Retirement planning, with actuarial data

[drwex]

If you're even close to my age you should be thinking about retirement. If you're younger, you should be saving for it.

Here - https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2019/viability-spend-safely.pdf - is a report from the Society of Actuaries, based on their research project looking at the success rates of over 200 variations on retirement plans. The PDF is a bit long, but quite readable. It's focused on people who have under $1 million in savings at retirement age and are largely going to depend on Social Security.

Major recommendations:
- Delay taking Social Security as late as possible. Age 70, currently
- Generate more income by using minimum distributions and investing those distributions in low-risk vehicles

Comments

[pygment]

There is should, and then there is able to...
I started reading this today and it made sense as far as I got.

[flexagon]

Thanks for the read! I'm not the target audience for that one at all (there's no way I'm willing to count on social security), but if you're interested in trading "thinking about retirement" resources, let me know. I've found some that are enjoyable and hope-inspiring.

[drwex]

Yeah, those of us with high-paying tech jobs should have considerably more funds available at retirement than the people sampled here, who primarily depend on SSI for retirement income. I also know about the investment options listed in the research. The advice of waiting until 70 to start taking withdrawals was new to me.

I can certainly take a list of resources but unless you mark something as "truly earth-shaking" I'm not likely to move it up my stack soon.

[flexagon]

Nah, just a couple of books about the psychology of retirement (which becomes a bigger deal once you have the money part in the bag). You can hit me up for them later. How much longer do you think you'll be in tech?

I'm currently thinking 3 years, though if I can find a way to stay longer I might.

Of course I have a plan for that...

[drwex]

I think I'm in a very good place to keep working. The work I do is something I love, and it's a dynamic field with lots of new things and growth. Nothing is ever perfect (like, I really want to bop one of my cow orkers) but in general this new company is much better. I had a 1:1 with my direct boss earlier this week that turned into a heart-to-heart and he shared some of the vision of where we might go and I'm on board with that.

I have kids in college and about to enter, so continuing to have a high salary makes that much easier. At the earliest I'd be looking at retirement options in about 7-8 years. That's not too far off my planned "earliest" path that I had sketched out when I was about 35. Assuming my health continues to be good I expect that I'd like to continue full-time work until age 70 or so.

After that... I dunno. A lot depends on whether the kids have families and there are grandkids. If they are, I'll be around for them. If not, I might retire and travel. More likely I'd semi-retire and teach courses as an adjunct someplace. I'd like to see more young people get into this field and I recently had an experience teaching a group at my workplace that was very validating and invigorating.

I'm super-privileged to work in a field that doesn't tax my body so it's quite feasible that I could keep going as long as medical science keeps me in acceptable shape. Maybe the world will change so some of these things are no longer true, but *shrug* that's largely unpredictable.

Re: Of course I have a plan for that...

[flexagon]

I'm starting to like the "semi-retire" idea as well, and I'm glad your new company is so much better!

It's funny though, I have come to believe that desk work is actually very taxing for the body. Folks who do it should definitely at least be familiar with a few exercises that counteract upper-body and lower-body cross syndrome. I recognize that it's better than picking strawberries or working in a mine, but it's no joke for the neck, eyes, forearms (and it passively misaligns the hips like whoa).

cross syndrome?

[drwex]

Not a term I'm familiar with.

I agree that sitting all day isn't ideal and it's going to lead to problems but comparing with anyone who has to be on their feet all day and do any sort of repetitive manual labor this is nothing.

Re: cross syndrome?

[flexagon]

Weirdly, the image search results are far better than the web search results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=upper+and+lower+cross+syndrome&tbm=isch

Both are patterns of activation and repression in the body, caused by sitting and especially slumping, that lead to anterior pelvic tilt and a forward head (along with pain, plenty of pain). They're bad. I agree with you about manual repetitive labor, but I don't agree about being on feet all day... people are made to be on their feet, as long as they're walking (alternating pressure / moving) instead of standing (constant pressure).

If you're interested in helping to alleviate or avoid these things, without caring to look up all the details, I recently saw a fairly pleasant video on the topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9OMBumkgiM

wow

[drwex]

That's a remarkably accurate description of my body :(

Re: cross syndrome?

[jducoeur]

people are made to be on their feet, as long as they're walking (alternating pressure / moving) instead of standing (constant pressure).

Yep -- I switched to a standing desk about five years ago, which has been *very* good for my body. But a good pad is critical, and I've found that encouraging my feet to fidget, rather than just standing in one place, is important...

[drwex]

Dance! (says the man who's re-listening to some sets in order to post another music entry)

[jducoeur]

Ayep -- can't always have music playing, but that's often part of it.

(Right at the moment, I'm listening to the mammoth Spotify playlist that underpins everynoise.com; thanks for the pointer! Almost by definition, it's an interesting list for times when I am feeling like variety.)

[drwex]

Yay! I'm glad you're liking it. I have a Pandora station called "Wex Eclectic Radio" that I created years ago with a couple of highly disparate seeds that is my go-to in such situations.

[jducoeur]

My primary work iTunes playlist has something like 10k tracks (just shy of a continuous month of play), so I'm rarely *really* hurting for variety. But stuff like this is fascinating for discovering new-to-me music. After several hours, I'm just now up to the first track I've ever heard before -- "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, of all things.

I might give Pandora another shake at some point. Last time I tried it, it gave me way too much sameness, and I got bored with it...

[drwex]

Yeah Pandora can be very hit-or-miss depending on what you seed with and how much you curate it.