Community Chat

[MyGirlsMom]

No way can anyone retire on $3000,00 and live a "regular life" modestly.  If you live 20-30 years, that's less than 1,000.00 a month. 

Even if you owned your own home, car, etc.  taxes and insurance still have to be paid.  Don't forget, gas, maintenance and food...oh, and Doctor's visits. 

No, $300,00 IS NOT enough to retire on. 

[151949]

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@MyGirlsMom wrote:

No way can anyone retire on $3000,00 and live a "regular life" modestly.  If you live 20-30 years, that's less than 1,000.00 a month. 

Even if you owned your own home, car, etc.  taxes and insurance still have to be paid.  Don't forget, gas, maintenance and food...oh, and Doctor's visits. 

No, $300,00 IS NOT enough to retire on. 

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Really? Well we are retired very comfortably on much less than that - snowbird to Pa in the summer, just bought a new car, a park model luxury trailer - pay our taxes and insurances and utilities and actually still buy food, go to shows and restaurants and take vacations. We own a 6 year old 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a beautiful lake 1 1/2 miles from the beach. We are most assuredly not doing badly at all.At thjis point - 6 years now we have not touched our principle - we get a monthly payout from our earnings only. In Jan we will be retired 7 years and our money has only grown - so thuis far - as long as our principle remains untouched we are actually living free. It is ALL about getting the best finance person to handle your money.

[hopi]

Pension

[MyGirlsMom]

The OP's choice was a pension OR an IRA/300,000., nothing else.

You CAN NOT live off of 300,00 dollars over a twenty to thirty year span.

rent/mortgage

taxes

insurance

home/car maintenance

utilities

food

medicine

doctors bills

medical insurance

clothing

etc.

[151949]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

Let's do the math, shall we?

Take $300,000 and divide that by 30.

You will come up with $10,000 a year.

Now take that $10,000 and sprrad that out over 12 months.

That comes out to $833 a month.

Seeing how much everything costs today, it would difficult at best to live off of that.

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You don't live on your money - you put your money to work and live off what it earns. You people are very niave about money & investments. We have only a very small portion of our savings invested in stiocks - too volitile - it is invested in bonds - which pay interest so the money grows constantly. Basically - you loan various govt. - state , municipal etc -money and they pay you interest.

[Burnsite]

It depends on the pension and the stock accounts you'll invest in.

I am thinking about doing a 50/50 split as I am used to living on a paycheck and am not that happy about actively managing my stock accounts.  I have an adviser and she is about to suggest plans.  I would rather be sure of my money and spend it as I live (pension).  In the unlikely event that I live forever or almost forever, it would be better to have funds to hedge against inflation.

I read on a retirement chat group that the worst year so far in recent history to retire was somewhere in the early 1960s.  Salaries had been good since the 1950s but Inflation and recession hit at the same time as the oil/gas crisis in the 1970s and money lost a lot of its value and never got it back.

Planning optimistically?  I would go for "paychecks" I could count on.  Planning pessimistically, I would have to keep everything in the stock market and manage it wisely. 

I think I will try a 50/50.  But I may just go for a good pension for most of my savings.  I don't llike the stock market, never gamble, and it's just not my comfort zone.

ETA:  It's been a long hard day.  I don't really mean a pension in the posting above.  What I am referring to above is an "annuity"  guaranteed for my life.    I decided against a pension.

[Kachina624]

I retired after 32 years with a state agency in 1998.  I contributed monthly to the employees retirement fund and the state kicked in an equal amount.   Quite sometime ago,  I collected more than I ever had in the fund.   The money in the retirement fund was wisely and effectively invested by the state.   You don't just collect your and your employer's contribution.   Your monthly annuity is determined separately.   I could have collected the lump sum I had in the fund but that would have been foolish. 

Unless you have a terminal illness,  I think the pension is always wiser.   Look at the IRAs  and other pension savings that got wiped out when the stock market took a dive in the 80's.

[MyGirlsMom]

Ok @151949,  you live the way you like and the rest of us will do the same.

Meanwhile, an annuity would be wonderful if the terms and $$$$$$ are the right amount.

[heart of savino]

A  $4,439 MONTHLY lifetime pension. beleive me  i dont have to worry about 

losing the pension since its from a hospital uniom around for 50 years.having

300,000 dollars in the bank and at age 62  i would out live my money.

also does any one know  do you have tp pay RMD at age 701/2  if you have a

non qualifed  traditional  TDA.

[silentgirl]

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@esmeraldagooch wrote:

Too many pensions are going belly up. Do you really trust yours?  Take the money, study annuities with a trusted financial planner.... Not all of them are good.  That amount might get you $1.000 a month without touching the $300.000.   

Just one in the news...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-08/dallas-police-pension-finally-ends-run-bank-halting-withdra...

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I've not followed the link but I understand your point. I wrote in a generalization from my personal stand point, which should not be confused for advice.

My family has owned banks my entire life.  I'd agree that everyone should sit down with a reputable and trusted financial/ investment adviser.  And that all are not created equal.  Do your homework.  Keep track of your finances and never trust any one individual or financial institution completely.  Always keep an interest in what is yours.

I've been through loss of pension with two friends recently who have been caught up in the Treasury Departments reduction proposal for benefits-It's been devastating for them. Fortunately, they have enough in their pensions along with other investments.  I understand some don't.

To answer your question; no, I am not worried at all. Although, I am mindful in the current environment of unknowns. 

We all have different needs and beliefs about our lives and what we need and I would just hope, we can all whether the storm.