, 2022 by gjhunter01

[RV_]

It really depends. Right now, here in Colorado, our home has doubled in value, and cars that we bought cash have gained 20% in resale value over what we paid in 2020 for the EV, and the 2019 Forester will sell for what we paid. I am shocked quite frankly. The problem now is that even though we want to move, and despite the prices elsewhere being half what they are here, we've decided it would be worthwhile to pick the place that gives best bang for the buck, then rent there while we look for a house. With the housing shortage we need to be able to be there cash in hand this time.

We're still healthy and have no heart/diabetes/cholesterol/blood pressure or other issues as we entered our 70s. (knock on wood)

And houses are half where we have been looking than the costs here. We'll see. I could pass away tonight. Heck I had such large clots in both lungs and DVT in one calf the Cardiopulmonary guy said many didn't survive half of what I had and my last follow up is this Tuesday. All we can do is live today and be grateful.

SKP hugs!

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

Kirk - My retirement was to also have the bridge option, but the 08 Delphi bankruptcy took that away. Our plan B became to sell the house, eliminate expenses and workamp to avoid using our savings.

While I don't know what the current retirement at 3M is like, because I do have an online accout with their retiree webages I can see that they do still have an early retirement that is popular and is still based on years of service plus age and that it is pretty popular. When we went onthe road our original reason for doing RV volunteer jobs was to stretch our income by eliminating most of the cost of RV sites but once SS started for both of us we tried not doing them and we quickly discovered that we loved the experiences that we were having by doing those and so returned to do so for all of our time on the road. In the 12 years we spent a month or longer in 39 different states and completed 34 diferent RV volunteer positions. There were 2 that we left early in addition and we did 3 more volunteer tours after we were back to part time. 

13 hours ago, sandsys said:

We love having moved back to apartment living! All the amenities with no maintenance.

We mostly like it in ours, but nothing is perfect. I miss having my shop just outside of the back door but I do have one if I drive 15 miles to our son's house.