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Thread: Planning for Retirement

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Feb 2019
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    Gainesville, Florida
    Posts
    36

    Default Planning for Retirement

    First, my profound thanks to the powers that be who invited me to participate and talk about retirement. My life today is about helping others get ready for their transition from working for money to having money work for you. Lots of questions to ask, and answer, before that happens. Don't ever hesitate to ask me questions and I'll do my best to give you my thoughts.


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  3. Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Well, I'll bite... every time I try to tackle Question 1, "How much do I need to have saved up for retirement?" I am struck by the fact that financial sites tend not to even mention pensions, which surely must affect how much of a lump sum one should have on retirement day. Heck, I don't even know if having a pension puts me in the minority or not these days. But I think most, if not all, of us feds have a pension. So, how do I calibrate in my pension (if at all) when trying to answer Question 1?
    Rick

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  5. #3

    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    680

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Great question! I could live pretty well on my retirement and social security but I use TSP withdrawals to pay my mortgage and expect it to provide security for unknown financial of health issues in the future.

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  7. #4

    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Gainesville, Florida
    Posts
    36

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    pmaloney - first check out my reply to boygolong. Some of what I said there may not apply to you since you say you could live pretty well on what you expect from a pension (?) and SS. Right now I have no idea how old you are, which in turn leads to how many years you have to go before you qualify for a pension and/or reach your SS FRA (Full Retirement Age), one thing you might focus on is if you expect to live in your current home and whether or not you still have mortgage payments. If you do, I encourage you to recalculate your current mortgage payments such that it's completely paid off on the date you retire. A relatively simple calculation will give you that number. And without trying to get too deep into the weeds, that opens up the possibility of using some of your equity to finance the GO-GO years of retirement, before you fall into the SLOW GO years, etc.

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  9. #5

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Thanks to all involved in starting this thread and thanks to Tony for taking an interest in sharing some of his secrets to retirement. When stating that one needs to construct a financial roadmap of retirement funds, I'm a bit confused because I have some 401ks from my working career prior to government. I guess its safe to say that nothing in written in stone, but one should at least know the ballpark figure of the various financial streams, and know when to withdraw from them. My problem is figuring how much I need in retirement.

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  11. Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Rakendzior, if there was a reply to my message (boygolong), I don't see it anywhere...

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  13. #7

    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    185

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Quote Originally Posted by boygolong View Post
    Well, I'll bite... every time I try to tackle Question 1, "How much do I need to have saved up for retirement?" I am struck by the fact that financial sites tend not to even mention pensions, which surely must affect how much of a lump sum one should have on retirement day. Heck, I don't even know if having a pension puts me in the minority or not these days. But I think most, if not all, of us feds have a pension. So, how do I calibrate in my pension (if at all) when trying to answer Question 1?
    Rick
    Well, to figure the "present value" of an annuity, I'd recommend using the formula for that - pretty simple and you can look it up (MS Excel has standard equation for that, or TSPtalk links perhaps even the TSP.gov site or your Credit-Union/bank site). Estimate your retirement annuity amount (convert from Months/Years as needed and include some modest annual assumed COLA increase) and your estimated years of retirement life, plug those figures/values in and you'll get the Present Value (PV) of that for your assume year of retirement. Then you could also calculate that PV in x-future years in the future to TODAY's PV (equations for that and factor in some reasonable annual inflation estimate between now and year-x). Can do the same for your estimate SS, etc. etc..

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  15. #8

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    2,274

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    TSP Calculators can be very helpful https://www.tsp.gov/PlanningTools/index.html Remember that FERS was compared to 3 legged stool--pension, TSP and Social Security. A starting point for how much you will need in retirement is to take a look at your current salary minus SSA & Medicare Deductions minus TSP Savings

    Some Retirement Planning Tools/Calculators

    https://www.i-orp.com/bequest/index.html
    https://firecalc.com
    https://www.flexibleretirementplanner.com/wp/

    Boggleheads has a lot of info on planning for retirement: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogl...g_start-up_kit
    Retirement Spending https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Retirement_spending
    Withdrawal Methods https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Withdrawal_methods

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  17. #9

    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Gainesville, Florida
    Posts
    36

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    Rick/boygolong - I think I tried to answer your question about pensions. I thought I had already done so but maybe not so here goes... Pensions are by definition known as 'defined benefit' plans. What you get is determined by a formula that is usually a function of how many years you have earned as an employee, your average salary over the past X years, how old you are when you claim an income from the plan. It may or may not have a build in cost of living adjustment. To top off all that, you usually have the option of taking an income for life or for a period certain. Like 20 years. Then there is an option if you have a spouse to whom you want payments made if you die first. That also involves his/her age etc. You make those choices just before you tell them to start sending you money. At some point, you need to ask pension administration for information so you can make an informed decision about all that. Meanwhile, Question 1 is still out there.


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  19. #10

    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Gainesville, Florida
    Posts
    36

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    felinecri - this is Tony attempting to answer you. A critical element in planning for a retirement is an understanding of the difference between strategic decision making and tactical decision making. Here's an example: You need to be able to get to work every day. Do you drive yourself or ride the bus? That's a strategic decision. If the decision is to drive yourself, then a tactical decision is to purchase or lease a car. If the answer is to purchase a car, also a strategic decision in this case, the tactical decision becomes either a new one or a used one or which brand to buy/lease. IN the retirement context, I encourage people to develop a strategic framework, either written down or in their head, build upon such questions as WHEN do I want to retire, WHERE do I want to live, how LONG am I likely to live, will I have a spouse that's dependent on me if I die first. I want people to focus on these and other questions before they commit to new stuff that surfaces more and more as the retirement date gets closer. It should be baked into the psyche long before then. The idea is to have a worry free and financially secure retirement, but it won't happen if you rely too heavily of HOPE and GOOD LUCK.

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  21. #11

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Stinking desert valley of bad air quality, AZ
    Posts
    2,993

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    OK, I’ll bite too. So you run Florida Wealth Advisors and are going to offer free retirement advice. Good for you.

    I retired from Federal service at the end of last year. I made a couple of minor mistakes which cost me around $500 and several sick days I could have used. About those sick days, you have to make a choice at some point about yourself and the job you hold and tying up those loose ends. Those mistakes are documented in my retirement thread.

    My annuity has been finalized so I know what I will receive per month. I will live off this income plus the annual leave I sold back for a few months. By August I will have to either start receiving social security or withdrawing from my TSP to meet my income goals. The goal is simple, have the same amount coming in as the net amount while I was working as a fed.

    I am currently 66y 10m old. My “full retirement age” according to social security was 66y 0m.

    I get a lot of conflicting advice about tapping the TSP and waiting until I am 70 to receive social security or starting to receive social security at 67y 4m.

    I also get conflicting information about the amount my wife will recieve from social security based on her earnings v 50% of my payment after I apply. She is 63yo.

    PO

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  23. #12

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Posts
    12,151

    Default Re: Planning for Retirement

    One thing to remember is that social security is different for CSRS vs. FERS. If you are CSRS and start to collect SS your will be hit with the WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) penalty https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep.html
    May the force be with us.

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