# Retirement strategy question



## Rick Scott (Aug 12, 2017)

Hello! 


I am retiring from a job I've had for 20 years. I plan to do this over 1-3 years (not sure yet) where each year is 1/2 of my normal work hours and 1/2 of my normal pay. I'm 65 and am not yet getting SS. I will need to supplement my 1/2 pay during these 1-3 years with $ from elsewhere. 


My question, which would make most sense for me in terms of optimizing my retirement savings: 


1. To withdraw the extra $ I need from my retirement savings? (It is not an IRA account, it is an account set up by my employer with the employer contributing a certain fixed % [up to 10%] of what I contribute from my pay check.) 


2. To get the extra $ I need by contributing LESS to my retirement account (thus getting less matching $ from my employer)? 


3. A combination of the two? 


Thank you! 


Rick


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## HipGnosis (Aug 12, 2017)

You need to provide specific info to get specific advice.
Deducing that your account with your employer is a 401K; 
You need to talk with your HR benefits administrator.  Get the details of the 401K vesting policy / schedule.
You may not get the $ the employer contributed (called a 'match') for the last x years.
IF you do NOT get the 'matching' funds, there's no point in contributing any of your money.
If you NEED to withdraw AND stop contributing is determined by your income / expenses.
Since you are over 59.5, you can withdraw from your 401K quite freely.  See: https://seattlecyclone.com/accessing-your-retirement-accounts-early-yes-you-can/ for details.


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## mathjak107 (Aug 19, 2017)

not nearly enough info here .

if your income allows it the tax guards give us a gift . that gift is we can take 22k a year out of retirement money tax free . that is money you likely wrote off at higher levels . you can take as much as 40k and pay under 5% tax . that is just using the standard exemptions and deductions for a couple .

it would be a shame to give that up if you can utilize it .

dor some delaying ss , living off cash for a year or two , using the zero percent capital gains bracket you can have a 100k plus income , reduce rmd's and pay very little tax .

is it for you ? no one knows , not enough info


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## Outdoorsygal (Sep 3, 2017)

You need to go online and check out any month regarding your 401k

Add up your employers 10% match *plus* the earnings on investments. Basically the positive numbers

Then add up the fees. Add up all negative numbers

DON'T TRUST THE "SUMMARY" ON THE FRONT. Mine is always off because they have a twisted methology meant to deceive

Add the numbers up manually to get the correct amounts

_Do this on a day when you are in a really good mood_

Please don't be surprised to find out you are loosing a ton of money each month. Yes it's true. The biggest kept secret in America

My company offered a 401k plan recently. If I stay longer than about 4-5 more years, their 4% match won't even cover the admin fees

Many of these 401k plans are rip offs. Even my sons 401k plan from Apple dictates he quit working by about 6 years to not start LOOSING money each month. At least at the rate it's going

But it makes sense. Do too well and folks will want to quit their jobs sooner

It becomes a damned expensive savings acct after a while. And I chose the S&P 500 as my stock and it's been doing great! It has low fees yet the Admin fees are very high.

Soon my 401k just will cost me money, even with the employer match. And I cannot access it early for almost nothing per their rules. Not old enough so need to quit this job

to gain access to it.

You may need to contact your 401k company in order to sing up online to have access to this info. Don't trust them to tell you over the phone, they can lie.



After you have these hard numbers, then you can decide the direction you need to go.   I realize you probably won't believe me about crappy expensive 401k plans...rip off plans, but it's true

I even found my specific 401K plan rated pretty high online.


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## mathjak107 (Sep 4, 2017)

if your administration fees are that high you have an employer issue more than likely . i can tell you we used fidelity and now vanguard at work and the fees are very low . in fact once the plans hit a certain amount of money they can get institutional shares and some funds are cheaper than i can get on my own .  most firms are competitive today and if fees are as high as they are it likely is not the  fund company but your employer charging administrative fees .
post some fund examples .


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