Categories
401k and Personal Finance

Thoughts on retirement and retirement accounts

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For example, if one can earn meaningful amount of money from the 401k (paper gain) and that amount is equal or bigger than salary, and the person is over 59 and half, can he/she consider retirement? I recall there is a YT video on this – maybe this one by Azul – Research Shows This Is The Perfect Age To Retire (this is an interesting point: see if you can retire the debt including the mortgage before retirement).

Roth Conversion

Vanguard: IRA Roth conversion

Also:

Roth 401k: Roth comparison chart (IRS)

Average Joe and Jane

CBS News Money Watch article below

More Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, putting retirement out of reach, report finds

Left behind retirement accounts? (can I have some, joking)

A new 401(k) rule is coming in 2026 for millions of high-earning Americans — what to know if you’re in this group

Btw, came across this from Medium recently: The Retirement Myth: What Most Americans Really Do After They Stop Working

I loved this comment: “No such thing when it comes to retirees. I see two groups, one that does what you said (and typically dies with as much money in accounts as when they retired) and one that get healthy and stays healthy and gets busy intentionally creating and enjoying life! From what I see it’s about a 70-30 split with 70% ding very little – but the 30% are having a great time!! You have to choose which group to be in before your health choses for you. The Lie of Later: How ‘Future Time Slack’ Is Stealing Your Retirement – now I realized this article is really appliable to everyone, both active workers and retirees.”

My own video

This morning, I also talked about aging, retirement and related topics on my morning walk via YT. Or you can watch from Bilibili (link here) if you are inside China.

PS:

(YT, audio only) Charlie Munger No. 1 investment tips for those over 50

(YT, Holy Schmidt!) 6 SECRETS Retirees Should NEVER Disclose

I’m 81 and live in my RV for half the year. I didn’t save enough for retirement, so I stay afloat by ‘work camping’ and DoorDash driving. (I read it from Yahoo and it didn’t have paywall)

Americans are living longer, but many are making a costly mistake about old age (CBS News)

You can live healthy to 100, author says, Here’s the secret (Yahoo)

(YT) This 104 old’s life advice will blow your mind

(CNBC) This is the ‘biggest mistake’ you can make with your IRA, attorney says

(Update 11-14-2025 Yahoo Finance) Health & wealth check-up: How a financial adviser can help

(Update 11-18-2025 YT) How Do I Pay For Health Insurance if I Retire Early

(Update 12-31-2025 CNBC) Rule expands penalty-free early 401(k) withdrawals — but new use ‘might not be practical,’ advisor says. Let me quote some below:

If you reach your 65th birthday, you have about a 70% chance of needing some form of long-term care services and support, according to a 2020 estimate from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. On average, women who require care need it longer — 3.7 years, versus 2.2 years for men. While a third of 65-year-olds will never need long-term care, 20% will end up requiring it for more than five years...

For example, the cost of a home health aide reached an annual median cost of $77,792 last year, up 3% from 2023, according to the 2024 Cost of Care survey conducted by Genworth Financial. The national annual median cost of a semiprivate room in a nursing home rose to $111,325, up 7% from 2023. For a private room, the median yearly cost climbed 9% to $127,750.

(Update 02-17-2026) You need $2 million to retire and ‘almost no one is close,’ BlackRock CEO warns, a problem that Gen X will make ‘harder and nastier’

Categories
401k and Personal Finance advice and tips Life Life Tips Software development

When should I retire

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The best time is now; the second-best time is tomorrow. –anonymous

After 25 years career I finally got an office with windows

Career

Per my age and typical stereotype, I think I am expected to wind down my career in the software field now (my LinkedIn profile here). I understand career is more than a LinkedIn profile or a resume, but here in the USA IT IS one of those things that MATTER, in addition to title, experience and compensation history. Useless or but fun fact: I started my LinkedIn profile in 2008, about 17 years ago.

US companies are mostly snobs, in my not too humble opinions. I mean CEOs or the higher ups, not the average Jane and Joe. Doesn’t matter whatever they say publicly – their mission is making money for the owners, not for employees. This is quite obvious from the recent high-profile layoffs such as Amazon laying off 14,000 back-office people/white collar workers last week.

And I have my favorite quote related to that topic too. When questions by reporters why he took $55 million exit package in 2002, when he was forced out, former CEO of EDS, Electronic Data Systems, Dick Brown famously said: I have an expensive wife. I know I know, I don’t have expensive wife. But I also have two daughters who like to buy things. Or should I ass that they have good taste? 🙂

Sorry a bit off topic 🙂 Last month (Oct 2025) I passed 25 years’ work anniversary in the USA. I started working here on Oct 2nd, 2000. A lot has changed since I started working here. I have seen quite a bit of industry underwent paradigm shift. From the Internet bubble (web 1.0) burst to web 2.0 (remember delicious, Flickr and digg.com?). And now we have web 3.0 and more. My career wise, I changed from working in the CAD software to mostly enterprise web applications, with a bit of consulting and iOS dev in between.

I don’t want to be forced out

I have seen coworkers who are about 50 years old, being laid off, at multiple places. Some of them were caught off guard. I was much younger or a bit younger then. Now I am at that age. And I don’t want to be in their shoes. I have literally seen grownups crying when they got laid off.

Also, right now I felt I can still do some meaningful work. If the time comes that I feel I cannot contribute in a meaningful way, I will just quit.

Re: AI, we all know the AI is causing a lot of disruptions and anxiety among IT/software workers nowadays. But I also believe at least for now, my job is not impacted. And if I can learn those AI tools and they can actually help me doing my job.

How much money is enough

One problem is most of us don’t know the answer to “how much money is enough?”. Or my favorite answer is “a little bit more” (it’s both a joke and also has some truth to it).

But seriously I need to think about this question as the date of retirement is approaching, either I want to face it or not. Some of the things I am thinking about regarding this topic.

1. My retirement is probably going to be different from my parents’ retirement. They have a more traditional retirement. My dad has a pension, and I don’t. And they stopped working completely when they retire. I think I will likely do some work (not too strenuous), for example, I will manage my 401k and IRAs, as well as doing other things I like to do (music, walking outside, does that include swimming??? 🙂 And some social life too (not drinking at the bar, I mean probably I am good enough, I can play music at the bar, again just for fun, not for money 🙂

Do I continue to mow my lawns? If I am health enough and feel like it. If not, I can either outsource it or sell the house and move to a townhouse or condo. Note selling the house will be a joint decision not solely mine.

2. I will probably have some hobbies and some travel. But probably equally important, I need to manage my 401k and IRAs, making sure they have decent return and will last. This is also something my parents don’t do. Sorry I am getting repetitive here – signs of my age and the need to retire 🙂

Still TBD as of 11-03-2025 (JIRA board doesn’t look good in terms of velocity 🙂

I need to calculate how much my 401k and IRAs were earning in last 3 5 or 10 years or so. If the total earnings (capital gain + dividend) are approaching my take home pay of my day job, that will be a good sign. Obviously, I need to fact into my financial obligations: the big-ticket item will be my kid’s college costs, and it will also be a big unknown because the US higher education industry is very similar to the US healthcare industry in terms of price transparency 🙂 You may read more about the college cost here as I learned last year. Note that’s applicable for the American students only (I assume US citizens and permanent residents, not sure about the children of visa holders), and not for the international students. Consult an expert on this topic, if applicable.

3. When applicable, I am thinking some side hustles including but not limiting to Uber or eBay to make some money and have something to do.

Cannot counting on that for meaningful amount of money though – ideally main income stream should come from investments, as said in this old saying “if you don’t make money when you sleep, you will work until you die.” I for one definitely don’t want to work until I die.

PS:

(YT 油管)75-Year-Olds Share Their Biggest Regret at 55

(YT 油管)Ayen何璟昕 – 時間不等你【粵語新歌】 [Official Music Video]

(Old blog post from yours truly, originally written about 20 years ago) Monday is not my favorite day

YT Shorts: Early retirees shares truth about early retirement

Categories
401k and Personal Finance iPhone app

Looking for a few good reviewers and bloggers for iPhone app

Reading Time: < 1 minuteI am looking for a few good reviewers and bloggers for my 1st iPhone app, myNestEgg ~ the retirement calculator. Here are a few basic requirements for the reviewer/blogger:

1) An iPhone, iPod Touch, or an iPad device with iOS 3.1.2 or above.

2) Has an iPhone app review site or a personal finance blog web site. More importantly, are willing to try out my app and write independent reviews.

How to get the app?
The app is at “Wait for review” stage. I can build ad hoc version of the app and send it to you (about 500k). Email me if you are interested. My email address is .

What you will get besides the app?
Well, I can not promise anything significant because they will affect your opinion. But I can come up with something appropriate later after seeing the review.

Categories
iPhone app

Looking for a few good reviewers and bloggers for iPhone app

Reading Time: < 1 minuteI am looking for a few good reviewers and bloggers for my 1st iPhone app, myNestEgg ~ the retirement calculator. Here are a few basic requirements for the reviewer/blogger:

1) An iPhone, iPod Touch, or an iPad device with iOS 3.1.2 or above.

2) Has an iPhone app review site or a personal finance blog web site. More importantly, are willing to try out my app and write independent reviews.

How to get the app?
The app is at “Wait for review” stage. I can build ad hoc version of the app and send it to you (about 500k). Email me if you are interested. My email address is .

Categories
iPhone app

Submit my 1st iPhone iOS app, wait for review

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAfter I initially upload myNestEgg (Aug 30 night), I did couple “developer reject” to add data persistence (Aug 31), and correct icon matching problem (Sept 7). It’s still in the “Wait for review” as of this writing.

Interestingly today Apple announced some change of iOS app license agreement, and put up a new App Store Review guidelines. One needs the iOS developer program to read the full content. But one can always read that from google news (I personally like what arstechnica has to say).

BTW, I found this Apple iOS App Store submission tips to be helpful. And this thread How long “waiting for review” to be fun. Per this thread, I should start working on the next app. Or start port my app to Android?