I'm with Mark on this one. I'm looking at expenses, not current income. At the moment, we save 36% of our gross income, and another 14% goes towards college fees. Once that goes away, our fixed monthly expenses would easily be covered by Social Security alone, so anything we pull from our portfolio would be for travel and other extras. I'm sure I could spend a current year's income plus SS if I had to (living the high life!), but it's certainly not necessary.
No, I don't drink and my wife might have a drink once a month (never whiskey). My father used to work for Irish Distillers and still gets a couple of cases of whatever he wants every Christmas. We still have a few bottles here at the house from last time they came to visit. I will be bringing Wispas, Crunchies, Twirls, Flakes, and whatever else catches my eye while I'm there :)
We buy gifts for our daughter, but she's very practical, and is getting a lot of hiking gear this year. I used to send gifts home to family in Ireland, but the shipping costs got so ridiculous over the years that I stopped doing that. I'm heading to Ireland tonight with a suitcase stuffed full of American chocolate, cookies, and items such as Chick-fil-A sauce, all requested by my nieces and nephews back home. My wife and I might get each other something small, usually less than $75, if even that much. Neither of us need anything, and who needs more clutter around the house?
This is the most annoying part of it for me: "The proposed bill would also change the rules so you can only reimburse yourself for expenses if you do it within 2 years of paying the expense. "I have unclaimed expenses going back to 2019, almost $18,000 worth at the moment. That money is growing nicely in VTI, and I'd prefer to leave it there.
As they say in real estate, "location, location, location", and we have that. I would like to eventually sell our house and use the proceeds to rent or buy elsewhere. Houses in this neighborhood don't stay on the market long, so I don't think we'd have a problem selling. Even now, any house I check on Zillow has sold above asking price. I like our house, but I can see a split-level with six different levels being a problem to navigate in old age, and it's too much house for us anyway.
The whole system is a mess. Maybe AI can do some good here, as in this example - https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/grieving-family-uses-ai-chatbot-to-cut-hospital-bill-from-usd195-000-to-usd33-000-family-says-claude-highlighted-duplicative-charges-improper-coding-and-other-violations My wife deals with insurance companies all day long, and she had a meeting with a provider yesterday to go over their denials of payment for services provided. The insurance company said that they must have a full medical review of each patient every few days in order to approve length of stay and payment. As my wife told them, by state law, patients who are under involuntary admission for a length of stay determined by the courts are not subject to review and by law their treatment is covered without review. Yet, they insist on denying every single claim and making everyone deal with hours of paperwork and meetings for every patient. Such a waste of time and money.
Saturday was the perfect day to do the leaves here - sunny and no wind. My neighbor did his. However, the township's leaf pickup is scheduled for the week of November 24th, and I also checked the weather forecast for Sunday (yesterday) - cold with 35mph wind gusts. I looked outside at 7am on Sunday to see leaves flying everywhere, mostly down our driveway because the wind funnels everything in the cul-de-sac to our house. Of course this is beside the point of your post, Mark, but sometimes it's good to wait. I'll spend a good few hours doing leaves this coming weekend, and anything that gets to our yard after that can stay until Spring. Oh, and no neighbor comments for me. I'll be using a gas-powered leaf blower and wearing ear protection. I tried raking the leaves in our first year in this house, and after a day of raking I'd cleaned up maybe 10% of the leaves, and had blisters. I bought the leaf blower next time it went on sale and never looked back.
My father-in-law still worked part-time until a few months before he died at age 85. My mother-in-law, who never worked in the US, currently gets $3516.80 per months in SS, after Medicare fees are taken out. That's a pretty good survivor benefit. She's 96 and in good shape. For us, it's not just about the survivor benefit, although that is a consideration. We also have to do the math on Roth conversions, taxes, IRMAA surcharges, and the opportunity cost of drawing down our portfolio for eight years before taking SS at 70.
Comments
I'm with Mark on this one. I'm looking at expenses, not current income. At the moment, we save 36% of our gross income, and another 14% goes towards college fees. Once that goes away, our fixed monthly expenses would easily be covered by Social Security alone, so anything we pull from our portfolio would be for travel and other extras. I'm sure I could spend a current year's income plus SS if I had to (living the high life!), but it's certainly not necessary.
Post: AI speaks out on retirement income replacement percentage
Link to comment from December 5, 2025
No, I don't drink and my wife might have a drink once a month (never whiskey). My father used to work for Irish Distillers and still gets a couple of cases of whatever he wants every Christmas. We still have a few bottles here at the house from last time they came to visit. I will be bringing Wispas, Crunchies, Twirls, Flakes, and whatever else catches my eye while I'm there :)
Post: The Magic of the Season: From Turkey to Rollercoaster Spending in 72 Hours.
Link to comment from November 28, 2025
We buy gifts for our daughter, but she's very practical, and is getting a lot of hiking gear this year. I used to send gifts home to family in Ireland, but the shipping costs got so ridiculous over the years that I stopped doing that. I'm heading to Ireland tonight with a suitcase stuffed full of American chocolate, cookies, and items such as Chick-fil-A sauce, all requested by my nieces and nephews back home. My wife and I might get each other something small, usually less than $75, if even that much. Neither of us need anything, and who needs more clutter around the house?
Post: The Magic of the Season: From Turkey to Rollercoaster Spending in 72 Hours.
Link to comment from November 28, 2025
This is the most annoying part of it for me: "The proposed bill would also change the rules so you can only reimburse yourself for expenses if you do it within 2 years of paying the expense. " I have unclaimed expenses going back to 2019, almost $18,000 worth at the moment. That money is growing nicely in VTI, and I'd prefer to leave it there.
Post: HSA Proposal
Link to comment from November 27, 2025
As they say in real estate, "location, location, location", and we have that. I would like to eventually sell our house and use the proceeds to rent or buy elsewhere. Houses in this neighborhood don't stay on the market long, so I don't think we'd have a problem selling. Even now, any house I check on Zillow has sold above asking price. I like our house, but I can see a split-level with six different levels being a problem to navigate in old age, and it's too much house for us anyway.
Post: Is the value of your home an important part of retirement plans?
Link to comment from November 23, 2025
The whole system is a mess. Maybe AI can do some good here, as in this example - https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/grieving-family-uses-ai-chatbot-to-cut-hospital-bill-from-usd195-000-to-usd33-000-family-says-claude-highlighted-duplicative-charges-improper-coding-and-other-violations My wife deals with insurance companies all day long, and she had a meeting with a provider yesterday to go over their denials of payment for services provided. The insurance company said that they must have a full medical review of each patient every few days in order to approve length of stay and payment. As my wife told them, by state law, patients who are under involuntary admission for a length of stay determined by the courts are not subject to review and by law their treatment is covered without review. Yet, they insist on denying every single claim and making everyone deal with hours of paperwork and meetings for every patient. Such a waste of time and money.
Post: Four things you might want to consider when thinking about paying for healthcare.
Link to comment from November 20, 2025
I have a RedMax backpack blower, but I did my research 24 years ago, so I have no idea what's on the market these days!
Post: Four People, One Stupid Observation
Link to comment from November 17, 2025
Saturday was the perfect day to do the leaves here - sunny and no wind. My neighbor did his. However, the township's leaf pickup is scheduled for the week of November 24th, and I also checked the weather forecast for Sunday (yesterday) - cold with 35mph wind gusts. I looked outside at 7am on Sunday to see leaves flying everywhere, mostly down our driveway because the wind funnels everything in the cul-de-sac to our house. Of course this is beside the point of your post, Mark, but sometimes it's good to wait. I'll spend a good few hours doing leaves this coming weekend, and anything that gets to our yard after that can stay until Spring. Oh, and no neighbor comments for me. I'll be using a gas-powered leaf blower and wearing ear protection. I tried raking the leaves in our first year in this house, and after a day of raking I'd cleaned up maybe 10% of the leaves, and had blisters. I bought the leaf blower next time it went on sale and never looked back.
Post: Four People, One Stupid Observation
Link to comment from November 17, 2025
Or you can go on ebay right now and buy a 100 Trillion Dollar bill from Zimbabwe for a whopping $12.50 and be richer than Elon!
Post: I think billionaires are under appreciated
Link to comment from November 17, 2025
My father-in-law still worked part-time until a few months before he died at age 85. My mother-in-law, who never worked in the US, currently gets $3516.80 per months in SS, after Medicare fees are taken out. That's a pretty good survivor benefit. She's 96 and in good shape. For us, it's not just about the survivor benefit, although that is a consideration. We also have to do the math on Roth conversions, taxes, IRMAA surcharges, and the opportunity cost of drawing down our portfolio for eight years before taking SS at 70.
Post: The Messy Human side of Social Security Claiming
Link to comment from November 16, 2025