$4MM? Junk from 'Money'

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Retirement Savings: Will $4 Million Be Enough? - Yahoo! Finance

What the h?

This is from Walter Updegrave, who has made more sense in the past. I guess financial writers have to come up with something every month.

If I had $4MM today, I B gone gone gone!

'Will it be enough'? HAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Major Tom]

The $4M figure he's referencing is actually $4M in 30 years which according to the article, will have the purchasing power of about $2.2M today.

Mind you, $2.2M is a pretty tidy sum. I was hoping to accumulate a mere million before pulling the plug, but my long-term employer had the sheer audacity to go out of business, so I'm making do with less than that in my early semi-retirement.

Is this going to turn into another "How Much Money I Need" kind of thread?

 

[W2R]

Ed, I just know you are pulling in a lot of money as an engineer working in places I can't even spell, like Baku, Azerbaijan (got the spelling from your profile). IMO you need to double down on your savings and retire! You don't need $4M or even $1M to do that, especially if you are close to SS age (I have no idea).

Even if you decide you prefer to work, just being FI would lessen the stress considerably, I'd imagine.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Maybe the people writing these articles are using them to get more money from the media they're writing for. $4 million--give me a break. Is the average 30-year-old person today going to even make $4 million over their lifetime?

 

[easysurfer]

The headling could have read "$4M Today is Not Worth $4M Thirty Years From Now...Duh!" as that is what mainly the article was about.

But I guess that headline wouldn't have been as interesting.

 

[DoingHomework]

Somewhere around 1985 I figured if I had $1,000,000 I'd be able to retire. I figured I'd be able to make $80,000 on bonds and CDs and live on that. I was pretty naive about taxes and inflation then.

But that was around 30 years ago. Much of that time has been during a relatively high inflation period and now we are in a low return period. Yet, based on my lifestyle assumption back then, I could probably still retire on $1,000,000 if I wanted to.

My lifestyle has expanded a bit and costs have gone up a bit. We'll have a a couple of million or more when we retire in a few years. It's kind of staggering to think that it will take $4.4 MM in thirty years but I don't think that is completely crazy either. Obviously many will retire with less, much less. But maybe that is just telling us that the standard of living is going to decline. Or maybe taxes will take a much bigger bite.

 

[GrayHare]

$2.2m at 4% SWR generates $88,000/yr. Nice but hardly lavish. 30 years from now at 2% inflation $4m will be needed for an equivalent lifestyle.

Someone who stashes $2500/mo will accumulate $4m in 32 years at 2% inflation and a 5% reinvested return over inflation. I'd expect some if not many here were stashing at that rate during their accumulation phase.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Even if you decide you prefer to work, just being FI would lessen the stress considerably, I'd imagine.

W2R, you hit it right on the nose! The closer we get to FI, the better it feels. I have to admit, I do like what I do. Most of the time.

I am eagerly awaiting to see how my 2011 taxes turn out. We have a lot in the bank, but I am holding my breath until Uncle tells me how much we owe. This expat stuff is confusing, tax-wise. Once we learn that, we can plan better.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I am closing in on SS age, but we plan to delay as long as I can--or want to--work.

 

[W2R]

It doesn't cost much at all to live in Louisiana, as you well know.... But then, IIRC you want to live in the NW (I think?), which might cost more. Hopefully not $4M, though!

 

[Retch The Grate]

Retirement Savings: Will $4 Million Be Enough? - Yahoo! Finance

What the h?

This is from Walter Updegrave, who has made more sense in the past. I guess financial writers have to come up with something every month.

If I had $4MM today, I B gone gone gone!

'Will it be enough'? HAHAHAHAHA!

Well, since I don't assume that SS will be there for me when I hit retirement age, my extreme high end estimate of how much I need for retirement is $3.75 million in 2010 dollars, so I'm not shocked by the question.

At my lowest (favorable assumptions of risk, low cost health care, SS sticking around, bare minimum of travel and fun money) estimates retirement is still a $1.5 million in the bank thing so...