How much $ to retire and how to fund your lifestyle in retirement

[M|S|M MYP]

Previously I said the TSLA stock price would decide when I retire.

If the share price hit $1,000 or was approaching it fast I'd ignore my age and retire. 10% early withdrawal penalty be damned.

If the share price was below that or didn't look to be heading that way I'd wait. Try and get a better price later and avoid that 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Considering my cost basis, I don't really want to sell down here in the sub $300 range.

Spoiler: cost basis (not a full / current list)

View attachment 979936

I still don't know what my next job is, but the stock price says I need to keep working. I've been on the same contract since 2012 but it's ending this year.

Even if I don't pick up more work I won't be selling TSLA at these levels. I have funds not in TSLA stock I'd live on until TSLA moves into a range I want to sell at.

But I suppose it's possible I'll be forced into a "Barista FIRE" type early retirement or a full on Retirement if I can't find something at my current company. Who knows maybe I'll grab a part time job at my local Tesla Service Center / Adviser / Delivery Center just for the insurance.

I was in the same boat as the contract situation. Was on contract since 2018, picked up another contract in 2020. I was working 2 jobs since 2020 fully remote, which was so nice! Alas, all good things must come to an end eventually. 2nd contract did not get renewed at the end of July. First contract finally said "We have to convert you to a FTE or release you". Went from making $215/hr combined to $75/hour as a FTE at 1 job.

Luckily, i socked all the 2nd contract job's $$$ away so now i am patiently waiting for $TSLA to hit $350+ to seriously consider retiring.

 

[CHGolferJim]

OK I setup my first Roth conversion (a few hundred shares of TSLA) and scheduled on online IRS estimated tax payment for Halloween (through that was appropriate). I guess when I do my taxes in a few months I'll find out how well I estimated things.

My current contract got extended to Dec and I have paid time off accrued that will cover to the end of the year so it's just 2024 and 2025 and 2026 that are in question on are those retirement years or working years?

Assume you realize that Roth Conversion can be used to achieve a target level of total taxable income according to your other income and deductions —> if you’re targeting a $ amount for income and/or conversion by transferring TSLA, it is useful to do so on SP dips so more shares are shifted into the non-taxable account. As is the definition of Roth IRAs, rebound gains are tax-free for growth and distribution.

 

[dhanson865]

Assume you realize that Roth Conversion can be used to achieve a target level of total taxable income according to your other income and deductions —> if you’re targeting a $ amount for income and/or conversion by transferring TSLA, it is useful to do so on SP dips so more shares are shifted into the non-taxable account. As is the definition of Roth IRAs, rebound gains are tax-free for growth and distribution.

Yes I am (I've known the benefit of gains after conversion for some time), but I wasn't fully up on the process of doing the conversion early in 2023 and missed out on the chance to do it in the $100s instead of $200s. Would have been sweet to have done it in Jan 2023 or even Apr 2023.

The reality was I was too busy at work earlier in the year and missed out on that just because I didn't spend time to do it sooner.

 

[dhanson865]

Found https://www.newretirement.com/planner recently and have been playing with the free version. Pretty confident that even a small rally in TSLA puts me in the category that I could retire now with no changes other than playing with my taxes a few times a year.

The user interface isn't perfect but you can get some pretty good forward looking graphs even in the free version.

 

[tivoboy]

Found https://www.newretirement.com/planner recently and have been playing with the free version. Pretty confident that even a small rally in TSLA puts me in the category that I could retire now with no changes other than playing with my taxes a few times a year.

The user interface isn't perfect but you can get some pretty good forward looking graphs even in the free version.

That's a nice little site.. certainly more switches and levers than firecalc and easier to walk through. Pretty $$ for premium, but basic gives a fair enough amount of data and visibility. Odd they don't have a monthly sub, but I guess a 14 day trial is always nice.

 

[SageBrush]

Found https://www.newretirement.com/planner recently and have been playing with the free version.

I would find it hard to not laugh if your severance notice says "spends all day planning retirement instead of working."

 

[dhanson865]

I would find it hard to not laugh if your severance notice says "spends all day planning retirement instead of working."

My normal schedule right now is Sun - Thu, but Thu was Thanksgiving so today was my 3rd day in a row not going into the office.

My current contract has been extended into 2024, I'll wait and see what the TSLA price is like in Jan and keep that in mind when I'm negotiating my next position.

But if TSLA hits a new ATH before my existing contract ends I'll happily laugh with you.

 

[M|S|M MYP]

My current contract has been extended into 2024

Gotta love the consulting gigs, im scaling back after the last one ended (3 months turned into 3 years). Just turned 50 in August so i find myself 'less motivated' to deal with idiots these days

 

[betstarship]

Q - Has anyone overpaid taxes in a given year and donated through a DAF?

 

[tivoboy]

Q - Has anyone overpaid taxes in a given year and donated through a DAF?

When my 2nd company was sold, I did a DAF (for mid six figures) which helped quite a lot with fed and state taxes... but OVERPAYING taxes in a specific tax year, to take the deduction in that year, and carry over a “taxes paid carry forward“ into the next year - well that’s a new one. I imagine it COULD work, and then either reduce taxes (and continue to carry forward) into subsequent years or request refund in a lower tax year, but something makes me think the IRS has some stipulations against that related to either overall tax burden, size, or number of years carried forward.

I DID have about a 75K overpayment one year, and about 2 years later oddly the IRS sent me a $4800 INTEREST CHECK (always cash the check, don’t try and dispute or inquire, just cash the check, move on, deal with later).. but it wasn’t an intentional overpayment, just a mis calculation of different income streams AND deductions.

 

[juanmedina]

I saw this promotion in Bogleheads. Up to $18k transfer bonus for a $1M in IRA's with a referral to WeBull. For instance a couple can do it together and refer each other and get $36k total; the money has to be with WeBull until August 2024.

Any thoughts? Sounds good to me.

Webull: Up To $18,000 IRA Bonus - Doctor Of Credit

 

[M|S|M MYP]

I saw this promotion in Bogleheads. Up to $18k transfer bonus for a $1M in IRA's with a referral to WeBull. For instance a couple can do it together and refer each other and get $36k total; the money has to be with WeBull until August 2024.

Any thoughts? Sounds good to me.

Link?

 

[Nocturnal]

I saw this promotion in Bogleheads. Up to $18k transfer bonus for a $1M in IRA's with a referral to WeBull. For instance a couple can do it together and refer each other and get $36k total; the money has to be with WeBull until August 2024.

Any thoughts? Sounds good to me.

Webull: Up To $18,000 IRA Bonus - Doctor Of Credit

I did something similar last year with Etrade. It wasn't that high, but it was free money and I was looking to move anyway.

 

[dhanson865]

Found https://www.newretirement.com/planner recently and have been playing with the free version. Pretty confident that even a small rally in TSLA puts me in the category that I could retire now with no changes other than playing with my taxes a few times a year.

The user interface isn't perfect but you can get some pretty good forward looking graphs even in the free version.

I've been playing around trying to tune it to show my forward tax plan with spending near maxing out a tax bracket and doing some conversions.

The free version is pretty limited in what income growth you can model (TSLA breaks the model pretty much if you believe it will 5x to 10x over the next few years or anywhere in a 30 year time frame really).

But there is a "what if" section that will present you some common tweaks to the scenario and if you get the one offered that says "Achieve 1% higher average rate of return" it gives you all you need to see that TSLA is safe. Consider these two views:

View 1 tuned to minimize RMDs and spend more at the start of retirement. But since it assumes my stocks will only grow about the same as inflation it assumes I run out of money in late retirement (the purple bars) and assumes I'm on social security only by then.

with that 1% higher average rate of return the dark bars that drop to negative net worth, change to the green dotted line that says I end up with the about the same amount at the end as when I started. So if there is any significant run up in TSLA it'll be worth more than a 1% average rate of return increase vs what they modeled.

Clearly any stock like TSLA will totally break the assumptions of retirement planners. Having played with this I'm feeling pretty safe to retire after TSLA gets above $400 again.

Note these aren't actual current numbers for me, just what if scenarios assuming the stock has made a move up from here.

 

[mannix]

I saw this promotion in Bogleheads. Up to $18k transfer bonus for a $1M in IRA's with a referral to WeBull. For instance a couple can do it together and refer each other and get $36k total; the money has to be with WeBull until August 2024.

Any thoughts? Sounds good to me.

Webull: Up To $18,000 IRA Bonus - Doctor Of Credit

I was planning on transferring my accounts from Etrade to IBKR to take advantage of IBKR's excellent cash account interest rates (currently 4.8% for pro accounts). I have lurked here and the wheel thread for years and dabbled in selling CSPs against cash as practice for when I retire (2-3 years) and need living expenses. I know there has been discussion of brokerages here and in the other thread.

Can anyone share their experiences with ibkr or webull for selling CSPs?

This promotion for Webull sounds quite generous. Their website mentions a 5% cash management account. Does anyone know if you can receive the 5% interest on cash used as collateral against CSP's? I verified with IBKR that they do provide interest on that cash collateral.

Thanks to everyone for all you have shared across the years.

 

[juanmedina]

I was planning on transferring my accounts from Etrade to IBKR to take advantage of IBKR's excellent cash account interest rates (currently 4.8% for pro accounts). I have lurked here and the wheel thread for years and dabbled in selling CSPs against cash as practice for when I retire (2-3 years) and need living expenses. I know there has been discussion of brokerages here and in the other thread.

Can anyone share their experiences with ibkr or webull for selling CSPs?

This promotion for Webull sounds quite generous. Their website mentions a 5% cash management account. Does anyone know if you can receive the 5% interest on cash used as collateral against CSP's? I verified with IBKR that they do provide interest on that cash collateral.

Thanks to everyone for all you have shared across the years.

I ended transferring $500k in IRA's for me and $500k for my wife. Webull pays 5% on the idle cash daily and you cannot double dip with CSP's because it reduces the cash amount. In an after tax account they might pay interest on the cash collateral for naked puts but I am not sure.

 

[mannix]

I ended transferring $500k in IRA's for me and $500k for my wife. Webull pays 5% on the idle cash daily and you cannot double dip with CSP's because it reduces the cash amount. In an after tax account they might pay interest on the cash collateral for naked puts but I am not sure.

Thanks for the information. I specifically asked IBKR whether the cash used as collateral for CSPs accrued interest and the representative said it did. Can anyone verify this with their actual experience? It seems to me that if IBKR does this it makes generating 6% a year annually on cash balances easy. Roughly 3-4% would be in interest, and another 2-4% would be DOTM Cash Secured Puts.

Am I missing something?

 

[dhanson865]

So I was about to transfer funds for 2024 to my Roth account and it asked me if I wanted to mark it as 2024 or 2025 funds. A google search didn't explain to me what the rules where that allows me to put 2025 Roth funds in now in 2024.

 

[mongo]

So I was about to transfer funds for 2024 to my Roth account and it asked me if I wanted to mark it as 2024 or 2025 funds. A google search didn't explain to me what the rules where that allows me to put 2025 Roth funds in now in 2024.

Sounds like an off by one error. You can contribute to your 2023 Roth untill April 15th.

 

[Unclepaul]

My accountant said I could continue to spend as I am currently spending, and my savings would last me the rest of my life...but I have to die withing years