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There is just 11 items that come to mind, which are required to live a happy life. So yes, I have more than enough
1. shelter w/adequate temperature inside, water, power, internet, phone, tv, music, bed couch, kitchen bath.
2. Real food, healthcare & clothing
4. Some level of transportation (car, bus, depends on location) and costs associated with it.
5.. A little $ to spend on xmas & b-day gifts, family over during holidays, eat out 1-2x a wk.
7. Exercise & relax- ski's for cross country skiing, bike for cycling, fishing pole to fish, outdoor bed to sleep,
8. Youtube, Netflix & Amazon Prime subscription, Library - $30 month.
8. $ for hygiene/ grooming - haircuts, hair color, shampoo, soap, toothbrush, etc.
9. Coffee out, friends over 2x a month for dinner
10. A small emergency fund for anything (50K?) & a little $ to join a club to meet likeminded people.
11. Donation to? homeless, church, etc.- $50-$150 a month.
My normal office clothes were nice t-shirts with pockets, shorts, socks and birkenstocks.
My working field clothes were hiking boots, jeans, and various outdoor clothes that I normally wore hunting, fishing, etc. when I wasn't working.
My "formal" professional wear was a uniform provided by my employer.
I didn't save much money on commuting and work clothes!!!
I know there are a few public pensions where you can retire at 100% of salary, but mine was 60%. That is a huge shortfall to make up with investments.
Taxes did NOT make up the difference. Investments did, plus part-time work for my former employer. Don't burn THAT bridge.
I also had started a small business, they provided a needed revenue stream at times.
Between all three it works. Funny, how over time none of the three retirement stools were making money at the same time. But one was down, the other was up!! That really helped.
My advice is pay off your mortgage and business loans. Buy your retirement toys BEFORE retirement, new truck, RV, major hobby purchases, etc. etc. Debt is a difficult thing to manage in retirement, get rid of it.
Open a Roth IRA. I would get at least 50% of my retirement funds in a ROTH.
AND as soon as you can. Best years of your life, except for the "golden" years of five to twenty-two.
you say it's a myth for most people then give an example of n =1
and then this:
I know there are a few public pensions where you can retire at 100% of salary, but mine was 60%. That is a huge shortfall to make up with investments.
my pension was 56%, I took home more after retirement than while working. this does not include expenses like commute, etc. it was net pay b/4 any of that. I'm fine
It remains my fervent belief, that our true “needs” are psychological, not logistical. What’s needed to accumulate and to keep accumulating isn’t the financial wherewithal to afford dignified housing or effective medical care, but what comports with one’s sense of self, of the need to feel accomplished and successful. We need to feel that we’ve worked sufficiently long, and sufficiently hard, living life diligently and purposefully. Once this is accomplished, once this threshold is met, we can retire… be that at 35, 55, 75 or never.
For those obsessed with mere dollars, please consider this. A worker makes, say, $100K/year. How much of that goes to income taxes (state, local, FICA)? Call it $30K… probably more, but let’s stipulate. Now we have $70K left. Of that, maybe half goes to retirement savings, yes? Probably a great deal more, but again, let’s stipulate. Now we’re down to $35K/year. Now please tell me: for a person who’s worked for a lifetime, earning $100K/year most years, what’s the SS benefit going to be? Likely around $30K/year, right? Result: our hero doesn’t need any savings at all. None! It’s all psychological.
Is that 850 for total monthly expenses all in? Including cell phone, car, medical, blah blah?
That is just so low. Frankly Im amazed. Is that for 2 people? Again, I’m amazed.
Agreed, that is crazy cheap if all expenses for two people. I've lived in a few developing countries, and I'm amazed as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnrgby
Is that supposed to be 20x gross annual income , or 20x after-tax annual income?
We need to feel that we’ve worked sufficiently long, and sufficiently hard, living life diligently and purposefully. Once this is accomplished, once this threshold is met, we can retire… be that at 35, 55, 75 or never.
.
in blue - never ever crossed my mind as a thought - not even once
The key to our retirement finances was my vested pension and our SS and being debt free. I always knew if I lived to retire, a pension would be needed. Before I retired we paid off the house and cut up all of the credit cards. We have good health insurance and my goal was to eliminate any financial surprises, so I even got out of the stock market a couple of years ago. With COLAs and my RMD's (which will last until my 96th birthday) our gross retirement income has gone from about 60% of our working income to 80%. When I was working I was able to put 3% of my salary into a 401K. Today after being retired and collecting a pension and SS for 13 years, we are saving 15% of our gross. And I never needed to spend a penny of my 401K. We have everything we want or need, a nice house in a quiet neighborhood, a new car, cable TV, friends, hobbies. a dog. We have no desire to travel or eat out. We eat out 2 or 3 times a year at the neighborhood Mexican restaurant or the LongHorn Steak House. We would rather go to someone's house for a meal or have them come to ours than go to a restaurant.
I understand that fear of retirement is a real thing. Although I had tracked our income and expenses for three years and was sure we could make it, I was scared of the unknown as well. But our finances turned out better than we could have expected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by old fed
you say it's a myth for most people then give an example of n =1
and then this:
I know there are a few public pensions where you can retire at 100% of salary, but mine was 60%. That is a huge shortfall to make up with investments.
my pension was 56%, I took home more after retirement than while working. this does not include expenses like commute, etc. it was net pay b/4 any of that. I'm fine
Last edited by bobspez; 12-16-2021 at 02:58 PM..
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