Thread: Cactus' Account Talk

Originally Posted by Cactus

There's a lot of fear on the forum today. That would tend to indicate it's a good time to buy. Anybody else in Birch mode today?

I just went in 100% S, sweaty palms and all...

Be careful when adjusting your contributions between your TSP & Roth TSP: Avoid Mistakes When Changing Your TSP Election : FedSmith.com

What are you expecting to get from Social Security? Social Security

Retirement account balances by age group. Now this makes more sense than giving us a mean of everyone in the system. How your retirement account balance compares to your peers - Yahoo Finance

It looks like I'm doing pretty good given these numbers.

Well, I'm 56 with about 600K in tsp but I don't think I can retire yet since I have an 11 and 15 year old at home.
I'm thinking FERS gives me about 33K/yr, SS "makeup" gives me like 20K/yr. I really don't know what I need to retire on but that seems a little light to me.

Especially since at 63 I will probably stop the SS "FERS makeup money" so I don't lock in low SS payments in the future. At that point I will probably start to draw on my TSP. I'm thinking right now it can provide 25K/yr for 30 years if I make 6%. My kids get about 24K/yr. on my wife's SS (she recently passed away) but that will end as they turn 18 (unless they stay in school). I want to retire for 1 or two years just to deal with the household after my wife's passing then go back to work..haha.

Sorry, to hear about your wife's passing, kb9nvh. I can understand wanting to take off for a year or two, but we all know you won't be able to retire until you get your children established in life. Are you planning on any post high school education for them?

It sounds like you got a lot more retirement savings than the average person in their 50s. I'm also in my mid 50s and have about a third of your amount. I haven't done that well with my investments but I'm better off than the 50s age group in the article.

I've been keeping a descriptive budget of our spending for years and have projected it forward based on the historical rate of inflation in our budget. I figure I can retire at 62 with 1.1 * 34 years for FERS but that assumes taking SS at 62 and having the house paid off so we'll see. I want to save most of my TSP for my wife's use because she is dependent on me for retirement and would be getting less FERS & SS in survivor benefits. I will have to see how that goes when I get closer to my projected retirement date, but I expect I will be working a little longer.

kb9nvh, I too am sorry for you loss - I am 55 with almost 100K south of your amount - and I plan to retire end of the year (I turn 56 in Oct) - unless I am mistaken, you can get $36K a year from your TSP at 6% and it should last about 60 years? That would mean you could start taking that now and it would probably outlast you. The supplement ends automatically at 62 I think (first year of SS eligibility) - If I've crunched the numbers right, I should get very close NET to what I'm currently getting NET per month with TSP and supplement. I don't consider what I'm currently paying into retirement/TSP part of that net. I do have 1 in high school and 2 in college, but they have scholarships, thank goodness - but if not, I figure if I net the same after retiring, I could do something else and come out ahead. I do plan on starting my SS at 62, even with the decreased payments I will be locked into, I would be like 80 before I would break even if I waited.

Originally Posted by kb9nvh

Well, I'm 56 with about 600K in tsp but I don't think I can retire yet since I have an 11 and 15 year old at home.
I'm thinking FERS gives me about 33K/yr, SS "makeup" gives me like 20K/yr. I really don't know what I need to retire on but that seems a little light to me.

Especially since at 63 I will probably stop the SS "FERS makeup money" so I don't lock in low SS payments in the future. At that point I will probably start to draw on my TSP. I'm thinking right now it can provide 25K/yr for 30 years if I make 6%. My kids get about 24K/yr. on my wife's SS (she recently passed away) but that will end as they turn 18 (unless they stay in school). I want to retire for 1 or two years just to deal with the household after my wife's passing then go back to work..haha.

Ditto to bama's comment. 45yo looking at retirement in 7 to 10 years. If i crunch numbers right my take home will be about 150 per month shy of take home now. Figure in house paid off and my expendable income goes way up.

Sounds good, Mcqlives. Do you figure out the taxes on that as well? I've been figuring mine assuming a fixed 15% federal tax on all my retirement income. In reality I know it should be a little less than that but it's easier to calculate that way.

I hedge with 17 but that doesn't make much difference.

SPX is getting up to June's High and the VIX is down at 12. Hmmm. Looks likes it time for more volatility and another upset.