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mystic-sanctuary · 3 years

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A (Hopefully) Helpful Guide to Syskids

A very quick disclaimer here: This is based on my own experiences as a Caretaker with the kids we have had and currently have within our own system. Some of, or even many of these things may not hold true for other systems.

Written by; Bronya (Admin, Archivist, Caretaker)

[GUIDE BELOW THE CUT.] [WARNING: VERY VERY LONG.]

Topics covered below;

Some Miscellaneous Basics

Getting to know your SysKid

Caring for your SysKid

Caring for your SysKid - Headspace Specifics

Navigating SysKids and Trauma

Okay, with that out of the way! Dealing with SysKids can be challenging, just like dealing with outside children, though with a few extra challenges because these children are in a system and that can make just about anything challenging at times!

Each SysKid can bring their own unique challenges, so there's no real "every SysKid can be handled like [x]" type situation here. The very first step to learning how to care for your SysKid(s), however, is to get to know them!

Their interests, their dislikes, and for lack of better phrasing, their maturity level. Do not expect your SysKids to always be 100% like their age group. Remember, they have a much older brain now, so for example, your 4 year old SysKid may have a wider understanding of things than, say, a bodily 4 year old might. That doesn't mean they won't still react to those things like a 4 year old would, though! Another 4 year old SysKid, however, may be a lot more similar to a bodily 4 year old. There's no way to tell for sure until you interact with and get to know them!

Our system is both Polyfragmented and Gateway, which means I have seen many SysKids come and go, and we currently have quite a few as well!

Some of them behave more like their age group than others, some seem to fluctuate between an age group (for example, one of them is in the 4-6 range). Some SysKids are nonverbal or some form of altverbal.

Unless otherwise specified by your SysKid, it's absolutely okay to treat your SysKid like an outside kid- as long as you aren't rude or patronizing about it. Yes, I know, "why would I be that way to a kid", but unfortunately I've seen this happen.

Syskids also have their own various boundaries and capabilities. We have a few SysKids who are able and allowed to front alone, provided we are at home.

This isn't plausible for everybody, of course, due to various personal situations the system may have at home, and not all SysKids are able to front on their own anyway.

There are also systems who cannot control their switches which can lead to a SysKid in front alone, and to all of you, you are not a bad person for ""letting this happen"", it isn't your fault if you can't control your switches. Tips for you& include leaving notes for your SysKid if need be (we have a personal discord server we often use for this, for example, which has exclusively us in it), or letting close, trusted friends know about the SysKid in advance so they can help if they're able and needed.

In the case of the two SysKids we allow to front on their own, we know they are responsible/"mature" enough to follow the rules we've set for them without needing to be reminded/regularly enforced/etc.

These rules are pretty basic and by large focused entirely upon their safety: Who they can and can't talk to, discord servers they can and can't talk in, websites we know are safe for them vs websites we aren't sure about or know have inappropriate ads on them that occasionally manage to worm their way past our adblockers.

We also make sure they know, at all times, SysMates they can pull to front or call for help when or if they need it. For us, this includes myself, the Protectors, and a few others who are either Caretakers or have good parental or caretaker-y inclinations. This is something that, while they've both teasingly told us we don't have to keep reminding them of, we often keep reminding them of before or while they front.

"So, how do I get to know my SysKid(s)?"

Find out what they're interested in and spend time with them! Spending time with SysKids is very important, in my experiences. This may include playing with them in headspace, depending on your systems headspace situation, or even watching movies with them while fronting together!

Some SysKids may be shy- they may open up more as they get comfortable around you, but they also might not! If your SysKid is shy, you may need to approach them with more caution and gentleness than other SysKids might require. Some SysKids may not adjust as quickly as others to their new surroundings, either.

Think of... Getting a new pet, for example. They don't know you, your home is new to them, and that can scare them. You have to get them to warm up to you slowly; no rushed movements and soft attempts to initiate play times, etc.

Running with this same analogy, some new pets don't have a problem with any of that, and are in fact just excited to see all their new surroundings and meet all the new people around them!

SysKids have as much variation! For explanation on why I went with this analogy, I know a lot of folks do not have experience with children outside of Systems, for any number of reasons (not having younger siblings, never babysitting for others, etc.) and getting a new SysKid can be just as unique and even as challenging an experience as getting a new pet!

"How can I care for my SysKid?"

One SysKid can have a different set of needs than another, so the answer to this question can vary quite heavily. However, a few examples I can give are:

1. Spending time with them! This can range from coloring together to watching a movie with them! If you live with another system who has SysKids or live with somebody who is comfortable interacting with SysKids, you could even arrange playdates with them.

2. Giving them snacks or treats while they're in front, or even in headspace if your headspace functionality allows for this. Everybody's headspace is different, and some don't have a headspace at all, so this may not be possible outside of front and that's okay!

3. Like the above, depending on your systems headspace situation, this one may not be possible outside of front. However, this one also depends on your SysKid! Some SysKids can get grumpy after a little while without sleep. If you have multiple SysKids, this can get a bit challenging because you'll be trying to arrange multiple naps at once- not everybody is going to want to lay down at the same time.

4. Depending on your systems communication and the verbality of your SysKid (we have a kid who can only say one word, for example), you can also ask your Kiddo what they need or would like to do.

Obviously with this one, you may have to use your own judgement. We've all been kids at one time or another, and SysKids are often no exception to the "wanting to do things they see 'big kids' doing" mindset.

And of course, as with any SysMate, do not force your SysKid out of their comfort zone. This can be damaging to any SysMate (and your relationship with them), so of course it can be just as much if not more so with SysKids. If it's a situation where it's something the body needs that the SysKid is uncomfortable doing and your fronting situation allows you to: do it yourself or have another SysMate do it unless your SysKid has expressed wanting to become more comfortable with whatever it is.

For example, several of our SysKids are uncomfortable with things like going to the bathroom! That can seem like a weird, simple thing they "should be able to do", but keep in mind they are a child and your body isn't. That's a big difference! We are typically able to do fairly fluid switches, so we are able to switch the SysKid out of the "Main Seat" so to speak to do this for them, or "with" them if they've said they want to be more comfortable with it.

"What about in headspace? Do I need to watch them all the time? When should I check on them? Etc."

For me personally, I'm usually with most of our SysKids a good portion of the time. Of course, some of them have other SysMates they'd rather be with most of the time or spend time with sometimes, and that's okay too!

We usually try to keep an older SysMate with all our SysKids, but depending on your headspace, this might not be absolutely necessary.

For us, our headspace is not only incredibly large (an entire world in it's own right, at this point), but dangerous. Even a lot of older SysMates use the buddy system when traveling outside the main city just in case they run into more dangers at once than expected.

If your headspace is safe enough for your SysKid to be alone, it's still a good idea to check in on them! How often you should check on them probably depends on your SysKid's age and how they behave! For example, particularly chaotic SysKids may need to be checked in on more than SysKids who aren't quite so chaotic, just to make sure they aren't getting themselves into any trouble.

If your SysKid is usually fairly loud and there's a period of silence, that'd be a good time to check on them! If your SysKid is usually pretty quiet, you may need to use your own judgement for when to check on them! For example, you might be anxious about leaving them alone if they're pretty quiet, so maybe you'll feel more comfortable checking on them every 5-10 minutes or so.

And of course, if you hear them getting angry or crying, etc. that would definitely be a good time to check on them! Chances are they tripped while playing, can't get a toy to do what they want it to/can't figure out how to get it to do what they want to, or even messed up something they were drawing or coloring.

Personally, when I'm leaving our SysKids momentarily unsupervised for any number of reasons, I check on them anywhere from every 5-15 minutes, varying depending on amount of noise they're making and what kind of noises they're making, but it's important to keep in mind that I'm watching several SysKids at any given time!

To help myself stay organized, and because we have an entire city so this was a plausible option for me, I run a sort of kindergarten-daycare type thing within headspace! All our SysKids have an older SysMate they live with, and not all of them need or are interested in keeping up with any sort of solid education within headspace, so it more or less functions as both!

It's also possible your SysKid might not want to be left alone at all, maybe just at first while they adjust or even indefinitely, and that's okay too! A lot of kids don't like being left by themselves. In this situation, having them hang around another SysMate they like would be a good idea if you aren't sure who to put your SysKid with in this case.

In any case, if you are checking in on your SysKid, it's important to remember that you're not just making sure they're okay! Seeing you check in on them, whether you say this or not, reminds them that you're there for them and to help them/to care for them.

It's also important to remember that your SysKid might try to convince you to sit and color or play with them for a while during one of these check-ins! If you have the time to sit with them for even just a few minutes, I recommend it! It might not seem like much, but in my experience it often means a lot to them and can strengthen your bond with them.

"How do I navigate SysKids and Trauma?"

This can be challenging. Whether it's your systems own traumas, the SysKid getting stuck in front with somebody in a bad state of mind (it happens! front can be finnicky and disagreeable at times, even for those of us who can usually control their switches), your SysKid having ExoTraumas of their own, or even your SysKid being a Trauma Holder!

An important thing to remember in these situations is that, despite the trauma, your SysKid is still a kid! They may not fully understand the trauma they're experiencing (or witnessing). It can be hard to explain things to them if they're asking about it, and you may not even feel comfortable explaining it to them. In this case, it's absolutely okay to try and boil it down in a way a kid might understand- like adults often try to do with bodily kids.

Obviously, Trauma can be likely to stress your SysKid out pretty heavily. Like with older SysMates, coping skills will be helpful for them. Because this is a kid, these coping skills may be pretty different. It can include giving them their comfort item if they have one (for example, a favorite blanket or doll), playing their favorite movie and watching it with them, holding them while they're scared or upset, and comforting them (I usually go with soft "shh" noises and "it's okay", while reminding them that I'm here for them and they aren't alone. Also, just listening to them the same way you would a friend! They may not make as much sense in some cases, but they appreciate having an ear just as much!)

In the case of systems with trauma, avoiding putting your SysKid in situations you know triggers the rest of you because of that trauma as best you can is a good idea!

For a personal example, due to one of our own traumas, we are very Hydrophobic. Things like Showers and Baths are nearly impossible for us most days, and we never get out of them without anxiety attacks or bad dissociation. So even the SysKids who have said they "don't mind" taking a shower or bath through the body do not get to do this.

Some days we have a hard time even drinking water, so on those days we either make sure whatever we're drinking isn't water when the SysKid/s front, or we don't let them front that day.

Again, we are usually fairly in control of our switches, so this works for us, but things may be more complicated to navigate for other systems depending on the nature of their trauma/s and fronting capabilities.

Since that is not our situation, I will not try to make assumptions for how you can navigate your situation if this is how things are for you- given more information, I could certainly try to give you advice, however this is a random tumblr post, and I almost definitely do not know most of those reading this!

Ending notes!

For now this is all I really have, though I can always edit or reblog with more at a later date if need be! If you read this far and have any questions or comments, you're welcome to leave a message on this post, send us a DM, or drop an ask in our inbox! We have Anon turned on as well, for anybody who gets anxious about asks that are off-anon, etc.

#plurality #systemhood #syskids #system kids #plural guide #plurality guide #system guide #long post #endo friendly #endogenic friendly #plural advice #advice #system advice #syskid advice

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burnslaura · 4 years

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davidcdelreal · 5 years

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How to Retire at 55 (Safely!)

The FIRE Movement (Financially Independent, Retired Early) has people retiring as early as 35 or 40.

But unless you’re making a seriously above average income early in life and can live bare bones, that probably won’t be an option for you.

The next best option may be somewhat early retirement. Like retiring at 55.

That’s not the same as retiring in your thirties or forties, but it’s a lot better than waiting until 65, 67, or even 70. And you’ll still be retiring in the prime of your life – or at least late prime.

Don’t be too upset if you’re not able to retire sooner. In fact, there are even certain advantages to retiring at 55.

(And it’s still a heck of a lot better than retiring at 65.)

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Why

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How To Retire at 55 (10 Years Ahead of The Average!)

50 is a common age that people want to retire early at. 45 is another common target, and for the more ambitious, it’s 40.

But as attractive as it can seem to retire that early, retiring at 55 can actually work much better.

There are several reasons why this is true:

You’ll Have an Extra Five Years to Prepare.

Let’s say you begin saving and investing at 25.

Over the next 25 years, you save and invest an average of $20,000 per year, at an average rate of 7% per year. By age 50, you’ll have $1,181,209.

But if you continue saving and investing for an additional five years, by age 55 you’ll have $1,776,038.

That’s almost $595,000 by delaying your retirement by just 5 years. And it’ll make a real difference and how well you’ll live in retirement.

Still another benefit is that you’ll have an extra five years, just in case your retirement investment plan doesn’t quite go as well as you hope.

You’ll Need Five Fewer Years to Cover in Retirement.

If you expect to live to be 90, you’ll need to provide for yourself for 40 years if you retire at 50. But if you retire at 55, that number drops down to 35 years.

Your money won’t need to last quite as long, a benefit you’ll appreciate throughout the entirity of your retirement years.

You’ll Have Five Fewer Years Paying for Private Health Insurance.

Health insurance is one of the biggest issues with early retirement. You won’t have the benefit of Medicare, so you’ll have to get coverage on the health insurance exchanges.

Use Healthcare.gov’s plan estimator to see what you’ll pay. It’ll help you appreciate why retiring five years later will be good for your wealth.

Convinced yet? Let’s talk about how you can actually retire at 55.

Strategies to Retire at 55 (or earlier)

Live on a Lot Less Than You Ever Thought You Could

With this strategy, you’re creating the extra room in your budget to save money at an above average rate.

The less money you need to live on, the more you can save, and the more you’ll have available for retirement.

There are a couple of variables here, too. If you’re really good at cutting your living expenses to the bone, you may be able to retire sooner than 55.

If you’re coming to the early retirement party a bit late in life, cutting expenses will be even more important to reach your goal of retiring at 55.

Everyone talks about cutting living expenses, but exactly what does that involve?

And more specifically, how much harder do you have to work at it if you want to retire early? Naturally, it’ll be easier to budget if you make more money.

For example, if you make $150,000 per year, you can free up $30,000 for savings by cutting your expenses by 20%. But if you make $75,000, you’ll need to cut your living expenses by 40%, to free up $30,000.

Cutting expenses can be done on just about any income. After that, it’s mostly a matter of turning it into a habit.

The most basic strategy is to cut anything in your budget that isn’t absolutely necessary. That will include cutting back or eliminating vacations, restaurant meals, in recreational spending.

Depending on how close you are to your desired retirement age, you may also have to cut basic living expenses.

For example, you may need to live in a very modest home and consider driving a second-hand car.

What you cut, and by how much you do, will depend on how much you want early retirement, and how soon you plan to retire.

Avoid Debt and Payoff Any You Already Have

There’s a neat trick people sometimes play when trying to accumulate a large amount of money.

They save money alright, but they make up the difference with debt. If you plan to retire by age 55, that’s a treadmill you can’t afford to get on.

The last thing you need to do is arrive at your target retirement date with a bunch of debt. We just discussed the need to live on a lot less.

But by adding debt to the picture, you’ll be increasing your monthly cost of living through debt payments.

And if those debts remain in place once you retire, you’ll need even more income to cover them.

Paying off debt and avoiding new debt accomplishes two necessary goals:

It enables you to save more of your income during the accumulation years, and

it keeps your living expenses to a bare minimum in retirement, which means you’ll need less income and savings.

You should have a plan in place to eliminate all non-housing debt. That includes auto loans, student loans, other installment loans, and credit card debt.

Naturally, early retirement will be easier if you also pay off your mortgage before you retire. Not only will that lower your monthly housing costs, but it will also give you a mortgage-free home to sell should you decide you want to relocate.

Both goals are equally important.

Save More Money Than You Ever Thought You Could

Remember when you were in college, and you lived off of Ramen noodles, bought everything second hand, and took advantage of all the free entertainment you could find?

Now is a good time to dust off that lifestyle, and apply it to your current budget. The basic idea is to shift as much income into savings as possible.

The common financial advice is to save between 10% and 15% of your income for retirement. But you’ll have to save a lot more than that if you want to retire early.

That’ll be even more important if you don’t have a whole lot of money saved already. You’ll have to begin building up a basic nest egg as quickly as possible.

Depending on how close you are to 55, you’ll probably have to save at least 20% of your pay.

But it might be more like 30%, 40%, or even 50% if you’re only 15 or 20 years away.

Strategies to Save More for Retirement

For example, in the first year of retirement savings, maybe you can only manage 15%. Go with that, then increase it to say, 18% in the second year.

If you get a 3% pay raise, you won’t even need to cut your budget.

You can just allocate the additional pay to savings. You can also supercharge your savings by supplementing it with windfalls.

For example, plan to bank bonus checks, income tax refunds, and other “found money.”

If you’re really serious about cutting expenses, to where you’re considering selling certain assets, you can bank the proceeds. By getting creative, you’ll reduce some of the pressure on cutting your living expenses.

Pro tip: To get the most out of your savings, place that money in a high yield online savings account where it can accrue interest. CIT Bank has some of the most competitive interest rates on the market.

Its Savings Builder account encourages you to invest towards goals like retirement with a $100 minimum monthly deposit or a $25,000 balance.

Learn more about the CIT Bank Savings Builder account>>

The Earlier You Begin Saving the Better

It should go without saying that early retirement requires that you begin saving early as well. The sooner you begin, the less effort you’ll have to make.

Let’s work an example to demonstrate how this plays out.

Let’s say you decide you’ll need $1 million to retire at age 55. Your average income between now and retirement is $100,000 per year.

You can invest your money in a blended portfolio of stocks and bonds producing an average annual rate of return of 7%.

Age 25: If you begin saving at age 25, you can reach your goal by saving 11% of your pay.

Age 30: At 30, you’ll need to save 16%.

Age 35: By the time you reach 35, you’ll have 20 years to save, and the rate will rise to 25%.

Age 40: At 40, with 15 years to go, you’ll have to save 40%.

Without going into any calculations, it’s pretty safe to say that if you’re over 40, and starting from zero, you probably won’t be able to retire at 55. To even attempt it, you’d have to be saving something close to 100% of your income.

Invest Aggressively

One of the challenges of saving for early retirement is that you pretty much need a high-risk tolerance. You won’t reach your goal by investing in safe assets, like certificates of deposit.

While you may be able to have some money in safe assets, the vast majority will need to be in higher risk investments.

This includes primarily stocks, and either mutual funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs) that invest in stocks.

You may also be able to include real estate investment trusts (REITS), since they often provide returns comparable to stocks. The bottom line is you’ll have to invest heavily in assets that carry a large degree of risk. That means the risk of loss of some of your investment.

In any given year, you can lose money on a stock portfolio. In fact, you might even lose money two or more years in a row. You’ll have to be prepared for that.

Investing in risk assets is investing for the long-term.

Yes, you can lose money in any given year, but the real returns come through multi-year investing.

Fortunately, the numbers work to your advantage. The stock market has returned an average of between 9% and 11% over the past 90 years.

If you want to be really aggressive, keep 100% of your money invested in stocks. Over 20 or 30 years, that should get you an average annual return of around 10%.

If you want to be a little bit more conservative, a 90% stock allocation will reduce your return to 9%, and an 80% allocation will reduce it to 8%.

But both are still solid returns, particularly if most of your money is invested in tax-sheltered retirement plans.

How to Maximize Your Retirement Savings

Invest in a Tax-Sheltered Retirement Plan

To accomplish early retirement, having as much of your investments in tax-sheltered retirement plans as possible will be an absolute necessity.

You’ll reach your goals faster on money that isn’t subject to immediate taxation.

For example, if you’re in the combined 30% tax bracket for federal in state taxes, a 10% return on investment will produce a net yield of just 7%. To break that down by numbers, if you invest $10,000 per year at 10% for 25 years, you’ll have approximately $1,036,000. Mission accomplished!

But if your net return is reduced to 7%, due to being in the 30% tax bracket, after 25 years you’ll have $656,000. Mission NOT accomplished.

Do you see the importance of tax-sheltered investing?

Tax-sheltered investing could be the difference between early retirement, and waiting for your traditional retirement age.

It may not be possible to invest all your money through tax-sheltered retirement plans. After all, there are limits on how much you can contribute. For example, on the 401(k) or 403(b) plan, the maximum contribution you can make from 2019 on is $19,000.

Once you reach 50, you can add a catch-up contribution, increasing that to $25,000. And since many employer-sponsored retirement plans also provide an employer matching contribution, all the better.

You may also be able to add an IRA contribution to the mix.

That amount has increased to $6,000 for 2019, and $7,000 with a catch-up contribution beginning at age 50. By contributing to both plans, you’ll be able to contribute a total of $25,000 each year.

One of the best places you can house a tax-sheltered retirement plan is Blooom.

Blooom stands out as the premiere robo-advisor dedicated solely to retirement specifically 401(k) management.

Start investing in your 401k with Blooom today>>

What to Do if That’s Still Not Enough

Contributing to the two retirement plans should get you close to your savings goal.

But if it isn’t, you can always save additional funds in taxable accounts.

Even though the return won’t be as good, taxable accounts can still serve an important purpose once you reach your desired retirement age. You won’t be able to access funds from your retirement plans until you reach age 59 ½.

Yes, you can access them early, but not only will you have to pay ordinary income tax on the withdrawals, but you’ll also have to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

If you have a substantial amount of your portfolio in taxable accounts, you can access those funds between 55 and 59 ½.

The withdrawals won’t be taxable at all.

That could provide a valuable bridge between early retirement and penalty-free withdrawals from your retirement plan.

Plan B: A Roth Conversion “Ladder” to the Rescue!

How a Rother Conversion Ladder Works

There’s another way to deal with the early withdrawal problem with retirement plans. That’s the Roth conversion ladder.

It’s neither easy nor inexpensive, but it will provide you with tax-free income in early retirement.

As you may or may not know, withdrawals taken from a Roth IRA are completely tax-free if you are at least 59 1/2, and have been in the plan for at least five years. But there’s also a provision to have tax-free withdrawals before reaching that age.

That’s where the Roth conversion ladder comes into the picture. Funds held in either an IRA or a 401(k)/403(b) plan can be converted to a Roth IRA.

Once there, they’re eligible for tax-free withdrawals.

There’s a provision in the Roth IRA plan that enables you to withdraw either Roth IRA contributions or conversion balances tax-free and penalty-free. These are known as Roth IRA withdrawal ordering rules.

Those rules mean that the first money withdrawn from a Roth IRA are either contributions or converted balances. Only when those have been taken are investment earnings withdrawn.

Now you have to be in the Roth for at least five years avoid the 10% penalty, so timing is everything with this strategy. That’s where the Roth conversion ladder kicks in.

By making annual conversions, beginning five years before you will need to begin making withdrawals, you can create a tax-free source of income for early retirement.

The strategy works especially well if you are planning on retiring at 55.

Since you only need to cover less than five years until you reach age 59 ½, when you can begin taking regular withdrawals from your other retirement accounts penalty-free, the ladder will have you covered.

If you’re looking to do some trading during your retirement planning years, Ally Invest is at the top of the list of best places to open a Roth IRA.

With low trading fees and a nice selection of investment offerings, the platform is a solid choice for your Roth IRA.

Invest in your Roth IRA with Ally Invest>>

A Roth Conversion Ladder Example

Let’s assume you’ll need $50,000 per year when you retire. Let’s also assume your Roth IRA will be the entire source of that income.

To enable you to be able to begin making tax-free withdrawals from your Roth IRA, you need to begin creating your conversion ladder by age 50.

You do this by making annual conversions from your IRA and/or 401(k)/403(b) plan to your Roth IRA at $50,000 per year.

Once you reach 55, you’ll be able to begin taking annual tax-free withdrawals of $50,000 from your Roth IRA as a result of the successive conversions.

This is how it will work:

YEARAGEAMOUNT OF ROTH CONVERSIONAMOUNT OF ROTH WITHDRAWALSOURCE OF FUNDS WITHDRAWN 201950$50,0000N/A 202051$50,0000N/A 202152$50,0000N/A 202253$50,0000N/A 202354$50,0000N/A 202455$50,000$50,0002019 Conversion 202556$50,000$50,0002020 Conversion 202657$50,000$50,0002021 Conversion 202758$50,000$50,0002022 Conversion 202859$50,000$50,0002023 Conversion

What’s especially convenient if you begin taking withdrawals at 55 is that those distributions will cover you straight through to age 59 ½. At that point, you’ll be able to tap other retirement plans penalty-free.

In the table above, we’ve shown Roth conversions continuing even after age 55.

But in truth, you may not need to make additional conversions after that point.

The ability to take distributions penalty-free after 59 ½ might make additional conversions unnecessary since you’ll just be transferring the tax liability from one stage in your retirement to another.

The Downside of Creating a Roth IRA Conversion Ladder

As good as the Roth IRA conversion ladder strategy looks on paper, there is one major downside.

It applies to Roth conversions of all types. You must pay income tax on the amount converted in each year a conversion takes place.

Depending on your tax bracket in the year the conversion is done, that text bite can be substantial.

For example, if in the year of conversion, you’re in the 24% tax bracket for federal, and 6% for your state, a total of 30% of the conversion will go to taxes. With a $50,000 conversion, that’s $15,000.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to create a Roth IRA conversion ladder for early retirement. But you will have to weigh out the cost before implementing the strategy.

As mentioned earlier, an alternative strategy is to build up a portfolio of non-tax sheltered investments.

You can use those funds to pay for living expenses, between retirement at 55, and reaching 59½, when you can begin withdrawing funds from your retirement plans penalty- free.

Why You Should Want to Retire In Your Fifties

People often think of early retirement as something of a pipe dream.

And if you have low income or high expenses, it’s admittedly a difficult goal to achieve. But it’s a worthwhile goal no matter what your circumstances are.

Consider the possibilities of what may develop by the time you’re 55:

You may be over your current career. By the time you hit your 50s, you may want to get into something completely different. Early retirement will enable you to transition into something that pays less.

Your employer may be done with you. While it’s nice to think we’ll all be able to exit our careers on our own terms, layoffs are a fact of life. And people over 50 are often the first to go.

You may want a new adventure. Maybe you want to live at the beach and fish or shift into volunteer work. If you’re able to retire early, you’ll be able to do those things.

You need to take care of personal issues. It could be a change in your health. You no longer want to work as hard and want more time to improve your health. You may also need time to care for an aging family member or a loved one in crisis. If you can retire early, you’ll have that ability.

You may not have as much time in life. None of us know how long we’re going to live. But if your family history suggests a shorter than normal life, retiring early will be highly desirable. And who knows – it may even lengthen your life!

In the end, early retirement is mostly about creating options in your life. And by the time you reach your 50s, you’ll almost certainly need those options.

If You Retire Early, Retire Safely

Based on our discussion, you can see that to retire at 55 you’ll need to create a series of many strategies.

It’s almost impossible to carry out one without also doing the others.

But if you can get everything working in the same direction, you will be able to retire at 55 or sooner. Just remember that preparing for early retirement is a long-term process.

Realistically, you’ll need at least 20 or 30 years to make it work. Be realistic, and be persistent, and you’ll get there.

The post How to Retire at 55 (Safely!) appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/how-to-retire-at-55/

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robustcornhusk · 7 years

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surgery day!

it’s long! contains bodily functions and a long day at the hospital! it’s probably not very interesting!

the night before:

i was pretty worked - it seemed like it was all scheduled very quickly, and we hadn’t even worked out stuff with insurance (this was apparently intentional but i was pretty unclear on what was happening at the time), so what if they didn’t cut me up? what if i was getting ready for nothing? what if i was pregnant or something and they wouldn’t perform surgery?

so i spent -1 morning calling and being called by the hospital - “are you /sure/ i don’t need to have gotten pre-approval, am I going to have prescriptions afterwards, ...”, the afternoon cleaning up the apartment (my room’s all shiny now!), the night going through a bunch of japanese flashcards. ate dinner at 7pm; people kept calling me during, so i didn’t finish until 8. my mother was one of the callers; she started crying about it and hung up; i’m not really clear on why.

right before bed, i got out all the clothes i wanted for the next day: shirt/jeans/socks/shoes/jacket for the morning, sweatpants and flipflops for going home in. cohuman drugged me so i could go to sleep.

day of:

i woke up at about 8:30, sat in bed for a bit, then took a shower with hibiclens (per pre-op instructions) (don’t get it in your face, you will apparently just lose your sight and your hearing? oh my god). cohuman went out to get a bagel and coffee for themself. i was technically allowed to drink clear liquids (water, gatorade, tea, apple juice) but i was a little nervous that it was secretly not allowed and was on my instruction sheet by mistake, so i didn’t drink anything.

at like 9:45, i was like “WE SHOULD TAKE BEFORE PICTURES” and cohuman was like “no? we’re leaving in five minutes?” so instead i just weighed myself.

a few minutes later we called a car, and left at about 9:55 i think? because i hadn’t had anything to eat or drink, and because i don’t ride in cars very often, and because i was scared they would cancel the surgery still, i was a little dizzy/sick feeling in the car... but managed to get to the hospital (mt. zion) with no incident at 10:10.

we went straight to check-in; the person who checked me in was a little confused because my license said ‘rory’ on it and my insurance was under my old name (feminine, historical misspelling) and wasn’t sure what to call me. alas my hospital bracelet had to have my insurance name on it, but pretty much everyone who called me oldname, once they saw me, started using my last name when it was necessary to talk about it.

at about 10:20 or 10:25, someone called my oldname; they seemed a little surprised but went with it when i responded. cohuman and i were led to a private room this time; i was told to take off & put away my clothes, put on a hospital gown, pee in a cup, put on a hairnet, and sit in a chair when i was done.

a little after i’d done all that, three nurses came in at once and swarmed me: putting on a blood pressure cuff, taking blood samples, setting up an iv, checking my medical history, turning on the gown warmer... all the action and the heat and the blood was getting to me, so that reclined my chair all the way back and turned the gown warmer into a gown cooler (! so comfy).

a harpist came in a little bit later and played for a while; cohuman talked to them about a laser harp a friend is making.

after the harpist left, the nurses came back; i had to take a couple of meds pre-surgery - tylenol, voltaren, neurontin/gabapentin in pill format; some patch behnd my ear to “reduce secretions” but was maybe was to reduce nausea after surgery. got to take them with water, which was NERVE WRACKING and i was like “are you sure this is okay, they’re not going to cancel surgery if i do this, right?”

(yes it was fine)

anesthesiologist the first came in; went over anesthesia stuff for a bit; said anesthesia with a hard t (“teasia”) instead of th (“thesia”). mostly they had to check that yes a tube will go down my throat, they aren’t going to knock out a tooth while doing it, have i had surgery before and how did i react to anesthesia then?, stuff like that.

dr rowen came in, talked about medical stuff: yep we’re taking out your uterus and fallopian tubes and ovaries and cervix, we’re not gonna take out any other organs unless we discover that you have a ticking time bomb shaped like an appendix, “you have good insurance, so they’ll prob cover it, but it also meant we couldn’t do preapproval”. she talked to cohuman a bit while i was talking to other people, and they’re going to figure out what needs to be done to be Absolutely Sure insurance covers it, probably. (cohuman will have to fill in their discussion, but the result is that at some point i’m gonna sign some things so they are Authorized to represent me for insurance reasons or something.)

two of the other doctor humans/med students/residents/Not Top Doctor/i’m not really sure who they were but they were younger than dr. rowen/people came in during the tail end of my conversation with dr. rowen, and talked to me for a bit about surgery too. i didn’t really have any questions by then, i was just sorta hyped.

the other anesthesiologist came in (why were there two?), talked a bit, left, came back. “Think about a calming place where you want to be, it’ll make going into anesthesia better” - “Ah, I’ll think about the operating room!”

i went to the bathroom, forgetting i was going to be catheterized anyway, then they stuck me in a wheelchair and wheeled me over to the operating room. cohuman came with us for the first bit; we said goodbye; i think they went to get lunch.

once i was in the operating room, they directed me to sit on the table - wait no gotta have the back of the gown open, dang you’re tall, move down a bit, move up a bit, move down a bit, up a bit, ah, we got it. once i was situated, they added the ?sedative? to my iv at that time, which started to hit pretty fast.

“last time i noticed it after about 30 seconds, i think.” “Oh, you’ll feel it in 23.” “23? So specific.” “Well, 28.”

they prepped for operating and we/they talked a bit about where i’m from (charleston, sc) - after a bit they put a face mask on me so i couldn’t talk all too much, but, you know.

aaaand the next thing i remember is being in the recovery room. i basically responded to every question with “I want [cohuman], where is [cohuman], cohumanはどこですか。”

let me tell you asking in a language that literally no one in the room speaks, including you, is not a good way to get answers.

my nurse in there was nice, but busy and kinda … i never really had an idea of what i needed to be doing and i never knew when/if he was doing stuff for me? so it was sorta frustrating.

also my call button apparently wasn’t plugged in for a long time, which, oops. (cohuman points out that, in particular, it was not plugged in when i was in Severe Pain and trying to get someone’s attention to Please Make It Stop)

i was in a public room again rather than a private room, which was fine. the person in the curtained-off room next to me kept talking about food which was pretty funny whenever i overheard it.

cohuman said i was out of surgery at ?2:30?, and woke up somewhere around 3:15-3:30, and that they came in at 3:30.

cohuman had gone to the nearby japanese mall for lunch, and also picked up a book to show me when i came out. the title is something like “fitting english words”; it’s about things that usually you’d use one word in japanese for, that in english have two separate words, like tall/high and key/lock.

i couldn’t look at it too long, though; i was seeing double. i could only read or look at my phone by covering up one of my eyes.

where my cervix /had/ been hurt a lot, like i probably would’ve been crying except that i was too dehydrated to cry. they added some painkiller to the iv (not sure what kind), and had some oral ones for me to take, but i wasn’t allowed to take them until i had eaten something. they brought me some graham crackers and water, and i spent … a long time attempting to eat two graham crackers. my mouth was bone dry so swallowing was, uh, difficult. but eventually i got them down and also the painkillers.

at some point i was like “hey i’m bleeding, vaginally, and i know that’s expected but also i prefer not to bleed directly onto the hospital bed?” and the nurse was like “it’s fine” and i was like “i have years of menstruation taboo and would prefer to not bleed directly on the hospital bed” and then they disappeared for a while and came back with hospital mesh underwear and pads, which was a little funny. they had to put it on me, which i think normally i would be uncomfortable with, but also i was fresh out of surgery and didn’t give a damn.

i tried to use the bathroom; nothing came out. i wasn’t sure if this was because i had no urine in my body or because the catheter had irritated the heck out of my urethra. so i drank a bunch of liquids, waited ?30 minutes?, tried again, no dice. asked the nurse what do, they were like “we could do an ultrasound” and then left for a while, which i thought was them blowing me off. after a bit they came back and did an ultrasound and were like “nah, you just have 90ml in there”, then left again with not much explanation. (cohuman looked it up; humans usually want to use the bathroom at 250+ml.) apparently during surgery they also noticed i was dehydrated because only 120ml drained out of me then? so it was more likely that i just was too dehydrated to pee rather than “i am physically blocked from doing so”.

drank more drank more drank more drank more and finally managed to use the bathroom. immediately: I SUCCEEDED LET’S GO HOME, so i got dressed in (oversized shirt, sweatpants, toesocks, flipflops). i was not allowed to carry or hold my bag; i was put in a wheelchair and wheeled to the door. we were driven home; i spent the whole ride with my eyes closed because whatever the heck i had been given was making me fall into a half-dream state really easily and i was getting funny mental images from it. pico wearing the croissant and jumping into a pile of [housemate]’s records, pico playing with some carpet samples that i was trying to look at, extremely vivid grassy walls, ...

#hysterectomy

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davidcdelreal · 5 years

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How to Retire at 55

The FIRE Movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) has people retiring as early as 35 or 40. But unless you’re making a seriously above average income early in life and can live bare bones, that probably won’t be an option for you.

The next best option may be somewhat early retirement. Like retiring at 55.

Don’t be too upset if you’re not able to retire sooner. In fact, there are even certain advantages to retiring at 55. And it’s still a heck of a lot better than retiring at 65.

Guide to Retiring at 55

Why to Retire at 55

How to Retire at 55

How to Maximize Retirement Savings

How a Roth Conversion Ladder Can Help

Benefits of Retiring at 55

Why Retiring at 55 Can Be Better Than Retiring at 50 – or 45

50 is a common age that people want to retire early at. 45 is another common target, and for the more ambitious, it’s 40. But as attractive as it can seem to retire that early, retiring at 55 can actually work much better.

There are several reasons why this is true:

You’ll Have an Extra Five Years to Prepare.

Let’s say you begin saving and investing at 25. Over the next 25 years, you save and invest an average of $20,000 per year, at an average rate of 7% per year. By age 50, you’ll have $1,181,209.

But if you continue saving and investing for an additional five years, by age 55 you’ll have $1,776,038.

That’s almost $595,000 by delaying your retirement by just 5 years. And it’ll make a real difference and how well you’ll live in retirement.

Still another benefit is that you’ll have an extra five years, just in case your retirement investment plan doesn’t quite go as well as you hope.

You’ll Need Five Fewer Years to Cover in Retirement.

If you expect to live to be 90, you’ll need to provide for yourself for 40 years if you retire at 50. But if you retire at 55, that number drops down to 35 years.

Your money won’t need to last quite as long, a benefit you’ll appreciate throughout the entirity of your retirement years.

You’ll Have Five Fewer Years Paying for Private Health Insurance.

Health insurance is one of the biggest issues with early retirement. You won’t have the benefit of Medicare, so you’ll have to get coverage on the health insurance exchanges.

Use Healthcare.gov’s plan estimator to see what you’ll pay. It’ll help you appreciate why retiring five years later will be good for your wealth.

Convinced yet? Let’s talk about how you can actually retire at 55.

How to Retire at 55

Live on a Lot Less Than You Ever Thought You Could

With this strategy, you’re creating the extra room in your budget to save money at an above average rate. The less money you need to live on, the more you can save, and the more you’ll have available for retirement.

There are a couple of variables here, too. If you’re really good at cutting your living expenses to the bone, you may be able to retire sooner than 55.

If you’re coming to the early retirement party a bit late in life, cutting expenses will be even more important to reach your goal of retiring at 55.

Everyone talks about cutting living expenses, but exactly what does that involve? And more specifically, how much harder do you have to work at it if you want to retire early? Naturally, it’ll be easier to budget if you make more money.

Cutting expenses can be done on just about any income. After that, it’s mostly a matter of turning it into a habit.

The most basic strategy is to cut anything in your budget that isn’t absolutely necessary. That will include cutting back or eliminating vacations, restaurant meals, in recreational spending.

Depending on how close you are to your desired retirement age, you may also have to cut basic living expenses. For example, you may need to live in a very modest home and consider driving a second-hand car.

What you cut, and by how much you do, will depend on how much you want early retirement, and how soon you plan to retire.

Avoid Debt and Payoff Any You Already Have

There’s a neat trick people sometimes play when trying to accumulate a large amount of money. They save money alright, but they make up the difference with debt. If you plan to retire by age 55, that’s a treadmill you can’t afford to get on.

The last thing you need to do is arrive at your target retirement date with a bunch of debt. We just discussed the need to live on a lot less.

But by adding debt to the picture, you’ll be increasing your monthly cost of living through debt payments. And if those debts remain in place once you retire, you’ll need even more income to cover them.

Paying off debt and avoiding new debt accomplishes two necessary goals:

It enables you to save more of your income during the accumulation years, and

it keeps your living expenses to a bare minimum in retirement, which means you’ll need less income and savings.

You should have a plan in place to eliminate all non-housing debt. That includes auto loans, student loans, other installment loans, and credit card debt.

Save More Money Than You Ever Thought You Could

Remember when you were in college, and you lived off of Raman noodles, bought everything second hand, and took advantage of all the free entertainment you could find?

Now is a good time to dust off that lifestyle, and apply it to your current budget. The basic idea is to shift as much income into savings as possible.

The common financial advice is to save between 10% and 15% of your income for retirement. But you’ll have to save a lot more than that if you want to retire early.

That’ll be even more important if you don’t have a whole lot of money saved already. You’ll have to begin building up a basic nest egg as quickly as possible.

Depending on how close you are to 55, you’ll probably have to save at least 20% of your pay. But it might be more like 30%, 40%, or even 50% if you’re only 15 or 20 years away.

Strategies to Save More for Retirement

For example, in the first year of retirement savings, maybe you can only manage 15%. Go with that, then increase it to say, 18% in the second year.

If you get a 3% pay raise, you won’t even need to cut your budget. You can just allocate the additional pay to savings. You can also supercharge your savings by supplementing it with windfalls.

For example, plan to bank bonus checks, income tax refunds, and other “found money.”

Its Savings Builder account encourages you to invest towards goals like retirement with a $100 minimum monthly deposit or a $25,000 balance.

Learn more about the CIT Bank Savings Builder account>>

The Earlier You Begin Saving the Better

It should go without saying that early retirement requires that you begin saving early as well. The sooner you begin, the less effort you’ll have to make.

Let’s work an example to demonstrate how this plays out.

Let’s say you decide you’ll need $1 million to retire at age 55. Your average income between now and retirement is $100,000 per year. You can invest your money in a blended portfolio of stocks and bonds producing an average annual rate of return of 7%.

Age 25: If you begin saving at age 25, you can reach your goal by saving 11% of your pay.

Age 30: At 30, you’ll need to save 16%.

Age 35: By the time you reach 35, you’ll have 20 years to save, and the rate will rise to 25%.

Age 40: At 40, with 15 years to go, you’ll have to save 40%.

Invest Aggressively

One of the challenges of saving for early retirement is that you pretty much need a high-risk tolerance. You won’t reach your goal by investing in safe assets, like certificates of deposit.

While you may be able to have some money in safe assets, the vast majority will need to be in higher risk investments. This includes primarily stocks, and either mutual funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs) that invest in stocks.

In any given year, you can lose money on a stock portfolio. In fact, you might even lose money two or more years in a row. You’ll have to be prepared for that.

Investing in risk assets is investing for the long-term. Yes, you can lose money in any given year, but the real returns come through multi-year investing.

Fortunately, the numbers work to your advantage. The stock market has returned an average of between 9% and 11% over the past 90 years.

If you want to be really aggressive, keep 100% of your money invested in stocks. Over 20 or 30 years, that should get you an average annual return of around 10%.

If you want to be a little bit more conservative, a 90% stock allocation will reduce your return to 9%, and an 80% allocation will reduce it to 8%. But both are still solid returns, particularly if most of your money is invested in tax-sheltered retirement plans.

How to Maximize Your Retirement Savings

Invest in a Tax-Sheltered Retirement Plan

To accomplish early retirement, having as much of your investments in tax-sheltered retirement plans as possible will be an absolute necessity. You’ll reach your goals faster on money that isn’t subject to immediate taxation.

But if your net return is reduced to 7%, due to being in the 30% tax bracket, after 25 years you’ll have $656,000. Mission NOT accomplished. Do you see the importance of tax-sheltered investing?

Tax-sheltered investing could be the difference between early retirement, and waiting for your traditional retirement age.

Once you reach 50, you can add a catch-up contribution, increasing that to $25,000. And since many employer-sponsored retirement plans also provide an employer matching contribution, all the better.

You may also be able to add an IRA contribution to the mix. That amount has increased to $6,000 for 2019, and $7,000 with a catch-up contribution beginning at age 50. By contributing to both plans, you’ll be able to contribute a total of $25,000 each year.

One of the best places you can house a tax-sheltered retirement plan is Blooom. Blooom stands out as the premiere robo-advisor dedicated solely to retirement specifically 401(k) management.

Start investing in your 401k with Blooom today>>

What to Do if That’s Still Not Enough

Contributing to the two retirement plans should get you close to your savings goal. But if it isn’t, you can always save additional funds in taxable accounts.

Yes, you can access them early, but not only will you have to pay ordinary income tax on the withdrawals, but you’ll also have to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

If you have a substantial amount of your portfolio in taxable accounts, you can access those funds between 55 and 59 ½.

The withdrawals won’t be taxable at all. That could provide a valuable bridge between early retirement and penalty-free withdrawals from your retirement plan.

Plan B: A Roth Conversion “Ladder” to the Rescue!

How a Rother Conversion Ladder Works

There’s another way to deal with the early withdrawal problem with retirement plans. That’s the Roth conversion ladder. It’s neither easy nor inexpensive, but it will provide you with tax-free income in early retirement.

That’s where the Roth conversion ladder comes into the picture. Funds held in either an IRA or a 401(k)/403(b) plan can be converted to a Roth IRA. Once there, they’re eligible for tax-free withdrawals.

Those rules mean that the first money withdrawn from a Roth IRA are either contributions or converted balances. Only when those have been taken are investment earnings withdrawn.

Now you have to be in the Roth for at least five years avoid the 10% penalty, so timing is everything with this strategy. That’s where the Roth conversion ladder kicks in.

By making annual conversions, beginning five years before you will need to begin making withdrawals, you can create a tax-free source of income for early retirement.

The strategy works especially well if you are planning on retiring at 55. Since you only need to cover less than five years until you reach age 59 ½, when you can begin taking regular withdrawals from your other retirement accounts penalty-free, the ladder will have you covered.

If you’re looking to do some trading during your retirement planning years, Ally Invest is at the top of the list of best places to open a Roth IRA. With low trading fees and a nice selection of investment offerings, the platform is a solid choice for your Roth IRA.

Invest in your Roth IRA with Ally Invest>>

A Roth Conversion Ladder Example

Let’s assume you’ll need $50,000 per year when you retire. Let’s also assume your Roth IRA will be the entire source of that income.

To enable you to be able to begin making tax-free withdrawals from your Roth IRA, you need to begin creating your conversion ladder by age 50.

You do this by making annual conversions from your IRA and/or 401(k)/403(b) plan to your Roth IRA at $50,000 per year.

Once you reach 55, you’ll be able to begin taking annual tax-free withdrawals of $50,000 from your Roth IRA as a result of the successive conversions.

This is how it will work:

In the table above, we’ve shown Roth conversions continuing even after age 55. But in truth, you may not need to make additional conversions after that point.

The Downside of Creating a Roth IRA Conversion Ladder

As good as the Roth IRA conversion ladder strategy looks on paper, there is one major downside. It applies to Roth conversions of all types. You must pay income tax on the amount converted in each year a conversion takes place.

Depending on your tax bracket in the year the conversion is done, that text bite can be substantial.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to create a Roth IRA conversion ladder for early retirement. But you will have to weigh out the cost before implementing the strategy.

As mentioned earlier, an alternative strategy is to build up a portfolio of non-tax sheltered investments. You can use those funds to pay for living expenses, between retirement at 55, and reaching 59½, when you can begin withdrawing funds from your retirement plans penalty- free.

Why You Should Want to Retire at 55

People often think of early retirement as something of a pipe dream. And if you have low income or high expenses, it’s admittedly a difficult goal to achieve. But it’s a worthwhile goal no matter what your circumstances are.

Consider the possibilities of what may develop by the time you’re 55:

Your employer may be done with you. While it’s nice to think we’ll all be able to exit our careers on our own terms, layoffs are a fact of life. And people over 50 are often the first to go.

You may want a new adventure. Maybe you want to live at the beach and fish or shift into volunteer work. If you’re able to retire early, you’ll be able to do those things.

In the end, early retirement is mostly about creating options in your life. And by the time you reach your 50s, you’ll almost certainly need those options.

Final Thoughts on How to Retire at 55

Based on our discussion, you can see that to retire at 55 you’ll need to create a series of many strategies. It’s almost impossible to carry out one without also doing the others.

But if you can get everything working in the same direction, you will be able to retire at 55 or sooner. Just remember that preparing for early retirement is a long-term process.

Realistically, you’ll need at least 20 or 30 years to make it work. Be realistic, and be persistent, and you’ll get there.

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from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/how-to-retire-at-55/

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