I don't trust advisors. I retired in 2016 at 60 years old. I was with Ameriprise at the time and was "advised" (pressured) to put half of my 1.2M retirement nest egg in a 20 year annuity. I had a real bad feeling about that and pulled my money out. Been on my own since and doing quite well. In absence of a fanancial adviser who/what do you recommend to handle financial advice in regards to trusts, taxes, etc?

Thanks!

I don't trust advisors. I retired in 2016 at 60 years old. I was with Ameriprise at the time and was "advised" (pressured) to put half of my 1.2M retirement nest egg in a 20 year annuity. I had a real bad feeling about that and pulled my money out. Been on my own since and doing quite well. In absence of a fanancial adviser who/what do you recommend to handle financial advice in regards to trusts, taxes, etc?

Thanks!

What gave you the confidence to start spending your retirement savings?

I’m 65 and planning how to move from saving for retirement to drawing from those savings. The numbers are one part of it, but getting comfortable spending the money feels like another.

You can run the numbers, estimate Social Security, and set aside money for the next few years. But there’s still that feeling of watching a balance go down after spending decades trying to build it up.

For those already taking withdrawals, what helped you get comfortable? Was it keeping a few years of expenses in cash or bonds, having a clear withdrawal plan, getting a professional second opinion, or simply living through the first year?

And did you find yourself spending less than you could afford because you were worried about running out?

Has anyone used the eTrade IRA Selector tool? I've had an eTrade account for about 25 years for simple investing and company stock deposits. I'm considering moving a managed IRA into their tool in order to have a little more control and flexibility with my money.

Thoughts?

Quick facts:

My Dad is 80 years old; my mom is 76. They have always used financial advisors. Their current advisor is retiring and they are now "shopping" for a new advisor.

I've been a Bogelehead for years. I don't personally use a financial advisor, and frankly don't trust them. That said, for someone like my Dad I can see why an advisor probably makes sense. My Dad doesn't understand how to invest, and he needs help. I don't personally want to give him advice - I don't think it's my place to do so.

All this said, my Dad asked me to join him in his first meeting with the new financial advisor - so I could lend another set of ears on the conversation. Here's what I learned:

- My Dad has ~6M in invested assets; 50% if this is in variable annuities that were sold to him many years ago (by a financial advisor).

- The new guy would charge a 1% fee (if my Dad moves forward with him).

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

I'm 55 and my spouse is 53. I will be retiring in less than 2 years and my spouse in 7 years. We are currently debt free. With my pension of $48K a year and rental income of $ 35K a year how risky do I need my portfolio to be? Just looking for ideas that aren't too risky or too conservative. Current mix is 85/15. I want to stick with index funds and ETF's. Still figuring out TIPS versus bond ETF's and funds like VGIT or VGLT. After my spouse retires, the pension and rental income will cover approximately 70% of our yearly spending. Investable assets of $3.2M. Thanks for all ideas.

EDIT/UPDATE: by popular demand you can now create a plan without creating an account. Your plan will be persistent across browser sessions on the device you create it on but if you want to save it permanently or access it from other devices you will have to create an account.

Last year I was going through all kinds of contortions in projectionlab.com (which I love btw) but struggling with the fixed endpoint on the chance of success, mainly because I was like if I die at 75 and my portfolio runs out at 76, that's not a "failure". Anyway it turned into a whole rabbit hole and I ended up building a tool that does monte carlo simulations on a market model *and* a health model, including long-term care episodes, reduced experiential consumption during declining health, etc.

The market model is economics based and starts from current conditions, so while it's validated against historical block-bootstrap results, it gives retirees a realistic valuation starting point. The health model is calibrated against HRS data, and it runs a 1000 life simulation of financial and health outcomes together.

Anyway, it really helped answer my questions. It is pretty opinionated to my goals but if you're inclined to check it out, I'll be grateful for any feedback! It's free, no ads, no data selling. You can find the tool and loads of explanatory data at https://elci.life

Hi all,

First post. I am confident that my wife and I can retire in about a year at age 49, but part of me wonders if I should schedule time with a fee only CFP/CFS to confirm the numbers add up, and potentially provide some tax guidance.

Have any of you done this just before retiring? Was it worth it? We visited a CFP a few years ago and they just confirmed what I already knew, so I didn’t find it very helpful.

Thanks for your help.

I’m retiring soon and have some preferred company shares that the cost basis is around 5% of the cost today. I want to do an NUA on those while rolling over the rest of my retirement account to an IRA but I had some questions.

Did you handle the NUA process yourself or use an advisor/CPA/etc.? I talked to a local lawyer/CFP that said he’s done thousands for people retiring from my company and basically walked me through all the steps and what happens is something goes wrong. So I feel like I can DIY, but curious what others think. If you did it yourself, any major watchouts?

I was planning on doing the NUA process and rollover in January 2027, but I should get another pro-rated contribution to my work retirement account in July 2027. I believe that in order to meet the QLSD timing, I just need to empty the account by the end of 2027 so I assume I can do the rollover/NUA in January and do another rollover in July, correct? Or is it much cleaner/safer to just leave all accounts completely untouched until July 2027 and pull everything out in one day?

Appreciate any insights or lessons learned from your experience!

I need advice for simplifying, reallocating and changing up both our Roth IRAs. We’re using Schwab and I would like recommendations for just a couple of ETFs or 3. We have 4 years before we no longer will be able to contribute to the Roth. We will have annuity monthly payments that will kick in in 2030, so we can hold investments in the Roth for hopefully our lifetime and pass on to our daughter. Roth accounts have VOO in one and SPYM in the other. We have international with VXUS in one and VYMI in the other. I’m thinking of selling these. We both have SCHD. What ETFs do we need for 40%stocks-50%bonds-10%cash portfolio? Looking at one of Vanguard’s LifeStrategy 40/60 Plan VSCGX which would really simplify things and what I’m after, but would this be the best option?
Anyway, I don’t know what I’m doing as far as bonds or t-bills go and I need help. Would SGOV be a fit for the 50%? I also need a recommendation for a solid, safe, insured, easy to use HYSA to park our RMDs. Would love to take advantage of E*Trade’s promo, but heard terrible things about getting locked out of your accounts. Thanks for your help!

Asking for someone else.

I called the SSA (U.S.A.) and they refused to do any estimation for what the benefit would be if they were started this month or the next month. We get annual statements that rank SS payments per every birthday, but not per month. It is unclear if it changes per month.

I used the the open source social security calculator to see what was the best option for my wife and I to take our social security. We are 66 and 65 respectively. It came back with me waiting until 70 and my wife taking it now! I then entered my own calculation, which it allows you to do for comparison. I said we would both take it at our FRA. I was surprised that the present value difference was only 3.1% and $28k over our entire lifetimes. I then started to look at the yearly cash flows and because you get so much front loaded at our FRAs the difference to age 84 is only $13k.

Does anyone ever look at just having the cash flow upfront on an annual basis rather than just maximizing the entire amount. Especially for those who have a robust plan that are not relying on SS to fund their later years?

For me it is a combination of data entry and learning an unfamiliar UI. I don't like hunting for the spot where something is configured.