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

Lessons learned from sad 401k story

Reading Time: 2 minutesWSJ ran an interesting article “Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short” over the weekend (link here, if not work please google the article to get it). I felt sorry to read this:

…Gloria Moss has been contributing to a 401(k) since 1985, when she went back to work after having children. Especially after divorcing, she wasn’t able to contribute as much as she wished and when her children finished college, she focused on repaying college loans. She says she lost more than half her savings in the recent financial crisis, then shifted heavily to bonds and missed the stock rebound…

Two things quickly came to my mind:

1) It’s hard for people nearing retirement age to hold on their investment when the market drop like a rock, during the recent financial crisis (Fall 2008 to Spring 2009) I knew I would not hold on to my 401k if I were 20 years older. In order to sleep better at night, they sold their investments at the market low, because they just could not take it any more. I can fully understand the emotion here. For instance, someone used to have $600,000 in his/her retirement account before all this happens, and in financial crisis it dropped to $300,000, the person still prefer to have $300,000 over the potential “nothing left”.

2) The second point, by the same token, people who bailed out at low are unlikely to jump back into market, when the market turns. On the other hand, people who are in the loop (wall street?), and young people are more likely jump back in. The former took the cue from all the government and fed actions, the latter can take more risk because they have more time (to invest and recoup the loss).

Long story short, it seems the boomers got squeezed in this financial crisis. One plus side they have, is for those near retirement age, they can be sure the social security will still be there.

Categories
401k and Personal Finance iPhone app

Announcing iPhone app myNestEgg ~ the retirement calculator

Reading Time: < 1 minute(Update Oct-22-2010) The version 1.1 was released yesterday Oct 21, 2010. This link is the same. Release notes is attached at the iTune store description as well.

(Original) iTune store link here.

myNestEgg_iTune_store_2010-09-17

Product support page here.

What is it (myNestEgg)?
myNestEgg is a retirement (savings/income) calculator iPhone app. It runs on iOS 3.1.2 or later.

How much does it cost?
99 cents in the US (Apple tier 1 price, CA$0.99 GB£0.59 EU0.79 € AU$1.19 NZ$1.29 etc.)

Any special promotion for new product launch?
Yes, you can. If you can find a significant bug or suggest a meaningful feature, you can email me at , and I will give you the refund (via Paypal). And if you like, I can send you the Ad hoc version of my future products for free as long as you send me the feedback (note you will need to send me the UDID of your device for the Ad hoc version).

Categories
iPhone app

Announcing iPhone app myNestEgg ~ the retirement calculator

Reading Time: < 1 minuteiTune store link here.

myNestEgg_iTune_store_2010-09-17

Product support page here.

What is it (myNestEgg)?
myNestEgg is a retirement (savings/income) calculator iPhone app. It runs on iOS 3.1.2 or later.

How much does it cost?
99 cents in the US (Apple tier 1 price, CA$0.99 GB£0.59 EU0.79 € AU$1.19 NZ$1.29 etc.)

Any special promotion for new product launch?

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?