I really appreciate you sharing this, because I'm in a very similar situation, and it's not very typical. I retired two years ago at 61 with a decent sized taxable account. I'm also living primarily off my taxable account, while doing Roth conversions. And I have a similar allocation to equities in the taxable account. With any luck I should be able to live off the taxable account until I'm 70. Only then do I plan on claiming Social Security and taking Roth distributions. By that time I should have most or all of my IRA converted to a Roth, and I should be living mostly tax free. While most retirees seem to be searching for income, I'm doing everything I can to keep my income low so I can maximize Roth conversions. It's a different approach to retirement planning, but one I appreciate more as time goes by.
ERRATA: In case I am unable to edit and correct the comment, in the last paragraph of my original reply to you, I meant to say “asset LOCATION” as opposed to “asset ALLOCATION.”
I owe you a special thanks, because you are the very first reader to leave a comment here on my Substack newsletter. In my work for Seeking Alpha, I typically receive multiple comments on my articles, and quite often healthy discussion ensues, even between readers. I am hoping that this platform will develop into that as well.
Congratulations, also, on how you arrived at your retirement years. I'm 3 years younger than you are, having just turned 60. So I have to play, in particular, the pre-Medicare years very carefully.
It may be the case that I too may be able to delay Social Security until I am 70. But my baseline plan is 67. I benefited greatly from the book Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement, by Larry Swedroe. With respect to asset location, I wish I had learned these lessons a few years earlier, and I am hoping my work in articles such as these may also prove beneficial for younger readers.
Thank you. I'm glad to be the first, considering I didn't even know about Substack until a couple of weeks ago. I enjoy Swedroe's work, and I've read that book. My situation is also uncommon in that I moved to Ecuador six weeks after I retired. So I live very well with low expenses. However I plan based on U.S. expenses in the unlikely event that I have to permanently return to the states. Retiring here also solved the insurance problem. I pay $108/mo. for private medical insurance, with coverage up to $500,000, a $100 annual deductible, and no copays. The doctors are great, and I can normally see specialists within a couple days of contacting them.
ETF Monkey, I'm late to this, having just seen the link in your latest Substack Post. I appreciate your sharing. I'm also managing my taxable income and converting IRA to ROTH. So, I appreciate your dual foci on both accumulation phase and distribution phases. It's been interesting to me that self directed investors seem to follow the same investment strategy in both phases (not adjusting much after retirement) even though their wage earning ability has changed. And I agree with you and Bill D. that managing taxes becomes much more critical as a retiree. And you have a few more tools available to do tax timing.
I really appreciate you sharing this, because I'm in a very similar situation, and it's not very typical. I retired two years ago at 61 with a decent sized taxable account. I'm also living primarily off my taxable account, while doing Roth conversions. And I have a similar allocation to equities in the taxable account. With any luck I should be able to live off the taxable account until I'm 70. Only then do I plan on claiming Social Security and taking Roth distributions. By that time I should have most or all of my IRA converted to a Roth, and I should be living mostly tax free. While most retirees seem to be searching for income, I'm doing everything I can to keep my income low so I can maximize Roth conversions. It's a different approach to retirement planning, but one I appreciate more as time goes by.
ERRATA: In case I am unable to edit and correct the comment, in the last paragraph of my original reply to you, I meant to say “asset LOCATION” as opposed to “asset ALLOCATION.”
Bill,
Thank you for reading and your comment!
I owe you a special thanks, because you are the very first reader to leave a comment here on my Substack newsletter. In my work for Seeking Alpha, I typically receive multiple comments on my articles, and quite often healthy discussion ensues, even between readers. I am hoping that this platform will develop into that as well.
Congratulations, also, on how you arrived at your retirement years. I'm 3 years younger than you are, having just turned 60. So I have to play, in particular, the pre-Medicare years very carefully.
It may be the case that I too may be able to delay Social Security until I am 70. But my baseline plan is 67. I benefited greatly from the book Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement, by Larry Swedroe. With respect to asset location, I wish I had learned these lessons a few years earlier, and I am hoping my work in articles such as these may also prove beneficial for younger readers.
Best Regards,
ETF Monkey
Thank you. I'm glad to be the first, considering I didn't even know about Substack until a couple of weeks ago. I enjoy Swedroe's work, and I've read that book. My situation is also uncommon in that I moved to Ecuador six weeks after I retired. So I live very well with low expenses. However I plan based on U.S. expenses in the unlikely event that I have to permanently return to the states. Retiring here also solved the insurance problem. I pay $108/mo. for private medical insurance, with coverage up to $500,000, a $100 annual deductible, and no copays. The doctors are great, and I can normally see specialists within a couple days of contacting them.
ETF Monkey, I'm late to this, having just seen the link in your latest Substack Post. I appreciate your sharing. I'm also managing my taxable income and converting IRA to ROTH. So, I appreciate your dual foci on both accumulation phase and distribution phases. It's been interesting to me that self directed investors seem to follow the same investment strategy in both phases (not adjusting much after retirement) even though their wage earning ability has changed. And I agree with you and Bill D. that managing taxes becomes much more critical as a retiree. And you have a few more tools available to do tax timing.