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

[HadEnuff]

36x my yeary expenses. I have more now then when I retried 4 years ago that's to mr market.

almost exactly my circumstance. Retired at 62, so I'm looking at a 30 year deal on the calculators. Although I've only been retired a bit over a year.

 

[Danmar]

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

Seems pretty conservative? Planning on leaving a large legacy?

 

[stepford]

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 wonder what percentage of 62 year multi-millionaires will fail to make 70. In other words the discussions of actuarial neutrality and when to take benefits often ignore the very strong correlation between wealth and longevity. Lots of folks here are well to do and will likely live quite a bit longer than the nominal average. Maybe the delays you see are a rational response to this.

 

[USGrant1962]

About 27x my planned spending with 2 paid off houses (we bought the summer home from MIL on Thursday).

Per Blue Collar Guy's comment about longevity - I consider SS (discounted), my house equity, and a likely inheritance to be longevity insurance. If I count all that in my net worth, my "nest egg" is greater than 40x. No pensions here.

SSAnalyze - Bedrock Capital Management can estimate the net present value of SS if you want a holistic look. I use 75% of the calculated benefit and NPV for planning.

 

[Rickt]

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.

There really is no correct age imo and depends on individual circumstances.
My initial thinking was to start collecting ss at 62 as well. Lurking on Bogleheads and this forum, the thinking has evolved. I now consider delaying SS past full retirement age to get the 8% annual increase in benefits is a better plan. The breakeven point seems to be between 82-83 years. Don't know if I will live past that age but longevity seems to be in our family. My grandfather lived 101 yrs, my dad passed away at 84 though. Currently, I am in reasonably good health, lead a healthy lifestyle and expect to live at least till age 82. Unless my health deteriorates soon, I will wait till age 70 to collect.

Is this the right decision ? I have no idea but seems like it is at this time.

Cheers,
Rick

 

[Fedup]

Regarding longevity, I thought 25% will make to 90. So it depends on your family. We know a few who we thought wouldn't make it pass 60 and they are both in the 90s as a couple. My SIL's grandmother lived until the ripe old age of 103, she had a heart bypass at 84. But I think if you have reinforcements like pensions and SS, the longer you live, the bigger your nest egg.

 

[jkern]

So you retired with just 16x of yearly expenses. If you had that money invested in stock market you've done very well. Just curious to see how 8 years later how you're doing?

After 8 years I'm doing very well. After one year I bought 3 rental condo's for $290k which provide a net income of about $28k per year (after tax too). And of course the 403b (now IRA) grew significantly. Now, the portfolio is $980k ($115k cash, $865k IRA) and the rental condo's have appreciated to about $700k. In another 2 1/2 years I will start SS.

 

[jkern]

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

Yes, I have retiree healthcare. Not free, but subsidized.

 

[FREE866]

After 8 years I'm doing very well. After one year I bought 3 rental condo's for $290k which provide a net income of about $28k per year (after tax too). And of course the 403b (now IRA) grew significantly. Now, the portfolio is $980k ($115k cash, $865k IRA) and the rental condo's have appreciated to about $700k. In another 2 1/2 years I will start SS.

Thats really awesome--congratulations!

 

[Surewhitey]

We're at 20x without home right now (still w*orking). With home and future small pension and SS, 42x, conservatively. When the time comes, we'll reduce our spending to one car and smaller (half) home, reducing operating expenses & prop taxes...likely getting us to 50x. Health insurance is the big question as we all <65'ers know...I can estimate this, but DW has bigger concerns with her "gut feelings".

 

[2017ish]

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.

The 2013 period life table from SSA, https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html, gives life expectancy for all males age 62 as 19.97 years, which is getting near many calculations of the "breakeven" point. The numbers change when you account for education, type of jobs/income/wealth, and health. Most of those who post on this forum likely would have their personal life expectancy bumped up after those adjustments. Plus, if the male is the primary wage earner in a couple, the critical life expectancy is the female's...

If the laws don't change, we'll take at least the primary earner at 70. Dunno about the secondary. More money for hypothetical grandchildren and, in really bad scenarios, longevity insurance for DW.

 

[nash031]

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.

Right. They don't have that option on the calculator, so I used CPI.

 

[hesperus]

We're at 90x expenses. We plan on eventually upping the spending, but would first like to get into an 8 figure portfolio balance by age 63 (5 years). That's when I would like to open things up a bit.

 

[rodi]

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.

FI is only part of the motivation to retire... You also have to want to retire either away from something (a job you don't like) or to something (hobbies, travel, whatever.) Some people enjoy working and continue to work despite being financially independent.

I have an acquaintance that is a retired navy captain, former planning group chair, former city council member, chair of a large regional board... and advisory member of an even larger regional governing agency board.... he's in his late 70's and obviously doesn't need the money... he just can't imagine not being involved and influencing things... He continues to work in his 70's because he enjoys it... not for the money.

 

[Fedup]

FI is only part of the motivation to retire... You also have to want to retire either away from something (a job you don't like) or to something (hobbies, travel, whatever.) Some people enjoy working and continue to work despite being financially independent.

I have an acquaintance that is a retired navy captain, former planning group chair, former city council member, chair of a large regional board... and advisory member of an even larger regional governing agency board.... he's in his late 70's and obviously doesn't need the money... he just can't imagine not being involved and influencing things... He continues to work in his 70's because he enjoys it... not for the money.

Yes to the above and the love for his children. He still have 3, 2 boys in colleges, and they need major money. Plus if he retires without his wife, he can be isolated. Going to work saved his butt or life. Last year, he almost had a heart attack at work, he felt something wrong and walked down to the nurse office, they immediately called the ambulance and he went into the hospital for 2 days. Had he been at home alone, he might have been dead. His wife was working about 30-45 minutes away.

 

[kcowan]

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.

Yes that is the only reason I include the pension in my asset allocation. It has worked out really well for 12 of the 14 years of retirement! I do the NPV calculation. But aside from that, I think deducting it from your SWR is easier and just as accurate. I have 4 pensions between DW and I that I handle the same way.

 

[Rustic23]

income from all sources 3.5 times core expense.

 

[steadystate]

Amazed at how many here have 40, 50 or 100 X annual expenses in nest egg. I'm 60, wife is 64, and we are planning on more like 25. Wish us luck! (gulp)

 

[street]

JeffInSeattle >>> I hope you make your goal and I'm sure you will. It is interesting to see where other people are at financially to give a person an idea if a person can retire etc..

On the other side of that is everyone is different in what they earned as a wage etc. so there is so many variables.

I'm at 98 x annual expenses and have been very lucky in life but also I had a goal very early in life. I just run the figures when I start SS it will be 235 x annual expenses. I have only been retired for one year now and as time goes on I will open up and spend more and give more away.

 

[rodi]

Amazed at how many here have 40, 50 or 100 X annual expenses in nest egg. I'm 60, wife is 64, and we are planning on more like 25. Wish us luck! (gulp)

I know what you mean. There are a lot of very, very wealthy people here... and some of them are very, very frugal to boot. You need one or both of those factors to get the 100x ratios. Not all of us can do that.

We only have 20x our total annual spend in our nest egg. But we have 38x our current withdrawal... and my SS is still to come. (DH is already collecting, I have micro pensions, and we have a rental property - that covers almost half of our spending.) I don't worry about retiring with a comparably small nest egg compared to others here because I have enough for *us*.... and our WR is less than 3% which should be safe unless a meteor strikes...

 

[PatrickA5]

Amazed at how many here have 40, 50 or 100 X annual expenses in nest egg. I'm 60, wife is 64, and we are planning on more like 25. Wish us luck! (gulp)

We are currently only at 13X expenses and might end up at 15x in a couple of years when DW stops working at 62. But, Firecalc has us at 95% and we could fairly easily cut our expenses once our last kid is off the payroll in a few years.

But man, reading all of these responses makes me feel like I should be getting food stamps or something.

 

[Carpediem]

But man, reading all of these responses makes me feel like I should be getting food stamps or something.

I'm with you! After reading this thread for awhile, I thought "who am I kidding" and closed my retirement calculator software. Now I'm thinking I better keep working til 65.

 

[mrfeh]

33X annual expenses, at age 50.

That was our number. Still working part time, so now up to 36X.

 

[W2R]

Oh, hmm, I suppose bigger than this, smaller than that...

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I'm not on food stamps but I like to stockpile staples on sale or clearance and have other ways to bring in extra income or save money. Once SS kicks, combined with pensions, my little side ventures will help keep our withdrawal rate at around .5%.