Poll: Target monthly retirement income

[kcowan]

I suppose some people may feel this way, but I think one can acknowledge they have “enough” but also that a little more would be better? I can.

We have reached the stage where added revenue will be deployed to gifting and charity. It is a nice feeling! Retired 15 years, this has only happened due to strong equity markets and low COL in Mexico.

 

[rodi]

A lot of this depends on several factors.

I live in a HCOL (southern CA) but I have a paid for house and benefit from low property taxes thanks to Prop 13. My next door neighbors on one side who have the same model house a) paid a lot more, b) pay a lot more taxes, c) still have a large mortgage. But my neighbors on the other side bought years ago, also have a paid off house, and also have low taxes.... So... the one set of neighbors needs a lot per month, the other set is like us - lives very comfortably on not so much. But looking at our zip - you'd speculate that we all need a lot of money per month.

We travel. We buy organic food. We have a wonderful lifestyle and don't feel constrained in our spending that much... But we also shop for value on travel deals. I check out books from the library rather than purchasing paper or e-books.

It all depends on what is important to you, and what your specific circumstances are (paid for house for example.) HCOL is not necessarily in conflict with a lower spend rate....

 

[Scuba]

For anyone who enjoys travel and can't imagine how to spend $20K/month, google "private jet vacations." We have friends who have been on several with TCS. These are not your "run of the mill" group tours. One of the coolest things they did in India is a private showing of the Taj Mahal, followed by a private dinner there. These trips cost ~$150K per couple so we are unlikely to do one, but it's a nice fantasy. They'll also work with you to create a completely customized trip.

Just one example of how we could easily ramp up our spending if we had the money. How cool would it be to create an "around the world SCUBA diving trip" with private guides at each destination, and a private jet to fly to the next destination on your own schedule?

 

[badatmath]

I find it interesting many of you expect more income in retirement than I make going to w*rk. . . I guess I might be more motivated to work longer if it paid more? Maybe?!

 

[RunningBum]

A private jet would be one of the most attractive things to me if I had much greater wealth, but it would probably bother me the most because it's so environmentally unfriendly. Going in a group is probably not nearly as bad, especially if it's 50 people like those TCS tours seem to be.

 

[Gumby]

One of the most profligate things the young wife and I have ever done was charter a plane to take the two of us to and from Block Island for a long weekend. It was glorious to drive over to the general aviation side of the New Haven airport, park the car, walk about 30 yards directly onto our waiting plane and take off almost immediately thereafter. I could really become accustomed to that on a grander scale.

 

[JoeWras]

I find it interesting many of you expect more income in retirement than I make going to w*rk. . . I guess I might be more motivated to work longer if it paid more? Maybe?!

The question wasn't "expect", but "desire." See post above about private jet vacations.

 

[2017ish]

For anyone who enjoys travel and can't imagine how to spend $20K/month....

DW loves to travel--and has a very good imagination for these type of things!

Luckily, she also has a sharp pencil when necessary in her new role as our dedicated travel agent.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

A private jet would be one of the most attractive things to me if I had much greater wealth, but it would probably bother me the most because it's so environmentally unfriendly. Going in a group is probably not nearly as bad, especially if it's 50 people like those TCS tours seem to be.

We're interested in hobbies like sustainable living and urban homesteading, so I do feel a bit bad about how much driving we do as it is. But then I can't see living where we do near places like Yosemite and wine country and not going there. We've talked about giving one of our cars to one of our kids and getting an electric car so we will probably do that before too long.

We do live near a commuter train station so we use that fairly often. We went into the city for a night out last night and took the train.

 

[NW-Bound]

How can one spend money?

The following story is adapted from one told by Isaac Asimov that I just read.

Two rich men stopped by a Cadillac dealership on the way back from lunch. The first one told his friend: "I just remember that I have not bought a new car this year. I want to go in to see what they have". His friend said "OK, I will join you".

Inside the dealer showroom, our man pointed to the model on display and said to the salesman "Sign me up for two of this", and reached into his breast pocket for the checkbook.

His friend stopped him at once. He said "No, Jim, the cars are on me. You already paid for lunch".