Search found 79 matches
- Tue Sep 19, 2023 12:47 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
- Replies: 553
- Views: 172392
Re: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
Thank you! That helps. (I edited my post to the correct 5% for the two emerging market values.)
- Sun Sep 10, 2023 12:38 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
- Replies: 553
- Views: 172392
Re: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
I've just finished the LOYM book and I'm attempting to make sense of the workbook spreadsheet. This discussion has been quite helpful. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. One question I have at the moment pertains to the "Initial Withdrawal Worksheet" page of the spreadsheet, specifically the values for lines 23 and 24, the "Amount in Global Development Markets (Ex US)" and "Amount in Emerging Markets." Are these two values derived from Chapter 8, Portfolio Construction? For example, if I had selected the 10x10 portfolio on page 218 and an overall 50% investment in stocks, would this mean that "Amount in Global Development" would be the sum of: Intl Large 10% Intl Large Value 10% Intl Small 10%...
- Sun May 09, 2021 8:56 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Tesla’s regenerative braking
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7983
Re: Tesla’s regenerative braking
Many people are weirded out by regenerative braking at first. It took me just a few days to become accustomed to it. “One pedal driving” is awesome. Driving cars that require me to press the brake to keep the car from rolling away at a stop lights seems strange now.
- Fri May 07, 2021 10:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Best options for squashing scammer phone calls?
- Replies: 67
- Views: 7773
Re: Best options for squashing scammer phone calls?
We got Ooma, spent a little bit of time putting our closest friends, relatives, businesses, physicians, etc. in the Ooma address book. Then we set the highest restriction level on the Ooma settings: if the caller is not in our address book then our phone doesn’t even ring. It’s still possible for callers to leave a voicemail, which is immediately emailed to us. That way, the rare important call that’s not from someone in our address book still reaches us via an emailed voicemail.
This is an awesomely effective way to not get a single unwelcome call.
This is an awesomely effective way to not get a single unwelcome call.
- Sun May 02, 2021 9:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Uninsured Motorist Car Insurance - Is it Worth the Expense??
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5322
Re: Uninsured Motorist Car Insurance - Is it Worth the Expense??
When I lived in Maryland, the insurance companies were required to notify the DMV when a policy lapsed or was initiated on a vehicle. If a certain period of time elapsed (a week or so) and an expired policy wasn’t replaced with a new policy, the DMV notified the local police. The police then came to the home and seized the license plates from the car. This happened to us when I was a child and due to a miscommunication between my parents, each thought the other had renewed the car insurance and it briefly lapsed. Boy were my parents surprised when the police knocked on the door to inform them that they were taking the tags. This is not a perfect solution, but it’s got more teeth than here in Texas, where proof of insurance is required once ...
- Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:25 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Pulled the trigger on a solar install
- Replies: 37
- Views: 5759
Re: Pulled the trigger on a solar install
Sorry for not seeing this sooner. I’m in north Texas.Sensible_finance wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:55 pmTesla is offering $2.00 / watt before any tax credits or local incentives but its very difficult to work with them to apply for local incentives. They take ages to reply emails and do not return phone calls. I shopped around with local companies in RI and the best I can get is $3.10 / watt. My friends in NJ also paid $2.50 / watt. Where are you located?BedHead2020 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:29 pm I paid $2.50/watt, before tax credits, for a 10 kW system three years ago. Prices now are considerably lower, down around $1.80-$2.00/watt before tax credits. I would be very hesitant now to pay more than $2/watt for a traditional solar setup.
- Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:29 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Pulled the trigger on a solar install
- Replies: 37
- Views: 5759
Re: Pulled the trigger on a solar install
I paid $2.50/watt, before tax credits, for a 10 kW system three years ago. Prices now are considerably lower, down around $1.80-$2.00/watt before tax credits. I would be very hesitant now to pay more than $2/watt for a traditional solar setup.
- Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Dash cams?
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4703
Re: Dash cams?
Luke Duke wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:13 pmWell it's pretty hard to lie about causing an accident if you didn't cause an accident.BedHead2020 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:09 pm I have vowed from now on to have a dash cam in every car I own. The reason is simple: There is an extremely strong correlation between people who cause accidents and people who lie about causing accidents.
It’s also pretty easy to tell the truth about causing an accident, which few seem to do.
- Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:52 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial tools mentioned on the forum - strengths and weaknesses
- Replies: 38
- Views: 7223
Re: Financial tools mentioned on the forum - strengths and weaknesses
I’ve enjoyed using Flexible Retirement Planner.
- Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Dash cams?
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4703
Re: Dash cams?
I have vowed from now on to have a dash cam in every car I own. The reason is simple: There is an extremely strong correlation between people who cause accidents and people who lie about causing accidents.
- Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Naming a Trust: Does it Matter?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 3629
Re: Naming a Trust: Does it Matter?
We just named ours [lastname] Revocable Trust.
- Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:53 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Why does my SSA statement show benefits decreasing?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2239
Re: Why does my SSA statement show benefits decreasing?
I'm in my mid 50's and my earnings for the past few years have been relatively consistent, increasing steadily due to annual pay increases of a typical nature.
Time passes...
Looking at my year-end paystubs, though, I see that I paid 1/3 less in social security in 2020 than I did in 2019, likely due to some bonuses received in 2019 that I had forgotten about. That downward trending is probably responsible for the change in the benefits projections. That would make sense.
Time passes...
Looking at my year-end paystubs, though, I see that I paid 1/3 less in social security in 2020 than I did in 2019, likely due to some bonuses received in 2019 that I had forgotten about. That downward trending is probably responsible for the change in the benefits projections. That would make sense.
- Tue Jan 26, 2021 8:26 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Why does my SSA statement show benefits decreasing?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2239
Why does my SSA statement show benefits decreasing?
I ran a report from MySSA in December and then again just now. The benefit amounts have all dropped by 4-5%. There has been no change in my working status or anything like that. Was there a change of some sort in SSA's benefit calculations between 12/2020 and 01/2021?
- Sun Jan 24, 2021 3:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: MacBook Air - Big Sur upgrade?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1520
Re: MacBook Air - Big Sur upgrade?
Folks on the macrumors forum are calling it “Bug Sur,” so I think I’m going to wait a while before I upgrade.
- Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:53 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: High School Graduation Gifts
- Replies: 43
- Views: 7943
Re: High School Graduation Gifts
Our standard high school graduation gift is $100 cash. Every high school graduate I’ve ever spoken to on the subject wants cash.
- Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:52 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Engagement Ring
- Replies: 140
- Views: 12815
Re: Engagement Ring
Same here. I spent a great deal of time on the phone with my blue Nile rep, learning about rings and selecting the perfect engagement ring. I’ve used them many times since and they have been fantastic.
- Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Wife's access to things after my death
- Replies: 74
- Views: 7991
Re: Wife's access to things after my death
How about whipping up a financial power of attorney for her in the meantime? This way, if something unexpected happens to you while you’re still restructuring your finances to include her, she has a means of taking necessary care of the finances.
- Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: life insurance for funding cryonics
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4222
Re: life insurance for funding cryonics
Besides the fact that this has zero chance of working, you will need a lot more money than just what this service might cost in the future. You will need a ton of money to do whatever you think they will do to you after they warm you to room temperature. It has an admittedly low chance of working. To say "zero" however, is baseless. We are suspending embryos and reviving them successfully every day for in vitro fertilization, a cryonics process that was sci-fi decades ago before the first "test tube baby" shocked the world. The only thing that has a zero chance of working is traditional burying and cremation. There's no chance of coming back from that. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, "Death is certain. Cryon...
- Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:42 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: life insurance for funding cryonics
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4222
Re: life insurance for funding cryonics
Besides the fact that this has zero chance of working, you will need a lot more money than just what this service might cost in the future. You will need a ton of money to do whatever you think they will do to you after they warm you to room temperature. It has an admittedly low chance of working. To say "zero" however, is baseless. We are suspending embryos and reviving them successfully every day for in vitro fertilization, a cryonics process that was sci-fi decades ago before the first "test tube baby" shocked the world. The only thing that has a zero chance of working is traditional burying and cremation. There's no chance of coming back from that. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, "Death is certain. Cryon...
- Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:37 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: life insurance for funding cryonics
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4222
Re: life insurance for funding cryonics
Pretty much 5 minutes after death, brain damage is occurring. They better have some super fast way to detect the moment of death and get you over there and get it done fast. I have served on a remote cryonics transport team and also participated in the OR procedure to sever the head from the body of the cryonics patient. In an ideal circumstance, the cryonics member arranges for hospice care near the cryonics facility. Alcor, the largest cryonics company in the world, has a number of cryonics-friendly hospice care facilities in the Scottsdale area. Those who are able to predict their end of life sufficiently to die in a hospice close to "the mothership," are in the best condition for minimizing post-death brain damage. Others, in...
- Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:57 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: life insurance for funding cryonics
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4222
Re: life insurance for funding cryonics
Shouldn't the life insurance company be able to claw back the money plus interest if you get thawed out and your death is somehow reversed? The payment should be contingent on you being dead. The cryonics organizations will not suspend a person until that person has been declared legally dead by today's legal definition. While the definition of "legally dead" is likely to continue to evolve with advances in technology and understanding (just as it has evolved prior to today), I can't fathom an insurance company attempting to claw back funds based upon the retroactive application of a later definition. We have been in the same boat as the OP. Initially, we used a VUL policy to fund our suspension but we found the cost/benefits of ...
- Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: For those retired or FI, how much do you spend annually?
- Replies: 499
- Views: 80219
Re: For those retired or FI, how much do you spend annually?
We have tracked every penny spent since we got married. Using this data and applying it to our expected retirement expenses results in $120k, before taxes. This includes everything we could anticipate, including lawn service, gifts, travel, entertainment, dining out, and even a car payment for a high value car because that’s one our indulgences.
- Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:50 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Regrets postponing retirement too long?
- Replies: 171
- Views: 19686
Re: Regrets postponing retirement too long?
I’m sure! It can definitely be a balance.billthecat wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:27 amTrue, at the end, but I believe someone else said, "Some people in Medicaid nursing homes wish they had worked longer and saved more."BedHead2020 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:10 am I’m in a very similar position to the OP. Late 50’s, financially able to retire and just haven’t pushed the button. Males in my family are historically short lived, so that is compelling me to finalize our retirement plans soon. Like others have said, time is precious. My brother once said to me “nobody lays on their deathbed and wishes they had spent more time at work.”
- Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:10 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Regrets postponing retirement too long?
- Replies: 171
- Views: 19686
Re: Regrets postponing retirement too long?
I’m in a very similar position to the OP. Late 50’s, financially able to retire and just haven’t pushed the button. Males in my family are historically short lived, so that is compelling me to finalize our retirement plans soon. Like others have said, time is precious. My brother once said to me “nobody lays on their deathbed and wishes they had spent more time at work.”
- Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:51 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Tesla [car] purchase any significant downside?
- Replies: 150
- Views: 12571
Re: Tesla [car] purchase any significant downside?
I have over 200,000 miles over three Teslas owned. One of my current ones has 110,000 miles. If I can avoid it, I’ll never go back to a gasoline car and I’ve been thrilled with all my Teslas. I don’t see another BEV manufacturer knocking them off their perch for the foreseeable future. The service experience has been painless, with most of my service visits being for very minor things with the tech coming to my house or work. I have heard that the quality of the service can vary between service centers, so some people have been less fortunate than I have been with service. The biggest frustration with Tesla, IMO, is the actual buying process. They don’t always communicate well during the purchase process and the ordering and delivery proces...
- Fri Jan 08, 2021 4:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Any couples out there who retired at different times?
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2784
Re: Any couples out there who retired at different times?
While you did not specify your ages, bear in mind that, as you get older, you become less able and less inclined to do many things. I know someone who retired and his wife died within the year. That's tragic. Not enough time to enjoy the fruits of their labors together. We are both in our late 50's. There's no requirement that she stay for a specific period of time but she has said that she would want to give it at least a couple of years. Personally, I don't understand the desire, but I respect that it appeals to her. Finances aren't an issue; we are currently close to 50x expenses in our total savings. One plus of her doing this is we would move our healthcare coverage from my employer to hers, thereby reducing some uncertainty about obt...
- Fri Jan 08, 2021 3:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Any couples out there who retired at different times?
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2784
Any couples out there who retired at different times?
I may be ready to retire before my wife is. The numbers work for us to retire now, if we want, but she's thinking of leaving the consulting life and accepting a high level position with a favorite client. She said she would like to work that role for at least a couple of years before hanging up her spurs and she is is perfectly fine if I retire sooner. For those of you who haven't retired at the same time as working significant other, was that a source of added stress or resentment between you two? Did the retired one get tired of being the stay-at-home person while the other was still out enjoying workplace socialization? Was there a feeling of being left out or a feeling of envy by one party or the other? I know all couples are unique and...
- Wed Jan 06, 2021 11:17 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: iphone 12 pro max review
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1059
Re: iphone 12 pro max review
One of my colleagues just purchased the iPhone 12 Pro Max and spoke of what he said was a known issue: The cellular service often drops completely when switching from one cell tower to another, requiring him to toggle Airplane Mode on and off to restore cellular service. Have you experienced this behavior?
- Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:19 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: 25x expenses- does it take into account social security?
- Replies: 39
- Views: 6132
Re: 25x expenses- does it take into account social security?
25X, 30X, 50X are just simple checks. Sort of like answering the question "Do we have any chance whatsoever to retire with this amount of savings?". Retirement, and life doesn't come with even expenses that are periodically exactly the same. You need to pay for a new roof. You get an inheritance. You start social security. Social security drops payments by 25%. All of these are probably going to happen. It means that one year, you don't spend more than $25k and the next year, you are forced to spend $125k. How do you handle all this, then? Build a life spread sheet. Put in each year till you expect to be gone. Now account for assets, income and outgo. Mine includes an expected % number for growth in my assets, which I can change ...
- Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Any multimillionaire's (more than 2mm) out there still mow their own lawn?
- Replies: 341
- Views: 33740
Re: Any multimillionaire's (more than 2mm) out there still mow their own lawn?
I hate yardwork. I didn’t mow my own lawn even when I was poor.
- Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Feedback on Apple Pro XDR Display
- Replies: 4
- Views: 656
Re: Feedback on Apple Pro XDR Display
I have yearned for one of these monitors from the moment they unveiled it. I did spring for the 2019 MacPro because I buy a new Mac tower about every ten years but as much as I want it, I haven’t been able to justify the $6k monitor for myself.
- Sat Jan 02, 2021 10:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Chase not honoring sign up bonus offer
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1162
Re: Chase not honoring sign up bonus offer
You could maybe try one of the web archive wayback sites to see if you could find the dated offer page.
- Sat Jan 02, 2021 11:07 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Tips to track monthly budget
- Replies: 51
- Views: 5134
- Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:43 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
- Replies: 553
- Views: 172392
Re: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
It was my browser after all. I tried something other than Safari and it worked perfectly.
- Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:39 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: [Book: Living off Your Money, by M. McClung (Prime Harvesting)]
- Replies: 553
- Views: 172392
Has anyone downloaded the spreadsheet?
I've recently purchased "Living Off Your Money," and have been trying to download the accompanying spreadsheet from the author's book site, to no avail. The spreadsheet download page is a confusing mess that involves a fake purchase for $0 and the use of some app called Gumroad, which failed to install and authenticate properly on any of my devices.
I emailed the author and he never responded.
Have any of you successfully retrieved the Living Off Your Money spreadsheet? Do you have any hints for obtaining it? Or, better yet, can you post the spreadsheet here? (I don't think reposting the spreadsheet would be inappropriate, as the spreadsheet is available to the public for free. It's just a bewildering mess to get it to download.)
I emailed the author and he never responded.
Have any of you successfully retrieved the Living Off Your Money spreadsheet? Do you have any hints for obtaining it? Or, better yet, can you post the spreadsheet here? (I don't think reposting the spreadsheet would be inappropriate, as the spreadsheet is available to the public for free. It's just a bewildering mess to get it to download.)
- Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:00 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: [How to get paid for tutoring math]
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1330
Re: [How to get paid for tutoring math]
My nephew tutored math very successfully for years. At his peak he was tutoring more than 40 students per week at $50/hr. Some were in-person at his home classroom (converted dining room) and some were online via Skype calls. He even had a little waiting room (converted living room) for the parents.
- Wed Dec 23, 2020 7:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Best < $100 purchase?
- Replies: 299
- Views: 56509
Re: Best < $100 purchase?
Condoms in my 20’s...
- Thu Dec 17, 2020 2:00 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: is it ok to download Big Sur for MAC yet??
- Replies: 47
- Views: 5218
Re: is it ok to download Big Sur for MAC yet??
I see that the .2 release of Big Sur just went out to the beta testers. Its focus is reportedly on bug fixes. I'll probably take a chance and upgrade after .2 is released. I haven't been a fan of Catalina. It seems that Apple's OS's have been getting buggier and buggier over the years. I still believe that Snow Leopard was the most solidly performing OS in the entire MacOS X lineage.
- Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:13 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Help me understand this term life policy
- Replies: 15
- Views: 927
Re: Help me understand this term life policy
Thanks, Gang. Thanks to your insights, this statement makes sense to me now. Part of me thinks that insurance companies intentionally make these things more confusing than they need to be just so people will call their agents and ask questions, thereby giving the agents an opportunity to upsell more coverage.
- Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Help me understand this term life policy
- Replies: 15
- Views: 927
Re: Help me understand this term life policy
So it's still not clear to me what the purpose is of the statement "Coverage Ends: 11/28/2058."
If I elect to extend the policy past its 15 year term, then presumably that would be for some sort of whole life policy, so how can that have an end date?
Is this saying that no matter what, there's no way to extend this past 2058, no matter what massively high premiums I might be willing to pay? Spouse would be in mid 90's on 2058, but still, I didn't think that insurance companies would specify an age limit on a whole life policy. Is that what they're doing here?*
*Not that I intend to extend this. I'm just trying to grok what's being shown here.
If I elect to extend the policy past its 15 year term, then presumably that would be for some sort of whole life policy, so how can that have an end date?
Is this saying that no matter what, there's no way to extend this past 2058, no matter what massively high premiums I might be willing to pay? Spouse would be in mid 90's on 2058, but still, I didn't think that insurance companies would specify an age limit on a whole life policy. Is that what they're doing here?*
*Not that I intend to extend this. I'm just trying to grok what's being shown here.
- Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Help me understand this term life policy
- Replies: 15
- Views: 927
Help me understand this term life policy
I'm reviewing various documents as part of year-end housekeeping and I'm trying to understand some language that's in a term life policy that we have on my spouse. The policy issue date is 11/28/2016 with a 15 year term. On page 2, there's a heading entitled "Total Coverage" with these entries: Coverage Ends: 11/28/2058 Ability to Convert Ends: 11/28/2028 Coverage: $xxxxx for 15 years. Additional Riders: Accelerated Death Benefit Rider Coverage Ends: 11/28/2058 Some of this is obvious to me: "Ability to convert" means that we can convert this policy to some sort of whole life up until 11/28/2028. And, we have an accelerated death benefit (which I understand). What I don't understand is the entry "Coverage ends 11/28...
- Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:39 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: what's the best service to digitize my photo negatives?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1359
Re: what's the best service to digitize my photo negatives?
I've used ScanCafe for slides and negatives and have been very happy. All of their scanning is done domestically now, I believe, as opposed to shipping the materials to India, which is what they did in the past.
- Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Are password managers safe to use?
- Replies: 360
- Views: 24671
Re: Are password managers safe to use?
This. I’m not comfortable storing my passwords in the cloud, so I use the local version of 1Password. While 1PW does have a cloud based subscription version, I still use the locally installed version that syncs all my devices across our WiFi.
- Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: How much money do you want to retire?
- Replies: 1367
- Views: 208812
Re: How much money do you want to retire?
How the heck is everyone getting their annual expenses down so low?!?! We’ve tracked our expenses to the penny for our entire married life and, even when accounting for being empty nesters and having no mortgage, our expected annual retirement expenses are more than double the $40k-$50k that I’m seeing mentioned here. I’ve tried to account for absolutely everything in my retirement planning. Maybe I’ve been too detailed and generous with our spending? We want to have an entertainment budget, enjoy a new car, pay someone to cut our grass, eat well, and such. We don’t want to scale back our standard of living when we retire, even if it means working harder and waiting a bit longer to retire. Plus, we want to make sure that we have plenty of ...
- Sun Dec 06, 2020 8:40 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: How much money do you want to retire?
- Replies: 1367
- Views: 208812
Re: How much money do you want to retire?
How the heck is everyone getting their annual expenses down so low?!?! We’ve tracked our expenses to the penny for our entire married life and, even when accounting for being empty nesters and having no mortgage, our expected annual retirement expenses are more than double the $40k-$50k that I’m seeing mentioned here. I’ve tried to account for absolutely everything in my retirement planning. Maybe I’ve been too detailed and generous with our spending? We want to have an entertainment budget, enjoy a new car, pay someone to cut our grass, eat well, and such. We don’t want to scale back our standard of living when we retire, even if it means working harder and waiting a bit longer to retire. Plus, we want to make sure that we have plenty of m...
- Sun Dec 06, 2020 5:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: seeking a job in statistics
- Replies: 33
- Views: 3564
Re: seeking a job in statistics
If her specialty is biostatistics then the major insurance carriers would swoop her up in an instant. A friend of mine at Blue Cross and Blue Shield HQ here in TX says that the biostatisticians there are treated like the royalty of the organization.
- Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Predicting health care costs in retirement
- Replies: 22
- Views: 2031
Re: Predicting health care costs in retirement
I’m also budgeting $1000/person/month for health insurance premiums in my “can we retire yet?” calculations. I’m hoping that this, plus another $500/month each for copays, prescriptions, and other medical expenses will be sufficient until the Medicare years begin.
- Thu Dec 03, 2020 2:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Has anyone used Income Strategy website/software?
- Replies: 106
- Views: 28376
Re: Has anyone used Income Strategy website/software?
For those of you who have used or are using Income Strategy, can you tell me if their system is capable of handling an inherited (non-spouse) IRA that is using life expectancy-based RMDs? I have one of these and have been taking RMDs for a few years now (except 2020, of course). None of the online retirement calculators that I've found can accommodate such a beast. Some can come close with "pension" fields but, as you know, the RMDs are an increasing percentage each year, so trying to model them as a pension in these retirement calculators isn't very accurate. I would think that something that purports to be as powerful as Income Strategy would be able to handle this sort of inherited IRA, but I don't want to subscribe to them ju...
- Thu Dec 03, 2020 10:07 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Has anyone used Income Strategy website/software?
- Replies: 106
- Views: 28376
Re: Has anyone used Income Strategy website/software?
For those of you who have used or are using Income Strategy, can you tell me if their system is capable of handling an inherited (non-spouse) IRA that is using life expectancy-based RMDs? I have one of these and have been taking RMDs for a few years now (except 2020, of course). None of the online retirement calculators that I've found can accommodate such a beast. Some can come close with "pension" fields but, as you know, the RMDs are an increasing percentage each year, so trying to model them as a pension in these retirement calculators isn't very accurate. I would think that something that purports to be as powerful as Income Strategy would be able to handle this sort of inherited IRA, but I don't want to subscribe to them jus...
- Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Personal Finance Tracking Software
- Replies: 35
- Views: 5186
Re: Personal Finance Tracking Software
We like Banktivity but they’ve recently switched to a subscription model. We’re going to stick with the single purchase version as long as we can.