Wealth and a question at the end

[Sir Henry]

I just received my Social Security deposit with the COLA. It sure wasn’t much with Medicare Part B also going up. My VA Disability went up the full amount and my PERS2 from Washington State goes up in July of each year.

I did quite well under Reagan and Clinton then went flat till the Trump years. I’ve made a killing under both parties and have lost under both. I bailed out of the market starting in 2020 and it took me a little over a year to get out. My money is now mostly in Government Bills and Bonds. Gone are the years of 40% gains and 20% losses and replaced with guaranteed 4.85% gains.

Overall it’s been a great ride with 95% of my wealth coming from Capital Gains. Of course I wouldn’t have any gains without that 5% which was early when I could barely save a dime but saved a quarter anyway.

I’m poor if you are rich and rich if you are poor. I think it’s called being middle-class. I’m tempted to get back into the market to double my wealth like the last time under Trump. Then I think being twice as rich will not affect my life yet loosing half of it would.

Who else is retired and in my situation? What are you doing?

[rickhem]

Then I think being twice as rich will not affect my life yet loosing half of it would.

There's a mouthful right there.

I'm just at the beginning of this next phase of my life, and still trying to get a handle on not having my accounts replenished by an employer every two weeks. Fidelity has suddenly decided that I need an individual advisor, although I've been above what they said was the threshold for over a decade now. I think that my age is what triggered it more than anything else. Seems like a lot of managed plans are the favored options, which lets them sip off my reserves, and I don't know if I'm comfortable trusting someone else with my future.

For me, I have a very good idea of what my monthly expenses are, including everything like dinners out, occasional trips, and other discretionary spending. I should be able to cover that without too much trouble. That said, it's nice to have a positive cash flow and until I put some kind of plan into place, there is anxiety.

[Hatchdog]

This year will be our 10th anniversary of being retired. We had the good fortune of having both a matching funds 401K and pension while employed. We maxed out the matching funds for 25 years and did well in the market for many years. Got out too early but slept very well every night thru the ups and downs. Our goal at retirement was to have the house paid for and live on our income without touching savings. So far we have been able to do this just fine. Sure, some months are more difficult than others but in the end it’s fine.

For the most part currently we are using brokered CD’s and it’s nice to see 5% again.

Our pensions have no cost of living raises but social security has had some increases these last few years. Our income certainly has not kept up with the rate of inflation so is a sense we’re poorer now than we were 10 years ago.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

In simple terms, I take the safe route. No big returns, but nice steady ones with just about zero risks. It's very comforting and I sleep well at night.

Although, with the recent great changes out there, investing has also crossed my mind, but I'm going to just play it cool for now.

With that said, I still watch the market just about every day, lol.

[HenryFan]

My wife and I started out with nothing and we have managed to keep most of it.

[Sir Henry]

Then I think being twice as rich will not affect my life yet loosing half of it would.

There's a mouthful right there.

I'm just at the beginning of this next phase of my life, and still trying to get a handle on not having my accounts replenished by an employer every two weeks. Fidelity has suddenly decided that I need an individual advisor, although I've been above what they said was the threshold for over a decade now. I think that my age is what triggered it more than anything else. Seems like a lot of managed plans are the favored options, which lets them sip off my reserves, and I don't know if I'm comfortable trusting someone else with my future.

For me, I have a very good idea of what my monthly expenses are, including everything like dinners out, occasional trips, and other discretionary spending. I should be able to cover that without too much trouble. That said, it's nice to have a positive cash flow and until I put some kind of plan into place, there is anxiety.

I had Fidelity Magellan and American Century Select for decades as my main mutual funds which proved to be great. Now I’m in an Edward Jones fund tied to Bills and Bonds. It just sits there getting 4.85% and me getting a fixed income. It will be depleted the year I turn 100 years old. I’m 75 now and started withdrawing exactly one year ago. I don’t really need it but don’t want to be the richest man in the cemetery.

In retirement I’m taking home five times what I was when I was working. That means I never earned that much working or am taking home a lot. Or maybe a combination. Like I said I’m middle income although it is high in being middle. I almost made it to being lower-upper class. When you consider my education I’m higher-lower class although some people tell me I have no class at all.

Moving to Wisconsin has been a big financial gain. I bought a very modest home and am slowly making it better. It’s never going to be a mansion.

[cooperhawk]

I really don't know the answer to all of that. I always invested in good real estate, (meaning the homes I lived in), and made a lot of capitol gains from just that. I always improved on them while I lived in them.

I've been divorced twice and both time I was left penniless yet somehow managed to keep my house, often by renting rooms and working overtime.
I finally learned my lesson and ended up being single for seventeen years and also raising my children and educating them by myself. I thought I was doing pretty well and was happy, then I met Carol. She made it all better.

She being an attorney I turned everything over to her to handle and that proved to be a smart move. We have money invested in a lot of places and I don't even know where it all is. All I know is that we have no mortgage and only one payment and that's a small one and almost done with. I said I want a newer tractor and she said if it's $25000.00 or less we can pay cash.

My retirement with the govt is substantial and she is still practicing on a small scale which keeps her busy and adds to our income.
We may not be rich, but we're not poor and we are very comfortable.

[Mags]

We don't have a lot and we had very little when we started. I'm overly invested in high risk out of necessity. So far it's worked out wonderfully. The smallest gain in a specific account has been 48% avg. In another account 98% avg. In select individual investments the gain has exceeded 200%. We had some bonds, but over the past 2 years the gains were holding slightly negative so I had my advisor get out of bonds altogether. We've gone through 2 major market dips since I retired. 'Value' down as much as 40%. We stuck it out and the 'value' rebounded nicely. Since I did not sell in a down market, I lost nothing, but gained overall. Even so, it is still unlikely to be enough to see us through to end of life. Actual $ gains on a small amount to start with doesn't equate to huge $ amount.

[CT_Shooter]

I'm seventy-four and a childless widower. I own a ranch style home on a half acre lot, a car, a cemetery plot, and a headstone that I'll share when I join my darling wife. My only income at this point is Social Security, but I have no debt and I'm pretty much a hermit with a cat for a roommate and a few close friends and family that I regularly see. My social life amounts to going out to lunch. My medical insurance (Part B reimbursement and prescription medications) is provided as a benefit of retiring from the State. All of that's good, but if it was all I had, I'd certainly be making some very hard, different choices.

Fortunately, I'm OK. Because of my wife's good planning, I've likely got enough money to take care of myself until I move in with her at the cemetery. Right now there's 56% in Traditional IRA Equity Mutual Funds and 44% in a mix of IRA/Savings CDs.

[Headhog]

I retired in 2012 from a second career with a small 401k and a pension from a former large company. I didn’t need the 401k funds so I let that sit and we lived off my pension plus the gain from our large house sale when we retired. In 2016 the company I had work for was bought up and the new owners decided to get rid of the old pensioners. They offered pensioners 1 of 3 options: annuity at a higher level with no survivorship, an annuity with survivorship payment or a complete pension cash buyout ( to be decided).

Since I don’t like annuities, I calculated what I felt was a minimum cash buyout needed to maintain our current lifestyle. Fortunately their calculation was higher than mine so I took the cash and got an investment firm to manage it along with the small 401k. My investment firm has done very well for-us and we will have a good amount to pass on for our heirs. I still keep a small amount of investment capital just to play with in the market, but nothing that would hurt us if it disappeared.

Paul

[GFK]

Most of what I set aside is in IRAs. I am doing a two teir approach: aggressive and balance. My aggressive is in a telecommunication fund. My balance is a 60/40 stock/bond mix. As far as gains, the last few years have been great! I plan to leave that way, until mandatory withdrawal. Then, I plan to put the mandatory in a Roth. At this point in time, we are able to live off our retirement income.

[Mags]

... They offered pensioners 1 of 3 options: annuity at a higher level with no survivorship, an annuity with survivorship payment or a complete pension cash buyout ( to be decided).

Since I don’t like annuities, I calculated what I felt was a minimum cash buyout needed to maintain our current lifestyle. Fortunately their calculation was higher than mine so I took the cash and got an investment firm to manage it ...

Paul

I had a small pension in addition to a small 401k. On retirement I had three options for the pension, Cash, Annuity, and Rollover into an IRA. Taking cash would have been an unacceptable tax hit and the annuity payout each month was to be a pittance. I did the roll over option and invested it. The investment has done quite well.

[GFK]

I just received my Social Security deposit with the COLA. It sure wasn’t much with Medicare Part B also going up. My VA Disability went up the full amount and my PERS2 from Washington State goes up in July of each year.

I did quite well under Reagan and Clinton then went flat till the Trump years. I’ve made a killing under both parties and have lost under both. I bailed out of the market starting in 2020 and it took me a little over a year to get out. My money is now mostly in Government Bills and Bonds. Gone are the years of 40% gains and 20% losses and replaced with guaranteed 4.85% gains.

Overall it’s been a great ride with 95% of my wealth coming from Capital Gains. Of course I wouldn’t have any gains without that 5% which was early when I could barely save a dime but saved a quarter anyway.

I’m poor if you are rich and rich if you are poor. I think it’s called being middle-class. I’m tempted to get back into the market to double my wealth like the last time under Trump. Then I think being twice as rich will not affect my life yet loosing half of it would.

Who else is retired and in my situation? What are you doing?

Guaranteed 4.8% seems like a good deal. As part of my approach, I do have an annuity with a guarantee of 3% as well. Yet, I have been getting about 4.5 for the past 30 years. I guess that it is a matter of if the money will be used to maintain a standard of living or for fun. If to maintain a standard of living, I would be safe. If for fun, I would look at technology funds.

[Vaquero]

My wife and I started out with nothing and we have managed to keep most of it.

Sounds like our situation.
But, everything we own is ours, meaning paid for in full.

RP

[Mags]

... If for fun, I would look at technology funds.

I stay away from technology. Too volatile. Instead I focus mostly on stable consumer goods providers, freight haulers (truck and railroads), power generation, refuse collection, coffee, etc. Infrastructure stuff.

[Coach]

I retired a couple years ago.

I started working with a financial advisor 20 years ago. In the 20 years I was able to put together a decent portfolio.

I just had a meeting with her last week and she said that my net worth was down a little. I didn’t point out that my portfolio dropped $57K in the correction last month. Then I said “really who cares because I don’t have kids and I won’t be around after I die”

Four of my nephews and nieces will get a decent present from their favorite uncle!

I’m too young for SS but I’m going to apply for it as soon as I can.

I’m in a position where everything is paid off and I have zero debt…

[GFK]

Coach, seems like a good place to be!

[GFK]

... If for fun, I would look at technology funds.

I stay away from technology. Too volatile. Instead I focus mostly on stable consumer goods providers, freight haulers (truck and railroads), power generation, refuse collection, coffee, etc. Infrastructure stuff.

Mags, it depends on a person's comfort level. I am not a financial advisor; it is probably not a good idea to invest in stocks, if you think that you may need the money in the near future (within a year).

Technology seems like a good idea to me, because of the way the world is going. Just a day or so ago, businesses pleged to invest $500,000,000,000 in America for the support of AI development. To me, people don't invest that type of money and expect not to receive a big gain. But, that is just my viewpoint.

An approach that I have adapted over the years is staggering funds: some in long term accounts (don't expect to use within 10 years), intermediate term accounts (don't expect to use within 5 years), short term accounts (may use within a year), and immediate access accounts. For the most part, this have kept me from selling at a loss. I just wait, until it is a good time sell. In the meantime, I still have access to funds to address things or toys that may arise. And, I am not wealthy.

[clovishound]

For better or worse, my retirement is almost exclusively tied up in pensions. Between the old Civil Service pension, AF Reserve pension and a tiny bit of SS, I actually am better off financially right now that I've ever been. My modest house is paid off, I have a little in savings, no debts and my combined pensions are a little more take home than I was taking home while working. Inflation has chipped away at that over the last couple years, but I'm still doing alright, and have room to cut down on expenses, without making much difference in lifestyle if needed. I am extremely grateful for my decision to join the Reserves and put in the time until retirement. That has made the difference between a comfortable retirement, and a stressful one. Especially with the health expenses for my wife over the last couple years.

They just passed and signed a bill that will restore my SS to full level. Won't really be a big increase for me, but everything helps.

[Mags]

... Just a day or so ago, businesses pleged to invest $500,000,000,000 in America for the support of AI development. To me, people don't invest that type of money and expect not to receive a big gain. But, that is just my viewpoint.
...

AI overall could be a good investment, the conundrum is in the specifics of which company(ies) to invest in. As with older technologies there are likely to be no name companies that come from behind to draw hot investment initially only after a while to fall flat on their face. The converse can also be true, a little company making it big and continuing on to do so. There is no clairvoyance in knowing who will fail and who won't. I don't have the means to gamble in that space.

Everyone needs toilet paper, soap, tooth paste, food etc. The companies that produce those goods need energy to make them and freight haulers to get the products to market. Much safer space for me along with very decent returns.

There is no one way to invest. Each has their own ideas and tolerances for what works for them.