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We are close(ish) to our magical number, although don't think we will get there. No big deal. We will still be fine, just with less of the "extra" comfort zone.
Hubby retired 3-4 years earlier than we planned, so his Civil Service pension is lower and we lost on the extra years of TSP contributions and larger income.
His mom lived next door and was requiring an ever increasing amount of our time and energy. Her safety and comfort was of greater value to us than the extra $$. She is now in a dementia care center.
This is one of those things that you can try to prepare for, as we did, but the reality does still jump up and bite you in the butt.
I think the financial demographics of C-D probably skew toward the better off more than the average person off the street.
As for most people I know, most are doing worse than they thought. Granted, maybe expectations were set too high to begin with, but the recession really killed a lot of finances back home in Tennessee as manufacturing left and those who were employed in manufacturing either found no work at all or were down to <$10/hr junk jobs.
I think that is an important message to get-out to pre-retirees. As it stands, the Financial Planners and Investment Advisers keep fanning the anxiety-flames, leaving folks more stressed than necessary.
That's my feeling, too. Years ago, when we first married (1983) I did a long term projection and came up with our "magic number" of 750,000.00. That was the amount I thought could carry us well into retirement. It was so long ago, I don't remember how I came up with the number, only that it was the number.
As time went on, and I started reading more and more, the number went up and up... and up and up. I had a guy who I worked with (who I felt REALLY wanted his hands on our money) tell me we needed a minimum of 5 million. At the time we weren't earning 50K a year.
How in the name of John Cameron Swayze can someone who hasn't made tons of money retire with tons of money? That's when I stopped listening to the noise all round us. And since then, the noise has only gotten worse, and worse yet, people BELIEVE some of these noisemakers. I wouldn't trust some of these people with a boxed brownie mix, let alone my money.
And I know a number of people who say about retirement saving -- why bother? I can't possibly save that much money.
I've done a number of calculations on various retirement calculators and in fact -- I see their flaws more than anything. The idea is to get how much income, with the proviso that you SPEND all that income.
I'd like to know, that if I needed it, I could get my hands on 75K year. But I can't imagine that I will need that every single year. Most year 25-35K will do.
We hit our magic number this year at 55. And with firecalc, I've discovered I was right. 750K was our magic number.... and the best news is that we are nowhere near ready to retire. Beyond working longer and saving more and finally getting our inheritance in a few years, we'll be just fine thank you.
That's my feeling, too. Years ago, when we first married (1983) I did a long term projection and came up with our "magic number" of 750,000.00. That was the amount I thought could carry us well into retirement. It was so long ago, I don't remember how I came up with the number, only that it was the number.
As time went on, and I started reading more and more, the number went up and up... and up and up. I had a guy who I worked with (who I felt REALLY wanted his hands on our money) tell me we needed a minimum of 5 million. At the time we weren't earning 50K a year.
How in the name of John Cameron Swayze can someone who hasn't made tons of money retire with tons of money? That's when I stopped listening to the noise all round us. And since then, the noise has only gotten worse, and worse yet, people BELIEVE some of these noisemakers. I wouldn't trust some of these people with a boxed brownie mix, let alone my money.
And I know a number of people who say about retirement saving -- why bother? I can't possibly save that much money.
I've done a number of calculations on various retirement calculators and in fact -- I see their flaws more than anything. The idea is to get how much income, with the proviso that you SPEND all that income.
I'd like to know, that if I needed it, I could get my hands on 75K year. But I can't imagine that I will need that every single year. Most year 25-35K will do.
We hit our magic number this year at 55. And with firecalc, I've discovered I was right. 750K was our magic number.... and the best news is that we are nowhere near ready to retire. Beyond working longer and saving more and finally getting our inheritance in a few years, we'll be just fine thank you.
A lot of the folks I know who are retired are doing fine on much, much less than even $750k. The key is that they are debt-free, have been long term, and have always had relatively cheap lifestyles.
My maternal grandparents never financed a car until my grandmother financed one at age 77 a year or so ago, after he passed. Other than the mortgage, which was paid off when they were in their early 50s and before I was born, I've never known them to carry any debt. He was extremely frugal.
Still, that kind of miserly attitude, while good for the financial statement, isn't a way a lot of folks want to live. Other than his military service, he never had any interest in traveling...at all. He'd go so see his brother about 200 miles away in North Carolina once a year til he passed, and took a vacation to SC once a year, but that was it. He didn't have a lot of hobbies or interests that cost money. Many people enjoy traveling and hobbies, and that costs money.
I also know a guy in his mid-50s who hasn't worked in well over a decade. He was fairly astute with his investments, but certainly not rich enough to retire by that alone. He had a rental property, got his mother's house when she passed, and his wife has a couple of rentals. He's doing some eldercare consulting, and between the rentals, his wife's salary, his consulting on the side, he's doing pretty well. He's also fairly frugal.
For the average working stiff these days without some form of passive income who is just relying on a salary and a 401k, it's going to be tough unless you are a really high earner squirreling a lot away.
people will adjust to whatever amount they have. that is what retirees have been doing forever.
but that does not mean they may not have to move away from family and friends to afford to live or take a drop in lifestyle to do it and not by choice. my folks had to move away to florida to live. basically they were out of our lives and the lives of their grandchildren except for vacations.
planners try to assume you will continue to live where you do as you do and then build in a fudge factor so every unexpected bill isn't something to stress over or create havoc in the budget.
in fact if all you want to do is basically afford your needs with not much descretionary income for wants then you need less as well.
there is no magic number , it is all unique to you.
people will adjust to whatever amount they have. that is what retirees have been doing forever.
but that does not mean they may not have to move away from family and friends to afford to live or take a drop in lifestyle to do it and not by choice. my folks had to move away to florida to live. basically they were out of our lives and the lives of their grandchildren except for vacations.
planners try to assume you will continue to live where you do as you do and then build in a fudge factor so every unexpected bill isn't something to stress over or create havoc in the budget.
in fact if all you want to do is basically afford your needs with not much descretionary income for wants then you need less as well.
there is no magic number , it is all unique to you.
Agreed a lot of assumptions are made, especially with people in high COL areas remaining there and that costing a fortune. The property taxes for a single year in somewhere like NJ, CT, or NYC could probably pay for five years or more of property taxes here in Indiana.
But where do the people who haven't made great salaries and have low net worth BECAUSE they've lived in poor areas really go?
Agreed a lot of assumptions are made, especially with people in high COL areas remaining there and that costing a fortune. The property taxes for a single year in somewhere like NJ, CT, or NYC could probably pay for five years or more of property taxes here in Indiana.
But where do the people who haven't made great salaries and have low net worth BECAUSE they've lived in poor areas really go?
Some people pay more in property taxes than others of us earn the entire year
Agreed a lot of assumptions are made, especially with people in high COL areas remaining there and that costing a fortune. The property taxes for a single year in somewhere like NJ, CT, or NYC could probably pay for five years or more of property taxes here in Indiana.
But where do the people who haven't made great salaries and have low net worth BECAUSE they've lived in poor areas really go?
to either poorer areas or worse neighborhoods or live with others. people manage. the median retirement income is under 40k so folks are doing it.
but again it isn't by choice and many wish they had more to live on so it isn't like we can assume they are happy living on that income, they just do it.
give anyone of them an extra 50k to spend and most will enjoy every dollar.
Most of the pre-retirement discussion seems focused on concerns that one will 'never' be able to afford to retire ... or that one will have to live under a bridge and eat cat food.
Yet, most of the actual retirees on this forum seem to be doing quite well. Perhaps concerns about future retirement are exaggerated by media focus and the uncertainty of the future (?)
We didn't do anything particularly unusual to plan or prepare for retirement, except, live within our means, without building-up more debt that we could pay --- or simply 'blowing' a lot of money. I guess we also stayed together, stayed employed and maxed-out my 401K, plus her pension. Finally, we simply decided to retire (early for me). I've got to admit, all of the 'Retirement Planning' advertising made me a little nervous, but, I've never been a 'worrier.'
(I'm not much of an investor, so no 'great shakes' there), but, 6+ years into retirement, I find that we have more steady income than I had imagined we would have; plus sufficient savings for whatever we might want in the foreseeable future.
Has 'Retirement planning anxiety' got folks more worried than they really need to be?
Maybe it does, I can't speak for others, but our retirement has been everything we ever hoped it would be and then some. We planned for it, by saving as much money over the years as we could, getting ourselves out of debt as much as possible, and having jobs which had defined pension plans. I guess I was a little skeptical that it could actually work out the way we hoped it would, but there it is.
We re so used to living below our means we aren't
Splurging as I'd hoped.
That's us too. We do splurge once in a while but when we do we have the cash to pay for it.
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