Cash Flow (Spendable Income) in Retirement

[robert]

Okay . . . since we're doing polls, let's do one that measures what really counts in retirement -- how many greenbacks you have each month to support yourself and all your retirement dreams. "Net Worth" may be a fairly good proxy for estimating what one's cash flow is likely to be, but why not simply nail it down once and for all. So, for those who are already retired, and for those who are near enough to retirement to be able to accurately estimate their anticipated cash flow, how many dollars do your various income streams generate on an average YEARLY basis? I'm looking for money you can stick in your wallet and take to the grocery store. So that we're comparing "apples & apples", I'd like to suggest using the following definition of "cash flow":

CASH FLOW = [(investment net worth) x 7.5%] + pension payments + social security payments + any other regular income payments.

"Investment Net Worth" represents your investments that generate reasonably reliable income (this does not include your house or your baseball card collection). For the sake of this survey, I'm going to assume everyone earns 7.5 percent on their investments (again, so that we're comparing apples & apples). The reason for this poll -- I'm getting very close to taking the ER plung . . . I'd like to know how much others who have preceded me have available to live on.

Robert