[xphelper]

Hello,

Most often we are flooded with information about "how to plan for retirement" but we hardly ever hear whether a specific strategy really worked well (or not). So, I started this thread to get some ideas from people that have "first hand experience" with retirement (e.g. those who have actually retired). Some of the things (I think) people would be most interested in hearing about are:

At what age did you retire?
How long have you been retired?
Did you opt to go with a financial planner/advisor?
Did you opt to manage your retirement dollars yourself?
How/where did you (or your financial planner) invest your retirement dollars?
(ie, stock market w/asset allocation, FDIC insured CDs, annuities, other)
What is the average return on your investments?
Are there any fees associated with your retirement investing strategy?
How did you elect to receive your retirement payments (ie, monthly, quarterly, etc.)
Any other notable comments?

This thread is intended to give those seeking pre-retirement advice a look into the future to see some methods that have worked for others and "might" work for them (if they do their homework). Also, the thread is not intended for follow-up posts from other individual that think they might have done better than a previous poster. Please just post "your own success story" and no financial planner/advisor interventions please. One final note: please avoid posting dollar amount whenever possible; keep things in percentages unless the dollar amounts are so minimal, they can't be expressed in percentages.

So, I will start by saying that I retired at 52, I have been retired for 6+ years, I invested my retirement dollars myself, I placed 85% of my retirement dollars in FDIC insured (long-term) CDs and 15% of my retirement dollars into corporate obligations. The average (and consistent) return on my portfolio is almost exactly 6% per anum. I have an IRA administration fee of $37.50 per year, I receive monthly distributions from this IRA, I had to prepare a 72t arrangement/agreement to permit/allow me to make IRA withdrawals prior to 59 1/2, I will take SS as early as possible and buy my wife that new Jaguar she has always wanted. Cheers!

xphelper