Retirement account(s)

I have a 403b and spread my investments around with no more than 20% in any one fund fund. Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities has been generally solid and has beaten inflation over the 8 years I've been working here so I keep 15-20% there . DFA Real Estate Securities (DFREX) is a wild ride, but I can get 4-6% a year if I keep it in or double to triple that if I pull out when it flattens out at the top and buy back in when it hits bottom. I'm up 8.43% overall this year and I have 33 years to retirement, so I'm not too worried about playing day trader with my account (ING allowed that, Prudential has a lag of up to 24 hours so playing swings is risky.)

My real dilemma is going to be whether to buy into the pension plan when we get our IRS ruling on whether 403b gains are taxed as income when rolling into the pension plan (we have an unprecedented case of HR fuckery and people weren't told there was a pension plan so once the ruling hits, anyone in the 403b can get into the pension plan.) All it takes is one election cycle of Democrats losing them house and senate and the pension plan is gone forever.

 

I'm 41 (wife is 40) and we both have 401k's. I don't know how much is in hers, but I've only been contributing to mine for a couple of years (I was a stay at home dad for many years, and did a lot of freelance work in between).

I only have about $5000 in my 401k, but my wife's job pays all of our bills, so I also have about $20,000 in savings.

For some reason, my wife doesn't seem concerned. I think it was our upbringings. Her parents were very blue collar and didn't really have much in terms of savings (her mother has passed and her father has Social Security and his retirement severance from his union job). Conversely, my parents had investments for many years, and are living off of those.

 

I have a 401k and it's currently 8* gain annually
After watching Suze Orman I also started a 6* Roth IRA
So I now am at full contribution in my 401k and matched the same with a Roth. She said the pre tax and after tax accounts will balance at time of retirement. I'm 54 now and expect to retire at 65. Any thoughts? Advice? My Son told me to avoid the Roth and increase my contribution to 15* in my 401k.

 

What's the best way to deal with 401k savings after leaving a job? I have about $9000 in an account from a job I left in May, and my retirement plan at my new job won't start until August 2018. Should I just leave it in there for the time being? If I take it out, I'll get taxed on it

 

I rolled one of mine into a traditional IRA, and hung in to the other until recently. That's about 7 years. AIG let's you stay with them if you roll it into something else later. I wish I'd known about a Roth back then. We make too much now.

 

My new job with my old employer changes a lot of the dynamics of retirement for me. I suspended my pension and it is increasing again. I have access to my 401k for deposits and should get a match, again.

For better or worse, my salary nearly doubled and my monthly take-home stayed about the same. I'm hiding/postponing as much as legally possible. Here's hoping that pays off.

 

Okay so my Sister and Son went over my finances and like some kind of intervention told me what to do. So based on that I raised my 401k to 10 percent and stopped the new Roth.
They say I will be living on 20,000$ annually and will ultimately not pay tax after filing my 1040 ez

 

I have some things in my life together, investment planning is not one of them. Now, I feel like I am doing better than most people my age, but I should re-work what my retirement goal is. Because what I need is one number, what I want is another, and what society says I should have is another.

I think a big part of the uncertainty is on my imaginary future girlfriend and how low maintenance she would be. I'm not sure if I could ever live full time in a small RV or sail boat and travel cheaply around North America and possibly South America too, but that would be one option. And would I need to keep my house, or would it be better to move someplace else? Although some parts of Florida would be about the only other place with better weather, and similar cost of living.

Inflation and the value of the dollar are the only two things that are concerning. I am pretty sure I have enough saved to buy food and pay property taxes for the rest of my life. Solar panels will provide my power from April through October. My biggest problem is that I could easily live a more minimalist lifestyle, even off-the-grid until I'm in my 70's. I just worry about how expensive things will be if I live to my 80's and 90's, and will want some more comforts by then too...and that probably costs some money, and social security might not be enough to cover rents or medical care.

 

@ASU2003
You've covered a lot of options and they all read well
You must have your thinking cap on
The older I get the more comcerned I am,
Every thing hinges on work, health and wages staying constant

 

"Girlfriend" appears early in your post, while "medical care" is the last 2 words.
Those priorities are sorely out of order in regards to retirement planning.

 

Do you also contribute to social security I'm addition to your pension? Or is that in lieu of social security?

 

My only advice is to keep an eye on the mix of your investments or asset allocation in your retirement funds. I had a fairly aggressive mix in my 403(b); heavily in stocks, including international and global equity funds and during the 2007-2009 market crash, I lost nearly 20% of the value of my funds. All since recovered and significant growth followed from 2011-16. (Thanks Obama )

Its not unrealistic to expect a bear market in the next few years, even more so IMO with the uncertainty around Trump's economic policies (trade wars?) and aggressive foreign policy actions. It might be time to reallocate away from higher risk investments for awhile before it happens..

I now have a "moderately conservative" asset allocation with 40% equities, 50% guaranteed/fixed income (bonds), and the rest in real estate (8%) and money market (2%). While it may (likely) result in lower annual growth, I will probably stick with this mix for the foreseeable future

 

I have a 401k, but ill proablly never retire

 

I got a young wife who wants to go to medical school, eventually. That's my retirement...

Half kidding. I have a state retirement account and a 401k with some rolling in. I'm trying but old debt (mostly paid) sure put a damper on early savings.

 

Because you are treating it as a bonus or because you think it will be insolvent when you retire? I personally don't think social security will go away, but it certainly could be tweaked a bit before I retire and then when you retire. A 40% pension plus s.s. should put you in pretty good shape into retirement, and then any contributory accounts should give you some discretionary retirement income.

 

I might be a little cautious about a state pension fund these days. State/local government pensions are seriously underfunded with $trillion in unfunded liabilities. While the scenario is probably not as bad as some doomsayers might predict, there needs to be public pension reform that will likely impact either current pensioners or future guarantees. As an example, CalPERS (California Public Employee Retirement System), the largest in the country, just cut pension benefits for the first time to a small number of pensioners.

US state public pension unfunded liabilities to hit $1.75 trillion: Moody's

PERS: 9 myths about Oregon's public pension fund

I dont mean to come across as a doubter, just offering a cautionary note for what its worth.