How big was your nest egg when you FIRE'd?

[hesperus]

Approx $5M inheritance 6 years ago. Portfolio has grown since then, and I have not taken pension or SS yet (only 58 yrs). No debt.
No reason to be averse to sharing, as that info is in my earlier posts when I asked for advice.

 

[euro]

Retired summer of 2009 at age 51. Nest egg $900k ($500k cash, $400k 403b). Total cost of living $55k per year. No pension, paid off house.

Do you have access to free or low-cost healthcare?

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

One downside of public employment! (Glad that my relatives don't know--although I imagine that they make some guesses...)

my brother in law( Wifes brother) asked me for a 80k loan. he continued to talk and told me they would repay me in 15 years when their mortgage was paid off. This request took me totally off guard, i thought they were coming over for coffee and cake. At the time we had about 1.1 million but the article had come out. I told him i was sorry and i hope we can still be friends, but my money was all invested and i cant touch it, and i further said i can not co sign anything i might have to free up my credit for cosigning some thing for our son. These 2 things were not true. As they pulled out of my driveway with their Cadillac, and headed home to their house on long island i thought, gee glad i didnt get a new caddy till i could pay off my house. Or maybe it was the 2nd home in Florida that my mother in law gave them the down payment for. Could it be they want to repay my mother in law for the 10 G's she lent them to fix up their basement? I dont know , but when we lived in a 3 room apt for 17 years i dont remember anyone shelling out the greenbacks for us. LBYM,

 

[DrRoy]

That gap was later filled. And there were more gaps, and those were also filled. All gaps since Feb were filled in May, then the market ramped up to new highs (with no current unfilled gaps).

It's a month out of date FWIW.

Please read the comment about where to forward in the video. I was not referring to the issue of chart gaps. At the 19 min 12 sec point there is info about PE ratios, which was the issue that I was offering some information about.

 

[nash031]

I must be doing something wrong on the annuities calculator but am not getting huge net present values for pensions. For example an immediate annuity costing $1M yields about $59K a year non-COLA or $46K a year with a 2% COLA. So I don't know how you guys are getting these multi-million NPVs unless your pensions are very large.

I'll share since my pension is basically a matter of public record. I ran the numbers for a military O5 pension (COLA at CPI), basing it on "savings" funding (which includes how much you'd need to pay in taxes). The payout starts at about $53,000 (~$4400 per month) per year, pre-tax. COLA @ CPI, payout starting at age 42 (currently 40).

The amount invested for that would be ~$2.09M. Remove the COLA @ CPI for the rest of your life, and it drops closer to $1.1M.

Lots of different factors can make pensions more or less valuable in these calculators. The two biggest (outside of the payment, of course) are longevity and COLA.

 

[pb4uski]

Our was 20x planned spending but that ignored my pension and SS.

 

[braumeister]

I ran the numbers for a military O5 pension (COLA at CPI).

Just for the record, military pensions (just like Social Security benefits) are adjusted by CPI-W, not the overall CPI.

Still, it's a fantastic benefit. My military pension is nearly twice what it was when I retired in 1989.

 

[Fedup]

I never counted pensions in my net worth. For example, my brother who was a large pension, both him and his wife, if I count his net worth it would be north of $10 million and he is still working. I know for this site that's kind of odd, not to ER, but if he does, he will be at home alone. His wife is 8 years younger, still be working. He told me he will retire at 65.

 

[audreyh1]

Please read the comment about where to forward in the video. I was not referring to the issue of chart gaps. At the 19 min 12 sec point there is info about PE ratios, which was the issue that I was offering some information about.

Oh right, sorry I got bogged down in the gap stuff. He doesn't really conclude much about PEs though - just observing that they are high for where we are on the "curve".

I've been watching CAPE10, and no question that we are back to nose bleed levels, having exceeded 2007 levels long ago, and now at the 1987 Black Tuesday peak around 30, and otherwise in the 1999-2002 zone. Shiller PE Ratio

I think valuations are stretched. I makes me not want to put new money in stocks, but anything I have already invested remains invested, and I rebalance occasionally.

 

[DrRoy]

I've been watching CAPE10, and no question that we are back to nose bleed levels, having exceeded 2007 levels long ago, and now at the 1987 Black Tuesday peak around 30, and otherwise in the 1999-2002 zone.

I think valuations are stretched. I makes me not want to put new money in stocks, but anything I have already invested remains invested, and I rebalance occasionally.

I do wonder about the CAPE10. However, it still includes the Great Recession profit crash. I would like to see it with a correction for that.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I never counted pensions in my net worth. For example, my brother who was a large pension, both him and his wife, if I count his net worth it would be north of $10 million and he is still working. I know for this site that's kind of odd, not to ER, but if he does, he will be at home alone. His wife is 8 years younger, still be working. He told me he will retire at 65.

i dont count my pension in my net worth either, i also dont count my 2.5 million dollar 30 year term life insurance policy. (it costs me 5100 a year). My wife should count it in her net worth, lol ,im sure she will cash in on it.

 

[tdv2]

With DW taking lump sum on pension we are close to 50x current (tracked for three years) spending with $20k per year added in for health care premiums. SS will add be a nice bonus when that comes online. Looking to fire later this year before my 54th birthday.

 

[Rickt]

Shabby,

Congratulations!

we are retiring in 2 weeks with ~40 times our annual expenses. No debt, no pension. SS awaits us at age 70 in 2030 (ss will cover our basic living expenses). I am nervous going into ER at this time because the market is high & may go south anyday now. Consequently, we are covering our basic living expenses for next 10 years with Bond ladders.

Best Wishes,
Rick

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Shabby,

Congratulations!

we are retiring in 2 weeks with ~40 times our annual expenses. No debt, no pension. SS awaits us at age 70 in 2030 (ss will cover our basic living expenses). I am nervous going into ER at this time because the market is high & may go south anyday now. Consequently, we are covering our basic living expenses for next 10 years with Bond ladders.

Best Wishes,
Rick

i read an old longevity article that said 20 % of men aged 62 will not make 70. this forum is loaded with folks that shoot for 100 % success in retirement spending, why wait to collect? Im having a hard time understanding this. Im not asking you in particular you might have wonderful reasons, im shooting this out to the rest of the posters.

 

[FlaGator]

i read an old longevity article that said 20 % of men aged 62 will not make 70. this forum is loaded with folks that shoot for 100 % success in retirement spending, why wait to collect? Im having a hard time understanding this. Im not asking you in particular you might have wonderful reasons, im shooting this out to the rest of the posters.

I'm coming around to your way of thinking.

Actuarially, there is no difference, and I don't have a spouse to consider. My oldest parent is 80 and suffering from the same issues I can see coming in myself. Thinking it may be better to take the money early to help preserve my taxable account, and leave that to my young kids so they are not subject to RMDs.

 

[brucethebroker]

About 20 x spending.....(As mentioned earlier, the outgo and income is as important as the size of the nest egg).

We have above ave. ROI and tax savings from rentals. More tax savings from part time self employment job deductions. Small income from same. Low COL area. Low mortgage and low bills. One small SS check.

No hardship from smaller nest egg....we are quite comfortable and travel. No stress since leaving career jobs......

As well stated by someone else, "we have enough and then some!"

 

[audreyh1]

I do wonder about the CAPE10. However, it still includes the Great Recession profit crash. I would like to see it with a correction for that.

A correction might lower it 2-3 points, but we would still be in the 26-30 range according to this article, still way high. And CAPE10 is up another 0.6 since this was written in March: https://earlyretirementnow.com/2017/03/22/cape-fear/

You can also look at a CAPE7 graph. YTD doesn't look quite so dramatic compared to a few years ago (indicating we'd already peaked once in 2013 and now returned?), but it's still nosebleed except for 1929 and 1999-2002. https://dqydj.com/shiller-pe-cape-ratio-calculator/

 

[Cap_Scarlet]

We have around 55x our base spending and closer to 30x our fully loaded figures (i.e. including all the travel etc.). But that excludes deferred income and pensions.

 

[truenorth418]

35X annual spending - ish

 

[eleighj416]

We retired with assets at 25 times annual spending fully loaded with no debt of any kind and the kids educated and working. Currently withdrawing at a 3.93% rate. At this time we are not accessing SS or a pension. Continuing to see the world at a young age.

Ed

 

[Badger]

45x annual spending with paid for home, medical paid for life, 0 debt, expenses covered by SS and small pensions. Have not cashed in any investments or harvested dividends so nest egg continues to grow.

Cheers!

 

[Danmar]

Whether or not you include your pension in your net worth is a personal thing. Really depends on what you use the figure for. If it's to compare with others, you probably should include it. If it's to determine if you have enough to retire, it's probably better to reduce your spending requirement by your expected pension.

When it comes to asset allocation decisions, I think there is a stronger case for including the pension value as a fixed income proxy. Not to do this will tend to make your asset allocation too conservative.

 

[Spanky]

i read an old longevity article that said 20 % of men aged 62 will not make 70. this forum is loaded with folks that shoot for 100 % success in retirement spending, why wait to collect? Im having a hard time understanding this. Im not asking you in particular you might have wonderful reasons, im shooting this out to the rest of the posters.

That's because we do not think that the 20% could be any of us!

 

[Spanky]

We retired with assets at 25 times annual spending fully loaded with no debt of any kind and the kids educated and working. Currently withdrawing at a 3.93% rate. At this time we are not accessing SS or a pension. Continuing to see the world at a young age.

Ed

That's cool. BTW. Your signature says that the retirement date is 2106.

 

[Spanky]

Our is 100x estimated annual spending (pension and SS not included).