General Discussion

my retirement strategy was to get everything paid off (i.e. my house) so I didn’t have to carry any debt into retirement. That keeps my IRA withdrawals minimal and therefore my taxes low. So I live off 2 sources of income, SS and IRA dividends. SS doesn’t pay all my expenses alone, I must kick in some IRA money.

With all the rise in costs over the last few years I have seen my total monthly spending increase about $200 a month overall, which so far I’ve been able to cover without a reduction in maintaining my IRA balance. (I used to add to my IRA balance each month; now, with the extra ~ $200 a month, I just maintain the balance.)

The main threat I have to my finances remains SS. It seems we are on track to pretty soon lose about 25% or more of that, if Krasnov just doesn’t decide to take it all away. Any losses in SS will result in starting to burn through my IRA.

But, for now, maintaining.