Retirement Financial Planing

nola mike · Monday at 3:06 PM

tpenfield said:
I might actually like being at or close to the 37% tax bracket . . .

37% Bracket Income Threshold $768,700. . . if you are just below it . . .

Tax on $768,699 of income" The federal income tax on $768,699 of taxable income for a married couple filing jointly in 2026 is approximately $206,583, resulting in an effective tax rate of about 26.9%. ( you keep $562,116 . . . less about 48K in (my state) tax. . . . $514,000 ) . . . I might be OK with that.

Exactly. And don't forget your standard deduction (at least), which is a gross income of $800k.

redneck joe · Monday at 4:20 PM

we will be well below the $109k. They have a COLA on this number as well?

tpenfield · Friday at 4:54 PM

This being a boating website/forum, I think we need to factor in boats and boating into our retirement planning. Else, what would be the point of retiring???

The thing is, once you get close to retirement age, there is not much time/room for planning . . . what you see is what you got.

bruceb58 · Friday at 9:06 PM

nola mike said:
Exactly. And don't forget your standard deduction (at least), which is a gross income of $800k.

What does the standard deduction have to do with anything?

tpenfield · 2026-08-29T03:47:34-0600

FWIW - I found this video fairly interesting as it discusses the subtle differences in what it takes to climb the 'wealth ladder' into retirement.

alldodge · 2026-08-29T05:53:00-0600

That is a great vid and would be great to show in high school junior and senior

nola mike · 2026-08-29T07:13:47-0600

bruceb58 said:
What does the standard deduction have to do with anything?

Your gross income can be higher before you hit the highest tax bracket

Pmt133 · 2026-08-29T07:44:03-0600

I'm looking to do a partial retirement around 50.... Still work but either go to part time or consulting. Depending on what I am doing at that point, maybe I stick around longer or not where I currently am. The men in my family don't typically make it much past their 60s so I'm trying to enjoy while also accepting the fact I'm already past halfway to the finish. Chances are I have a pension that I barely use any of. Or I use a lot of it and just lose like 40% of it's value because I touch it before 65.

Close friend is a Fidelity guy. Been taking care of that end with him. Pretty good shape with roths as well as some other investments we scattered around. Not too many people I trust with that stuff but he is one of them.

Whole thread has been a good read so far gents, appreciate it.

tpenfield · 2026-08-29T08:29:44-0600

One thing that I tell young people, family & friends, etc about retirement planning, which largely amounts to savings, is that you really want to put away about 12-15% of your income from day 1 for retirement.

Lots of folks don't put away enough or for long enough, and the stats on what the median retirement savings shows that. I believe it the median amount is around $200K, which does not amount to much in terms of retirement resources.

flashback · 2026-08-29T08:51:03-0600

If you're fortunate enough to work for a company that matches your saving plan with a contribution. Can be a good thing.

Jeff J · 2026-08-29T09:44:15-0600

tpenfield said:
This being a boating website/forum, I think we need to factor in boats and boating into our retirement planning. Else, what would be the point of retiring???

The thing is, once you get close to retirement age, there is not much time/room for planning . . . what you see is what you got.

I like the concept but I spend much less time on the boat now that I retired than I did when I was working 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.

bruceb58 · 2026-08-29T13:02:04-0600

tpenfield said:
One thing that I tell young people, family & friends, etc about retirement planning, which largely amounts to savings, is that you really want to put away about 12-15% of your income from day 1 for retirement.

I tell them the same thing. My dad told me to max out my 401K from day one...and I did! I retired at 59 but could/should have retires 3 years earlier. I also saved money outside of my 401k and invested it.

alldodge · 2026-08-29T14:46:48-0600

Retired at 57, but would have worked longer because I loved what I did, but Fed Govt wanted me to move to NJ, no way!

redneck joe · 2026-08-29T15:07:17-0600

tpenfield said:
This being a boating website/forum, I think we need to factor in boats and boating into our retirement planning. Else, what would be the point of retiring???

The thing is, once you get close to retirement age, there is not much time/room for planning . . . what you see is what you got.

my boat budget and yours are wildly different.....

Pmt133 · 2026-08-29T16:45:26-0600

alldodge said:
Retired at 57, but would have worked longer because I loved what I did, but Fed Govt wanted me to move to NJ, no way!

As someone currently battling this lovely state and how god damn expensive it is... Brilliant, and I mean Brilliant move.

Jeff J · 2026-08-29T17:15:24-0600

Works great if there was a 401K to deposit money into. I have never held a job that offered one. Never really held a job where I grossed much over $50K a year either but managed to retire thanks to a modest pension plan. Not much left over after the bills are paid but we don’t need much. I have been mostly debt free for 15 years but took on a mortgage last week. Hoping the old house will pay for the new but may have to refinance if it doesn’t or go back to work if it takes very long to sell.

redneck joe · 2026-08-30T04:11:27-0600

yeah we carried a note while ours was listed. Not fun.

tpenfield · 2026-08-30T08:24:07-0600

I went semi-retired at 66 y.o. and went fully retired at 68. Waited until I hit 70 to start collecting SS. The Admiral retired at 63, but is waiting for a few years to start collecting SS.

So, far we have avoided the common pitfalls which wreck retirement savings. This year (2026) will be our first year of no wage-earning, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out come April 15th . . .

Jeff J · 2026-08-30T08:48:57-0600

My wife wants to collect SS as soon as she becomes eligible next year. I think she should hold off. Her money, her choice. I intend to wait until mine maxes out. It won’t be a lot either way. Unless something has changed, 20 years of my payments into it cannot be collected from. That pretty much just leaves maybe 15 or so years of okay money from being self employed and other low paying employment to collect from.

nola mike · 2026-08-30T08:58:49-0600

Crazy where you can save a ton of money if you want to...
I ran a few scenarios about car ownership. 1. Buying a new average priced car every 5 years and financing for my wife and I vs. what we have actually done since 2007 (used Mazda6/VW wagen for her, BMW 330/Mini Cooper JCW for me). Scenario involved taking the money saved from monthly payments/car tax/sales taxes and investing in an S&P 500 index fund. It ended up being $900k difference over that time frame. Buying fancier cars (Mid-range BMW X5s) increased it to $1.3 mil. That's over 17 years.

Retirement Financial Planing

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