I will write ten posts on this 5th Retirement Anniversary addressing each category or "Label." I can also see the stats and which posts have had the most public views. At this time, my blog had 22,400 views. That's about 100 views per week in 18 different countries around the world! It is very rewarding to know that there is interest in what I have to say. By helping myself I must be helping others with similar interests. It is an incentive to continue.
Here are my brief summaries of the first five years of retirement and goal adjustments I want to make at this time. If you want more information on a subject, please scroll down on the right side of the main page and click on the first months in 2011 where you will see where I'm coming from.
My journey continues....
Financial Planning
Most of the anxiety experienced in the first year or two of retirement has subsided. My original plan worked well and any adjustments were minor. I had the expertise of the State of Missouri Compensation Plan for at least 25 years which was helpful as I grew to understand financial choices I needed to make. Along with Missouri State Employees Retirement (MOSER), I was actually well prepared. This benefit which goes with being a state employee was the main reason I became a state employee instead of taking my skills to the private sector (commercial mortgage lending) where I could have made three times the amount of money. I choose the stability and security path and that has been reflected in my investment choices as well. My choice to become manager raised my salary for the three years that my retirement pension was based on. It was a good plan. It also was reassuring that my plan was approved by my husband who is a Financial Advisor for the world's largest bank. But most of all, I had the advice and final numbers adjusted by my son who had completed his Masters Degree in accounting, investments, and statistics.
The biggest change came when I turned age 62 and one third of my pension was stopped because I was expected to take Social Security. I had thought I could hold out until I was older and eligible for a higher amount. It turned out that there were some marital strategies available. Although the apply and suspend did not benefit us as it did for most married couples where one spouse didn't work much. For us it was good for me to take minimum amount at the earliest age and then my husband continues to work until age 70 which is the maximum amount. At age 67, my husband applied for spousal benefits because I had signed up. He was eligible for about half of what he would have gotten at age 67 if he had not been working. The benefit is that we now have money to remodel the house before he retires at age 70. My widow benefit would then increase to his amount, the higher of the two.
So my challenge in the next five years is to stay on budget. My investments had not been increasing much but not decreasing either. The pension and social security increase each year a little. Hopefully, I will see more of an increase in the investments. There's no new money going in and my expenses are manageable. I would like to have increase from investments to do some more extensive traveling. When my husband retires in a couple years, I expect his spending to decrease as commuting 150 miles four days a week was expensive. I hope he makes a budget he can live with too! Our finances have always been separate and likely will stay that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment