Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I really like both of you and while I generally agree with you Submariner, mathjak is right. It is all dependent on what a person's description of "okay" is. I know after all the years I put in and the pennies I scrimped and saved over the years I would not accept the deep woods life you have in Maine. I grew up there and know that Maine is a nice place to visit but I certainly would not want to live there any more.
I want to thank my better half for keeping me sane as I had to put up with a lot between deployments and state active duty assignments. Doing all of that while getting paid more than most but less then a lot.
Each person has their own ideal for retirement.
I am satisfied with a parcel of forest land, a large house, no debt and a small pension.
I am satisfied with a parcel of forest land, a large house, no debt and a small pension.
oh and I applaud that. I think you have a wonderful life there. I know a few like you that is all they want. Me and DW we prefer something a bit more. We want to see things we only saw on TV or read in a book. We want to experience life in other parts of the world while we still can.
oh and I applaud that. I think you have a wonderful life there. I know a few like you that is all they want. Me and DW we prefer something a bit more. We want to see things we only saw on TV or read in a book. We want to experience life in other parts of the world while we still can.
we gave it a shot part time in the pocono's . after 5 years of part time life there it wasn't for us .we were getting bored stiff compared to our life here in nyc in queens
I agree. But in general terms a million seems to be the magic bullet.
a million generates about 40k a year which with ss can work well in cheaper parts of the country . a pension from our sanitation dept here is about 40k or so . roughly about the same as 1 million will generate safely
what you have to do is think of the amount you need in retirement as building a house in a stormy area .
if you live in a stormy area , the best thing to do is build to standards that could withstand the most powerful storm your area has seen historically . at least you know nothing to date would have effected your home .
but if you can't afford that , perhaps you want to build to what would have survived 90% of the storms in your area and risk not measuring up to withstand the very biggest .
feel lucky , maybe just build to withstand the average storm you get . you have a lot less protection but the odds say that may be all you need .
this why numbers can run so high , it isn't because financial planners want to take your money . it is because the variables are so wide with so much potential for things not to co-operate with your budget .
the more you want your income stream not to have to take a pay cut in bad times the worse the storms it should have already survived whether you think they will happen again or not .
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-27-2017 at 08:31 AM..
a million generates about 40k a year which with ss can work well in cheaper parts of the country . a pension from our sanitation dept here is about 40k or so . roughly about the same as 1 million will generate safely
But I don't think you need that for life. Only until you get SS. Plus a million with a house paid off is different from a million with no house.
depends . i woulds not want to live the lifestyle ss and 40k from that million would give us here ny if i had a choice . in fact we would stlll qualify for a low income nyc project with that income .
So as I am approaching retirement I've been reading/researching a lot of different things.
1) as others have said it's not so much about a number but more about your lifestyle. I'm a native new yorker, My dad was a nyc cop. retire ridiculously young with a full pension plus what he gets from his military pension (Korean war vet) and social security brings in more than when he worked full time.
Now his house in Harlem was paid off but he traveled when he wanted and enjoyed life.
2) check who these articles are written by. I swear each and every day Yahoo has an article about how if you don't have a million bucks to retire you're screwed. yet I know way too many people who retire with far less and who are living happily ever after in retirement.
I try to do a financial check up every 2 years. I still live in a High COL area and I love it so I have no plans to relocate fully to a cheaper place. I do want to be a snowbird as I'm hating winters the older I get. some things I do would have the authors of these articles cringing (I love risk and my portfolio reflects that and I have no intention of buying LTCI) and other things I'm more in line with.
Instead of most articles I try to tell others, LBYM and save as much as possible WITHOUT depriving yourself of today.
With interest rates as low as they are, you'll get differing views on the wisdom of paying off a mortgage versus extending it via a refi. It all depends. Which is pretty much the bottom line for anyone's retirement plan. It's like buying a new suit. There is a lot of personal measuring and tailoring that needs to go on before it can be called ready to wear. My advice in general would be to develop a serious idea of what you would want to do in retirement and where, along with a realistic estimate for how much that would be likely to cost. Match that up to what your retirement resources will actually amount to, then add salt and other seasonings to taste.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
