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A life like this is so far out of our purvue, or experience, that I find myself wondering about and speculating about my mysterious BIL. No hard figures to guesstimate but he had the traditional working life (not gov't) that doesn't exist anymore...so it's almost historical curiosity.
Worked 30+ years at the same large international chemical co. as an executive. Probably making over 6 figures. Has a traditional pension plan, a 401(k), at least $200,000 in inheritances. Maximum SS.
Never married; no SO, no children, no hobbies (he's autistic, so very home-bound), no home---always rented in high COL CT. Now we think he retired to Birmingham, AL.
So if pensions are around 70% (just guessing) in the private sector, that's $70,000 annually, or almost $6,000 a month.
Maximum SS is around $3,000, if I read it right.
4% withdraw from investment inheritance around $1,000.
Who knows about the 401, but I imagine he put the maximum in, due to his spartan lifestyle. But even without the 401, here we are at $10,000 a month.
Since many of you are at this point----does this sound about right? WOW, and here he is, just sacking it all away, probably for his already-wealthy lone nephew. Too bad he doesn't like traveling.
That's about as much guessing & speculating as I've ever seen in one post. So not sure where you're going with this or what or why you're asking?
For some people "$10,000 a month doesn't go as far as it used to."
But I'll go out on a limb and say that $10,000K a month goes a lot farther than it needs to for a whoooole lot of people.
Ya.
We get by on about $2,500-2,600/month. That's my SSDI, my part time job, and my OH s 2 part time jobs. No executive salaries.
$10k would be a dream.
But if the cards are planned as we think, we should have $5k/month for retirement, all in with withdrawals, , in a lower COL area and won't need all of that to start with, so we can continue to invest/leave invested for when $5-6k doesn't pay the bills anymore.
It's nice to have it better in the future, when we can't work, though.
He'll be alright. But how is that they "think he retired to Alabama ", how is it that they don't know for sure???!!!
Having that kind of money is my personal fantasy. Like winning the lottery. Some people are just lucky.
I knew someone like that. Sad to say, he died a while back. He was the father of a dear friend. I admired him a lot. He was an immigrant from Greece, arrived with nothing and when he retired, he was a multi-millionaire. And he made it himself, it was not inheritance. I spent time with him whenever I could and just listened. I was hoping some of his good fortune would rub off on me. He actually retired in the 1990's on 14K per month without touching his investments. Women were his only bad habit. His 4th wife was my age. She stuck with him. And he made it worth her time!
WOW, and here he is, just sacking it all away, probably for his already-wealthy lone nephew. Too bad he doesn't like traveling.
There are always people like that. My great uncle (brother of my maternal grandmother) was a butcher for his career. Lived in St. Paul, MN, died sometime in the 1980's. He was single, lived in the "servants" quarters on the property of a 3rd sibling, and left over a million dollars in liquid assets when he passed. Oh, and a house CRAMMED full to the gills with plastic utensils, paper napkins, ketchup packets, etc... I don't know that my mom ever said he did much, I remember having to give up my bedroom to him for my HS graduation, but that's the only time I remember him visiting.
Doesn't take much to achieve impressive wealth, just live modestly and save everything.
Having that kind of money is my personal fantasy. Like winning the lottery. Some people are just lucky.
I knew someone like that. Sad to say, he died a while back. He was the father of a dear friend. I admired him a lot. He was an immigrant from Greece, arrived with nothing and when he retired, he was a multi-millionaire. And he made it himself, it was not inheritance. I spent time with him whenever I could and just listened. I was hoping some of his good fortune would rub off on me. He actually retired in the 1990's on 14K per month without touching his investments. Women were his only bad habit. His 4th wife was my age. She stuck with him. And he made it worth her time!
Most people who have a nice retirement didn't get there by luck, they got there by hard work. That's how I got there.
That's about as much guessing & speculating as I've ever seen in one post. So not sure where you're going with this or what or why you're asking?
More interesting to speculate on how people who are irretrievably deeply in the financial hole will ever dig themselves out. Because, UNLIKE the example in the OP, these people will cut into the savings of other people.
It is not too bad that the BIL dislikes travel. That is his business. Instead, it is too bad that the overspenders keep breeding and passing along their wisdom to their offspring who, amazingly, think they will somehow have MORE to spend than their parents did. Just freakin’ confounding!
I will never forget hearing a young pregnant woman (on her 3rd closely-spaced baby) living in inlaws’ basement refinished just for “the kids having kids”, complain that this house* was nice but not as good as what SHE was going to own! Same thing with the car: she turned up her nose at the gift of a nicely-cared-for used Toyota and bought a brandnew cheap car that likely would not last long. Financed with cosigning inlaws, of course (how ELSE?). The “kids” were also deigning to live there while awaiting subsidized housing in another state, where no such freebies from inlaws were offered to them. The husband breeder was unemployed and the pregnant mom was working temp until she got fired for not showing up to work. Always nice to know that this was the new gen of parenting! DON’T work, DON’T pay rent, DON’T use birth control, DON’T GET an education, but DO expect others to play Santa.
Rant over. No, that BIL is not a problem for society.
*Inlaws house was an expensive new one in an excellent neighborhood!
Most people who have a nice retirement didn't get there by luck, they got there by hard work. That's how I got there.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I do not believe that in life there's a hard and fast rule that says hard work is always rewarded with a "nice" retirement. That's a little too pragmatic....but then so many of the comments on CD are just that
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I do not believe that in life there's a hard and fast rule that says hard work is always rewarded with a "nice" retirement. That's a little too pragmatic....but then so many of the comments on CD are just that
I'm not saying or inferring that most hard workers have a nice retirement. I'm saying that most people with a nice retirement got there through hard work. Big difference.
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So not sure where you're going with this or what or why you're asking?
