Lynne

Comments:

• After 5 years of retirement, your points about doing what you enjoy and staying independent really resonate with me. I thought I might work parttime in retirement because I had loved my job, but then realized I don´t enjoy the stress that came with the work environment. That made it easy to walk away. And not losing important skills as we get older is crucial, so I do work on that. And am even learning a few new ones, like home maintenance and Spanish (I retired to Mexico)!

  Post: Lessons I’ve Learned

  Link to comment from February 7, 2024

• Yes, I was impressed by that, too! I did a wire transfer from Vanguard to buy my retirement home in Mexico, so that probably looked pretty suspicious. The VG rep asked me very pleasantly about it, and we chatted a bit about the home I was buying while he prepared the wire transfer.

  Post: Who Do You Trust?

  Link to comment from April 16, 2023

• Great list. I used to dread all these decisions. Looking back over the last 5 years, most have been made, and it wasn´t so bad. The hardest would have been when to retire, but that was decided by a corporate layoff at 61. I realized then that I was secure financially. I always knew I couldn´t stay in HCOL nyc without my job, so I sold my apartment and moved to Mexico. The low cost of living here, including housing, makes most of the other decisions not too high-stakes or even irrelevant (no LTCi or CCR communities here). All I really have left to deal with is #10.

  Post: No Going Back

  Link to comment from March 18, 2023

• I considered Roth conversions during four low-income years between retirement and my pension starting. Instead, I sold highly-appreciated stock up to top of 0% capital gains bracket. That got me back to my desired asset allocation, I mostly lived off that money, and didn´t pay capital gains tax. Now, more assets are in my tax-deferred IRA than I´d like. But adding Social Security, when I start taking it at 70, to my pension may mean I never touch the IRA. In that case, I could satisfy RMD requirements by making a direct charitable contribution from my IRA each year. Not ideal if I had kids to leave money to, but my IRA will go to a charity, and they won´t mind a substantial gift each year, rather than getting all the money at the end.

  Post: Tax-Free Abundance

  Link to comment from December 31, 2022

• It sounds like you´re doing very well, but as a former business editor who spent 40 years as a journalist, I would have been very hesitant to give up a staff job with benefits at the young age of 33. I know many, many journalists who became freelancers, often not through choice, and it´s a very uncertain life. I think freelance journalism is best suited to those who are making the best of a layoff, or don´t want a full-time job while raising kids or pursuing another interest, or are transitioning into retirement. But that´s just me.

  Post: A Challenging Year

  Link to comment from December 7, 2022

• I´ve become a big fan of using money to solve problems since retiring to Mexico a few years ago. I love living here, but the amount of bureaucracy to do even simple things is overwhelming, and it´s much easier to just pay someone to handle such things. In another example, homes here require a ridiculous amount of maintenance, due to the hot, humid tropical climate. So I have a steady stream of friendly workmen who are familiar with my house. I understand not everyone has the luxury of doing this, but as I get further into retirement, I realize that I probably have more money than time. So it makes sense to spend more time enjoying the healthy years I have left, and less time worrying about problems that I can pay someone to fix.

  Post: It’s Just a Tool

  Link to comment from December 3, 2022

• I'm with you. My 50s were a very good decade at work -- my highest salary, very interesting job and people, and a huge leap forward in financial security that let me retire comfortably at 61.5. I understand, of course, that many people don't love their jobs like I did, or just have other things they'd rather do. And it's great they have the option to retire earlier. It just surprises me that there seem to be so many of them.

  Post: Freed by Frugality

  Link to comment from March 26, 2022

• I love Eno, Capital One's virtual account number system. I use it for just about all my online transactions. I have about 40 different numbers, for everything from Amazon to utility bills and department stores. The correct credit card number for a particular vendor pops up automatically whenever I go to pay that bill. And for a new vendor, the option to create a new number appears whenever I approach payment options on the vendor's website. You can even use it overseas if you use a VPN so it looks like you're in the U.S. The only time it's gotten a bit tricky is when I've done an in-store return of something I bought online, and the store employee wanted to see the credit card it was charged to. You can call up your virtual credit cards on the Capital One site, so in that case I printed out the virtual card for that vendor to show in-store.

  Post: Cashing In

  Link to comment from March 19, 2022

• My situation is a little different. No kids, and I retired to Mexico a few years ago. My housekeeper here has a very bright, delightful, hard-working daughter who is the first in her family to go beyond elementary school. She'll graduate from high school this year. When the pandemic hit, I bought her a laptop and paid for internet at their home so she could continue with school online. Over the years, I've chipped in when small expenses, like not having the money for the next semester's school books, would have derailed her education. She'll take college entrance exams later this year, and I'll pay for college. Luckily public universities here are very, very affordable, because she wants to go to medical school!

  Post: Family First

  Link to comment from March 19, 2022

• I'd forgotten about carefully removing tinsel from the Christmas tree and saving it for next year! As a child, I just thought it was something you do, like we saved the Christmas ornaments and lights. As an adult, I haven't used tinsel for years because, although beautiful, it can harm cats who are intrigued by it and try to eat it.

  Post: Cheap Talk

  Link to comment from February 26, 2022