Thread regarding Ford layoffs

OP: Read the book: Die with Zero by Bill Perkins

@13y you got me!
suzie HQ

131+1jvk33513- Hello chatGPT! You’re off topic again.

@12z+1jvk33513 Get a financial advisor and while at it make sure to not ruin the lives of the next generation. Examples being modern slavery or blackmail / forcing exploitation then telling them it was our choice they are using sh-t against u from before puberty because they doxxed ur personal life because u blew up the spot of their little criminal enterprise at ford

It is ok to forego healthcare subsidies and focus on Roth conversions if you have large amounts in tax-deferred accounts. Roth conversions in 22%-24% tax range is a sweet spot for such situations.

A friend of mine currently has 3.5M in his tax-deferred account(s) between him (60) and his wife (58) both retired in 2022. They had 3.1M in tax-deferred in 2022 and did Roth conversions of 250k in 2023, 250k in 2024 and 250k in 2025 at the top of 24% tax bracket. Still it didn't make any dent to their tax-deferred accounts. In fact they now have more than in 2022 even after 750k Roth conversions in 3 years. They want to go all out on Roth conversions until 65 at 24% (max) and then limit Roth conversions to the top of 22% tax bracket until 75 (RMD) to keep the IRMAA surcharges in control. Is there a better strategy?

We are doing great with that amount. I retired in 2022 and found I was getting a bit bored after two years, so I work 2-3 days a week for fun and bank it all for vacations. It pays for two really nice cruises each year. No stress and I can quit anytime!

Good info

OP: re. your question about Roth Conversion vs. Healthcare Savings. Check out this video. It will give you some good starting point to run your numbers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENT4XF-cEe8

@k4+1jvk33513 is right. 3 mil at 4% is 120K a year, which is the golden rule for retirement.

The main isue is health care. So plan on spending $30K a year (if you are married) on health care expenses. Half of it are the monthly insurance payments, the other half is reaching the max out of pocket expenses in the family plan. Hopefully you'll not be spending that every year, but it is a possibility. So plan for it.

You should be able to withdraw $120k/year and because of interest your $3 million should never go down.

However, you're on your own for healthcare until 65 when Medicare kicks in. So consider that.

As expected, a mixed bag of good and bad comments.

There are good resources and support group all around. Most of your questions have been answered by folks like Rob Berger (youtube). The reddit r/retirement and r/bogleheads subgroups are good to check-out

Each person/family is different, there is no one right and wrong answer. At a high level, if you follow the 4% rule, and keep expenses under control, you’ll do fine in retirement. Good Luck.

It is a blessing in disguise. Sometimes people want to retire early but keep postponing out of greed, fear or having insufficient funds. Here you have a perfect opportunity to actually retire early at 55 and increase your go-go years and really enjoy them. Best wishes for a wonderful retirement !!

I just turned 35 and have about $7 million saved in various stocks and bonds and am hoping to reach $10million by age 40.
This should provide a cushion and buy time if i am laid off. If I can reach $20million by age 50 I should be ok to retire somewhat comfortably by 65.

I have $4.2M divided up in a few accounts and stocks, at 40 for my family, wife and younger kids right now. Wife is now working and earning $80k so that will boost our savings, meanwhile mine is set up to be the primary, house is paid for. At this point ... I just don't care. Fire me, don't fire me.. I really really really don't care.

@ct+1jvk33513 you posted this two minutes before I posted in the other thread.
I don’t know what to think

@OP, my recommendation is that you spend all $3M on ho----s and blow as fast as you can.

@cz+1jvk33513 why are people downvoting this? Want to understand why this is seen negatively

@cz+1jvk33513 living* legend

im 61 and highly employable. My skill set is strong, not many do it, but it is in demand in just about all tech industries. My employer wants to keep me and I will stay until 65, then they will beg me to stay part time.

Anyone interested in the formatting codes for this message board, look here.

https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/

Like many things, the answer is "It depends". My wife and I retired at 55. I got caught up in one of the 2022 purges. Wife got whacked about 6 months later from GM. Kids are on their own successfully. We have a modest house that is paid for and zero debt. This is key as it keeps expenses low. Health care is concerning admittedly though it is manageable.

Between savings, 401k (converted to IRA), Roth, taxable accounts etc. we have about $2.5M in savings and investments. Wife gets a small pension, about $9k. We plan on taking SS at 67 - full retirement age. Our investments are fairly conservative, nothing exotic just index funds (stocks and bonds - about 70/30). We have a pretty good sized "emergency" fund of $150k in high yield savings accounts. Taxable investments/savings/pension have been yielding about $75K/year pre-tax. We do not touch any tax advantaged accounts and don't need to at this time. Currently, our net worth is a fair bit better than when we retired.

Don't go crazy and spend wildly. You will be fine. Getting debt free and knowing what your spend is yearly is important. We've kept very careful track of our expenses for over 10 years now so we know what we spend. We have a comfortable life and are quite happy with our freedom. Just to be sure, we went to a couple different financial advisors. All said, we can do it and we are!

3 mil by 55 is a good accomplishment. Congratulations. Once anyone crosses age 50 it becomes very hard to find a job as companies know you won't stick around for long. So it is very important for everyone to be financially ready to retire by 50. Each year after 50 is simply a bonus year. Going forward it will be much harder to have long term (25+) careers at Ford. Companies don't care about you so take care of yourself.

Buy the cars others sell. Like, when others sell, buy. When others buy, sell. Basics from the oracle, Warren Buffett. A 2005 Camry can go 400k, easy. With just fluids and replacing wear parts. Why sweat it?

Laid off at 55 is pretty harsh and means you’re sc--wed and unemployable

I know people freaked out about inflation and how a basic car can cost $100k in 30 years….but if you invest in stock / bond market and pull social security, you should be inflation protected (at least a large portion of it). Do not keep your money under a mattress and you’ll be fine

Retiring with $3 million now is not a sarcastic number. In 30 years, a basic Toyota Camry will likely start at over $100k.

I know it depends on your individual financial situation but we have succeeded to retire at 54 with 3M and happy to share our journey…

• I was laid off in 2019 at the age of 54. My wife was a teacher and quit due to covid
• We were nervous and went to 3-4 financial advisors to run our numbers. They all said yes! I don’t trust those advisors but their numbers gave us comfort
• we had 1M in 401k (now rolled over IRA) 2M in brokerage & Roth, 5 year average yield is about 6%
• we invested conservatively, 50/50 index funds and bonds
• Our 2 kids graduated from UofM and we have no mortgage (small house)
• Our run rate was 80K while we both at work. We were nervous the first year so we only spent 60k from our brokerage account. That wasn’t fun and hindsight not necessarily
• Now we pull about 120K per year visiting our kids and take 2 vacations (one national park and one cruise)
• Now our overall portfolio balance is actually more than 3M
• I learned that lower income actually lower my tax (no capital gains tax below 95K), it also lower my healthcare costs. We paid $850/pp each month
• We have 300k in Roth for long term care, and do not plan for additional Roth conversion

Good luck! Hope this helps!

What do you need for annual income? Some people just need food and pay their taxes, others need a new car and travel all year.

Dont ask for financial advice here as a general rule. If you can't make 3 mil work between 2 people something is wrong in dreamland. Lower your expense and expectations.

I can say this because I post here and people continue to come here for advice. This is a layoff board. Anything outside of layoff rumor has zero chance of helping you. Layoff rumors are true once in a blue moon.

Good idea eschewing advice from know it all FAs, and going straight to anonymous keyboard warriors for how to manage your affairs. I went that route, and have amassed a fortune.

I am 41 and have $6 million in savings and investments.
I'm worried it won't be enough so am saving diligently.
$3 million at 55 may be ok if you live very very simply and don't have a vehicle or travel or eat anything other than rice and potatoes

For me $XM IRA's/Cash + $Yk pensions (for both me and wife) and age 60-62 was our goal. How did I come up with the numbers? The simple answer is, I compared esitmated expenses to estimated income and number of years (max age of 90-95). Tracking expenses for a couple of years and estimating medical costs to be $Zk, then assumng a 5% increase per year for both, gave me a rough estimate of expenses. Income can be easily estimated ... pension until social securty at 67-70, then RMDs at 75 (there are many calculators online). So I retired at 62. I'll update you with actual results later ;-)

Good advice from @a4+1jvk33513

The only thing to add is Medical Coverage. If you are in reasonable good health then plan for getting good medical insurance which will cost you around $10-15k/year.

$3M ain’t what it used to be, sonny.
With inflation and a serious illness you can blow through that in a flash.

These folks are being realistic.

It’s tragic that a few incompetent leaders like Dog and little Jimmy, through their reckless mistakes, can shatter thousands of lives with just the careless flick of a finger.

GTFOOH - this has got to be a bs post. You got 3mil…you know the answer. You can afford to retire. Wow! You want advice take the 3mil and bet it on red at motor city.

Start socking money away in the HSA and transfer to Fidelity... Don't be tempted to spend it because it is even better than a Roth IRA once medial costs start rolling in after retirement.

I was forced to do it in 2022 at age 56, now 59..

Inquire if you qualify for and HRA from Ford...that helps pay for health care premiums up to age 65. Cobra insurance thru Ford for 18months is the best option for now. All others have much larger out of pocket expenses even with the HRA. (health reimbursement account)

I am currently converting $50K per year to Roths and thinking about going up to $75K. Yes I am paying taxes with 401K money but Ford does 20% withholding so I just use that extra to cover the Roth conversion taxes. I am not trying to convert all of it but trying to level out my lifetime taxation rate because once the RMDs kick in its too late. Also having our children inherit Roth IRAs is a much better option for them.

I kept $500K in my 401K until I turn 59.5 and rolled my lump sum to Vanguard.

The last 3 years have been really good in the market. Vanguard charges .003% and they have me about 50/50. My adviser says we could do better but why...no reason to add anymore risk in the plan plus every 4 years you get a 50/50 chance a mo--n will be voted into the white house. Maybe a 100% chance.

I pull around $60K form the 401K and wife has $25K job and I do odd side jobs for fun money.

I plan to take SS at 62 because I don't need any more delayed income plus SS is treated differently at certain income levels.

Watch some of the youtube videos from James Conole (root financial). If you are an engineer you will appreciate his spreadsheets and common sense approach. Lots to learn on youtube...

Good luck.. Ford was fun for the first 25 yrs but the last 8 were cray cray with Hackett and Farley.

I am 55. We have about 2.9 so similar to you. Not retiring due to medical cost. Can access 401k if you do not roll it into IRA. Rule of 55. Cannot touch Roth until 59.5 It all comes down to cash flow. I am not converting Roth until age 60 at about 10k per year. I put 5 years into high yield savings and let the rest ride in VOO. Insurance is rough. Working four more years.