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The thing I've been trying to find out is: how much is needed for one in retirement? Of course, every situation is different, but the general notion I've found is that a million+ is necessary for retirement. Well, is that for one or two? It seems to always be for couples, but I have to ass-ume, because the article/etc isn't clear.
I mean, would this number they throw out be halved (or not)? Or some other fraction based upon some figure about 2 living as cheaply as one? Then there's the more modest sum that I've seen spoken of: $500k. Again, that seems to be for couples. So if single, then is it $250k?
I just want some round figure that is clearly for singles, the way that the round figure is thrown out for couples. I'm not talking about percentage of income; that's out there. I'd like to know their best guess for the "final" sum.
Good point.
A good place to start woul be to list your sources of income: SS, pension, earnings from investments, etc.
List you expenses, debts, and taxes. The balance will show you if you have a short fall. That difference would have to be made up from source, like iRA or 401k. Factor in your age and longevity. There are formulas you can use if you google.
I think the expenses for a single would be very nearly the same except for insurance (one car), medical, etc. also singles have higher tax rate.
That is how it works as far as I know (my estranged sister is in this position. She thought she could collect both, but you get whichever is more, which is her own Soc. Sec. still more than the widow's amount).
thank you everyone and I am happy to be wrong. I thought once you took benefits at 60, you were locked in.
I'll be 63 next month and have been single all my life.
I'm 57, life-long single....... want to tie the knot? Not....
(Although I have joked with a single friend of mine that if we're both single at 80, we should think about it.)
Male or female if you're single YOU are the only one who CAN plan for you. You only have one breadwinner: you.
I was also raised by a strong mom, who knew....you'd better be able to take care of yourself.
As for advice....I've always gone after it because I'm curious. I want to know all the options millionaires have. Find out want people with money do -- and do that. BILLIONaires want to keep as they can of what they have. SO MUCH more than I need to do that.
Being single there is just some advice I don't have to pay too much attention to. Like Soc Sec...... all the talk about options for married people....sure I investigate it...to see IF there's something there that could also be applicable to me. Once I see it's not....well then I don't have to get into the weeds with that particular bit of knowledge.
But it can't hurt to learn as much as you can. As the saying goes, (paraphrased) -- "Take what you can use, and leave the rest."
Succeeding financially doesn't HAVE to be that complicated.
Spend less than you make, save what you can, leave it alone, let it grow.
Educate yourself about taxes and/or anything else that could take away from what you've saved and grown.
With finances -- just like anything else -- take control, and do what you can to make your life what you want it to be.
Money is the only thing between you and disaster when an emergency that's out of your control hits.
Good point.
A good place to start woul be to list your sources of income: SS, pension, earnings from investments, etc.
List you expenses, debts, and taxes. The balance will show you if you have a short fall. That difference would have to be made up from source, like iRA or 401k. Factor in your age and longevity. There are formulas you can use if you google.
I think the expenses for a single would be very nearly the same except for insurance (one car), medical, etc. also singles have higher tax rate.
Re this response to my post, and the earlier ones (including the pep talk ): I guess I phrased it wrong. I can do math, run firecalc, etc. That's not it.
Talking to a financial advisor (I did a whole year-long assessment with a FI) just isn't enough. That's just you and one other person speaking. Might as well be in a bubble. So being unable to find that very general, rough figure for a single is frustrating. Moreover, not knowing how to divide up the figure thrown out for couples (ie: 7 figures; or the more modest $500k); well, I just feel totally ignored. Now don't get me wrong; I wouldn't be "married" to that figure . I just want it. And more, frankly.
Look: one of the reasons the internet has taken the world by storm is because we get to communicate with literally millions of people. Get their ideas, thoughts, etc. It's enormously helpful to everyone, coupled or not, young or old. And we all know the landslide of information that's available to us. You want to know it? Chances are it's out there...except for this void of financial retirement advice for singles.
So how does it come to pass that singles can't get a figure? Or decent advice (besides the silly lists posted earlier...they're numerous; and good only for the person who is just beginning to look at things). Why isn't the internet inundated with financial retirement advice for singles as much as it is for other things....or at least, jeeze, can we get a sidebar or even a footnote with an equation to redraw what's been written in the "couples" articles? Truly, you can't decipher them into a "singles" article.
I'm a very good researcher, and it's not out there. We're being ignored. And what page is this? And so far nearly no advice forthcoming? I'm betting it's because no one has been able to get any decent advice for singles. Posters here right where I am: no links to offer.
Actually, now, after finally "verbalizing" what I've been feeling for years about the lack of information, I think the "why" is that the financial sector is way behind the times and just isn't recognizing the growing single retiree demographic. They're stuck in a 1950's mindset.
They'll eventually have to catch up, but it won't do most of us much good. Not for me at least.
But one thing single seniors should at least think about is what support will there be if you are sick or disabled.
Instead of a spouse caring for you in your home, you might have to give up the house and go into assisted living
You might have to do that anyway if your spouse is incapable or uninterested in caregiving.
Re this response to my post, and the earlier ones (including the pep talk ): I guess I phrased it wrong. I can do math, run firecalc, etc. That's not it.
Talking to a financial advisor (I did a whole year-long assessment with a FI) just isn't enough. That's just you and one other person speaking. Might as well be in a bubble. So being unable to find that very general, rough figure for a single is frustrating. Moreover, not knowing how to divide up the figure thrown out for couples (ie: 7 figures; or the more modest $500k); well, I just feel totally ignored. Now don't get me wrong; I wouldn't be "married" to that figure . I just want it. And more, frankly.
Look: one of the reasons the internet has taken the world by storm is because we get to communicate with literally millions of people. Get their ideas, thoughts, etc. It's enormously helpful to everyone, coupled or not, young or old. And we all know the landslide of information that's available to us. You want to know it? Chances are it's out there...except for this void of financial retirement advice for singles.
So how does it come to pass that singles can't get a figure? Or decent advice (besides the silly lists posted earlier...they're numerous; and good only for the person who is just beginning to look at things). Why isn't the internet inundated with financial retirement advice for singles as much as it is for other things....or at least, jeeze, can we get a sidebar or even a footnote with an equation to redraw what's been written in the "couples" articles? Truly, you can't decipher them into a "singles" article.
I'm a very good researcher, and it's not out there. We're being ignored. And what page is this? And so far nearly no advice forthcoming? I'm betting it's because no one has been able to get any decent advice for singles. Posters here right where I am: no links to offer.
What a demographic to ignore.
Totally agree...since we will be in the majority. All I hear is "just calculate for your own needs" and "sort through what is just for couples". The problem is that just as couples get specific advice I don't want to have to figure out what is couple specific from what is general...and I would REALLY like stuff just geared to singles. There MUST be something out there!
What I see is just regurgitated/relabeled Retirement 101 stuff that looks like it could have come out of Cosmo magazine rather than being serious detailed advice. Yes, I'm saving....! There's nothing more to it than that?
I do find it funny that all the couples on c-d think they especially need LTCi more to not impoverish a spouse - what I see online for singles is that we need it more because we don't have a spouse to take care of us! Ironically, the most common case is that the woman takes care of the man at home for as long as possible and he spends little time actually needing the LTC - then she uses it once he is gone (and is ironically then single/widowed).
What I see is just regurgitated/relabeled Retirement 101 stuff that looks like it could have come out of Cosmo magazine rather than being serious detailed advice. Yes, I'm saving....! There's nothing more to it than that?
What I see is just regurgitated/relabeled Retirement 101 stuff that looks like it could have come out of Cosmo magazine rather than being serious detailed advice. Yes, I'm saving....! There's nothing more to it than that?...
Isn't this true ubiquitously - whether the advice is about majors for college-students, navigating careers for young professionals, pointers for first-time house-buyers, investment-portfolio advice and so forth? Then there are the platitudes about the basics already being enough - namely, properly observe the forehead-slapping obvious stuff, and the minutiae and subtleties will take care of themselves?
I'd aver, that the main problem isn't one of actual plans, of actually what to do and what to attain, but of psychology. Do we FEEL that we're doing the right thing? Do we have enough basis for self-justification? Are we haunted by self-nagging remonstrations, that this or that is broken, inept, falsely beheld? This is why, it's possible to amass several million dollars, but to still feel strapped and deficient; or to muddle along on Social Security alone, but to feel contented.
For me personally, retirement isn't "retirement" per se, in the sense of a lifestyle change or insurance for the future, but a transition in self-appraisal, from that of a person who obtains money in exchange for labor, to one who obtains money merely as a consequence of already possessing money. At what age this happens, is more a matter of investment-prowess (and of course luck!) than career-success. And from that viewpoint, it is actually preferable to be single, however crass and insensitive that is, because a single person feels vindicated from solely personal efforts, not sharing the credit for doing well, or the responsibility to keep doing well. The self-patting on the back, however sophomoric, is more straightforward for the single person.
So what to make of advice, of corny and condescending and bromide-advice? Advice is offered by scriveners, paid by the word, or by the click. What else could we expect? Maybe focus on the psychology, before that term even existed. Read the classics. Start with Plato, end maybe with Boethius.
Being 64 I was grandfathered the recent SS law change where I can draw my Ex spouse SS as long as I don't remarry which I plan to do and let mine grow to 70.
Since I met the requirements of being able to draw from my ex's social security (married at least 10 years and never remarried) I also had planned on drawing on his benefits until I was older and could have a higher benefit. However, when I checked into it I was told that because my benefit is higher than his I must use my own benefit. Even though his amount would have been smaller I could have lived on that for awhile. Unless I was given the wrong information, it appears you cannot automatically draw from an ex spouse if your benefit is even a little higher then theirs when you want to begin receiving social security.
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): I guess I phrased it wrong. I can do math, run firecalc, etc. That's not it. 
. I just want it. And more, frankly. 
