Retired in a lower cost USA area late in 2005 with a no-COLA pension of $40,782 so that is the equivalent of a barely two comma portfolio, but it has no growth ever. Delaying Social Security to age 70 was very helpful because SS does have COLA increases. Early in retirement, we just continued to live the same as when we were saving intensely for retirement. That is the best retirement suggestion that I know, just continue with your conservative pre-retirement lifestyle/spending, in full retirement.
A second suggestion is to use the RMD portfolio spending plan since it takes an age-based % of each recent annual portfolio value (plus spending dividends and interest), thus it is adjusting each annual withdrawal to your remaining portfolio amount. That boosts portfolio longevity while allowing you to spend a little more if you do have portfolio growth. During each year, you can see next year's withdrawal amount fluctuate, so there is not an end-of-year surprise about next year's income. Consider quarterly withdrawals to leave a little more in the portfolio during each year.
Soon I hope to move to the country of Panama, away from its overly hot capital city and hot beachfront areas, into the cooler mountain highlands. Panama's currency is our greenbacks, they only mint their own coins. The Panamanian banks are familiar with direct deposit of our Social Security checks. Living expenses there are noticeably lower with good, less inexpensive health care. The imperfection is the foreign language, and I'm 50 years past my high school Spanish classes. Look on YouTube for videos by US retirees happily living in lower cost Panama, but the unhappy ones aren't likely to be making videos.
A second suggestion is to use the RMD portfolio spending plan since it takes an age-based % of each recent annual portfolio value (plus spending dividends and interest), thus it is adjusting each annual withdrawal to your remaining portfolio amount. That boosts portfolio longevity while allowing you to spend a little more if you do have portfolio growth. During each year, you can see next year's withdrawal amount fluctuate, so there is not an end-of-year surprise about next year's income. Consider quarterly withdrawals to leave a little more in the portfolio during each year.
Soon I hope to move to the country of Panama, away from its overly hot capital city and hot beachfront areas, into the cooler mountain highlands. Panama's currency is our greenbacks, they only mint their own coins. The Panamanian banks are familiar with direct deposit of our Social Security checks. Living expenses there are noticeably lower with good, less inexpensive health care. The imperfection is the foreign language, and I'm 50 years past my high school Spanish classes. Look on YouTube for videos by US retirees happily living in lower cost Panama, but the unhappy ones aren't likely to be making videos.
Statistics: Posted by heyyou — Sat Oct 12, 2024 12:18 am