Retiree Interviews

It's no secret that FMF readers have really enjoyed the Reader Profiles and Millionaire Interviews (by the way, if you'd like to be featured in one or the other, please drop me an email.) I think it's because we love to hear the real-life issues that many of us face, told from a variety of perspectives.

Today I'm asking for volunteers for a new series in line with the above two. This one will be "Retiree Interviews". It will feature people who have retired -- how they saved, what they did while working, what they are doing now, their advice for the rest of us, and so on (if you have specific questions you'd like me to ask them, leave your thoughts in the comments below.) We will go behind the scenes and see what it's really like to retire these days.

If you're retired, I'd love to hear from you. As with the other series, I will keep you completely anonymous, so there's no worries there. This is a great opportunity for you to impart your wisdom to the rest of us, and we'd certainly appreciate hearing your story. Please drop me a note.

Comments

[Bob]

As I am nearing early retirement, I would be interested in hearing any pleasant and not-so-pleasant surprises the retiree experienced. Things like "I planned to withdraw 4% annually but found I needed x%", or "I hadn't even planned on needing to ". Advice is always welcome too.

[JeffinWesternWa]

retiring is like vacation packi ng/prep: set out the clothes and things to pack and the money you think you need. Then, reduce the clothes and things in half and double the money! :)

As for 4%; just do the math if you retired in 2008 as example, that's not gonna work LONG term without somesevere degredation of net worth. Glafd when I retired at 47 in 2008 I didn't consier that method of spend down!

[FL]

Really looking forward to this series!

[JNEW]

This sounds like a great series FMF

Questions:

Do you find that your expenses have increased or decreased in retirement? And by what percentage?

Did you take social security early, late or on time? And what was your reasoning?

How do you keep yourself busy each day? Do you miss work? Did you find the transition to retirement difficult at all?

In addition to social security- what other sources of income do you have? And what percentage of your overall income does each represent?

If you are not eligible for Medicare-- how are you obtaining medical insurance and how much is it costing you?

How are you dealing with the issue of not outliving your savings? Do you use the 4% rule? utilize annuities? Or something else?

[JQ]

Question;

What action during your working years do you think had the largest impact to your successful retirement? (Growing your career, side business, reducing expenses, savings rate, etc)

[Old Limey]

JQ
I was far too busy during my working years to take an active role in my investing, plus the years between 1960 and 1992 without an Internet were not conducive to making my own investment decisions.

That all changed after I retired and I took some actions that made me very knowledgeable about active & successful investing. Only then did my portfolio start making large gains and growing to $1M by '97 and $2M by '99 (with the help of the dot.com bubble.

[Beck Hansen]

I would like to see many posts from households making between 50-100 k. There are many snapshots of households at either extreme of incomes, but mine would fit in the 50-100 range. I have saved diligently, but with the returns coming in on my stocks and savings I am truly worried about what the future holds. How are the rest of you coping? Hope to hear from "ordinary" people more than outliers.

[FMF]

Beck --

We'll see what we get.

I'd be open to you (and others) doing a "pre-retiree interview" -- telling what you do and letting others comment/make suggestions on your plan.