According to the Federal Reserve, 64% of current retirees age 65 and older have a defined benefit pension. That includes me and today (last work day of the month) is payday as Connie calls it. Our “house” checking account as it’s labeled, is replenished. The pension deposit has not changed in fifteen years and will not change in the future.
The second and fourth Wednesdays are also paydays when our Social Security arrives at our bank.

MANY FOLKS CLAIM TO be ready for retirement, both financially and psychologically. But they’re often surprised to discover that the reality is different from what they expected.
I started planning well in advance of my 2023 retirement. I read dozens of books on the subject, and talked to many classmates and friends who’d already retired. Of all the books and videos that I reviewed, one talk on YouTube stood out: a TEDx Talk by Dr.

Jonathon, please, what type bond should I consider social security, short, long, etc. Or, is it more like an immediate fixed annuity and so forth. Thank You. Maybe somewhere in between,?

Clearly the answer is maybe. It is a personal decision and I certainly am in no position to advise others or to push one decision or another.
I am more of the “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” philosophy. We took ours at FRA and invested it for several years and we now have a pile of cash in bonds and monthly income (tax-free) to access when necessary.  After over fifteen years reinvesting that income exceeds Connie’s monthly SS benefit. 

It’s not a political question, but a practical one, especially for us retirees. Let’s see.
We survived a pandemic.
My wife and I have both had expensive health issues in the last four years for which we received excellent care and that were paid in full by Medicare and our Medigap insurance.
Inflation has been up and now going down – but at its highest a lot less troubling than in the 70s and 80s. Social Security was adjusted upward accordingly.

A 2021 Society of Actuaries study on retirement risk looked at retiree vulnerability to unexpected financial shocks. Forty percent of retirees reported experiencing some form of financial shock.
They reported that 11% of retirees reported financial shock that reduced their assets by more than 25%. Thirty-two percent of retirees said they could not spend $10,000 without it affecting their retirement security. 
I think about financial “what ifs” all the time. I try to anticipate where money might come from to handle even something major like long-term care.

I’ve always been a man of habits and routines, but it seems that these days, as a 72 year old retiree, I adhere to them even more. I’m not yet on the level of Dustin Hoffman’s Rainman with Judge Wapner, but I’m getting there.
Maybe it’s because I have more control over my schedule now and so can more faithfully indulge these habits. Or maybe the calcification of my brain and the well known tendency of old folks to dislike change have combined to make me ever more dedicated to them.

Pre-Covid, when I wasn’t traveling, a friend and I delivered lunches for Meals on Wheels. We worked twice a month, for over ten years. Sometimes the list of recipients stayed the same for months, at other times we’d see two or three replacements in quick succession.
A couple of guys each had a room in a shared house. A couple of women lived in apartment buildings. Some people lived in what was obviously low income/subsidized housing.

I turned 73 this summer and received a modest buyout of my share of a group practice earlier this year. Should I take my required RMD now or take two prior to next April fifteenth?

I TOOK MY REQUIRED minimum distribution, or RMD, at the end of July. I was planning on taking it at the end of the year, but my allocation to stocks was more than five percentage points above my target of 40%. I thought selling some of my stocks would be a good way to rebalance my portfolio and fund my RMD, so I sold a portion of my overweight in Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (symbol: VTI).

Despite what you might expect from the title, this is not an article about volunteer work. Rather, it’s a perspective on my current situation as a so-called paid employee. You see, tomorrow I turn 62. My Social Security benefits, which until now have been only a theoretical future payout, are now fully accessible to me with a few clicks of a mouse. Once I elect to take my Social Security benefit, my wife will be eligible to begin receiving hers as well.

Newly retired one here and working my way through safe withdrawal rates, the 4% rule etc. I subscibed to Monarch to monitor expenses. My question:  how many of you out there monitor every I and O on a spreadsheet (looking at you engineers) vs just seeing what’s left in the spending account each month, quarter, year etc?

I implore the much more astute for information concerning Social Security benefits, mainly, what is the duration, maturity, credit rating and so forth, please? My bond knowledge is limited to knowing which actor starred as James Bond, Sean or Timothy and the like.
I have read here that Social Security retirement money should be a part of the fixed income allocation, etc. Thank you.
And now , on to a much less difficult question, ” Is the inertia of a body a measure of its energy content?”

This past weekend, my wife Lisa and I traveled to Middleburg, Virginia—a little over an hour west of Washington DC. My son’s father-in-law Matt, who also happened to be one of my college apartment-mates, is turning 60 soon and his family threw him a huge surprise party. Most of Matt’s immediate and extended family members were there, as well as key people from his career, church and other parts of life. I was part of the college friend contingent.

To travel or not is right up there with when to claim Social Security, if a Roth conversion is desirable or the amount of retirement income needed – many answers and personal choices.
I will admit travel can be a hassle, mainly the getting there and back if flying is involved and while trying to get through customs. Because of an incompetent desk agent we missed being stranded in Istanbul by seconds. Leaving Moscow was a nightmare as we were intentionally ignored while Russians were put ahead of us,