What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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goodenyou
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by goodenyou »

I think that the magnitude to which inflation can derail a well-designed plan will be a shocker for many retirees. Especially if the economy stays on its current inflation trajectory.
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Fat Tails
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Fat Tails »

Cruise wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:45 am One thing that surprised me in retirement was that I’d occasionally run into someone who seemed miffed that I was retired and there were not. I think my younger-than-my-years look may have contributed to this.
I have noticed this as well. Not everybody is happy that another person is retired. Now I usually just say that I work from home and have a flexible schedule.

Cheers
“Doing well with money has little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave.” - Morgan Housel
Fat Tails
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Fat Tails »

Hayden wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 1:36 pm
iamblessed wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 6:31 pm
mr_brightside wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:47 pm
namajones wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 10:38 am
Cruise wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:45 am One thing that surprised me in retirement was that I’d occasionally run into someone who seemed miffed that I was retired and there were not. I think my younger-than-my-years look may have contributed to this.
I've experienced this, and I'm not yet retired (but close). The envy factor plays a role, I think.
i just pulled the trigger myself (early 50s). trying to figure out my exact way to tell people I'm 'not working anymore'.

not sure if i will work for pay again. i might. i might not.

------------------------------------------
Would you tell people you are a stock trader? I am an investor? What do you say I would like to know. Asking all retired bogleheads.
When people say, what do you do? I respond by telling them what i do. At any time i usually have some predominant activity that is occupying my time (writing an app, taking a course, etc.).

When people say, do you work? then i usually hem and haw, and then again tell them about my activity (i'm writing an app! or something like that).
I am a financial advisor to a small, select clientele. (No offense those certified professionals). I work from home. :beer
“Doing well with money has little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave.” - Morgan Housel
truenorth418
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by truenorth418 »

bwalling wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 4:39 am
Sandi_k wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 11:32 pm Ha! My MIL informed me last month that I could NOT POSSIBLY retire at 60, because it was "too young." Note that she chose to work as an Avon lady until age 83, to "keep herself occupied" and to have "a bit of pocket money" and "to get out of the house."
I will retire in the next two years (age 46 or 47), and have been told repeatedly by people it's too young and I shouldn't do it. I'll have 40x expenses.
I retired at age 47. That was 10 years ago. (I had 30X expenses). I was subjected to a lot of criticism and anger from other people, including from family members. I realize now this was jealousy on their part. The lesson is do what’s right for you and ignore the negative people. I’m very glad I retired at 47.
JDave
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by JDave »

When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by seajay »

Reminded of a cartoon, forget from where/whom, of a suited man rushing past a cemetery looking at his watch and saying "time is money", where on a tombstone in the graveyard are written the words "I'd have given all my money for some more time".

Like a earlier poster I retired in my mid 40's ... touch and go as to whether I had enough. Initially too much free time - but that soon became filled. Now more recently into my 60's and so far no regrets whatsoever and where on the finance front things are fine (transitioned from a initial 5% WR down to around 2% to 3%). I have seen others who carried on working having endured significant life changing events that totally messed up their intended retirement plans, illnesses, death of partner ...etc.
Keith5337
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Keith5337 »

jason1122 wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:58 pm
vested1 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:25 pm Can't complain though, so many know nothing about how AUM fees and high ER's eat away at their accounts.
Please tell this noob more!
'AUM' is assets under management. It's a fee schedule for how a money manager is compensated. If their fee is 1%, your account is reduced by that much each year. A place like Edward Jones may charge this.

'ER' is expense ratio. That is a fee mutual fund charges to keep the lights on and pay wages. Places like Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard have the lowest ER's. If you use an S&P 500 fund, why pay more than necessary?

You could pay an AUM and a high ER. Double whammy!
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

JDave wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:11 am When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
Whoa! You just convinced me! Thank you!
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

iamblessed wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 6:31 pm
mr_brightside wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:47 pm
namajones wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 10:38 am
Cruise wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:45 am One thing that surprised me in retirement was that I’d occasionally run into someone who seemed miffed that I was retired and there were not. I think my younger-than-my-years look may have contributed to this.
I've experienced this, and I'm not yet retired (but close). The envy factor plays a role, I think.
i just pulled the trigger myself (early 50s). trying to figure out my exact way to tell people I'm 'not working anymore'.

not sure if i will work for pay again. i might. i might not.

------------------------------------------
Would you tell people you are a stock trader? I am an investor? What do you say I would like to know. Asking all retired bogleheads.
I‘m self employed.
I‘m in investments.
I‘m in real estate.
I‘m a consultant.
I‘m not working right now.
I‘m in between jobs.
I do odds and ends.
I got FIREd.
I‘m in the witness protection program.
I‘m retired, got a problem with that!!??
bltn
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by bltn »

MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:19 pm
Tib wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 2:23 pm I didn’t know that by converting my 403(b) to an IRA I’d be depriving myself of access to a liquid, 3%+ stable-value fund. That access is all the more valuable for those of us wary of bond funds, especially in the current environment.

On the nonfinancial side, if that’s of interest, I overestimated my largely untested enthusiasm for hiking and moved across country to a location where I could hike in beautiful landscapes. A year later I’d had my fill of hiking and moved again. In general, I’ve found that interests I had pursued for an extended time at some point in life were easily rekindled. If I had never in the past made much time for an activity, I’ve found that I’m still not moved to do so in retirement. No doubt some retirees are different in this respect.
Good point on the 403(b). My retirement "expert" keeps on prompting me to consider converting to an IRA.

Out of interest, what reasoning did you use to covert it into an IRA?
I ve wished I had access to a stable value fund.

When I retired, I figured it was time to cut financial ties with the company. I sold my company stock, and and removed my money from the 401k and put it in an IRA.

I do wish I had delayed my Social Security . I now wish I had a bigger Roth IRA.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Normchad »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:58 pm
iamblessed wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 6:31 pm
mr_brightside wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:47 pm
namajones wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 10:38 am
Cruise wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:45 am One thing that surprised me in retirement was that I’d occasionally run into someone who seemed miffed that I was retired and there were not. I think my younger-than-my-years look may have contributed to this.
I've experienced this, and I'm not yet retired (but close). The envy factor plays a role, I think.
i just pulled the trigger myself (early 50s). trying to figure out my exact way to tell people I'm 'not working anymore'.

not sure if i will work for pay again. i might. i might not.

------------------------------------------
Would you tell people you are a stock trader? I am an investor? What do you say I would like to know. Asking all retired bogleheads.
I‘m self employed.
I‘m in investments.
I‘m in real estate.
I‘m a consultant.
I‘m not working right now.
I‘m in between jobs.
I do odds and ends.
I got FIREd.
I‘m in the witness protection program.
I‘m retired, got a problem with that!!??
I’m planning to go with “I’m between jobs right now”.

For me, it checks a lot if the boxes. It conveys I’m not working. It conveys I might work again in the future. It’s not a total lie. Mostly, people won’t think I’m stupendously wealthy without a care in the world. I worry about being resented by friends and family….
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

You‘re right to be concerned. My past five years were an object lesson in the dangers of envy and resentment (toward me, believe it or not.)

I guess there is always,

I‘m taking some time off work
I don’t have a job
I took a buy out
I‘m reevaluating
I’d rather not say
A little of this, a little of that
I went full remote
I just made the biggest mistake ever - retired during a bull market!!
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Padlin
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Padlin »

I wish I had thought of not qualifying for loans and such once you have no income. I kind of knew it, but getting an unexpected early retirement offer kind of through me off. Things happened too fast.

We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
Regards | Bob
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by iamblessed »

truenorth418 wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:26 am
bwalling wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 4:39 am
Sandi_k wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 11:32 pm Ha! My MIL informed me last month that I could NOT POSSIBLY retire at 60, because it was "too young." Note that she chose to work as an Avon lady until age 83, to "keep herself occupied" and to have "a bit of pocket money" and "to get out of the house."
I will retire in the next two years (age 46 or 47), and have been told repeatedly by people it's too young and I shouldn't do it. I'll have 40x expenses.
I retired at age 47. That was 10 years ago. (I had 30X expenses). I was subjected to a lot of criticism and anger from other people, including from family members. I realize now this was jealousy on their part. The lesson is do what’s right for you and ignore the negative people. I’m very glad I retired at 47.
People that want in your business want your money. That is what I learned dealing with people.
heyyou
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by heyyou »

Having retired at 55, just to get away from my job, I had no idea of how joyous those early years of retirement freedom could be. We traveled extra for the off-season prices then stayed home to avoid the holiday crowds, so even our "vacation" travels in retirement were better. Hawaii in October is not crowded.

In your late 50s, you can still backpack with today's ultralight gear. It was unimaginable when I was working, that I could always have enough flexible time to wait for the good weather days to go backpacking, between the periodic bad weather days. There is about a weekly cycle of weather events, some years with more wet weekends, and some years with more wetness on the mid-week days. People make calendar-based plans, and the weather gods laugh, but retirees have time to adapt.

Thank you to Bogleheads and the older Vanguard Diehards site for the steady financial info on retirement spending. We started to do the post-retirement Roth conversions (something new but not difficult to learn), because several said we should (special thanks to poster Celia), and now the Roth IRA is all stock funds while the currently no-growth bond funds are all in the tIRA. The formerly dreaded RMDs are now just a reasonable withdrawal amount for spending. Experiencing the promised results after more than a dozen years of paying extra tax on Roth conversions, is very nice.

Fully delayed SS is now enough that it is a partial buffer for my 16 year old, no-COLA pension, as inflation is starting to heat up. At retirement, I did not see how the almost tag team effect would be such a good benefit in my 70s. Do all those financial recommendations for the initial and the continuing years of retirement, because they do work well, same as immediately starting retirement contributions at your first career job, as if we knew anyone who did that.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by make_a_better_world »

BolderBoy wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:52 am
tennisplyr wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 5:56 pmRetired 10 years. That life flys by in retirement, if you feel like doing something, do it.
+1. Amazing how fast the days fly by. I presume this continues to increase right to the end.
I do not intend to derail the thread. I thought this may be of interest to some. It is a common belief that the experience of time shortens as we age. There is a field of research on this topic and this does not appear to be a function of age itself. One of the most important variables is the volume of new stimuli to the brain. When a child is 4, one year is 25% of their life and nearly everything is new. After so many years many of us end up in routines where very little is new. There is no need for the brain to assimilate every near identical commute to work for example. Upon recalling the proceeding time it feels as if it has flown by. In actuality the memory timeline is punctuated with gaps. But I challenge you that the next time you travel for a weekend to place you've never been, pay attention to how long those two days feel compared to two days of a mundane week. The same goes for really getting into something new as far as education. The subjective experience of the passage of time is mostly a function of new experiences and knowledge. It still works this way in older age. The field of neurobiology is called chronoception if you're interested to dive deeper.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by cockersx3 »

Normchad wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 9:02 pm I’m debating even letting the extended family know I’m retired. The wife will know, but that might be it....
This is actually my plan as well.

I recently took a new role that is 100% remote, so my family and neighbors are not surprised to see me at home most of the time. My work is something that - while not terribly complicated - is something that no one really seems to understand very well. In fact, I have never had anyone ask me about my job other than the superficial "how's the job going" question.

When I leave this role and retire early (ie late 40's), I plan to tell no one and let people assume that I'm still working remotely. That should avoid the awkward questions about my finances, request for money from family members, etc. It will also be easier to move to a LCOL once our kids graduate high school without having to explain how we made it possible...
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by cockersx3 »

Padlin wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:10 pm We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
That is a concern of ours when my wife and I early retire. We'd like to sell our house and rent in a lower COL area for awhile before eventually buying another home, but not sure if any landlord would rent to someone with high assets but basically no W-2 income...
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by GreenLawn »

cockersx3 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:29 pm
Padlin wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:10 pm We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
That is a concern of ours when my wife and I early retire. We'd like to sell our house and rent in a lower COL area for awhile before eventually buying another home, but not sure if any landlord would rent to someone with high assets but basically no W-2 income...
I did just that. Older couple with no kids, no pets and lots of assets. We got first pick of any rental we wanted, evidently we are a landlord's dream. Compare that to the wear and tear and risk of a couple with kids, pets and jobs they could lose. I figured we'd do fine, and we did.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by qwertyjazz »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:52 pm
JDave wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:11 am When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
Whoa! You just convinced me! Thank you!
Could someone translate this for me?
I could read it as YOLO and take SS as early as possible - why care about money when you are older?

I could also read it as who wants to be broke at 89. Being older and broke would be hard.
G.E. Box "All models are wrong, but some are useful."
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

qwertyjazz wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:35 pm
AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:52 pm
JDave wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:11 am When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
Whoa! You just convinced me! Thank you!
Could someone translate this for me?
I could read it as YOLO and take SS as early as possible - why care about money when you are older?

I could also read it as who wants to be broke at 89. Being older and broke would be hard.
Well, my reaction was it would be worse to be broke at 89 than 62.
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cockersx3
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by cockersx3 »

GreenLawn wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:55 pm
cockersx3 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:29 pm
Padlin wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:10 pm We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
That is a concern of ours when my wife and I early retire. We'd like to sell our house and rent in a lower COL area for awhile before eventually buying another home, but not sure if any landlord would rent to someone with high assets but basically no W-2 income...
I did just that. Older couple with no kids, no pets and lots of assets. We got first pick of any rental we wanted, evidently we are a landlord's dream. Compare that to the wear and tear and risk of a couple with kids, pets and jobs they could lose. I figured we'd do fine, and we did.
Ok, that's good to hear. Unfortunately I've heard / read about experiences that were the opposite. Apparently many landlords can't mentally process the idea of someone with a large portfolio and no income, and no rental history (ie we've owned for decades so no "landlord" references).
SQRT
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by SQRT »

Quite surprised at the negative reactions to early retirement experienced by many people. I retired into a very well funded retirement at age 56, 15 years ago. I can honestly say I have not had one negative comment. It has always been. “good for you”.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by wrongfunds »

JDave wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:11 am When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
another question that you could ask "Would I be spending more when I'm 62 or more when I'm 89?" which translates in to "Do I need more money now or later?". It definitely related to your original question but that relationship is quite complicated.
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MrCheapo
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by MrCheapo »

bltn wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:18 pm . I now wish I had a bigger Roth IRA.
Can I please ask why?
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by hoops777 »

I really wish I knew how totally unimportant ‘things’ are. A fancy car, big house,etc.
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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beyou
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by beyou »

bwalling wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 6:42 am I'll never get bored. Work is boring in part because I want more variety. I could spend the rest of my life auditing college classes and be thrilled with that. I also don't derive any sense of self worth or pleasure from work. I'm good at what I do, but that doesn't mean anything to me. Helping a company make money in exchange for also making money is just a business transaction - nothing more, nothing less.

I may teach or do something I feel has some service value to the community.
Same here. At work people are stunned that I would stop and not continue doing what they think I do so well. No consideration that after doing so for a long time one can have less or no interest, despite success or prior interest. Honestly not sure what I will do next but if work, it will be for money, not “something to do”. I have been way too busy all my life.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Another take, although somewhat high level, I Spent 44 Years Studying Retirement. Then I Retired - WSJ (paywall) that offers some interesting insights and real life experience.
David Ekerdt wrote:I was more prepared than just about anybody. And some things are exactly what I expected. But other things—not so much.

I am now retired for a year and a half, and if anybody should have known what to expect in this new stage of life, it was me. I have made retirement the primary focus of my academic scholarship as a sociologist all the way back to my first published article in 1976. At that time, I told my mother that I was going to study aging, and she asked me across our generational gap, “What do you know about it?” It was a fair question.

So I learned. Through surveys and interviews, I have explored how men and women prepare for, enter and adapt to retirement. I have kept current with everything written about the transition. As I reached retirement myself, it should have held no surprises for me. It was all planned and orderly.

Enter the enigma of arrival.
I can relate to many of his thoughts and ideas and it offers lots of insight into the process of retirement. For those looking for financial information and education, the article doesn't cover anything related to finances and investments but never the less is well worth the read IMHO.
Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by ProsperGoalzz »

wrongfunds wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:29 am
JDave wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:11 am When it comes to timing Social Security claiming ask yourself "Would I rather be low on funds when I'm 62, or low on funds when I'm 89?
another question that you could ask "Would I be spending more when I'm 62 or more when I'm 89?" which translates in to "Do I need more money now or later?". It definitely related to your original question but that relationship is quite complicated.
I'm not as mathematically inclined as many here, but my thought is to delay to 70 while spending down and perhaps converting tax-deferred assets to Roth upon retirement at hopefully, 60 or 62. I am not planning to be broke at either age, but like the longevity aspect of waiting. I am thinking this strategy will allow for even income over time, tax avoidance later and hedge for longevity.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Puppy Lip Soup »

I do not intend to derail the thread. I thought this may be of interest to some. It is a common belief that the experience of time shortens as we age. There is a field of research on this topic and this does not appear to be a function of age itself. One of the most important variables is the volume of new stimuli to the brain. When a child is 4, one year is 25% of their life and nearly everything is new. After so many years many of us end up in routines where very little is new. There is no need for the brain to assimilate every near identical commute to work for example. Upon recalling the proceeding time it feels as if it has flown by. In actuality the memory timeline is punctuated with gaps. But I challenge you that the next time you travel for a weekend to place you've never been, pay attention to how long those two days feel compared to two days of a mundane week. The same goes for really getting into something new as far as education. The subjective experience of the passage of time is mostly a function of new experiences and knowledge. It still works this way in older age. The field of neurobiology is called chronoception if you're interested to dive deeper.
[/quote]

What a fascinating topic. Thanks for mentioning the topic and it’s name, chronoception. I will read more on this topic.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AlphabetBackward »

seajay wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:26 am Reminded of a cartoon, forget from where/whom, of a suited man rushing past a cemetery looking at his watch and saying "time is money", where on a tombstone in the graveyard are written the words "I'd have given all my money for some more time".

Like a earlier poster I retired in my mid 40's ... touch and go as to whether I had enough. Initially too much free time - but that soon became filled. Now more recently into my 60's and so far no regrets whatsoever and where on the finance front things are fine (transitioned from a initial 5% WR down to around 2% to 3%). I have seen others who carried on working having endured significant life changing events that totally messed up their intended retirement plans, illnesses, death of partner ...etc.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by bltn »

MrCheapo wrote: Sat Oct 23, 2021 2:49 pm
bltn wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:18 pm . I now wish I had a bigger Roth IRA.
Can I please ask why?
I like stock market investments being able to grow tax free. A dollar in a Roth is worth more than a dollar anywhere else but a bank account or money market.
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Padlin »

cockersx3 wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:13 am
GreenLawn wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:55 pm
cockersx3 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:29 pm
Padlin wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:10 pm We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
That is a concern of ours when my wife and I early retire. We'd like to sell our house and rent in a lower COL area for awhile before eventually buying another home, but not sure if any landlord would rent to someone with high assets but basically no W-2 income...
I did just that. Older couple with no kids, no pets and lots of assets. We got first pick of any rental we wanted, evidently we are a landlord's dream. Compare that to the wear and tear and risk of a couple with kids, pets and jobs they could lose. I figured we'd do fine, and we did.
Ok, that's good to hear. Unfortunately I've heard / read about experiences that were the opposite. Apparently many landlords can't mentally process the idea of someone with a large portfolio and no income, and no rental history (ie we've owned for decades so no "landlord" references).
Ditto. I was thinking of offering 6 months advance rent if needed.
Regards | Bob
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cockersx3
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by cockersx3 »

Padlin wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:31 pm
cockersx3 wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:13 am Ok, that's good to hear. Unfortunately I've heard / read about experiences that were the opposite. Apparently many landlords can't mentally process the idea of someone with a large portfolio and no income, and no rental history (ie we've owned for decades so no "landlord" references).
Ditto. I was thinking of offering 6 months advance rent if needed.
Not to derail the thread, but you may want to search through this forum a bit on that. It sounds like large rent pre-payments are a big red-flag for some landlords, so offering this up is likely to have the exact opposite reaction that you would expect.
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

cockersx3 wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:29 pm
Padlin wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:10 pm We should have bought our retirement home while still working. Being able to get a bridge loan would have made things a lot easier.
That is a concern of ours when my wife and I early retire. We'd like to sell our house and rent in a lower COL area for awhile before eventually buying another home, but not sure if any landlord would rent to someone with high assets but basically no W-2 income...
Sometimes they‘ll ask you to prepay 3-6 months.
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Taylor Larimore
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Taylor Larimore »

goodenyou wrote: "What do you wish you knew before you retired?"
goodenyou:

I wish I had known all the advantages of The Three-Fund Portfolio .
Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: "There may be better investment strategies than owning just three broad-based index funds but the number of strategies that are worse is infinite."
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
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randyharris
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by randyharris »

MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:29 pm
RudyS wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 2:26 pm I did not fully understand the advantage(s) of deferring social security. The potential advantage of Roth IRA vs t-IRA.
Can you enlighten us on what advantages you refer to. It's something I have thought about. My situation (to simplify it is) as follows

Claim $2270 at 62 = 490K (live till 80)
Claim $3300 at 67 = 514K (live till 80)
Claim $4100 at 70 = 492K (live till 80)

So its all about the same. Now if I live till 90 clearly the spread gets bigger, but that's a bit of hope.
Social Security payouts were designed to pay out the same amount of money regardless of whether you start collecting early or later. The unknown factor off course is how long a specific person lives. If you happen to make it to a very old age, deferring can have dramatic improvements in your overall payout. If you live to the average age, it won't make much difference either way.
SnowBog
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by SnowBog »

randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:02 pm
MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:29 pm
RudyS wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 2:26 pm I did not fully understand the advantage(s) of deferring social security. The potential advantage of Roth IRA vs t-IRA.
Can you enlighten us on what advantages you refer to. It's something I have thought about. My situation (to simplify it is) as follows

Claim $2270 at 62 = 490K (live till 80)
Claim $3300 at 67 = 514K (live till 80)
Claim $4100 at 70 = 492K (live till 80)

So its all about the same. Now if I live till 90 clearly the spread gets bigger, but that's a bit of hope.
Social Security payouts were designed to pay out the same amount of money regardless of whether you start collecting early or later. The unknown factor off course is how long a specific person lives. If you happen to make it to a very old age, deferring can have dramatic improvements in your overall payout. If you live to the average age, it won't make much difference either way.
And if you die young, claiming early would have been the best purely from getting the most out of social security. But in reality, you likely didn't need this money as your savings was likely enough to last many more years.

So the way I think about it is which approach is the best in context of everything else. My "worst case" is living so long that I outlive my money - mainly as we don't know when we are going to die. But delaying social security is the best protection from that outcome. If I die young, I may get nothing from social security - I'm OK with that. If I die late, I know the extra social security is going to make a difference.
Bronko
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Bronko »

BolderBoy wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:52 am
tennisplyr wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 5:56 pmRetired 10 years. That life flys by in retirement, if you feel like doing something, do it.
+1. Amazing how fast the days fly by. I presume this continues to increase right to the end.
Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.
Never let a little bit of money get in the way of a real good time.
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randyharris
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by randyharris »

SnowBog wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:11 pm
randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:02 pm
MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:29 pm
RudyS wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 2:26 pm I did not fully understand the advantage(s) of deferring social security. The potential advantage of Roth IRA vs t-IRA.
Can you enlighten us on what advantages you refer to. It's something I have thought about. My situation (to simplify it is) as follows

Claim $2270 at 62 = 490K (live till 80)
Claim $3300 at 67 = 514K (live till 80)
Claim $4100 at 70 = 492K (live till 80)

So its all about the same. Now if I live till 90 clearly the spread gets bigger, but that's a bit of hope.
Social Security payouts were designed to pay out the same amount of money regardless of whether you start collecting early or later. The unknown factor off course is how long a specific person lives. If you happen to make it to a very old age, deferring can have dramatic improvements in your overall payout. If you live to the average age, it won't make much difference either way.
And if you die young, claiming early would have been the best purely from getting the most out of social security. But in reality, you likely didn't need this money as your savings was likely enough to last many more years.

So the way I think about it is which approach is the best in context of everything else. My "worst case" is living so long that I outlive my money - mainly as we don't know when we are going to die. But delaying social security is the best protection from that outcome. If I die young, I may get nothing from social security - I'm OK with that. If I die late, I know the extra social security is going to make a difference.
Virtually everybody I've ever heard talk personal finances recommends waiting as long as you can to start claiming SS. However, I did a little model in Excel to test that and found that starting at 62 is actually favorable if the alternative is drawing funds out of a tax deferred investment account.
SnowBog
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by SnowBog »

randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:03 pm
SnowBog wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:11 pm
randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:02 pm
MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:29 pm
RudyS wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 2:26 pm I did not fully understand the advantage(s) of deferring social security. The potential advantage of Roth IRA vs t-IRA.
Can you enlighten us on what advantages you refer to. It's something I have thought about. My situation (to simplify it is) as follows

Claim $2270 at 62 = 490K (live till 80)
Claim $3300 at 67 = 514K (live till 80)
Claim $4100 at 70 = 492K (live till 80)

So its all about the same. Now if I live till 90 clearly the spread gets bigger, but that's a bit of hope.
Social Security payouts were designed to pay out the same amount of money regardless of whether you start collecting early or later. The unknown factor off course is how long a specific person lives. If you happen to make it to a very old age, deferring can have dramatic improvements in your overall payout. If you live to the average age, it won't make much difference either way.
And if you die young, claiming early would have been the best purely from getting the most out of social security. But in reality, you likely didn't need this money as your savings was likely enough to last many more years.

So the way I think about it is which approach is the best in context of everything else. My "worst case" is living so long that I outlive my money - mainly as we don't know when we are going to die. But delaying social security is the best protection from that outcome. If I die young, I may get nothing from social security - I'm OK with that. If I die late, I know the extra social security is going to make a difference.
Virtually everybody I've ever heard talk personal finances recommends waiting as long as you can to start claiming SS. However, I did a little model in Excel to test that and found that starting at 62 is actually favorable if the alternative is drawing funds out of a tax deferred investment account.
It's definitely a balance with lots of moving parts. For example, how long you live (can't know in advance), how much money you need to live, where that money comes from, etc.

Plus, there's an aspect of what are your priorities. For some people, it might be getting as much back from social security as they can - given they've been paying in for decades. For others, it's longevity insurance. Others might have different priorities.
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randyharris
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by randyharris »

SnowBog wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:13 pm
randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:03 pm
SnowBog wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:11 pm
randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:02 pm
MrCheapo wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 7:29 pm

Can you enlighten us on what advantages you refer to. It's something I have thought about. My situation (to simplify it is) as follows

Claim $2270 at 62 = 490K (live till 80)
Claim $3300 at 67 = 514K (live till 80)
Claim $4100 at 70 = 492K (live till 80)

So its all about the same. Now if I live till 90 clearly the spread gets bigger, but that's a bit of hope.
Social Security payouts were designed to pay out the same amount of money regardless of whether you start collecting early or later. The unknown factor off course is how long a specific person lives. If you happen to make it to a very old age, deferring can have dramatic improvements in your overall payout. If you live to the average age, it won't make much difference either way.
And if you die young, claiming early would have been the best purely from getting the most out of social security. But in reality, you likely didn't need this money as your savings was likely enough to last many more years.

So the way I think about it is which approach is the best in context of everything else. My "worst case" is living so long that I outlive my money - mainly as we don't know when we are going to die. But delaying social security is the best protection from that outcome. If I die young, I may get nothing from social security - I'm OK with that. If I die late, I know the extra social security is going to make a difference.
Virtually everybody I've ever heard talk personal finances recommends waiting as long as you can to start claiming SS. However, I did a little model in Excel to test that and found that starting at 62 is actually favorable if the alternative is drawing funds out of a tax deferred investment account.
It's definitely a balance with lots of moving parts. For example, how long you live (can't know in advance), how much money you need to live, where that money comes from, etc.

Plus, there's an aspect of what are your priorities. For some people, it might be getting as much back from social security as they can - given they've been paying in for decades. For others, it's longevity insurance. Others might have different priorities.
Regardless of those factors, my analysis showed that if you are going to be pulling savings out of your investment accounts to cover what SS would otherwise provide, you are better taking the SS earlier and not waiting.
2pedals
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by 2pedals »

randyharris wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:42 pm Regardless of those factors, my analysis showed that if you are going to be pulling savings out of your investment accounts to cover what SS would otherwise provide, you are better taking the SS earlier and not waiting.
It all depends on your forward-looking assumptions. If you pick a favorable real return on your investments things look much better to take that money now and you are also ignoring the longevity insurance aspect of waiting longer.
MnD
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by MnD »

That I would keep procrastinating and avoiding things that I didn't enjoy doing before I retired.
I embraced doing far more of the things things I enjoy doing after retirement like exercise, camping, shopping, gardening, reading (because of more time and energy). But getting on the things I didn't care for - like DIY home repair or wrangling home repair/improvement contractors or shopping around on home/car insurance renewals - NOPE!

If anything it makes the procrastination worse because every day is a day off so you can put it off till manyana!
But other than that, no surprises. Pretty much as expected with the fortunate surprise of much better than expected portfolio performance so far.
So I think we're doing pretty well coming up on 3 years early-retired.
70/30 AA for life, Global market cap equity. Rebalance if fixed income <25% or >35%. Weighted ER< .10%. 5% of annual portfolio balance SWR, Proportional (to AA) withdrawals.
bltn
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by bltn »

goodenyou wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 8:52 pm I think that the magnitude to which inflation can derail a well-designed plan will be a shocker for many retirees. Especially if the economy stays on its current inflation trajectory.
Relatively high inflation with zero interest rates is especially bad. That combination forces a retiree to depend more on the stock market for returns than one otherwise might. Meanwhile the fixed income portion of a nest egg evaporates.
hvaclorax
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by hvaclorax »

I apologize if this has already been discussed because I did not read all of the posts.
I wish I knew the score to yesterday‘s World Series game. I could’ve made a killing.
HVAC
Simplelife10
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by Simplelife10 »

vested1 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 3:25 pm I wish I had known about index fund investing and how easy it is to manage your own portfolio before I retired from megacorp in 2009 with a lump sum retirement and a very low 6 figure 401k. Luckily I found this site in mid 2011 before I permanently retired in early 2016. I stopped the bleeding by getting out of PAS at Fidelity and transferring to Vanguard with a 3 fund portfolio.

At Fidelity they had me in a 5 year 200k fixed annuity in a market that was on fire and a single Ginnie Mae initially, then after talking me into PAS, 20 constantly churning funds of stocks and bonds with high ER's, total hit about 2.5% yearly.

Woulda coulda shoulda, if I had that knowledge in 2009 at the beginning of this raging bull I would have been able to permanently retire even earlier than when I did at 63.5. Can't complain though, so many know nothing about how AUM fees and high ER's eat away at their accounts.

The other thing I learned in the nick of time was the value of delaying SS until age 70 in our situation. I would have likely filed at 63.5 and my wife at 62 when she retired if I had not found Bogleheads. Instead, she filed at 65 and I simultaneously filed a restricted application on her benefit and will file for my own benefit next year at age 70 (we share the same birthday, me at 1 year older).

Back at Fidelity now because of the brick and mortar aspect, competent clerks, and no hassle mistake-free transactions. The difference between then and now? I pay them zero and hold the same VG funds at the same ER as I did at VG for a combined cost of .032%. I never talk to my assigned representative, but I do drink their coffee if I ever feel the need to visit. They handled the wire transfer for the cash purchase of our new home flawlessly for no charge. The coffee was good then too.

Bogleheads should get the prestigious Taylor Larimore Award for the most helpful forum for prospective retirees on the internet.
Great advice! Which Vanguard ETFs are you using at Fidelity? Trying to set up a 3-fund portfolio (~60:40::stocks:bonds) myself.
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K72
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by K72 »

Somethingwitty92912 wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 4:43 pm Finding direction for your life, it’s a big challenge. Yeah I know, oh whoa are my problems. On a personal level through, finding what you should be doing with your time is a full time job. At least, I suspect it will be till you find it.
+1
I wish I'd known how difficult it would be to find meaningful things to do with my time/energy/skills. Planning is important. Also, that what you think you like may not end up that way (as others have said). I thought I'd spend hours a day making sawdust with my table saw, but decided I value my fingers too much.
All we want are the facts...
latenightrob
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by latenightrob »

I just read almost every word of this thread and it was excellent! Thanks to everyone who posted!
ee_guy
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Re: What do you wish you knew before you retired you know now!

Post by ee_guy »

With Medicare IRMAA is a factor. Consider convert as much as you can from IRA to Roth IRA that makes sense. If you are BH, your retirement income could be higher than your career income.
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