Exactly what is a comfortable middle class retirement? (beach, social security, 2010)

[debtmonger]

Correct. You can't just say Medicare will cover all my medical needs. There are many things that Medicare will not cover or won't cover for long. Medical is really a hard thing to try and correctly project into a budget. Everyone's health changes and there are many diseases that will scramble a family budget in short order. Medical expenses are the number one reason that people have to claim bankruptcy.

Originally Posted by texdav

I really don't think that you can just say medicare $300 as it depends too much on what happens. I know many that went from a 0 medeicine cost to 300 a month on that alone and that is low. I would say that since you say you live simply now then keep a runinng record for three months on what you spend now.Even looking at your present income to outflow. First look at your slary how and how much you save and that will give you a idea of what your cost of living is now.I's add a minimum of 3% per year and that isn't set in stone for inflation overall.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Den Mathias

Nope, i am not kidding about the gangs. Most large states have them as they follow the illegal population that has moved into the US. You are blessed to live in an area that apparently has not been touched by this influx.
A friend's Mother has a home in a small farming town in California's Central Valley. She has been moved to a care home and in the 4 months she has been gone the house has been broken into 2 times. Each time more furniture, household goods were taken. The family is struggling to clean out the house before it is all gone. The town has only about 14,000 people but the majority are transient. To leave your home unlocked or to leave an untended car with the keys in the visor is an impossiblity!

So enjoy your part of paradise.

I understand, I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. My siblings all settled between Stockton, Fresno and Yosemite.

My Dw and I choose here instead as where we wanted to settle, after a long search.

Each adult chooses where they will live. So each adult should take the responsibility for having made that decision.



Different areas do have different crime-rates, in my travels during my career, I have seen a very wide spectrum of crime-rates.



However I believe that crime and how a person experiences crime is often a function of population density [also going along with this is cost-of-living and taxes].

Even if everyone everywhere had the same exact crime rate per capita [which we don't have], when you put 5,000 people living on the same block in tenements with each other, they would experience dozens of minor crimes every day and a major crime every week. To them the crime-rate would be very high.

If you put 10 people on that same block, they would be living with much more elbow room. They would experience a minor crime once or twice a year, and a major crime once a decade.

In each case, even if their crime-rate was identical per capita, how they experience crime will be entirely different.



Stockton has +290k people in 75 sq miles. That is roughly 3,800 people per square mile. [a lot of people]

My town has 253 people within 27 square miles, 9.3 people per square mile. [We harvest more deer annually than we have people]

We could have double the crime-rate of Stockton, yet our experience of that crime-rate would still be far less than how crime is experienced in Stockton.

[I know that I am talking a bunch here about Stockton, I truly mean no insult to Stockton, I mean no insult to folks who live in Stockton. I was only using Stockton as an example to illustrate a point]



Anyone can choose to live in a small rural town, where they will experience a much lower effect of crime [and a lower cost-of-living and lower taxes].



Within the context of retirement [since this is being said within a retirement sub-forum] when we each retire, we choose where we wish to retire to.

We can each choose to retire in an urban [high cost-of-living, high-crime, high-tax] environment; or we can choose to retire in a rural environment.

The choice belongs to each of us.

May God bless you.

[texdav]

I thni ypou alos need to remmebr that its reported crime.In many rural areas and very crowded cities mnay crimes are never reported or ever counted. It can be a case of large ciiy dewellwers not reporting a crime to the police for various reason or a rural area that bascially doe report the crtime to the FBI as in the case of many small depts.n the case of areas with gangs the old saying 'we don't call 911 is often true. Crime rates are something really hard to get a gripe on.

[Reelist in Atlanta]

Originally Posted by nicet4

What does it take to live a comfortable retirement life?

I have started to lay out our budget and I am thinking we can live very comfortably on $1,950 a month and that's $300 "cushion" for emergencies and maybe some minor travel to see kids etc.

Medicare $300.00 Utilities $450.00 Property Tax $100.00 Auto $150.00 Church $100.00 Recreation $200.00 Food Budget $300.00 Emergency $300.00 Homeowners Insurance $50.00 Total $1,950.00

I hate to be a kill joy but I would not want to go into retirement on such a tight budget. That $300 is a 'fart in a wind storm'. That $300 will be gone and you won't even notice it.

That budget is fine if you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank to supplement it. But ... wow ... $300 extra per month! If there is anything else you can do, I think you will be sorry if you try to make a go of it on that.

- Reel

[wabanaki]

Reel,
tell me what did you have for lunch and dinner yesterday, let see if it average out more than "fart in the wind storm".

[carmac]

Originally Posted by Reelist in Atlanta

I hate to be a kill joy but I would not want to go into retirement on such a tight budget. That $300 is a 'fart in a wind storm'. That $300 will be gone and you won't even notice it.

That budget is fine if you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank to supplement it. But ... wow ... $300 extra per month! If there is anything else you can do, I think you will be sorry if you try to make a go of it on that.

- Reel

In my humble opinion it's not so unrealistic. Having a huge bank account is fine...but not everyone is in that position. Does that mean they shouldn't retire, but work till they fall over??? Look what just happened to those who did have large sums invested when the economy went south...they now feel they can't retire.

No one is sure of what tomorrow will bring...all you can really do is enjoy each day and count your blessings, and be thankful for what you do have.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by carmac

In my humble opinion it's not so unrealistic. Having a huge bank account is fine...but not everyone is in that position. Does that mean they shouldn't retire, but work till they fall over??? Look what just happened to those who did have large sums invested when the economy went south...they now feel they can't retire.

No one is sure of what tomorrow will bring...all you can really do is enjoy each day and count your blessings, and be thankful for what you do have.

I agree.

[Morwyn_7]

Originally Posted by carmac

In my humble opinion it's not so unrealistic. Having a huge bank account is fine...but not everyone is in that position. Does that mean they shouldn't retire, but work till they fall over??? Look what just happened to those who did have large sums invested when the economy went south...they now feel they can't retire.

No one is sure of what tomorrow will bring...all you can really do is enjoy each day and count your blessings, and be thankful for what you do have.

I so agree with you!

[snkalaska]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

... Anyway, I'd like to know if there is a "retirement calculator" online somewhere wher one can input his or her own personal financial conditions, and account for inflation over various scenarios and based on that make more informed retirement decisions?

Prior to retiring I looked at a number of retirement calculators. I found them only slightly useful.

Instead I just figured what I was spending every month and figured what would change when I retired and adjusted for it. I figured less for nice work clothes, maybe less for driving to work every day...etc. I looked at what I would make in retirement and since it was more than what I was spending while working, I retired early. For me it was exactly as I figured.

The one variable that I may not have factored is buying a new car. That's a big expense that comes along every so many years and needs to be added to the monthly car budget.

[Tesaje]

Originally Posted by snkalaska

Prior to retiring I looked at a number of retirement calculators. I found them only slightly useful.

Instead I just figured what I was spending every month and figured what would change when I retired and adjusted for it. I figured less for nice work clothes, maybe less for driving to work every day...etc. I looked at what I would make in retirement and since it was more than what I was spending while working, I retired early. For me it was exactly as I figured.

The one variable that I may not have factored is buying a new car. That's a big expense that comes along every so many years and needs to be added to the monthly car budget.

I agree and this is what I have done. Nice to hear from someone who did this and that it worked out as expected.