There seems to be one thing that Carmen Ulrich as well as the financial calculators leave out, and that is condition of one or both spouse's health. If one or the other or even both have chronic diseases or conditions, there isn't enough consideration for the medicines that aren't covered by medicare and health insurance. I'm more in favor of a figure of 110% of the salary before retirement. We would all like to retire in good health and stay that way, but the truth is, it doesn't happen. We should plan our investments to make up for the difference.
I am hoping (not planning, but hoping) that by the time I retire, we will have sorted out the healthcare in this country so that people can get decent healthcare without risking their financial future. I don't know what the solution is, but the system we have now isn't exactly working.
I agree with you and Lucy. Since I am at retirement I am hoping we planned well. I would have been more comfortable with our planning a year ago before this depression hit. I am not going to take a distribution from my IRA this year in hopes that it will recover more before I need to take one next year. The major problem is that you look at the amount of your savings and investments and pension payments and hope that it will be enough that you don't need to use up all your money too early. Is 20 years after retirement the right amount of time to plan for? What happens if you live 30 years and at that age will you be able to make rational decisions!
You are so right about the healthcare system needing help. I know there is un-necessary waste that goes on with Medicare. When my mother died, she was transported by ambulance from the personal care home to a hospital at least 40 miles from it. It was a hospital where she had never been during her lifetime, and there was one where she had been a patient several times, much closer to the home. We had to drive a long way to get to the new hospital to claim her personal belongings, sign for the body to be taken by the undertaker. It ticked me off so badly that I called the number on the Medicare form to complain, because it meant the ambulance service could charge more money. The bureaucrat on the other end of the 'phone said: "What's it to Ya'?" I was just too tired to explain to the idiot, that as a taxpayer it meant a lot.
