http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ An online community to exchange knowledge about FIRE (Financial Independence and Early Retirement), discussing all aspects of early retirement including planning, challenges, rewards, expense management, investment strategies, and more. Start planning your early retirement today! en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:10:01 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/images/early_r/misc/rss.jpg http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/webby-awards-2009-a-47398-new-post.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:45:31 GMT Welcome to the Webby Awards The Webby Awards cite the ten...]]> Welcome to the Webby Awards

The Webby Awards cite the ten most influential moments of the 2000s as:

Craigslist expands beyond SF (2000)
Google AdWords launches (2000)
Wikipedia launches (2001)
Napster shut down (2001)
Google IPO (2004)
Online video revolution (2006)
Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)
The iPhone debuts (2007)
US Presidential campaign (2008)
Iranian election protests (2009).

Do you agree? If you were a Webby judge, what events would you have nominated? ]]> Other topics Meadbh http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/webby-awards-2009-a-47398.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/early-retirement-on-the-horizon-47397-new-post.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:41:59 GMT Hi all,

To cut to the chase, I'm 53, single and have $1,300,000 in 401(k) and savings. My home is half paid off.

It has occurred to me that I can retire in the next couple of years so am starting to think seriously about financial arrangements. Thanks for this website... it's very useful!

I've used a number of different online retirement calculators, including FIRECalc. Results range from $59K (FIRECalc) to $86K in annual withdrawals, which eventually would be supplemented by about $18K/yr in SS, so the totals range from $75K (FIRECalc) to $104K/yr. I'm basing my initial planning on the FIRECalc result, but will also see a financial planner.

So it looks like I'm in a fairly good FIRE position. Is there anything I should be considering?

I plan to travel (through house exchange) and also do some volunteer work overseas.

Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and I look forward to learning much from this website. ]]> Hi, I am... ultimo http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/early-retirement-on-the-horizon-47397.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/new-member-new-job-kids-in-high-school-47396-new-post.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:10:28 GMT Hello all,

This is my first post as a noob. My wife has convinced me it's time to get some advice about financial planning for our kids college education and retirement in the next 7-10 years.

I just changed jobs and also have a new 401k to think about. A fair amount of people at my work are using FAs affiliated with Ameriprise. I spoke with them once and got the impression they like insurance products. Currently they want $800 to determine my "options". So far it appears that their compensation is tied to management fees. Is it worth it for us to pay for their assessment or look elsewhere?

We live in a rural area so there are not many options for FAs. I've always heard it's better to have a FA that charges by the hour, for example, rather than through management and transaction fees.

I've got 401ks in other other corporations from previous jobs plus an IRA at Fidelity. I try to diversify across investment types as well as managers. I get the feeling that Ameriprise wants total control.

Suggestions???


TIA ]]> Hi, I am... Wormrider http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/new-member-new-job-kids-in-high-school-47396.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/my-retirement-story-at-age-45-a-47393-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:57:59 GMT First time poster here, having searched for forums on early retirement. I retired last year (October 31) at the age of 45. I worked for 23 years... First time poster here, having searched for forums on early retirement.

I retired last year (October 31) at the age of 45. I worked for 23 years in the actuarial field, the first 16 of them full-time and the last 7 of them part-time. I had an awful commute from where I lived on Long Island (New York) to Manhattan for the 16 full-time years and to Jersey City (New Jersey) for the part-time years. My company became a for-profit company in 1997 and I took a big company stock payout (about 300k) last year, invested it in a high-yield (not junk) bond fund to generate enough money (along with my other considerable savings) to cover my expenses with room to spare. I have an IRA from my old 401(k) which has bounced back nicely in the last 12 months. It has nearly 300k in it and it is waiting and growing until I can tap into it in 14 years. I have a frozen pension waiting for me, too, at age 65. So, all I have to do is live off my dividends for 14 more years until the "reinforcements" start arriving. Even if I have to tap into principal in 10 years that is okay. I checked this out with a financial advisor. Playing with numbers is something I became very good at in my 23 years in the actuarial field.

I have been debt-free since 1998, having paid off the mortgage on my co-op apartment. I found a decent and affordable individual health insurance policy last year. I bought a new car (a Toyota Corolla) in 2007. My monthly expenses are both affordable and mostly predictable. I am single and am childfree, the latter my biggest reason for being able to retire.

The last 12 months have been great. No more alarm clocks, no more trains, no more commute, no more office stuff (I actually liked the work most of the time, though), no more lousy lunches in New Jersey. Even working two days a week from mid-2007 to my final week at the end of October, 2008, was an awful experience, mainly because of the tiring, annoying, and often sickening commute.

Once I began working part-time in 2001, I was able to reclaim my life. I resurrected an old hobby (at night, something I had no energy to do while I worked full-time) and began doing volunteer work in several area schools as part of the school Scrabble program. Otherwise, I come and go as I please, including spending time with my ladyfriend of 5 years.

I am enjoying the start of my second year of retirement and look forward to many more. ]]> Hi, I am... scrabbler1 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/my-retirement-story-at-age-45-a-47393.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/social-security-retirement-calculator-47392-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:28:34 GMT Benefits Calculators: About the Social Security Retirement Estimator I recently received...]]> Benefits Calculators: About the Social Security Retirement Estimator
I recently received my Social Security Statement in the mail and it got me thinking about SS estimates. I remembered something about additional credits being added for certain years of military service, so I tried to find out if these were factored into the estimates I received. NO real joy there. It says it is OR will be done automatically when you apply for benefits. Sooo, anyways I run the calculator estimator and it comes back with different results from what my statement shows. Hmm.... +$33 at 62; +43 at 65; +$57 at 70... Could this be the elusive additional military credit OR just some kind of a COLA difference between my statement dated on 6 Nov and now. I know it isn't additional income, since I haven't earned any in the last 7 yrs. Anyone else use the estimator and get different results from their statements?

BTW: For those still working the estimator lets you run some additional scenarios of stopping work prior(after) to 62 and seeing the effects on benefits. Nice what ifs... ]]> FIRE and Money JustNtime http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/social-security-retirement-calculator-47392.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/the-stars-are-aligning-47391-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:33:44 GMT I don't have a count down meter like W2R did, but looks like things are falling in place for me to retire. The official date on paper will probably be 1/02/2010 but I have not signed on the dotted line yet. I am taking one week vacation this next week and two weeks vacation at the end of December. So I've basically got 3 weeks of actual time on the job to do. I have already started bringing home personal items and mentally retiring.

Megacorp as of yesterday informed me I could choose a private individual health plan (which I'll have to apply for) with their blessings. They will funnel some dollars to me to help with cost. Something that put the icing on the cake for me. Not full funding and no promise on number of years but the amount will not change unless they change the amount going to all retirees and current employees. So good news on that.

Once again I'm looking for help, advise and input on how to apply for (how much info to give etc.) and choose my family health plan.
Thanks,
Steve ]]> FIRE and Money Stevewc http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/the-stars-are-aligning-47391.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/if-you-volunteer-47390-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:57:28 GMT For those that do or have volunteered I would be interested in hearing what you do volunteer wise and what you enjoy or don't like about your particular opportunity.

I find I have too much time on my hands and thought it is probably time I used those hours in doing something different from what I am currently doing. I have been doing a bit of internet research and have found a couple of opportunities that might suit my personality. The first is as a volunteer tax preparer for United Way - as an accountant this would probably be a good fit for my skills. The second is as a food packer at the Food Bank (Freebird think you do something similar?).

I'm not going to pursue any opportunities with death or dying as I am not good emotionally in those areas, so anything hospital or hospice related is out. Most interesting volunteer opportunity I did find on Craigslist was someone wanted some zombie volunteers for a movie they were making. ]]> Other topics DangerMouse http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/if-you-volunteer-47390.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-did-you-do-while-the-board-was-down-47389-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:02:40 GMT It is a given I spend way too much time here. I was forced to find some other way to entertain myself yesterday so... Going through my deceased... It is a given I spend way too much time here. I was forced to find some other way to entertain myself yesterday so...

Going through my deceased FIL's old tools, I found an old Lufkin "Mezurall" tape measure. It's in great shape and I wondered how old it was, so I googled it and this was the first hit:

Popular Mechanics June 1951- Google Books

I spent a couple of hours sucked in going through the almost 300 pages (!) of the magazine. Closest thing to time travel I've ever done. The articles are priceless and some of the ads are amazing. ]]> Other topics REWahoo http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-did-you-do-while-the-board-was-down-47389.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/alabama-er-health-care-47388-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:57:52 GMT Morning Group,
Looks like I'm now shopping for family coverage so I can enter retirement at the end of the year.
I've always had coverage through megacorp so I'm a little lost doing the shopping for my self.
How do I determine if an Individual Blue plan (blue Cross) is the right way to go? Or one of the Health savings plans?
We are a family of 3, one being a kid in college. I'm 55 yrs and the wife a few years younger if that info helps.
I'm mostly looking at Blue Cross, they are big in my area and it is currently what I have with megacorp.
If this link works these are the plans I'm looking at now. The 750 plan has been recommended to me by BCBS agent.
UpDate: I am beginning to think megacorp may give me some help ($) with the cost (maybe 1/2) of the first year but no promises for years down the road.

https://www.ibcbsal.com/plans/iblue/...arison2009.pdf

You folks that have been through this please glance at these plans and give me input,
Thanks for help,
Steve

Heres a link for the HSP type: https://www.ibcbsal.com/plans/hsa/pdfs/comparison.pdf ]]> Health and Early Retirement Stevewc http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/alabama-er-health-care-47388.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/hulu-com-youtube-com-and-47387-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:09 GMT Can anyone suggest other video sites that are worth looking into other than Hulu.com and Youtube.com? I understand there are sites where you can see... Can anyone suggest other video sites that are worth looking into other than Hulu.com and Youtube.com? I understand there are sites where you can see movies and tv shows on the computer, but I have no idea what the internet site addresses are. Does anyone here know?:coolsmiley: ]]> Other topics Orchidflower http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/hulu-com-youtube-com-and-47387.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:28:20 GMT An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between... An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between the time it happened and the time we took the servers offline Thursday.

In an effort to minimize damage to the board we opted to shut everything down while we investigated the issue and formulated a game plan. Our team (server admins, programmers, and software vendors) coordinated and developed a plan to remove the malicious files and secure the servers. We believe that forum members should not have any system issues associated with this so long they didn't visit the malicious site AND install anything.

While the service interruption was unfortunate, it was important to us to make sure this issue was fully addressed before returning to business as usual. Protecting our community from this kind of intrusion is paramount and we'll post more info here as it becomes available. It's possible that we may need to continue tweak the forum setup and if so, we may have another service interruption.

We thank you for understanding :flowers: ]]> Forum Admin Janet H http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:39:01 GMT :frown: I received a malware warning upon entering the forum today. :frown:
I haven't received these warnings before, but I did find a trojan during a McAfee scan a couple days ago.
Anyone else receiving warnings OR malware from this forum? ???:frown:

I'll be doing another scan tonight... ]]> Forum Admin JustNtime http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/for-those-already-in-er-47383-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33:31 GMT ... what % of your net worth is invested in real estate? *And not*, real estate for investment. Real estate for personal use only (which would... ... what % of your net worth is invested in real estate? And not, real estate for investment. Real estate for personal use only (which would include "vacation/2nd homes" assuming not rented out for income). ]]> FIRE and Money LARS http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/for-those-already-in-er-47383.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/101-year-old-driver-buys-400-horsepower-camaro-47382-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:39:31 GMT truth is stranger than fiction...

A 101 year old driver bought a 400 HorsePower "Transformers" edition canary-yellow Camaro.

I'll bet he gets the girl too.

Driver, 101, digs new generation Camaro | detnews.com | The Detroit News

]]> Other topics MasterBlaster http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/101-year-old-driver-buys-400-horsepower-camaro-47382.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f52/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-47381-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:22:45 GMT The Senate finally has a bill. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’’. At 2074 pages it longer than the house bill, so it must be better. No... The Senate finally has a bill. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’’.
At 2074 pages it longer than the house bill, so it must be better. No summary yet, but one is sure to pop up soon. People with nothing better to do and trained in foreign languages can read the bill here http://www.democrats.senate.gov/refo...e-care-act.pdf ]]> FIRE Related Political Topics MichaelB http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f52/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-47381.html