how much is your asset when you pulled the trigger??

[Enuff2Eat]

I try to google around a bit but can NOT really pin down the average nest egg for a person when he/she retires. It's even harder to find an estimate figure for an ER person. I did, however, contacted a couple of ER bloggers and found figures ranging from 800k-1.3mil, these people however found other part time gig to supplement their income.

Do you like to share your number? or at least, share a number that you like to reach before you pull the plug? Don't forget your age and family status too. I m hoping to buy Obama care after I retire early.

enuff

 

[Walt34]

"The number" varies immensely. Some are "financial dinosaurs" and have COLA'd pensions with employer-paid (or mostly paid) health insurance. Those need a much smaller number than those who are retiring on income from assets alone.

And those incomes range from the low 20k/year where some people can be happy to the mid six figures or higher. So it really is highly individual and the numbers are all over the map.

 

[Animorph]

It depends so much on your SS status, pensions, area cost of living, family status, age, and personal expenses that it is hardly worth knowing portfolio assets alone. Many people could retire on a pension alone. Many have to meet most expenses with portfolio income alone. A $1M portfolio might be expected to generate $40k/year for 30 years with a reasonable probability. If that's good for you, you might be ready to go.

Do you know your expenses and the timing and amount of your other non-portfolio income?

 

[Bestwifeever]

I try to google around a bit but can NOT really pin down the average nest egg for a person when he/she retires. It's even harder to find an estimate figure for an ER person. I did, however, contacted a couple of ER bloggers and found figures ranging from 800k-1.3mil, these people however found other part time gig to supplement their income.

Do you like to share your number? or at least, share a number that you like to reach before you pull the plug? Don't forget your age and family status too. I m hoping to buy Obama care after I retire early.

enuff

You go first.

 

[Alan]

"The number" varies immensely. Some are "financial dinosaurs" and have COLA'd pensions with employer-paid (or mostly paid) health insurance. Those need a much smaller number than those who are retiring on income from assets alone.

You talkin' to me?

We will have 7 sources of annuity type income between us including private pensions, US and UK SS. Some COLA'ed, some not. Our requirement for a retirement stash is therefore much lower than it might be.

 

[Major Tom]

Oh gosh, this is a perennial subject here - and you have over 400 posts to your name, Enuff2Eat, so you must be familiar with this stuff by now right?

Knowing other people's absolute numbers isn't really of any use because, as has already been mentioned, each of our situations is unique. However, it can be strangely comforting to know where you fit "in the pecking order", so to speak. My place is fairly close to the bottom, as my net worth when I stopped working was probably among the lowest of most of the members here.

There are so many posts here in which we discuss our withdrawal rates, pensions, size of personal stash etc, that I'd have thought anyone willing to spend time reading the archives here would be able to get a good idea how their situation compares to that of their fellow early-retirement.org brethren.

So, as Bestwifeever said, you go first, and I'm sure that quite a few will be willing to offer their opinion as to whether you're in good shape.

 

[retiredatfifty]

"The number" varies immensely. Some are "financial dinosaurs" and have COLA'd pensions with employer-paid (or mostly paid) health insurance. Those need a much smaller number than those who are retiring on income from assets alone.

The $ value of a pension can be calculated with an annuity calculator available on a lot of financial websites. (how many $ would it take to buy an annuity that would produce the same amount and features as the pension in question)

Once that is done it can be considered a financial asset along with everything else for FIRE purposes. (provided one is confident in the stability of the pension provider)

Or not. Depends on how you want to look at it. That's how I choose to look at it.

 

[Theduckguru]

I Don't forget your age and family status too. I m hoping to buy Obama care after I retire early.

enuff

You deal realize you can buy ObamaCare without my age and family status..

 

[Katsmeow]

I went back and looked and you've asked this question before

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/how-much-cash-or-liquid-do-you-have-63251.html

In response to the general question about how much people have who are on this board, you might look at:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/net-worth-poll-55244.html

As far as specifics, I think you will find that a lot of people are reluctant to discuss directly how much there assets are or were at ER.

That said, I understand why you want to know. That said, I have seen some people post their numbers and it really does vary. Some of the factors that are important - other than net worth or assets - include: Age (you generally need more the younger you are at retirement), where you live (someone who lives in a high cost of living area needs more than someone in a lower cost of living area), number of people in the family being supported (someone with $X who is single is in a different position than someone with $X who has a spouse and 3 dependent children), your standard of living (some people happily live on $40,000 a year while others aren't happy with less than $200,000 and would feel deprived if they had to live on $175,000), and how much risk you can accept (some people would happily accept a plan that they felt had a 90% chance of success while some want 100% several times over). And, of course, other sources of income such as pensions are relevant.

So, knowing how much anyone had at retirement is usually not that illuminating. What generally works better if you want to get valid informationis to post about your own situation.

Several years ago you posted:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/1-million-dollar-2-young-kids-enuff-to-get-out-19070.html

At that time you indicated you had about $1 million, were part of a 40 year old couple with kids 6 and 7. You indicated that the bulk of your net worth was in real estate from which you received about 2k a month and that you had a paid for home and a little over 300k in retirement and taxable accounts.

That was 7 years ago. How have things changed since then?

 

[racy]

Enuff2Eat,
You might enjoy this study:
Chipmunk

 

[Walt34]

You talkin' to me?

Well, no, I was referring to myself. That's what the elder law attorney we went to see about FIL called me when discussion touched on retirement issues for us. The retirement income we have (the old "three legged stool" of COLA'd pension, SS, savings/investments) is virtually extinct now.

 

[Danmar]

Agree that this is a pretty direct question. In my case though I had a complication in that when I retired I had maybe half of my net worth in unrealized employee option gains. These had up to 5 years till they matured. Being the aggressive risk taker that I am, I let these ride thinking they would likely go up in value. I retired near the end of 2006. I did cash some out prior to the crash but at one point in time remaining options were all under water. if they had stayed there my nest egg would have been only a fraction of what it eventually turned out to be. I didn't get as much as I projected but not too far off.
Needless to say, the period late 2008/ early 2009 was very stressful.

 

[RockyMtn]

ok...I'll bite on the OP's question.

More than some, less than others, enough for us!

 

[Alan]

Well, no, I was referring to myself. That's what the elder law attorney we went to see about FIL called me when discussion touched on retirement issues for us. The retirement income we have (the old "three legged stool" of COLA'd pension, SS, savings/investments) is virtually extinct now.

Thanks Walt, since an attorney made that definition, then I am officially a dinosaur. I know that my kids would agree with that.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Thanks Walt, since an attorney made that definition, then I am officially a dinosaur. I know that my kids would agree with that.

The t-alanosaurus

 

[Midpack]

Here's a poll of this group from a few years ago http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/net-worth-poll-55244.html though you really have to take all these with a grain of salt since you never know what each member is counting toward net worth, most notably not counting pensions and/or annuities which would permit a smaller portfolio.

 

[NW-Bound]

Interesting chart! I like that it says a decamillionaire is not going to be any happier than I am.

 

[Danmar]

Kinda sorta applies (assuming $CDN, about 110%?)...

Here's a poll of this group from a few years ago http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/net-worth-poll-55244.html though you really have to take all these with a grain of salt since you never know what each member is counting toward net worth, most notably not counting pensions and/or annuities which would permit a smaller portfolio.

Thanks. we should change your name to the Chart Guru. What do the %'s signify? Is that the percentage that are satisfied, or does it in some way give an indication of how satisfied we are? I would have thought that more people are satisfied on this site than that. Also, seems to me that most people here adapt their expectations to the funds available thus achieving a high degree of satisfaction at most resource levels.

 

[galeno]

We retired with 30 years of living expenses. Right now we have 32.

 

[MooreBonds]

though you really have to take all these with a grain of salt since you never know what each member is counting toward net worth, most notably not counting pensions and/or annuities which would permit a smaller portfolio.

Given the difficulties in the average person (of any nationality) to understand the value of a pension, I'd be willing to bet that most people with a pension would NOT include it in their net worth if asked what category they'd fall into.

You could then extrapolate that having a pension didn't really help those with a smaller portfolio feel any more satisfied about retirement - but you don't know what % of those with the first 2 categories had pensions vs just had their stash.

Interesting chart! I like that it says a decamillionaire is not going to be any happier than I am.

Just a generalization....but it seems that some of those who have the drive to amass such a large net worth do it from a variety of personality traits - and most of those traits would probably not lend themselves to be 'satisfied' any more in retirement...either because they get the most satisfaction out of growing/developing things in their working career, and they miss that in retirement, or perhaps they neglected their families to a certain degree while working, and don't value that level of interaction any higher in retirement than the people in the lower categories. Although the highest category had a similar satisfaction ratio as the 2nd highest, so perhaps it's not that valid of a guess.

 

[NW-Bound]

...
Just a generalization....but it seems that some of those who have the drive to amass such a large net worth do it from a variety of personality traits - and most of those traits would probably not lend themselves to be 'satisfied' any more in retirement...either because they get the most satisfaction out of growing/developing things in their working career, and they miss that in retirement, or perhaps they neglected their families to a certain degree while working, and don't value that level of interaction any higher in retirement than the people in the lower categories...

Or perhaps due to diminishing returns, people with $10M+ do not really get more out of life than people with less. Plus, other issues in life that bring misery are not fixable with money, for example health problems, or bad relationships. That could explain why the "happiness" level tends to plateau at 78%. The 22% of "residual unhappiness" cannot be eliminated with more money.

 

[Enuff2Eat]

Thanks Katsmeow, MidPack, Racy, MajorTom and all, You all made excellent point. It's kind of "nosy" and pointless to ask such question. I certainly didn't mean it that way. I know better that "different strokes for different folks". If you retire at the regular retirement age with a good pension plan then a decent or moderate asset is good enough. I was more curious about the "average" asset of a real ER person who actually took a plunge 2, 5 or 10 years before SS kick in. So far, I don't think such data exist.

Wow.. I didn't realized how long I have been a member. I got approx another 20 years to go to reach retirement but always dream that I can do in 12-15 years if possible. Both kids will be in college in 2-3 years. My net worth is quite humble and NOT anywhere near where I want to be since the real estate crashed. :-(

Enuff-BS, thanks all.

Enuff2eat

 

[RobLJ]

Wow.. I didn't realized how long I have been a member. I got approx another 20 years to go to reach retirement but always dream that I can do in 12-15 years if possible. Both kids will be in college in 2-3 years. My net worth is quite humble and NOT anywhere near where I want to be since the real estate crashed. :-(

Enuff-BS, thanks all.

Enuff2eat

Your intended question is a good one, but can't be answered by asking for details (as most point out, needed income, assets, lifestyle, etc. make for just a series of one-offs).
I, however, had planned 20 years ago for a particular number that included SS income since I didn't consider ER. I failed to consider a series of other factors, but the final number is a bit disturbingly on target. To retire 8 years early, I figure on either 30-40% more investment assets or, what seems more likely, my DW working another 4-5 years and perhaps me on semi-retirement. If both of the latter occurs, I won't need to draw from my retirement at all until I unsemi-retire. If not, then I would draw 5-6.5% from my retirement assets until drawing SS.
Your mileage will vary. I had no sense of this as a possibility when I was planning 20 years ago. And in fact looking at the pile of money required to retire at normal retirement, I was skeptical retirement was possible at "normal" retirement age. I just had a version of this conversation with a young colleague of mine.

 

[Al in Ohio]

How relevant the nest egg number is tied to what your annual expenses will be and that can vary quite a bit.

 

[Ozstache]

My required asset figure was calculated as 33 times the residual income needed to fund the gap between the military pension I will receive and my estimated ER annual expenses, with an added safety margin of around 20%. It's not quite that simple as my pension currently suffers a similar COLA - 1% degradation as my US military friends are about to be reduced to, but that is offset by the fact that my pension will initially exceed my estimated ER annual expenses, hence my asset base continues to grow before it gradually decays at an accelerating rate. It's a close enough approximation.