How much will be left when you die?

[bizlady]

I'm curious how much "room" one leaves in his/her plan for retirement. We expect to spend down in order to retire early, but at the moment, will still have something to leave.

So my question is, excluding any property, what does your retirement plan leave behind at your projected (and spouse if applicable) death?

 

[REWahoo]

FIRECalc says somewhere between $0 and $4 Million, depending on which one of these lines our portfolio follows:

 

[FANOFJESUS]

It is hard to go to zip unless you do it early. This question is hard like the SS question because you don't know you death date.

 

[rescueme]

So my question is, excluding any property, what does your retirement plan leave behind at your projected (and spouse if applicable) death?

Excluding property (which really should be included) our projection over the next 38 years (meaning today, till the end of that period, in 2048) will range between $2+ - $10+M.

We have a "black swan" situation, since our son is an adult disabled "child". His disabililty will not impact his lifespan, but he will require support services - much more than current social services provide (and probably less in the future).

Since he's expected to live one generation (e.g. 20 years) beyond our lifespans, we needed to actually plan beyond the typical period.

No, it's not a normal situation, but you asked. BTW, after his passing, any residual funds will be going to our named charities...

 

[VaCollector]

FIRECalc says somewhere between $0 and $4 Million, depending on which one of these lines our portfolio follows:

Some of those lines fall BELOW ZERO....does that mean you may have to wo*k AFTER your dead??

Man....this gubmints got everything figured out, huh?

 

[donheff]

Who knows? Depends on how the market functions and whether our spending decreases or increases as we age. Excluding property makes no sense. We (currently) plan to age in place. Our house(s) will be a substantial legacy.

 

[REWahoo]

Some of those lines fall BELOW ZERO....does that mean you may have to wo*k AFTER your dead??

I hope not.

The way I see it those below zero lines will be the credit card and other debts I incur if my portfolio fails before I do.

 

[Independent]

Somewhere between $0 and $1 million. Depends on when we die, how much we travel, whether we incur significant care costs at the end, how the economy does, how much we help the kids while we're alive, etc.

 

[kumquat]

According to Firecalc:

Here is how your portfolio would have fared in each of the 109 cycles. The lowest and highest portfolio balance throughout your retirement was $3,676,014 to $32,410,955, with an average of $13,178,391. (Note: values are in terms of the dollars as of the beginning of the retirement period for each cycle.)

Of course, that amount is not specifically when we die. Who knows, maybe we'll live to 125 and die broke. Or maybe we'll just spend more.

 

[grumpy]

I answered >$500K but it depends on how many grandchildren we have and whether they are through college when we die. We intend to use our retirement accounts to fully fund the college educations of our grandchildren. We don't have any yet (our son & daughter-in-law are trying for the first). We have told both of our children that they do not have to save for their children's educations, we will cover that. They do have to save that $ instead for their own retirements. Hopefully that will allow them to retire early like we did.

We have found that we can live a very comfortable lifestyle without using any of the tax deferred accounts we funded when we were working, so using them to help the next generations makes sense to us.

Grumpy

 

[Rustic23]

A low of $450,000 and average of $4 million and a high of $8 million. However, I can guarantee you we will not leave our kids 8 million, no matter what firecalc says!

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I live on the dividends of my portfolio (which have been rising alot faster than inflation), so the final value of the stocks should be quite a bit higher than the current value. With no wife or kids, some friends and dog charities should make out quite well.

 

[W2R]

Perhaps I am a pessimist. I answered $250K - $500K, but FIRECalc has other ideas.

According to FIRECalc, "$1,122,000 to $8,370,000, with an average of $3,142,275"

I find THAT hard to believe after a 35 year retirement and spending every last cent of my SWR. I need to have a will drawn up one of these days.

 

[Leonidas]

A low of $450,000 and average of $4 million and a high of $8 million. However, I can guarantee you we will not leave our kids 8 million, no matter what firecalc says!

I'm with you.

Like a former co-worker used to say, "I plan to die broke because I want it to be a sad day for everybody."

 

[bbbamI]

How much will be left when you die?

Not much as I plan on being cremated.


If DH and I kick the bucket in 35 years on the same day, FIRECalc says we should have (on average) 'bout two million left.

 

[Gone4Good]

No clue. But I expect I'll have more in real terms than I do now and I'll have spent less than I could have. But these things are possible to know only in retrospect and the alternative is simply unacceptable. If I can get through the next sixty years with enough of a cushion to avoid sleepless nights I'll happily give away a fortune to charity without a single regret.

 

[heyduke]

I plan to die with between 0 and minus 100 K... this will require perfect timing and as one pointed out I have the day I die pinpointed...

 

[Moemg]

It's hard to tell but hopefully enough to make my daughter and my heirs very happy !

 

[DeborahB]

I have no kids, my S.O. has money enough for himself... I can spend it all. And - I may need to! I do have a slightly younger brother but he should be okay. So I answered "zip - my plan is to spend it all". I mostly don't want to run out of money and that's the main plan, not to spend it but to have enough.

 

[audreyh1]

Even though I plan to give most of it away before I die, I have a feeling there will be some left over.

Audrey

 

[yakers]

Current plan is to build our Roths up to $50K each and these will go to our two sons. Plan to spend down everything else, not sure about the how the house will fare as we get older. But all funds outside the Roths are targeted for spending, which we are having fun doing. Just back from a marvelous trip to Bali.

 

[Alan]

How much will be left when you die?

All of it

 

[Danmar]

Who knows? Depends on how the market functions and whether our spending decreases or increases as we age. Excluding property makes no sense. We (currently) plan to age in place. Our house(s) will be a substantial legacy.

+1

 

[Alan]

Who knows? Depends on how the market functions and whether our spending decreases or increases as we age.

+2

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I agree with others who say "Who knows". I voted over $500,000. I think my son, my primary heir, should inherit several million dollars unless some LTC situation sucks everything up. He is well-educated and more of a saver than his father and I ever were. He also has a good income(better than mine). I don't have any valid worries about him. I don't plan to scrimp, but I don't see my estate being zeroed out unless I am struck by some devastating illness. I am kinda skating on thin ice as I don't have LTC insurance. I am gambling, given my family history, that I won't need it. Or that if I am gifted with a long life(90's), I can hobble along independently as all the (relatively rare) long livers in my family have managed to do. Well, only 3 have lived past ninety.