Retiring income will be about 12k monthly BEFORE TAXES

[Anonymous]

Retiring income will be about 12k monthly BEFORE TAXES, our income will dropped, but we will no longer have to pay FICA and Social Security taxes right?? We won't have to worry about Health Care because its coved by my job. so we only have to pay FEDERAL INCOME AND STATE INCOME RIGHT? VIRGINIA?

[Anonymous]

and of course we have our house paid for.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! Our income before taxes, retirement savings, and 4.4% pension contributions is also 12k month, so having that and a paid off house sounds pretty fantastic!

[Anonymous]

Awesome! Congratulations OP (and PP)!

[Anonymous]

Same here, we paid of our houses. And our retirement income from rentals/pension/dividends is about $140k/yr. We're not touching our 401k/IRAs unless we need to, tho we'll probably start taking SS when we reach 62 six years from now just to invest it ourselves in the market. We do pay estimated VA tax from our rental income.

[Anonymous]

The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

[Anonymous]

What’s with all the capital letters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

Right. If you’re not working during “retirement,” a paid mortgage is very nice. Not only does it decrease cash flow needs, but it’s savings for a future need, like a nursing home. For a lot of retirees, they aren’t trying to pile-up big stock market returns and leave an oversized sum to their kids. Rather, they’re just trying to live a peaceful life without burdening their kids. Peace of mind is where it’s at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

Right. If you’re not working during “retirement,” a paid mortgage is very nice. Not only does it decrease cash flow needs, but it’s savings for a future need, like a nursing home. For a lot of retirees, they aren’t trying to pile-up big stock market returns and leave an oversized sum to their kids. Rather, they’re just trying to live a peaceful life without burdening their kids. Peace of mind is where it’s at.

That's a very narrow minded an unsophisticated way of looking at things. We, for example, own a $1.8 million rowhouse with a basement apartment and are retired. We have a $700,000 mortgage on the house that we could pay off tomorrow. Instead, we rent out the English basement apartment for almost exactly what the mortgage is. Why would we want to be sitting on $1.8 million in home equity that we can't touch?

[Anonymous]

If DH and I stay in our GS 15 fed jobs until 60, our pension will be just shy of 11k a month. We will take social security at 62, so that’s additional monthly income. We can keep our fed health insurance and our house is paid off. Our last kid graduated college when I turn 56, so I’m hoping this will leave us with plenty of money to travel and enjoy retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

Right. If you’re not working during “retirement,” a paid mortgage is very nice. Not only does it decrease cash flow needs, but it’s savings for a future need, like a nursing home. For a lot of retirees, they aren’t trying to pile-up big stock market returns and leave an oversized sum to their kids. Rather, they’re just trying to live a peaceful life without burdening their kids. Peace of mind is where it’s at.

That's a very narrow minded an unsophisticated way of looking at things. We, for example, own a $1.8 million rowhouse with a basement apartment and are retired. We have a $700,000 mortgage on the house that we could pay off tomorrow. Instead, we rent out the English basement apartment for almost exactly what the mortgage is. Why would we want to be sitting on $1.8 million in home equity that we can't touch?

This is why people say “you do you!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

Right. If you’re not working during “retirement,” a paid mortgage is very nice. Not only does it decrease cash flow needs, but it’s savings for a future need, like a nursing home. For a lot of retirees, they aren’t trying to pile-up big stock market returns and leave an oversized sum to their kids. Rather, they’re just trying to live a peaceful life without burdening their kids. Peace of mind is where it’s at.

That's a very narrow minded an unsophisticated way of looking at things. We, for example, own a $1.8 million rowhouse with a basement apartment and are retired. We have a $700,000 mortgage on the house that we could pay off tomorrow. Instead, we rent out the English basement apartment for almost exactly what the mortgage is. Why would we want to be sitting on $1.8 million in home equity that we can't touch?

There are always exceptions, and your situation may be one of them. Essentially, you have a built-in mortgage payment through your renter, but there is always the risk the unit sits empty for a while. But more importantly, the more margin one has for error, the more options one has. For those with more narrow ways to a good retirement, paying off one’s mortgage is a good rule-of-thumb.

[Anonymous]

Too many house poor people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole "my house is paid off" thing is so overrated and not necessary to a comfortable retirement.

It is to us.

Right. If you’re not working during “retirement,” a paid mortgage is very nice. Not only does it decrease cash flow needs, but it’s savings for a future need, like a nursing home. For a lot of retirees, they aren’t trying to pile-up big stock market returns and leave an oversized sum to their kids. Rather, they’re just trying to live a peaceful life without burdening their kids. Peace of mind is where it’s at.

That's a very narrow minded an unsophisticated way of looking at things. We, for example, own a $1.8 million rowhouse with a basement apartment and are retired. We have a $700,000 mortgage on the house that we could pay off tomorrow. Instead, we rent out the English basement apartment for almost exactly what the mortgage is. Why would we want to be sitting on $1.8 million in home equity that we can't touch?

Why pay a bank interest when you could be investing your monthly rental income and living debt free?