A pension can make a huge difference in one's retirement. Harder to come by these days, and thus so often overlooked by the "experts".
As far as Reverse Mortgages go, there is a reason they have a bad rep. High expenses (often 10% plus) combined with nefarious players dealing in that space make Reverse Mortgages a tough option. Read the fine print - they can often take your house if (they determine) you haven't been keeping up on various payments you owe as a homeowner.

@jafink63... I would suggest that you-
• 1) Sit down and map out your total annual dependable income from all sources.
• 2) Do the same for all of your predictable and repeatable annual expenses. Hopefully the income will exceed the expenses. Will it be necessary to draw down your retirement accounts to meet those expenses? If so, an additional level of careful planning will be necessary. Consider that inflation is certain to increase your expenses, but not necessarily your income.
• 3) Consider what resources you may have for unanticipated expenses- primarily health care. Would an illness requiring expensive or extended health care be covered by insurance?
• 4) If it looks like your retirement income will cover your expenses, and you have decent health care coverage, then (and only then!) can you look forward to spending down your retirement savings.
• 4) With respect to "where do we put it", I'm sure that you will get many responses from the folks here at MFO. My personal input: I believe that we are heading into a period of financial system instability which will likely take a couple of years to sort itself out.
During that period you should want to keep your savings as safe as possible. I suggest consideration of laddering fairly short-term (3 months to 2 years) FDIC insured Certificates of Deposit, or similar maturity Treasury instruments. These types of instruments are easily available through brokerages such as Fidelity or Schwab. We personally use Schwab, but many MFO posters would also recommend Fidelity.
For more information about these types of investments you might take a look at the "New to Brokered CDs" thread, and also the "Best Returns on Currently Available CDs or Treasuries Maturing 2024 to 2025" thread.
Best of luck in retirement- I can testify that my wife and I are certainly enjoying ours.

I don’t post much here and I do follow every day.
So in-turn, we are both 60 this year, I am military and disabled retired through the Air Force. I’ve been this way since I retired in 2008. I worked full-time job for 10 years after I retired, but since then I’ve worked part time of volunteered. During the time I worked, I was plowing money into my retirement accounts and built up sizable portion for which we’ve just sat on and let it grow.
My spouse still works full time doing accounting stuff, but next year she’s dropping a day and still gets her vacation pay etc, which will work great for us.
We don’t have anyone to leave our money too, so now it’s time to spend it. But where do we put it. We have family in US and England, so there will be traveling involved, mainly airfare and food. So many friends all over the place. Where does some one start. Lol
This was our 13th move around and the last time we bought a house. I took a chunk of money from Roth and paid off the house, which still leaves a very large portfolio to spend. I don’t know if I get could get used to rental unless it had private back yard for small dog.

Love to hear what others have planned and implemented for their retirement income.
68 here and retired. My "solution" is to be married to a much younger spouse, who still works.
Pension, SS, and her wages cover what we need plus university expenses for the nieces and nephews, in Asia. School is much cheaper over there, when you're paying in dollars. Of course, extra money gets sent over there, almost every month, for one reason or another. Satisfaction comes from helping out. And we would expect the kids who graduate to take over helping their families, after school is done.
Between the two of us, I'm the one who possesses a "Plan Ahead" bone. I squirrel away a bit every month. Then, when things like the car insurance bill comes due (annually,) we have that amount ready to send.
She's even able to travel in style when she gets some time off: business class. She prefers it, now. I generally don't care to go. And we still have no need to touch the portfolio, although I have been withdrawing a token amount, in January of each year.
The succession plan: When she becomes a widow, she'll move back to Asia, into the new home she's had built over there. Her brother stays there and operates a small farm on the land. Her expenses will be considerably less than in The States. If she's smart, she'll find a job that will fill-out the 40 Quarters she needs to be eligible for Medicare and Social Security. But she could just buy a medical insurance plan over there. It would need to be a good plan, though. Some family members over there have "insurance" but the policies never cover anything when you NEED them. My pension arrangement continues with her, after I'm gone, but at half. It will still be ample. And a one-time $10k death benefit. I guess SS will offer her a tiny amount of "death benefit" when I kick the bucket, too. And she will inherit the portfolio, making sure my son, her stepson, gets a bunch of it. (Or I might take care of that ahead of time.) Our total amount, including her small IRA, is in the low-average range quoted above. We have no Real Estate to worry about. We are renting, and that won't change. I never wanted the headaches that ownership brings.

Do they expect indigent nursing home Medicaid elderly to go out and get a job too?

They're trusting private equity firms to take care of that after they come up with suitable hooks, like:
"Empowering seniors!"

It's all described in the prospectus for the new Strategic Enhanced-Plus Alternative Option Senior Living Experience And Sustinance Retirement Opportunities Fund that's set to launch in Q3 of this year......

does no one watch

Succession?

https://www.vulture.com/article/succession-living-plus-inspiration-explained.html

This following Paragraph in this month's Commentary provided by @CharlesLynnBolin or @lynnbolin2021 seems worthy of further discussion here on the board.
Thanks for sharing your personal experiences and decision that you have made.
@CharlesLynnBolin wrote:

The Modern Wealth Survey for Charles Schwab by Logica Research shows that of the participants, Americans believe that it takes a net worth, including home equity, of $774,000 to be financially comfortable and $2.2M to be wealthy. FatFIRE Woman has an interesting Net Worth Calculator. The concept behind FatFIRE is “Financial Independence, Retiring Early,” but with enough to have a good quality of life. The calculator shows that the median net worth of households in the 65-year age group is $189,100, including home equity, while ten percent of households at age 65 have a net worth of $2.3 million or higher. Pensions are often not included in net worth calculations and greatly distort comparisons.

We spend our working life depending on work income to provide the funding source for our "cost to live" a quality life. If we are lucky (and maybe a bit frugal) we also squirrel away some of our work income for retirement. The above paragraph captures where most of us (65 and older) are at. If we are at the median or below, we are probably still working (if that is even possible). Using a SWR (Safe Withdrawal Rate) of 4 % this "median net worth of $189K" would barely provide $600 per month ($189K*.04/12month) of "safe withdrawals" from somewhat "uncertain and illiquid sources" (our investments & home equity values).
@CharlesLynnBolin last line:

Pensions are often not included in net worth calculations and greatly distort comparisons.

Whether one will receive a pension, an annuity, a Social Security benefit or some other form of monthly/yearly income stream these "payments" are often difficult to quantify in terms of their worth in one overall portfolio or as part of one's net worth. After 40 years (25 - 65) of accumulating a retirement nest egg and living in a home, I personally struggle to think of these two assets as the first place to turn for income in retirement. In fact, I have often thought of my investments and my home's equity as the last place to seek income (withdrawals).
As important as our portfolio and home value is, it might be better for us to find alternative and additional income solutions to help meet income needs in retirement.
Social Security:
Most of us will receive a Social Security Benefit. Spend some time crunching numbers regarding SS strategies.
Annuities / QLAC:
Increases in Interest rates may now be making annuities more attractive. Annuities are a topic on to themselves. For example, a QLAC is an annuity that you set up early in retirement, then dispersed later in retirement at a higher payout.
Our Home/Vacation Property:
Aside from home equity, a home could be rented for inflation adjusted income in retirement. Rent part of your home and have this rental income help with expenses or provide funds for you to travel in retirement. Consider running a part time business out of your home.
Reverse Mortgage Line of Credit:
Consider setting up a reverse mortgage early in retirement. This allows the reverse mortgage's line of credit to grow over time. Then, later in life, you can access this reverse mortgage line of credit and make much larger payments to yourself. This strategy (setting up a reverse mortgage early in retirement (age 62) and letting the line of credit grow) reminds me of how a QLAC (purchased early in retirement then dispersed later in retirement at a higher payout) works. There is a cost to setting up the reverse mortgage similar to any mortgage.
how-does-the-line-of-credit-for-a-reverse-mortgage-work/

Pension:
Some pension plans have features that allow funds (retirement savings) to be added to one's pension so provide a higher pension payout. Spend some time understanding what is offered at retirement. What's a Pension Worth? It could be a lot:
what-is-a-pension-worth
Part Time / Volunteer Work:
Retirement might be the best time to work at a passion that either pays you an income or provide you a productive way to spend your time.
Some of these income payments have little or no death benefit (SS might provide a burial benefit), some have a diminishing cash value (upon death), and some die with the beneficiary, some have a date certain end date, but all provide a partial solution to a retiree's income needs and might help you sleep better at night.
Love to hear what others have planned and implemented for their retirement income.

Do they expect indigent nursing home Medicaid elderly to go out and get a job too?

They're trusting private equity firms to take care of that after they come up with suitable hooks, like:
"Empowering seniors!"

It's all described in the prospectus for the new Strategic Enhanced-Plus Alternative Option Senior Living Experience And Sustinance Retirement Opportunities Fund that's set to launch in Q3 of this year......

does no one watch Succession?

Do they expect indigent nursing home Medicaid elderly to go out and get a job too?

They're trusting private equity firms to take care of that after they come up with suitable hooks, like:
"Empowering seniors!"

It's all described in the prospectus for the new Strategic Enhanced-Plus Alternative Option Senior Living Experience And Sustinance Retirement Opportunities Fund that's set to launch in Q3 of this year......

The SEC writes in its Investor Bulletin "Bank Sweep Programs",

If you have more than $250,000 in cash in your broker-dealer’s bank sweep program, you may want to consider:

• Public Information about the health of the bank.
  You may want to take advantage of the financial and other information available to consumers on FDIC’s website at https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind [corrected]. One relevant consideration when assessing the health of the bank may be the percentage of deposits derived from concentrated sources such as brokered deposits or one or more bank sweep arrangements.
• Your broker-dealer’s affiliation with the bank.
  Your broker-dealer could choose not to limit or end a relationship with an affiliated bank that experiences financial difficulties, even if doing so would be in the best interests of broker-dealer’s customers.

Brokers using affiliated banks include among others, Schwab (Charles Schwab Bank, Charles Schwab Premier Bank, Charles Schwab Trust Bank, TD Bank, TD Bank USA), E*Trade (self-directed accounts are limited to Morgan Stanley Bank and Morgan Stanley Private Bank; other accounts also use Citibank), and Merrill (Bank of America, Bank of America, Calif.; qualified Merrill retirement accounts may also use other banks)
Other brokerages do not have affilliated banks. Vanguard is only now beginning to roll out a couple of FDIC-insured products, Vanguard Cash Deposit (sweep account) and Vanguard Cash Plus Account. But those are pilot programs open by invitation only. Fidelity offers a bank sweep program with slightly different banks for its CMA accounts and for its IRA accounts for its IRA accounts.
Fidelity shows that it uses First Republic Bank, but that the bank is now unavailable in its program. According to Fidelity, that means only that it cannot add new money to First Republic (or presumably its successor bank?). This seems reasonable and responsible, as the moneys deposited there are below the FDIC limit and pulling money out would simply exacerbate the run on the bank. (First Republic is also on Merrill's list of banks for qualified retirement accounts.)
Notable also is that Huntington National Bank is on Fidelity's IRA list of banks but not on its CMA list of banks. Recent change? I don't know. Huntington National Bank is the principal subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares, listed a month ago as a vulnerable bank. More recently, the bank said that it was working to shore up its assets and provided figures to substantiate that.
So long as one's cash in a bank is below the FDIC limit, I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about losing money. The 2014 SEC warning about bank risks due to concentrated sources seems prescient.

Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 5/1/23
TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
+25 bps for RC, RA, RCP, SRA; huge +175 bps for Newer IRAs.
Restricted RC 6.50%, RA 6.25%
Flexible RCP 5.75%, SRA 5.50%, Newer IRAs 5.20% (!)
TSP G Fund hasn't updated yet (previous monthly rate was 3.625%).
Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
#401k #403b #StableValue #TIAA #TSP
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1024/thread

"...I'd venture that most posters on these discussion boards are fairly good savers/budgeters (or at least, were at some point). That's simply not the case for the typical American. In general, we are good at one thing - spending.
On the flip side, some of the supposed Financial Planning experts push the limits of what you really need to retire. Not everybody requires over $2M or $3M in savings to retire comfortably."
*******************
Bingo. 66% --- isn't it--- of the USA economy depends upon CONSUMPTION???
And really, if the proper arrangements are made, no one needs anything near a million dollars. If you work for a nonprofit, you're not going to earn a lotta money. But there are choices to be made and saving and investing to be done, which will stand you in good stead when retirement age comes around.I never owned a home. STILL renting, in retirement. Works for me. Affordable SENIOR housing isn't very costly compared to the standard apartment rents. And I'm not in a senior-living arrangement. There might be a wait. But it's worse, quite a long wait, for under-employed single moms around here. I know one, personally. She applied, and the system simply never came through for her on that score. At least she's been smart enough to put $$$ into her 401k.
Hank mentioned critical thinking skills. There certainly is quite a dearth of that stuff, I note, these days. I talk to ordinary people all around and am shocked. Missing the forest for the trees. Or missing the forest AND the trees. Or not CARING where that forest might be. Or not knowing what a forest IS. OMG. And these people VOTE, I presume.

I know. But it seems irrelevant to say Americans aren't saving enough when so many have nothing left over to save after paying their bills. I often think the constant complaints posed in the media over "financial illiteracy" are really just a coded repeat of the "personal responsibility" mantra, blaming the victims of massive income inequality for their own suffering when that inequality is systemic and, largely, by design, and not primarily due to individual moral or ethical failings. Yes, people should save more and put more in their retirement plans. But there are often really good reasons they can't, and in certain cases lousy reasons. There tends to be a fixation on the lousy reasons.

I think it's a combination of structural inequity AND lack of personal responsibility.
If money's tight, do we really need to go into hock for that summer vacation just because it's summer vacation and everyone is 'supposed' to take a trip? I would argue no; find something local that's more cost effective and go when you're not going to spend the next 10 years paying interest on the credit card debt used to finance the week away.
But at the same time, one can argue that the structure of the capitalist system also runs against people, too. For example, think how many things are now subscription-based versus years ago. Or why is there a 'PBM' dictating what medicine you can get when they're NOT your doctor? Etc, etc.
And don't get me started on the insane nature of our retirement system, account limitations on contributions, etc. I long since quit playing the annual contribute-and-convert-to-Roth game because for only 5-7K/year it wasn't worth it. If you want to create responsible savers, let them save what they want WHEN THEY WANT TO. Had a windfall year and can sock away 50K? Great! Had a bad year and couldn't contribute more than 5K? Okay, that's fine, too. But things like the Roth phase-out and the huge delta between 40X contribution levels and IRA contribution levels remains a sore spot for me. Nobody these days can expect a comfy retirement in 2050+ on tucking away 5-7K a year in an IRA no matter how much it might grow or how lucky the investments are.
And there's the whole single-person-penalty when compared to married couples on taxation and more. Hell, our tax code in general is slanted against most people anyway. Grargh....
Living within your means and staying debt free is what enables true freedom, but that thinking just ain't profitable.
(sorry, I'm on a roll this week - I'm hosting 2 different sessions for our uni's financial literacy week)

I know. But it seems irrelevant to say Americans aren't saving enough when so many have nothing left over to save after paying their bills. I often think the constant complaints posed in the media over "financial illiteracy" are really just a coded repeat of the "personal responsibility" mantra, blaming the victims of massive income inequality for their own suffering when that inequality is systemic and, largely, by design, and not primarily due to individual moral or ethical failings. Yes, people should save more and put more in their retirement plans. But there are often really good reasons they can't, and in certain cases lousy reasons. There tends to be a fixation on the lousy reasons.

Topics this Month:
Hitting Your Retirement Savings Goal
5 Things to know about the New RMD Rules & Secure 2.0
20 Years of Target Date Funds
Non Financial Aspects of Retirement
Investor Insight Magazine

What I find interesting regarding index funds is what Fleckenstein refers to the endless money train into said index funds (my paraphrasing, not his words) from retirement investors into 401Ks etc., just like what folks were thinking in Japan years ago...this is going to go on and on, until one day it doesn't and whammo. Drives stocks/indexes up no matter what the true fundamentals are (note what AAPL did last quarter, earnings I think were flat or so and market cap goes up what $5-6Billion? What's up with that?
I think that his one of the reason's some/many invest with funds that are NOT index funds...thinking is that index fund results are based on group psychology to an extent and "it works until it doesn't"...
Hmm.

There are no guarantees in finance, but I would say the likelihood of a private shop as big as Vanguard being acquired is slim, and a $70 billion target date fund that is a mainstay in thousands of employees retirement plans probably won’t change its stated strategy.

What would you hold for the next 20 years? The $70 billion 2040 Target Date VFORX is the most obvious solution for many investors but not here. The notion that you can’t get a reasonably smooth ride purely by indexing isn’t true. You can index a lot of things, including bonds. VFORX is all index, has a 0.08% expense ratio and will grow gradually more conservative in its allocations as 2040 approaches. A target date fund isn’t right for tinkerers and traders like on MFO, but I actually think it’s quite useful for many employees in retirement plans who don’t understand investing. One and done.

Check FMI international FMIJX. It was discussed a lot here as well on M* forums when it was a top performer for a few years. As usual, it is not mentioned anywhere as it's been underperforming for the last few years. I held ARTKX for a long TIME in one account or another, and bought it in my retirement account when they announced about closure.
Also, check VTRIX, VWICX, and Avantis International Large Value ETF AVIV if you are OK with ETFs.

John Miller manages several HY muni funds at Nuveen (OEFs NHMAX, etc; CEFs NMZ, etc). He is retiring from Nuveen.
Nuveen also settled with Preston Hollow and will invest a small amount in it.
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/nuveens-miller-steps-aside-as-head-of-munis-ahead-of-june-1-retirement
More
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nuveen-appoints-daniel-close-as-head-of-municipals-301792931.html
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/preston-hollow-community-capital-and-nuveen-reach-global-settlement-of-all-litigation-claims-announce-nuveen-investment-in-preston-hollow-301792929.html

One of the best retirement income optimizer I have come across and it's free.
This is the extended version (more inputs):
https://i-orp.com/Plans/extended.html
This is the basic version:
https://i-orp.com/Plans/index.html