We were 100% equities, with keeping 10-20K in checking account, up until 3 years before we retired. Exceptions were when we knew we had large expenditures on the near horizon (houses, malpractice tail, etc.). To us, the only real downside was that when the market dipped/crashed, we couldn't immediately buy more stock except through margin. Most of that time (1985-2007) we were in individual stocks, before starting to transition to index funds about 10 years before retirement. Prior to starting to accumulate a few years of income assets in anticipation of retirement, we figured that we could cashflow everything. It worked out well for us--BUT, spouse had a high earning job and we spent reasonable amounts.
Interesting article, thanks! I continue to be bemused by how different the process of retirement is for everyone. It truly all depends on the person. My wife and I retired cold-turkey 5 years ago (57 and 56) from OBGyn medicine and commercial litigation. We retired to travel somewhat slowly (6+ months of the year), increased our after-tax spending, and never gave any thought to adopting some type of new identity. (We just took off our doctor and lawyer hats and did what we had been planning to do since our 20s.) Like you, we are definitely enjoying the swim.
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We were 100% equities, with keeping 10-20K in checking account, up until 3 years before we retired. Exceptions were when we knew we had large expenditures on the near horizon (houses, malpractice tail, etc.). To us, the only real downside was that when the market dipped/crashed, we couldn't immediately buy more stock except through margin. Most of that time (1985-2007) we were in individual stocks, before starting to transition to index funds about 10 years before retirement. Prior to starting to accumulate a few years of income assets in anticipation of retirement, we figured that we could cashflow everything. It worked out well for us--BUT, spouse had a high earning job and we spent reasonable amounts.
Post: Is a 100% stock portfolio reckless?
Link to comment from June 22, 2024
Interesting article, thanks! I continue to be bemused by how different the process of retirement is for everyone. It truly all depends on the person. My wife and I retired cold-turkey 5 years ago (57 and 56) from OBGyn medicine and commercial litigation. We retired to travel somewhat slowly (6+ months of the year), increased our after-tax spending, and never gave any thought to adopting some type of new identity. (We just took off our doctor and lawyer hats and did what we had been planning to do since our 20s.) Like you, we are definitely enjoying the swim.
Post: Look Before Leaping
Link to comment from April 27, 2022