Preparedness as a Retirement Plan

[Applejack]

Glad to hear you're doing alright, AppleJack.

My wife and I lost our jobs due to restructuring in November. If our house wasn't paid off, we would be in big trouble.
We don't have a garden or any sort of livestock yet. Just never had the time with working 50+ hours a week plus 1.5 hour commute each day.
But we're not going to make that mistake again. I'm not risking my health at another job unless it's to save someone's life.

We're not completely sure what we're going to do just yet, but we're focusing on self-employment.

If you can get into doing something self employment wise that would be great. I know several people that have done it and it worked out great for them. Best of luck to you and yours
AJ

[LvsChant]

Sorry to hear about the job losses, CdnGuy. I hope things get better for you very soon. And... you've just proved what a great idea it was to get your homestead paid for! Since it is time for planning a garden, you could start one this year with the extra time you have (at least for now).

As for planning for retirement, I'd say getting everything paid off will get you going in the right direction, Porcupine. Then, I'd start socking away savings for your retirement nest egg. You probably have 401ks, etc. already going... there are some nice threads on the forum about investing you might consider checking out. David in MN has some good things posted...

[Applejack]

Glad to hear you're doing alright, AppleJack.

My wife and I lost our jobs due to restructuring in November. If our house wasn't paid off, we would be in big trouble.
We don't have a garden or any sort of livestock yet. Just never had the time with working 50+ hours a week plus 1.5 hour commute each day.
But we're not going to make that mistake again. I'm not risking my health at another job unless it's to save someone's life.

We're not completely sure what we're going to do just yet, but we're focusing on self-employment.

Hope all works out for you guys. It can be tough but I know things can work out for the better. Best of luck to you guys. Prayers are with you. Get that garden going and start canning. It will be a life saver with grocery bill.

[Applejack]

PorcupineKate,  When my husband had to retire, he got a fanancal planner and took all his retirement out of his four O one plan. We have stayed very conservative with the investments and receive 4 checks a month. I am also now retired. We both have Social security which is great but try not to be depended on it. (gotta love our government). He did this because if he passed on, I would only have gotten half of that retirement. The company would keep the other half. So this was to protect me. We have lived off of that retirement now for the past 15 years. And yes it is less than getting a weekly pay check but we have lived very comfortable on it. You might want to talk with a good fanancil planner. If you can find a good one he or she could stir you in the right direction. Just try to stay conservative in what you invest in. I would never play the stock market. Don't trust it. You can loose a bit even with being conservative but you also can regain it quicker. We have past what we invested in and close to doubled what hubby had in the four o one  plan at his work. This has been over a 15 year period for us and we have done well with it. The amount of money you get is from interest and is set for how long you might live. My husband is now 80 years old and I am 67, so it was set up based on me living to be about 85 but the money will still last past that age.

[CdnGuy]

Sorry to hear about the job losses, CdnGuy. I hope things get better for you very soon. And... you've just proved what a great idea it was to get your homestead paid for! Since it is time for planning a garden, you could start one this year with the extra time you have (at least for now).

Hey LvsChant, we are already planning on that. It's Canada, so we're at the seed starting stage only. My wife is going to go back to school in the fall to get her chef papers and food services management diploma, so that's one of us taken care of. I'm still figuring things out.

I've found the IT world to be the most abusive, stressful, industry to work in. Fast food was better, security was better, military was better, trades in the oil patch was better. IT? I'm exhibiting all the clinical symptoms of PTSD. I get the runs and anxiety attacks that feel like a heart attack just looking at job postings in IT. Then I have nightmares that night about all the crap that has happened to me. I'd rather get shot at.

I want to get out of it. I feel I need to get out of it for my health. So that's something I have to figure out, I guess. Just rambling. Not many folks to talk with in my neck of the woods.

[LvsChant]

Perhaps you can use your skills in some sort of business of your own? Your description of work in the IT field sounds truly horrible. I'm glad you are re-assessing your options and looking at making a change... stress is a killer.

Sometimes good things pop up when you are open to a new opportunity... when you are already employed, you don't typically look out at what else might be there, so maybe this is the change you needed...

Wishing good things for you...

[archer]

IT, no one hears about the work you do until something goes wrong, then they blame it on you (even i you did not do it) and expect you to fix it now for free.

[CdnGuy]

Perhaps you can use your skills in some sort of business of your own? Your description of work in the IT field sounds truly horrible. I'm glad you are re-assessing your options and looking at making a change... stress is a killer.

Thanks LvsChant. I'm looking at pivoting into the energy sustainability field. Looking into how to do that right now. I may go back to school. At almost 50, that's scary, but I'm sure I'd be a better student now than 30 years ago.

[CdnGuy]

IT, no one hears about the work you do until something goes wrong, then they blame it on you (even i you did not do it) and expect you to fix it now for free.

Exactly.

It's even worse when you keep telling management that the equipment is going to fail soon and could shut the business down for weeks and they don't believe you.
Then things start breaking down and they think that you're making it break to try to prove your point.

Or you show them how for $20 per store per month, you can make sure they can stay open even if the network goes down. They say that's too much. Internet goes down for an hour and they complain about how they lost thousands. So you say you can make it so that never happens again for $20 per store per month. They say that's too much. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's a form of gas lighting really.

We'll give you none of the tools, training, or authority to do your job, but if you fail, it's all your fault.

I know this happens in other fields and at lots of workplaces. I'm not the only person this happens to, I just have a knack for finding those workplaces.

[robkaiser.me]

Nowadays. with retirement plans tanking and pension funds bleeding out, we may find ourselves without the ability to retire once again. However, this time, we won’t have the farm to feed us and the multi-generational home to keep us occupied and close to our loved ones. If we’re very fortunate, we may be able to find a spot in a retirement home and sell our current homes to pay for it.

Me, I have a different plan. My plan depends on me getting prepared to take care of myself and my wife for as long as we are physically able. If my plan works, we’ll also be able to ‘retire’ early. That plan is preparedness.

I *just* posted about what "retirement" means to us.

Look forward to reading through this thread as well. 

[CdnGuy]

Look forward to reading through this thread as well.

Thank you, I hope it brings you some joy and sparks some ideas.

I wrote the original post 11 years ago. It amazes me that people still find it and appreciate it. It's humbling.

[CdnGuy]

I just went back and read that original post. It was a little bit of time travel. 10 years ago I had just started doing my own podcast and working hard towards the retirement plan. Then life happened. A lot of life happened. We survived, my Sweetie and I. We still have the farm and it's paid for, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

Last time I checked in, we had just been downsized by our employer. I was headed to college for an energy sustainability diploma, but an IT job came up. A friend worked there already so I had some insight into the company culture. I vetted this company like I was going to buy it. There's no way I was going to walk into something like I'd just came out of. I talked to people in the area and in the industry. No one had anything bad to say about them at all.

Then I went to the interview.

I felt like I was talking with old friends. Next thing I knew, over 2 hours had passed. Well, I got the job. It required us to move, but it was a move to an area we had already been planning on moving to. Sweetie will graduate in about a month or so and is on track to be the top of her class. I had no doubt. She could always outcook most people, but now she is truly hitting chef level.

The plan is still the same...sort of...

Now we're moving toward getting some land, growing vegetables, light livestock, and stocking a pond with fish. But, we're planning on building a small restaurant too. Very small, reservation only.  It'll take us about 5 years to get to that, so we're about 10 years behind on the retirement plan. We'll run the restaurant during spring, summer, and fall and mostly close it in the winter. Except maybe special occasions or if someone wants to book the whole place for an event.

The winter will be for us. She'll work on her menu and plans for the next season, I'll work on my writing and such, and we'll hopefully do some traveling. Just thinking about that brings my soul some peace.

Some hurricane-level life winds blew us off course twice, but we managed to not capsize. Now we're correcting course and getting underway again. Survival is an attitude and the first rule of survival is don't die.

[robkaiser.me]

I wrote the original post 11 years ago. It amazes me that people still find it and appreciate it. It's humbling.

Absolutely - good content begets good content and good content is timeless.

I've been a member of these forums for 8 years (though dark for many of them)...

...and am just now discovering gems such as this hidden within the depths of the forums here.

There's much to be said for internet forums vs social media and other forms of online "stuff."

How the time flies!  Regardless, I'm very grateful this platform exists in the way it does.

It provides us the opportunity to do all that we are doing, and the potential to do so much *more*.

[Boethius]

Hi All- Just joined this forum today after many years of listening to TSP episodes here and there.  I've been working towards being self sufficient but in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see where I'm ill prepared.  I work in financial services so the title of this thread caught my attention.  Given the access to 401(k)'s that the CARES Act provides, (if you have been financially impacted by COVID-19 you can take up to $100K out of your account, avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty, return the funds you took within 3 years and avoid taxes OR don't return the funds and stagger the taxes you would owe on the withdrawal over the next 3 years), I'm wondering if it is worth it to take advantage of this and use the money to build up our homestead.  We need a garage/workshop and a small barn for animals, (pigs and goats are what I'm thinking about).  We have some debt as well.  But my thought process is by using my 401k money to improve/enhance my home, I'm more quickly getting to  self sufficiency if things go from bad to worse.  On the other hand, if this pandemic passes and things get back to normal, (the stock market stabilizes), I could then refinance my house, cash out the equity, (assuming it has increased in value from building a garage/barn, etc.), and use that to restore my $100k withdrawal.  I should say here that this runs contrary to everything I have been taught, (and teach), in my professional life.  I must also say that I'm not intending nor attempting to provide financial advice to anyone.  I'm just looking for collective insight from this community to gauge if what I'm considering is just stupidity being amplified by the emotions of our present circumstances or if there is some level of merit to this strategy.  Grateful for being given access to this forum and I look forward to your responses!  Thank you!

[Morning Sunshine]

Hi All- Just joined this forum today after many years of listening to TSP episodes here and there.  I've been working towards being self sufficient but in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see where I'm ill prepared.  I work in financial services so the title of this thread caught my attention.  Given the access to 401(k)'s that the CARES Act provides, (if you have been financially impacted by COVID-19 you can take up to $100K out of your account, avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty, return the funds you took within 3 years and avoid taxes OR don't return the funds and stagger the taxes you would owe on the withdrawal over the next 3 years), I'm wondering if it is worth it to take advantage of this and use the money to build up our homestead.  We need a garage/workshop and a small barn for animals, (pigs and goats are what I'm thinking about).  We have some debt as well.  But my thought process is by using my 401k money to improve/enhance my home, I'm more quickly getting to  self sufficiency if things go from bad to worse.  On the other hand, if this pandemic passes and things get back to normal, (the stock market stabilizes), I could then refinance my house, cash out the equity, (assuming it has increased in value from building a garage/barn, etc.), and use that to restore my $100k withdrawal.  I should say here that this runs contrary to everything I have been taught, (and teach), in my professional life.  I must also say that I'm not intending nor attempting to provide financial advice to anyone.  I'm just looking for collective insight from this community to gauge if what I'm considering is just stupidity being amplified by the emotions of our present circumstances or if there is some level of merit to this strategy.  Grateful for being given access to this forum and I look forward to your responses!  Thank you!

I would wait.  don't take anything out just yet.  Hold on to the status quo for right now and wait to see what happens in a few weeks.  But then that is my advice.  And it is free.  And worth what you paid for.
(but our mortgage is paid off and we have no debt and I am a stay-at-home homeschooling mom)

ps - welcome to the forum!

[Boethius]

Thanks Morning Sunshine!  We have 6 kids and homeschool them as well.  Given that I normally work from home as well, the quarantine hasn't been much of a change to our normal day to day lives.  Still, I'm struggling to find extra time to finish splitting/stacking next winters firewood, (almost there), and start our garden.  The good news is that I've done a lot of little things over the years.  We have some gas cans on hand that we rotate.  I have a generator that runs on both gasoline and propane, (good supply of that too).  We have a berkey water filter.  The biggest weakness is food, (and TP, ha!).  That's what has me thinking about a large scale ramp up of our homestead.  Anyway. . .thanks again!

[LvsChant]

Hi Boethius,

As for the investing question and taking out money from your 401(k) early, you're probably in the best situation to see if that makes sense or not... with the huge debt our country will be incurring by the stimulus package, the value of our money may decrease over time such that it does make sense to use it on tangible things now... I just don't know. Plus investing with the uncertainly has been like a roller coaster ride recently.

We were also a homeschooling family while our boys were still home... it is so hard to predict the long-term effects of this crisis. Hopefully the curve of infection is flattening and at least some areas will soon be able to open up at least some businesses for regular work... The garden project could be a really great way to increase your family's security without a huge amount of cash outlay... you'll need some basics to get started, but much of it can be done very economically...

Depending on where you live and when the temps get down to the point that you can grow outside, you may still have time to do some seed-starting indoors before the garden beds are ready. Look into composting as well, so that you can improve your garden soil over time... old pallets are quite often used to build the composting frames.

If you do get a fair amount of produce from your garden, you may want to invest in a dehydrator (even the fairly inexpensive models will do the trick) in order to store some of your garden produce for the longer term). This is a very easy way to get started on food storage that doesn't require refrigeration or freezing. If you don't already do any home-canning, if you have a deep freeze, many of your veges from the garden can be frozen as well. I like to grow my own herbs, so the dehydrator is perfect for storing that for future use in cooking.

There are so many other ideas on canning, recipes for using your stored foods, baking your own bread... etc. Just search for anything that interests you and your wife  and you'll probably find lots of info. here on the forum. Don't hesitate to revive an old thread... it will probably be of interest to others as well.

[Morning Sunshine]

If you do get a fair amount of produce from your garden, you may want to invest in a dehydrator (even the fairly inexpensive models will do the trick) in order to store some of your garden produce for the longer term). This is a very easy way to get started on food storage that doesn't require refrigeration or freezing.

this is where I disagree.  Last year I had a lot of pears to dry.  I borrowed 5 dehydrators in addition to my 2 9-tray Excaliburs.  one of my Excalibur dried 3 times the amount of any ONE of the others, and in half the time, with none burnt.  So much so that on Black Friday we bought a THIRD instead of ever doing that again.  Funny thing, my friends and neighbors from whom I borrowed - none of them use their dehydrators; they don't like the end product to justify the work.

[Oakie]

Hi All- Just joined this forum today after many years of listening to TSP episodes here and there.  I've been working towards being self sufficient but in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see where I'm ill prepared.  I work in financial services so the title of this thread caught my attention.  Given the access to 401(k)'s that the CARES Act provides, (if you have been financially impacted by COVID-19 you can take up to $100K out of your account, avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty, return the funds you took within 3 years and avoid taxes OR don't return the funds and stagger the taxes you would owe on the withdrawal over the next 3 years), I'm wondering if it is worth it to take advantage of this and use the money to build up our homestead.

Welcome!
With the uncertainty of the dollar's future now I'd be tempted to take the money while it has value! How much depends on what you have saved and your age.
I'd spend conservatively on basics and try to get the mortgage out of the way. There are no guarantees of future income.
Have backup plans if your heart's desires are compromised.  Don't overlook cash on hand for emergencies.   Best wishes!

[robkaiser.me]

"...Me, I have a different plan. My plan depends on me getting prepared to take care of myself and my wife for as long as we are physically able. If my plan works, we’ll also be able to ‘retire’ early. That plan is preparedness..."

I'm on the cusp of completing Baby Step 2 (Pay off all consumer debt) and am on the road to Baby Step 3 (6 months of living expenses liquid cash)

Baby Step 4 is traditional investments into the market for retirement...and this thread may provide just the insight I've been looking for.

Which is utilizing the 15% of my income for investing and putting that towards prepping instead. 

I'm glad I've stumbled across this thread in beginning to utilize this forum more...

[LvsChant]

this is where I disagree.  Last year I had a lot of pears to dry.  I borrowed 5 dehydrators in addition to my 2 9-tray Excaliburs.  one of my Excalibur dried 3 times the amount of any ONE of the others, and in half the time, with none burnt.  So much so that on Black Friday we bought a THIRD instead of ever doing that again.  Funny thing, my friends and neighbors from whom I borrowed - none of them use their dehydrators; they don't like the end product to justify the work.

Well... as I consider your comments, I guess I would also agree that it is better to go for an Excalibur if you can afford it. I only have the Excalibur myself, but I know that others who have commented on the dehydrating threads use other models with success. Years ago I had one of those round Ronco models that I used a few times to make beef jerky and then ended up getting rid of it after years of disuse... It did work, but it wasn't the nice capacity and ease of use of the Excalibur... and no ability to adjust the temp.