Retirement Income Calculators

[VickiK]

Dreaming of that dream ski chalet prompted a little google search. I thought there might be interest in this...
Original source: Forbes, August 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchelltuchman/2013/08/01/three-great-retirement-income-calculators/

https://www.marketwatch.com/retirement/tools/retirement-planning-calculator?showsmscrim=true
https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGApp/pe/pubeducation/calculators/RetirementIncomeCalc.jsf
https://www.blackrock.com/cori/cori

 

[santacruz skier]

Dreaming of that dream ski chalet prompted a little google search. I thought there might be interest in this...
Original source: Forbes, August 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchelltuchman/2013/08/01/three-great-retirement-income-calculators/

https://www.marketwatch.com/retirement/tools/retirement-planning-calculator?showsmscrim=true
https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGApp/pe/pubeducation/calculators/RetirementIncomeCalc.jsf
https://www.blackrock.com/cori/cori

Oops, too late for me. Retired in December 2013 but have just been asked to work temporary part time (16 hours per week) so am doing that. Extra $$$ for ski trips! Yay!

 

[mustski]

We are definitely looking towards retirement at this point and skiing is driving those decisions. DH wants me to go as soon as possible, since he already did. I'm looking at a balance between RIGHT NOW and 60 which allows a 5 year window. The jury is still out. It's a question of the real estate market at this point. We are heavy in the real estate investment side so the CA market has to improve to the point that we can sell one at a reasonable profit.

 

[santacruz skier]

We are definitely looking towards retirement at this point and skiing is driving those decisions. DH wants me to go as soon as possible, since he already did. I'm looking at a balance between RIGHT NOW and 60 which allows a 5 year window. The jury is still out. It's a question of the real estate market at this point. We are heavy in the real estate investment side so the CA market has to improve to the point that we can sell one at a reasonable profit.

And the medical insurance for me is so high because i'm not 65...

 

[litterbug]

Oops, too late for me. Retired in December 2013 but have just been asked to work temporary part time (16 hours per week) so am doing that. Extra $$$ for ski trips! Yay!

I'm still 15 years from full retirement age, own nothing, and have a laughable 401k because by the time I realized how important it could be, it was too late to make anything of it. Last year I left a job just 3.5 years from full pension benefits, so between that and SS I'll make just enough after taxes to maintain a modest skier's lifestyle if I'm careful. I don't know what my next act will be but it won't pay as much as even my government attorney's salary, so even after retirement I anticipate working part time at something not too demanding for as long as I can.

I didn't go into civil service for the pension, but I'm damned lucky it turned out the way it did; otherwised I'd be looking at rice and beans and low income housing and just scraping by in retirement, because I was quite the grasshopper and didn't settle in and make more than a very minimal wage until I was over 40. I'm not one to regret the past, but I do recognize how lucky I am!

 

[Jenny]

15 years can still get you a decent amount in a 401k, always assuming the market doesn't tank.

DH is convinced we can retire at 60, but I keep telling him it's the medical insurance that's the issue. If we can figure that out, then 60 is doable. But I'm going to need something to do with my time, so I figure working part-time at a place with VERY flexible hours will be just the thing to get me out of the house and earn a little skiing money. And I keep telling him that he's not going to be able to play computer games all day, every day, either, so he has to find something to do, too!

 

[litterbug]

15 years can still get you a decent amount in a 401k, always assuming the market doesn't tank.

That's if you contribute much of anything for the whole 15 years. I think I put in $25 per biweekly pay period for the first five or six years, then bumped it to $40 or $50 after my brother yelled at me. It wasn't until five or six years ago that I started getting a little more serious, and watched it grow enough during the recovery to realize how nice it might have been to have been a little more generous to my future self when I started.

But it is what it is, and the pension saved me from the worst consequences.

 

[santacruz skier]

I, too, have a government pension as I worked 24 years for local government. Always contributed to deferred comp retirement account, but thankfully increased the amount when I started making more money. As stated earlier, after 6 months retired and mucho vacations, Europe skiing, Tahoe half the winter, Mexico, etc. , I have now agreed to go back and work part time for the same entity (translates to a good hourly wage). This will give me more ski $$$$ and back to having some discretionary income. My medical is almost $700 a month. Brutal!

 

[sibhusky]

Fortunately from day one each of us put aside not only the matched amount in the 401k, but for many years a full ten percent. Plus buying savings bonds. And, when I was still working, once my first car was paid for, I put aside a full car payment in a car fund every month. So all the following cars were paid for with cash. We lived way beneath our means for 24 years. My daughter choose a state school and we'd fully funded that with bonds (put aside for that purpose from the moment I was pregnant) or other savings, and she scrimped and finished with money to spare. Grad school was then funded by her working for three years, the leftovers from college and a few scholarships.

We are probably okay for retiring right now, but health insurance scares the bejesus out of us. I stopped working when we moved to Montana, but it's been really tight as we refuse to resort to using the savings and my husband is still working. However, I believe that he'll be out of a job shortly, certainly in the next six months, due to his company losing the contract he is on. Personally, I can't wait.

Our TV is a 20 inch thing my mom gave us. We have all our original furniture, nothing has been replaced. Much of it was given to us over the years as hand me downs. We rarely go out to dinner, maybe three times a year?

I guess we both came from families that lived through a Depression and taught us to save before we spend and never roll over the balance on your credit cards. But we don't live in terror about getting through our retirement.

 

[abc]

Bravo! Who needs retirement calculator when you can save!

Learning to live "beneath your means" is one of the lost art of modern day American society!

I didn't grow up here. So I was constantly being teased by my American friends who made similar income, on why I drove the car I was driving and why I didn't get the latest and greatest toys, be it flat screen TV or $6000 tricked-out full-suspension mtn bike!

Fast forward 15 years. I "upgraded" to a Beemer, and a flat screen TV. I have 4 bikes and 2 kayaks and however many pairs of skis... I've "Americanized", if only partway.

And a couple years back, I realized had I NOT spend on some of those fancy, "keeping up with the Jones" toys, I could stop working, NOW!

But alas, I'll need to work another 5-10 years instead. Though fortunately for me, the savings from those earlier years before I started to throw my money away on toys had grown sufficiently enough I'm way better off than most people my age and my income level.

If you can live beneath your means while working, you can still live simply after you stop working. The net result is you get to stop working a whole lot earlier to do what you really like to do, say skiing every single powder day!!!

 

[litterbug]

I do admire people who didn't wait until well until well into their 40s to have it occur to them to look forward far enough to start saving early. It wasn't that I bought fancy cars or clothes or tons of toys; I simply didn't start making anything like a grown-up salary until very late, and when I did it never occurred to me that I would grow old and that it might be a good thing to save for it. Even after I did have disposable income I didn't really have a handle on financial self-discipline if the reward for it wasn't clearly visible. Not having a spouse or kids to motivate me to plan for the future didn't help, either.

But I've had a lot of practice in not comparing my life choices to other people's, and overall, the life I've lived while being so irresponsible more than makes up for not having been a little more sensible.

 

[Christy]

I simply didn't start making anything like a grown-up salary until very late

Me too. And an awful lot of people I know. Me and most of my friends scraped by in our 20s and even 30s--there certainly weren't new cars and toys, just trusty old Toyotas, lots of camping. and dive bars with cheap drinks. Even with the grown up salary it's really only that I got married that allows me to save and luckily I married a saver. But even then, the idea of retiring at 60 is a pipe dream. Which is really unfortunate since I have a ton of hobbies and volunteer work that could easily consume my days--I had no trouble filling my time when I was unemployed or off during the government shutdown. I will be a fantastic retired person, if I get to be one.

 

[Jilly]

Back in my 20's I contributed to the company pension plan and started my own RRSP (similar to your 401k). When I left the company, I wasn't "vested" into the plan, so could take all my money with me. I did and added to the RRSP. 2 years later I used some of it to buy a house. I still contribute $500/month to the plan. We get a tax break on RRSP contributions in Canada. That RRSP is all I have for a pension beyond the government. When we sold the house and got all of my Dad's estate crap solved, I started a "tax free" saving account. This is something new in Canada, you don't pay any tax on the interest accrued in the account. There is a limit/year you can contribute. My investment guys like this better than the RRSP's now. So plan for the next 5-8 years is to sell my company, possibly sell the building too...I own is separate from the company. Then down size the house, that could happen sooner than later....I do not want to be like my father...still working at 80!

 

[VickiK]

I have definitely enjoyed my toys (and still do). I suppose if I didn't have them, and if I had that discipline to squirrel away every dollar, I would be in the position to retire early. But I'd be a different person too. Now, if you told me that I could retire at 57 if I hadn't had bought all those cappucinos at Starbucks, I'd be crying into my coffee.

 

[Jenny]

That's if you contribute much of anything for the whole 15 years. I think I put in $25 per biweekly pay period for the first five or six years, then bumped it to $40 or $50 after my brother yelled at me. It wasn't until five or six years ago that I started getting a little more serious, and watched it grow enough during the recovery to realize how nice it might have been to have been a little more generous to my future self when I started.

But it is what it is, and the pension saved me from the worst consequences.

True, very true. Both DH and I used to have pensions where we work, but not exactly anymore. His converted to a cash balance plan for many years and they just closed it down and paid people out. Mine froze the plan a few years ago, but isn't funded enough to close down, which they would do in a heartbeat if they could. So, we did get a benefit from them, but the majority of our retirement will be self-funded.

Good thing we never had kids - our savings are much more substantial than they would have been, between all the costs for them and the mental health costs I'd have needed!

 

[mustski]

I will have a good pension at 60. If I go early, well it gets considerably less good for each year. My issue is that DH has Reiter's Syndrome (related to Rheumotoid) and it is very invasive. I know that nobody knows what the future will hold. I know that at some point, he will be unable to ski or hike or even walk much. There is no way of knowing when this will come. Medical Insurance costs are for sure a big issue, but so is having time to enjoy some of the traveling and skiing we want to do. I figure 57 is the earliest I will retire. If a golden handshake comes along before then, that is a deal maker. School districts offer them periodically to get rid of old fogies who cost more.

Edited to add: I've never had a new car. What DO they smell like? Is it really as yucky as the new car air freshener?!

 

[Jilly]

That's the one thing I've always had. I buy new, but at 5 or 6 years. Just when the thing is starting to cost money to maintain. I don't want to be left on the side of the road....Like someone else...no flat screen, my DVD player still has a tape side...but I'll have new skis this year! Priorities...

Speaking of not knowing about the future....looking back I don't begrudge any of the money DH and I spent on skiing. We both loved the sport and enjoyed every day out. And I'm stilling going to go till I physically can't!

 

[litterbug]

My current car is the only new car I've ever owned. I just wanted to have the experience of having one that nobody else had driven, but after this I'll go back to buying well-researched cars coming off of leases, traded in by people who like switching every few years, or just sold by the owner when they realized they would get a lot more by selling than trading it in. It takes more work, but I've had very good luck buying used, and won't mind going back to it.

I can't afford to save a full car payment every month right now but this thread reminded me that when I paid this one off several months ago I was planning on starting a down payment fund after a few months of loosening the belt, so it's time to start putting at least a little away!

 

[MI-skier]

I will have a good pension at 60. If I go early, well it gets considerably less good for each year. My issue is that DH has Reiter's Syndrome (related to Rheumotoid) and it is very invasive. I know that nobody knows what the future will hold. I know that at some point, he will be unable to ski or hike or even walk much. There is no way of knowing when this will come. Medical Insurance costs are for sure a big issue, but so is having time to enjoy some of the traveling and skiing we want to do. I figure 57 is the earliest I will retire. If a golden handshake comes along before then, that is a deal maker. School districts offer them periodically to get rid of old fogies who cost more.

Edited to add: I've never had a new car. What DO they smell like? Is it really as yucky as the new car air freshener?!

That new car smell is toxic off gassing of the plastic. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I try to air it out as much as possible.

I read the Millionaire Next Door when I was younger and it made an impression of not living to impress. Since DH and I got married 20 years ago we have made a budget so we know exactly where our money is going. We contribute the max to 401k, IRAs, 529s. We also have wills/trusts/POA/life and disability ins. I do sleep better knowing that the things I DO have control over we have spelled out/thought out.

When I am 80, I want to be holding my DH hand after a blue-bird sky day of skiing with my kids and grandkids. Glass of cabernet in the other hand and I will be in heaven.

 

[altagirl]

My current car is the only new car I've ever owned. I just wanted to have the experience of having one that nobody else had driven, but after this I'll go back to buying well-researched cars coming off of leases, traded in by people who like switching every few years, or just sold by the owner when they realized they would get a lot more by selling than trading it in. It takes more work, but I've had very good luck buying used, and won't mind going back to it.

I can't afford to save a full car payment every month right now but this thread reminded me that when I paid this one off several months ago I was planning on starting a down payment fund after a few months of loosening the belt, so it's time to start putting at least a little away!

I happily bought a used car when shopping for my Element, but this time around found that if I wanted decent mileage plus AWD, I wasn't saving much of anything buying used.

I mean, who is buying these used cars that are only a couple thousand under the price of brand new?