We have been doing some things right for a while and some things wrong. So I go from here trying to make a good retirement plan. We started getting serious about this retirement thing kind of late in life!
~ We still expect to pay another $37,000 for the child in college.
~ Tech training is all paid now for our other child lives at home so some savings there!
~ We expect to earn $61,000 -$63,000 this year
~ We no debt so that is a big plus!!
~ My spouse is contributing 20% to his plan at work.
~ I maxed out both our IRA's with $ that was in cash.
_ If hubby stays at the current job the next 13 years he should have a pension of $2,200. However we know things can change. Fingers crossed! Too much of retirement working out hinges on this.
According to the calc I used we should be more than on track with the pension and social security. I just don't have full faith where these are concerned.
I'm going to include a snip of our financials:
Some of what shows as cash is the $37,000 earmarked for the kiddo finishing college and the emergency fund.
My goal is to keep converting over time amounts that are in cash into investments. This goes slowly, as my spouse is comfortable with it. I'm not pushing much.
Our income is lower than it used to be and saving much besides what is going into investments is a BIG challenge now. I am going to be doing by best too reduce expenses so I can comfortably bump up the 401K % a bit more. That is game plan 1!
In all likely hood this may be a very boring blog 
Hi there and a little history :)
September 17th, 2014 at 09:27 pm
September 17th, 2014 at 09:44 pm 1410990297
Welcome to SA. Best of luck to you with your goals.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:31 pm 1410993072
Welcome!
September 17th, 2014 at 10:33 pm 1410993236
September 17th, 2014 at 11:27 pm 1410996477
September 18th, 2014 at 01:07 am 1411002458
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September 18th, 2014 at 07:07 pm 1411067243
Coincidently, we're trying to make some kind of retirement plan trying to imagine what we would like to do, where we'd like to live, how to cope with our ghastly winter weather...the lifestyle choices. Except for the points in time we've had visitors here, I re-configured spending categories over summer to reflect imagined spending as a senior. It was a hilarious experiment, I will need to spend more! Right now I don't have time to shop or go to Wednesday theatre matinees lol.
If you'd like to work on eking out more money from net income for investment, you would need to list spending categories and sums needed to fulfil obligations.
September 18th, 2014 at 08:44 pm 1411073060
Snafu~ Thanks for the reply. The cost associated with the 401K are quite low and on par with out Vanguard accounts. I'm not sure what you mean by " how much silently mover from his A/C". Is a/c account??? He contributes 20%. I think the max is 35% . I did get some by the hour advice from a pro recently and did get help tweaking the investments and doing a little planning. We were to heavy in bonds and didnt have enough international. I learned a lot in those 2 hours.
I budget with YNAB and have for years. I can see a few areas to tweak.I will have to blog a list. We also decided to forgo this winters vacation and invested what we had put away for it. We also have ghastly winter weather. Yuck! I know I will not be retiring here!
Sounds like a fun experiment you did! I have done that kind of stuff on the unions website a few times. I also found on those scenarios we will spend more. For one I'd like to be a nomad
I appreciate the advice
September 18th, 2014 at 11:03 pm 1411081384
September 19th, 2014 at 12:32 pm 1411129925
September 19th, 2014 at 01:17 pm 1411132637
September 20th, 2014 at 12:29 pm 1411216178
I'm going to be truthful. I only know of the fees with the union accounts because I took it all to the pro and made phone calls to the company from his office. We found we have the option of "self directed" for many of the same funds for a lower fee. I knew Vanguard did. When I set up Vanguard and told them what we were planning to move over time they sent me to a concierge gal. She was super patient and helped so much.
I think your empty nest difference is very sweet! Of course one still wants to be a part of their kids daily lives. Your just a loving parent