In his Money magazines that he gets, they said that past the age of 60, parents should ask their kids about money matters so they don't make bad decisions... but, well, I don't really know that much. He was originally going to retire May 2016, he then pushed that to 2017, but he's perpetually worried about having enough money, and now it's February 2018. But he just sent me an email asking for my advice on whether he should stay on until 2019....
I am not qualified to advise on this ><. Please help!
Here is the info in the email I got:
I have been reviewing my spreadsheet projections for next year, after I retire, thru Oct 2019. Quite an income drop – not sure I am ready for that yet, even though I can make it up from investments. Going from monthly take home of $6,600 (after Roth IRA investments) to $1,350 (after health ins costs). But gets better in Sept 2018 when your mother goes on Medicare. And improves even more when I reach Medicare and take social security (Oct 2019), to $5,450. A short term hit on my investments of about $60,000 before I have extra money again. But I am definitely tired of working, and as long as the stock market stays strong for another 2 years, I should not notice the impact; guess I could always work till 2019.
I know that isn't enough information, so here is everything else I know from searching emails he's sent me the past few years:
- They're solidly upper middle class, living in CT.
- He's stated that when he retires, he'll likely have to pick up a part time job to afford the taxes of CT (and they're never moving, because they built their house on family land and have never lived anywhere else). We also have like 27 acres of land, which this September he's going to get a forester to come out and classify as forestry land, which I think drops the taxes on the land to somewhere between $3-5K. But then there are still taxes on our house.
- I know he has a pension and a traditional 401k through his job, and he's been putting $13K or whatever it's allowed for a married couple in the Roth IRAs every year.
- He goes off the "to save enough to spin off a benefit of $50K a year; using the 4% rule, one would need $1,250,000 in a 401K at age 65 to get that each year." I don't know if he has that, but he's told me that should be my goal. And I think he has at least $1m in assets, but idk if that counts the house.
- It's very difficult for me to imagine that they're short on money because my mom always talks about how much I'm going to inherit, so I imagine my dad is playing safe rather than sorry. Plus, I make enough that if I live somewhere cheap like the Carolinas or Maine or something, they can come stay with me (my boyfriend probably won't like that though, haha).
- I know my mom has a lot of medical bills; she has thyroid problems and IBS
That's everything I know. So... what questions should I ask? Or say? Or... ?!?! :(
Thanks!
Submitted March 23, 2017 at 09:40AM by PlesiosaurusPancakes http://ift.tt/2nb3yAH
