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I did pretty good so far in the market this year - about 18-20% increase in my IRAs (not including my 401K), which is about as much as I earned in take home pay so far. I would love it if the stock market kept doing that every year.

But I think the probability for a correction is high. We shall see.

Either way, the economy is not the market, but the market can be affected by the economy.

The big thing to watch will be employment numbers. Start seeing big layoffs in the US, and unemployment percentage starting to rise, then people will start to get nervous about their jobs. When people worry about their jobs they slow down their consumption. Two thirds of the US economy is driven by retail consumers. It is all about confidence.

I am not too worried about my personal job situation. I am close to retirement. My team is already short handed. I am needed for completion of important tasks.

That said, you just never know what is going thru the minds of your managers and what they will decide if told to cut costs.

It would be inconvenient for me if I got let go within the next 6-12 months - after that, it would actually work to my benefit - unless some unexpected expenses happen.

I will just have to wait and see what happens.
 
It would be inconvenient for me if I got let go within the next 6-12 months - after that, it would actually work to my benefit - unless some unexpected expenses happen.

I will just have to wait and see what happens.

The unexpected is my biggest concern. That alone might have me consider taking something off the safe space and accepting some risk.
 
The unexpected is my biggest concern. That alone might have me consider taking something off the safe space and accepting some risk.

Not sure what you mean by safe space, etc.

About one tenth of my retirement funds are in a Roth IRA. Those will be 80/20 bond/stocks so that if I suddenly need that much cash I can pull it tax free. The IRA will be 50/50. The 401K, which is currently a bit more than the Roth IRA, will be 80/20 stocks/bonds. I also have some cash in my interest bearing checking account which is my first source of funds for something unexpected.

Long term, once I am fully retired, I will be sitting down with a tax accountant and doing an IRA to Roth IRA conversion each year but just enough that the conversion amount plus my SSI benes, doesn't take me over the current 12% tax bracket on all of my income. This way I can pay the minimum tax over times, have less concern about RMDs (or not be concerned with them at all), and still have any appreciation in the Roth protected from taxes.

Of course, the tax brackets may change after the 2020 election.
 
One of us retired 2.5 years ago, the other (heh) will retire next year. Our primary strategy was zero debt, which we achieved. True no one can get out from property taxes, insurance, water, power etc, but those have been accounted for. And yes, you never know what can go wrong, that's why we have savings and hope it's enough to cover "the big one".

One huge megaforce coming down the pike is the boomers are croaking in record numbers, keep an eye on housing in the sun states like NV, AZ and FL, houses gonna get real cheap.
Lots of immigrants are being let in the U.S A to keep the U.S. government' s Ponzi scheme running .
 
I tend to like to hedge my bets. I have half of my mutual funds in US and half in foreign... If they both crash I have precious metals, guns and ammo.

But I haven't invested in a while, getting out of debt seemed more important.

Except for a mortgage, I have no debt.

Don't invest anything that you will need in the short term - it may have to ride out a storm. I flipped over to safe investments so that if we have a correction or worse, a crash, then most of my gains will have been preserved. It the market goes down enough, then I will jump back in and buy at the low prices.
 
If only we could all buy low and sell high :p

I've lived long enough to do the opposite once or twice. Nothing quite like waking up in the morning and realizing everything I'd worked so hard to save was more or less gone :(

Once I realized the main reason I needed to get great returns was to sustain my debt-ridden lifestyle, I decided to approach the problem from the other side by getting rid of the debt. Not saying its easy to do. All those Bright Shiny Objects can be had for only $50/month for the rest of my life; no thanks. If I can't pay cash for something, I don't need it. It's that simple.
 
It took me ten years to pay off just $40K of debt - although two of those years I was unemployed and racked up more debt.

Now the only debt I have is backed by equity and property, the equity alone is worth more than the debt, and the property serves as shelter. If I had to, I could just use SSI to pay the cost of living here, plus the equity is less than half my net worth. So I am doing ok - for now.

But I never forget that stuff happens and it pays to not get reckless.
 
Timing is everything with debt and equity. The last home we owned with a mortgage we did the traditional thing putting 20% down, that was 2008. We'd waited out the market peak, or so we thought. Fast forward to 2014, knowing my better half was nearing retirement, we investigated selling the house and renting so we could blow out of Dodge on her last day. The best we could do on a beautiful McMansion 3 miles from the Boeing plant in Renton was write a check for $35k, just to sell it. That's after dumping $100k into it to start with. So, walk away from $135k of hard earned money. We decided to wait. Just 18 months later we sold it and made a small profit. That's real estate whipsaw for ya, it's the kinda thing that can result in soilage of the shorts o_O

Admittedly our circumstances were somewhat unique, most folks don't buy a home just so they can sell it. It was against my better judgement to by that darn home to start with knowing we'd be moving from two incomes to one in a relatively short period of time. I clearly learned a lesson from my irrational choice; I was very fortunate to get out without serious financial damage and of course, the shorts were easily replaced :p
 
Yes, my mom lost $100K on her house. She bought at a peak, sold 2 years later at a trough, and if she had kept it two more years she wouldn't have lost anything.

If there is a recession in the next year or two, I won't lose money if I sell, but I won't make as much either - so it just depends on the timing and who wants to buy the property. I've already taken $100K in timber off the property, and even if I sell for current tax appraised value I will not only have lived here for free, I will have made at least $100K profit (taking into account the interest/taxes paid and improvements) - but I want to walk away with enough cash to buy better acreage and build a shop/house with less than $100K mortgage in my retirement.
 
I think we've got all the bases covered for now. Even if either of us passed away for any reason, we've got basic life insurance to take of expenses and a transition for the survivor.

My biggest concern by a wide margin is earthquake; that paid-for mid-century ain't gonna look so good at the bottom of the hillside. I know the old joke about setting it ablaze since fire is covered but that's not my style. 'Quake insurance isn't cheap and may not even be available on some properties. The best I can do now is bank the premium I don't pay until I retire; if the big one hits I'm part way there to replace it, if not, the wife will have a real nice shopping spree once I'm gone :)
 
I've got about $100K life/AD&D insurance as a benefit thru work. I could go for more, but due to my age at some point in coverage I would need to get a physical, which I would probably fail due to my heart, BP and sleep apnea. Then there is the premium.

I figure between my net worth, IRAs/401K and insurance my daughter will be ok with what is left over as I intend to not use my retirement funds if at all possible.
 
If I could give young, healthy folks one piece of advice; buy whatever life insurance you think you'll need while you are young and healthy. And make sure, if it's term insurance, the premium is guaranteed for more years in the future than you can possibly imagine now.

Having survived two heart attacks and double bypass at the ripe old age of 38, I know of what I speak. My lack of planning means I now pay $250/month for the bare minimum of coverage instead of $20/month for enough coverage to make sure everyone in the family says nice things about me at the funeral service :eek:
 

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