Steve Cousins

Comments:

• I retired at 60, but consulted about 8 hours a week for the first 5 years. It brought in six figures of income and allowed our nest egg to grow, untouched. I didn't need the money but I did need the off ramp to not earning. Now my retired work is unpaid, chairing college, hospital and charitable foundation boards as well as mentoring engineering students at my alma mater. A successful retirement is all about purpose.

  Post: Buying Freedom

  Link to comment from June 1, 2024

• I'm sorry you had such a hard task. My dad, in contrast, had everything documented and almost 100% of his assets payable on death to me and my brother, or appropriately in a trust. He had sold all the real estate so there was little that had to go through probate. If the amount of assets requiring probate is minimal (under 100K) then a special form of expedited probate is allowed that costs almost nothing. It was very easy to close the estate.

  Post: Unsettling Experience

  Link to comment from May 8, 2024

• I get missing being in the thick of things, but a job is only one way to recapture purpose. In your case where some extra money is useful, paid work makes great sense. In mine more money would be meaningless, so instead I chair a college board of trustees, a hospital board and a foundation board. I still do multimillion dollar acquisitions and expansions. I just do it very part time and on my own terms. But the socialization, the mental exercise and the joy of achievement are very much the same as having a job. I did paid consulting the first five years of retirement but what I'm doing now is better for me. The key is taking action and being intentional. Sounds like you are living life well!

  Post: Back to Work

  Link to comment from April 3, 2024

• I'm surprised you were taken in, Advantage plans have a terrible reputation to the point that I have heard them called Medicare for poor people. But the whole scene is quite confusing. In a small town like mine I just asked around and got the same advice from every source.

  Post: What Advantage?

  Link to comment from March 27, 2024

• Yes to all of those thoughts. But, it doesn't have to be paid work. I don't need any more money but I get all seven of those other benefits from chairing a college board, a hospital board and a foundation board and mentoring engineering students, plus a few other volunteering gigs. Travel and continuing education are also part of those.

  Post: Seven Reasons to Work

  Link to comment from March 12, 2024

• I realize the concept of replacing some percentage of your working income is a simple way to determine whether you are financially able to retire. However for some of us its not a useful rule of thumb. Our expenses were never proportional to our income. We spent all we wanted to spend and put what was left over into investments. There was always a lot left over to invest. The last year I worked we only spent 25% of our gross income. If we only spent 100K to live a rich life when employed why would we need to replace an income of over $400k for retirement? We are still living a rich life right years into retirement still spending the same amount.

  Post: He Asked, I Answered

  Link to comment from March 9, 2024

• It amazes me that people who consider themselves honest and trustworthy cheat on their taxes. One, it's morally wrong, but it's also stupid. Risking large fines, even jail time, for what probably isn't even life changing amounts of money? I appreciate your service for honest taxpayers. .

  Post: The Taxman Cometh

  Link to comment from February 28, 2024

• I was rather shocked, in a good way, the first time I looked at what Social Security would pay my wife and me if we waited until age 70. I just pulled the numbers from the MySocialSecurity site and in two years, when I turn 70, my benefit and my wifes spousal benefit will total over $78,000 in 2024 dollars. That's enough to live fairly well on in our LCOL area. Of course we also have a healthy nest egg in retirement and brokerage accounts. I did most of what you are projecting. I retired at 60, but took an off ramp of consulting a little, about one day a week. I did that for the first five years and it paid all our bills so we left our investments untouched. It even covered the $16,000 private health insurance premiums until Medicare took over. One note is that Medicare isn't free, we still pay $8,000 a year for our various Medicare related premiums, much more than I expected. I'd always seen low numbers quoted of average SS benefits being in the $1500 to $2500 a month range, seeing we'd get $6,500 a month was a very pleasant surprise.

  Post: Our Waiting Game

  Link to comment from February 28, 2024

• Always good to read your content, Jesse! For some reason my wife and I never needed to budget. I always earned more than we wanted to spend and consequently we saved and invested much more than we needed to retire early. But I think that puts us into a minority group.

  Post: Horse Then Cart

  Link to comment from February 14, 2024

• I think you are proof that time and having a large gap between income and spending are the keys to success. Even though you've made some sub par moves with things like universal life and annuities, time and minding the gap has created success.

  Post: Took Time

  Link to comment from December 6, 2023