Just listened to both podcasts (answering young folks questions and this one one your new book).
First - its just good to hear your voice again - I was a very consistent listener once I discovered you and have enjoyed our email exchanges over the years.
Second - number of great questions from your kids/nieces. I too knew nothing and would not have the degree of wealth I do today had I not done the immediate matching contributions amount. Took me a lot of years to get to more, but I always did that minimum.
Not sure I’m quite the demographic for your book, so I’ll be listening to more of the podcasts before deciding to buy. Due to COVID I have just passed 2.5 years retired, though fortunately I had been planning fairly consistently for probably a decade before that, My target date was within 6-12 months so ‘forced’ retirement has not been devastating.
I’ll be especially interested on your discussion of SS. My wife (the lower wage earner) took it at her FRA. I am about 18 months post FRA. I’ve consistently run the numbers and have long been a proponent of waiting until age 70, especially since we both come from long-lived families and take good care of ourselves (interestingly, statistically the difference in our ages says we would die within a month of one another (not quite as close as your wife believes)). However, I’ve decided that between market losses (and few good signs of a turn yet) and drawing down 401Ks/IRAs for living expenses its time to take SS. I need some good years of taxable savings growth before RMDs begin for me. The crossover point to have it be worthwhile for me to hold off longer in taking SS goes a long way out. The only way its a bad bet is if I get hit by a truck and die very soon. Even thing my feeling is we’ll have preserved enough capital for her that she can live comfortably on the reduced cash flow (the loss of her SS and a few very few hundred per month in reduction in my pension) for a long while. And none of this touches our house.
Again - I’m looking forward to more episodes and just wanted to say Hi and thanks for your new efforts as well as what you’ve done in the past.
Mark,
Just listened to both podcasts (answering young folks questions and this one one your new book).
First - its just good to hear your voice again - I was a very consistent listener once I discovered you and have enjoyed our email exchanges over the years.
Second - number of great questions from your kids/nieces. I too knew nothing and would not have the degree of wealth I do today had I not done the immediate matching contributions amount. Took me a lot of years to get to more, but I always did that minimum.
Not sure I’m quite the demographic for your book, so I’ll be listening to more of the podcasts before deciding to buy. Due to COVID I have just passed 2.5 years retired, though fortunately I had been planning fairly consistently for probably a decade before that, My target date was within 6-12 months so ‘forced’ retirement has not been devastating.
I’ll be especially interested on your discussion of SS. My wife (the lower wage earner) took it at her FRA. I am about 18 months post FRA. I’ve consistently run the numbers and have long been a proponent of waiting until age 70, especially since we both come from long-lived families and take good care of ourselves (interestingly, statistically the difference in our ages says we would die within a month of one another (not quite as close as your wife believes)). However, I’ve decided that between market losses (and few good signs of a turn yet) and drawing down 401Ks/IRAs for living expenses its time to take SS. I need some good years of taxable savings growth before RMDs begin for me. The crossover point to have it be worthwhile for me to hold off longer in taking SS goes a long way out. The only way its a bad bet is if I get hit by a truck and die very soon. Even thing my feeling is we’ll have preserved enough capital for her that she can live comfortably on the reduced cash flow (the loss of her SS and a few very few hundred per month in reduction in my pension) for a long while. And none of this touches our house.
Again - I’m looking forward to more episodes and just wanted to say Hi and thanks for your new efforts as well as what you’ve done in the past.
Best
Steve