r/retirement

I'm preparing for RMDs. I normally make a series of charitable contributions, which are at least partially funded by Regular IRA withdrawals.

From what I understand, QCDs can be beneficial in the following manner:

1. They're counted towards the RMD for the year.

2 They're not counted towards income used in calculating the amount of SS benefits subject to Federal Income Tax.

3. They're not counted towards MAGI which in turn can help keep you from the IRMAA cliff as well as possibly qualifying for other deductions and exemptions.

Are these understandings correct?

I retired last spring at 62. My wife had already stepped back from her job the year before. We had saved, we had a plan, but the number that kept me awake was $1,280. That was the monthly quote for a benchmark plan for us both on the Marketplace, unsubsidized, in the gap before Medicare at 65. Three years of that felt like a hole we might fall into.

So I did what felt like the responsible thing. I filed for Social Security at 62. The checks would start in July. I had run the comparison a dozen times: the breakeven on waiting sits somewhere past 80, and my father did not make it that far. I told myself I was being practical. Really, I was scared.

Our neighbor came over in June, right in the middle of me trying to fix a stuck screen door. She had been through the same gap a few years earlier, and she asked what our modified adjusted gross income was going to be. I had not thought about it as one number. I had thought about Social Security as income, the brokerage as income, the IRA as income. Three separate buckets. She explained that for the subsidy, they all pour into the same measuring cup. Social Security counts dollar for dollar toward MAGI. Then she said something about the subsidy phasing out as income rises, and how every extra dollar of MAGI costs you a slice of the help. She was not sure of the exact brackets but she knew the shape of it. I looked it up later. She was right.

Claiming early would have added about $14,200 a year to our countable income. That would have pushed us up the phaseout slope, shrinking our subsidy and raising our net premium. The insurance I was claiming Social Security to afford would have cost more because I claimed it. I sat there on the porch step holding a screwdriver and felt like an idiot.

I called the Social Security office that afternoon and withdrew my application. We had enough in our taxable brokerage, mostly long held shares that were mostly cost basis, so the taxable gain was small, plus small measured IRA withdrawals, to live on. We kept our MAGI in the sweet spot. Our premium for a similar plan dropped to under $500 a month. Over three years, that difference is real money. And from full retirement age to 70 the benefit grows about 8 percent a year.

I had been treating retirement like a row of separate levers. The day I finally saw all three numbers on one sheet of paper, I sat there with the calculator and felt stupid, then relieved. I almost pulled the wrong one because I couldn't see how they were wired together.

What tools or methods do you use to keep track of your monthly spending? I prefer organizing my expenses into categories so they align with my overall budget totals each month, which helps me stay on track and make adjustments when needed. I’ve been using Monarch Money for this purpose and have found it helpful, but I’m curious to hear what others are using and whether there are better or more effective options out there.

About 9 months ago I decided that July 1st would be MY independence day. Technically it is July 3rd, but that is a holiday and I managed one last PTO day on the 2nd! I've been planning for many years, as you might imagine, but until then I HAD planned to work until 65, maybe 64. But after a LOT of thought and crunching the numbers from as many ways as I could think to, I realized that a lot of what is accepted as "how you do it" is overkill. I'm 62, I want to enjoy the years I have, I don't require a big house, fancy car, or a lot of expensive things, so I re-ran the numbers one more time with a more minimal set of requirements and I moved some items, like giving to the kids while I am alive and leaving an estate to them to a more optional category. Suddenly the numbers always worked, portfolio down 20%? Still works! So I made the call.

It happens that July 1st is the day I make my last payment to my ex wife for our divorce. True independence! Bringing the total that she walked away with to around $700k, wisely invested she'll never work another day in her life. She's still in her 50's. I took my part and aggressively grew it to get me here. I'm debt free, and set to continue my current standard of living.

For some reason I don't feel any of the anxiety that many do at this point, quite the opposite. I can't wait to get started! Initially I had planned to fill my days with mostly music, I've been a life long professional musician and I still play in several bands pretty regularly. But recently a new idea has taken over that really makes use of ALL my skills. I've had a variety of careers as most do these days. Other than musician, I've worked in the film biz, and in computers. I had the thought to create a YouTube series that captures some of what I intended to do with my leisure time but now as a video series.

This gives me a whole new list of things to learn. There's new recording software for music, I'll write all the music for my videos, software for editing, a lot has changed since I worked in film 28 years ago, computer editing was pretty new back then. There's new camera options, the vagaries of YouTube to sort out, and planning out what videos I want to shoot and how to promote them. I love it! I certainly won't be sitting idle, and it will allow me to schedule my days around planning days, shoot days, editing, music writing. I COULD have a schedule but I really don't have to, if it rains, I'll write music, if it is nice I'll go out, if I have a specific video to shoot I can, or I can just grab b-roll footage. If I stay home I can record voice overs, planning can happen any time. I currently have a plan of about 20 videos to make, but more options pop up every day. I really hadn't realized how much work sapped my creativity. The last time my juices were flowing like this was when I was pursuing music as a career in my 20's. I wrote music ALL THE TIME. And when I moved to film, again I was constantly having ideas. Then came computers and office work and the creativity dried up. Now it seems it is back with a vengance and with so many things to learn I'm feeding that side of me as well. I've always loved things that were new to me and EVERYTHING is new.

Anyway here's to the next chapter(s), there's lots left! Anyone else have a creative resurgence when they retired?

Can anyone help me with this? I've got a pension, and it has an increase every year which is a fixed dollar amount and I can't find a calculator that supports this.

So if my pension is $38,000 and my increase is $1,000. Then in year two, it's $39,000; year three it's $40,000 (numbers simplified for the example).

It's a 30% increase every 10 years, so it's a significant amount to not factor in my calculations. But if I check a box that uses COLA estimates (if the calculator has that) it goes way too high.

To be clear, I'm looking for a calculator that has multiple features, not just this function (I can do this in Excel easily enough). I'm looking at something that Roth conversion calculations, RMDs, etc. and if it suggested withdrawal strategies (this much Roth + Traditional keeps me in better taxes and avoids IRMAA stuff).

This could be a possibility: one that lets me put in a specific percentage increase (which would still be wrong), but I could probably trick it with a percentage that would giver a correct total at age 75 and it'd be more reasonable (low for one half of my retirement, and high for the other half).

The closest thing I can see is a future one-time expense option, but I'd have to do 40 entries from 60 onwards, and put in the $1000, $2000, $3000, etc. And I don't know if doing that many is even an option (I just went to check out one, and it's only 10 entries). It might just seem like a one time thing, but it's a "one time" thing every time I try a different calculator (and I do like trying different calculators!).

I ran the KFF calculator for a couple at $84,599 vs $84,601 across nine states. The two-dollar difference ....yikes.

I wanted to know what it actually costs a pre-retiree couple to land on the wrong side of 400% FPL — not in theory, but in real dollars by state. So I ran the KFF Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator twice for each state. Same couple, same plan tier, just two dollars apart in income.

(edit: This is for a couple aged 60, nonsmokers. KFF calculator gives 'silver' plan rates)

	zip	MAGI $84,599	MAGI $84,601
Washington	98270	$701	$2,704
New Mexico	87176	$702	$2,182
New Jersey	08619	$702	$2,266
Massachusetts	02201	$702	$1,644
Colorado	80233	$702	$2,119
Minnesota	55408	$702	$1,611
Florida	32856	$702	$2,829
Arizona	85018	$702	$2,013
Alabama	36116	$702	$2,643
National Average		$700	$2,598

A couple in Washington state — where I live — pays $701 OR $2,704 for the same Silver plan. That's a $24,000 a year difference for two dollars of income.

A few things that surprised me: Minnesota and Massachusetts came out best above the cliff — not because they targeted the cliff specifically, but because long-running reinsurance programs lower base premiums for everyone. Washington actually came out worst despite having Cascade Care Savings — silver loading inflates premiums on the other side of 400% FPL, actually worsening the cliff.

No state I looked at eliminates the cliff above 400% FPL. The best you can hope for is a shorter fall.

Anyone else factoring this into their withdrawal sequencing for bridge years before Medicare?

My last day was Friday, and this is the first weekend in which I don’t have to cram every chore and errand into these two days. I’m also ignoring the Sunday scaries, because Mondays no longer exist. The first thing I did Saturday was get a cup of coffee. I’d given up caffeine to keep my moods steady during stressful times. That first cup tasted sooo good! Then I cleaned out and reorganized my home office to reset my mindset, a cathartic exercise. My plan is to enjoy the summer, and in the fall start to think about next steps. I worked full time for 46 years (68f), loved my career, and it wasn’t easy to walk away. Lots of emotions. This sub was extremely inspirational and informative as I journeyed into my decision to retire. Thank you!

After working for 27 years for the same organization, I found out in late April that my job was being eliminated as of July 1st (a story for another post) I am 64, divorced with two grown children.

My plan had been to move to NC (I’m in NY now) when I retire to be with my daughter and grandchildren. This pushed me to do it now.

I put my house in the market and about to go into contract. I will have enough to buy a home there outright, and property taxes are a fraction of what mine had been.

I’m getting severance pay through March and health insurance until my 65th birthday, so I’m ok for now.
My question is, how can I best determine if I should start collecting ss and drawing from my retirement accounts (I think I can make a 6% withdrawal safely and live on the combination).
It’s hard to know what my budget will realistically be, because the cost of living is lower down there and I won’t be helping out my kids as much as I have the past several years. I thought I’d part time work, but am worried about making over the cap as it relates to SS since I’m not at FRA. I’ve only got $800k in investments. Is it too soon for me to truly retire?

I am getting closer to retirement,
(61 yo M)thinking of things to try out as I am happiest when active. So I was wondering what would be some activities you recently retired folks have taken up that the “ not retired you” had never either had time or thought to ever try? I tend to be less social and want to work more on that part of my life- love travel with my wife, outdoors especially in the spring/ summer months. Would appreciate any suggestions- the “ more unusual “ the better honestly.

Wife and I are retired and trying to decide on SS timing. I'm 61, she's 64.

Using open social security, it shows that the best strategy is her now (probably passed the window already) and me at 70.

This is based on a 2.5% discount rate to account for inflation.

Open SS really opened my eyes to the future value argument, as we had originally just assumed we both wait until 70 because we do not necessarily need to SS dollars. If we take the SS for her, those dollars would essentially roll into investments (in that we would not be taking investment dollars to cover yearly expenses). We're conservatively invested with a 5.5% long-term goal and have been averaging 7-8%+ consistently for the last decade or more.

Generally speaking, I tend to use 2% for my future value discounting but was wondering what others have chosen and their rationality.

I've been working on updating my estate planning document, which includes information on how to access all my internet accounts - but many of those accounts now have 2-factor authentication using Google Authenticator.

The problem is that the only way to open Google Authenticator on my phone or tablet is to have my fingerprint or face id!

Has anyone else figured out a solution to this issue?

Hi all.

I'm retiring in Feb 2027 and thinking about the how big the change from decades of everyday professional work life to the forever weekend.

There's quite a few hobbies, physical activities and interests I'm already enjoying that will fill some of my retirement days.

I'm thinking of getting some debriefing sessions with a psychologist to help me transition mentally.

Has anyone else done such a thing or feel they should/should have?

I just read on another subreddit where someone was asking for advice about their father's estate. It seems they were appointed executor and the will leaves nothing to the father's long term (17 years) cohabiting girlfriend who apparently has no idea they are going to get nothing. No house, no money nothing.

Aside from the ethical or moral question this raises it made me think about the unfairness of saddling someone with the duty of executor who might be suffering from grief. I know a few families who kind of lost their minds over money after someone died. I think it can make people a little crazy.

Did any of you think about this?

As I (71m) age, my routines get more eccentric. “It’s to be comfortable,” I tell myself, but really?” At 5:30 a.m. I kiss my sleeping wife and get out of bed without wretching my back. I think, “I am alive and nothing hurts.” Once I take my pills, I carefully navigate the stairs to the kitchen.

I make coffee, microwave my back pillow, and place a mug of coffee on my wife’s night stand. After some Reddit and NYT, I take a hot bath (105 F water temp measured by my laser thermometer gun). This is a required habit to soothe my muscles.

Afterwards, I put on my gym clothes. After breakfast, I stretch before I drive to the gym. I use the treadmill and free weights. I never touch my face while I exercise.

Occasionally I put on my pajamas at 5 p.m. It makes me feel smug. When I go out to dinner, I always bring a sweater as some restaurants are chilly.

When I make pizza dough, I like to arrange my pre-measured ingredients in the order dictated by the recipe.

Finally, every night before we sleep, I kiss my wife, pat her naked tush, and turn off the lights.

Would you share some of your quirky habits?

We have an annual spend of about $70k, but that includes some travel, a fair amount of entertainment, and not really managing things too closely. We know we could also get by in reasonable comfort on around $58k because we’ve done it, with some discipline.

But I know there are some retirees, including couples, that do with a lot less, spending maybe $30k per year. And a lot of them are not in serious financial straits. So I want to know what life at that spend rate looks like. Did you have to move to lower cost of living? Are there things you have gotten used to doing without and are now fine with that? Are there regular things you do that help stretch your dollars? Do you rely on any particular services designed to help out?

I’m 70 years old and I retired 3 years ago after working since I was 11. I have had some truly hard,sweaty and dangerous jobs. I was also lucky to spend my last 25 years sitting at a desk. I never minded working. Probably due to my Midwest upbringing and the expectations that came with growing up lower middle class. My working life was mostly in factories and I spent my days with like minded people who made the weeks/months/years fly by.
I think today was the first time I acknowledged that my working years are behind me. I still have my chores of course. Maintenance on my houses and fixing and building things for my kids. I’m also the designated chauffeur, taking the grand children to their activities. But really, that’s about it.
I was grilling some brats and hamburgers at 1 o’clock this afternoon and it hit me that I worked my entire life and now I am grilling on a Tuesday afternoon! It’s not even a holiday! I know it’s a small and simple thing but it was hard for me to get my mind around it.
Is it a flaw in my brain or does everyone take this long to come to terms with the life change of retirement?

2 months ago, I didn't think this day would ever come. but I only have a week to go! I'm so excited and so anxious at the same time...lol! 🤪 it's a big transition after 55+ years of working, but until I experience it, I'm not even going to know how big it is!

next tuesday, my work is throwing me a little going away party, and I know everybody and their mother is going to ask me "what are you going to do now?"

I've already decided my standard answer is going to be: "well after I get done sleeping in for a couple months, I'm going to start lollygagging." 🤣 I mean I'm not going to do a dang thing for a good long time. That's the whole idea... stop "doing!"

I do have my list of things that I eventually will get to and get a sort of weekly schedule set up for myself, but I don't even want to think about that yet... it'll come when it's time. 👍🏻😃

I'm going to ease into retirement "like an old man in a nice, warm bath." (<---george costanza)