Poll:What's your number?

[REWahoo]

I included our house. I multiplied the square footage x the sum of DW and my shoe sizes x 25. Close enough.

 

[rodi]

I included our house. I multiplied the square footage x the sum of DW and my shoe sizes x 25. Close enough.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Voted based on target number (which is actually a bit less than we currently have due to a combination of a good run in the markets and falling victim to "just one more year" syndrome).

I included home equity as part of our net worth and a relevant factor in our retirement plans. If I had any pension, SS etc I would have included a guestimate of the net present value of that for the same reason. If the purpose of the poll is to provide some kind of assessment on what it takes for responders' to retire, then both should be included otherwise the data is pretty meaningless.

 

[cardude]

In this thread, I asked if there's ever been a net worth poll survey/done on this board, and if anyone would participate. It appears there's some interest. However, I'm not a statistician by any stretch of the imagination. If you want minutia, read this 80 page Federal Reserve survey on consumer finances & net worth. <yawn>

I struggled with how to ask this, and decided to pilfer from ING and ask everyone this simple question: What's your number? In other words, how much retirement savings do (or did) you really need in order to leave the w*rkforce for good?

Obviously polling capabilities on this board are pretty limited, so it will be this one question which will provide us with anonymous results.

I know there a a bazillion variables. I'm just trying to make it simple. This is an off the cuff, down & dirty comparison.

I'm sure there are people who will question the integrity of this, but it isn't meant to be presented to congress or anything. If you'd like to run a similar survey with more detail and data points, please do. I'd love to respond, I love surveys.

Looking at the Fed data, the past 9 years have been rough on many. In my bracket (college bachelor degree) the median has dropped from like 262k to 190k.

 

[W2R]

I included our house. I multiplied the square footage x the sum of DW and my shoe sizes x 25. Close enough.

I included my house, too. In my case, it was the square footage x my shoe size x 10.7. Close enough.*
Didn't include my itsy bitsy [-]teeny weeny yellow polkadot bikini[/-] FERS pension or SS.


* (The product also happens to be identical to the purchase price back in 2002. )

 

[gerrym51]

i thought the definition of net worth was the total of all assets minus all liabilities.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

My number is based on today's net worth which consist of cash, index funds, equities, bonds, rental properties, HSA, and 529 (college funds).

I included a conservative number (net value - deduction for sales commission/taxes) for my rental properties as I might sell them in the future as we have a desire to travel if/when kids are in college.

I included 529 funds (currently $100k, $150k by end of 2015) as the intended use may/may not happen and/or needed. Kids are still young, but funds will be good enough for state university for 4 years each. I'm hoping time is on our side as they are 12-14 years away from attendance.

My number does not include primary residence ($275k, paid off), non-cola pension ($10k/yr with 100% survivor benefit @ age 55), and SS (estimated at $20k/yr @ age 62).

Some may disagree with including HSA and 529 funding, but that's life.

*** edit to add: age 43, turning 44 in 2013, 2 young kids, 1 dog, reasonable Midwest cost of living area, but could be cheaper, will probably work contract assignments until 48 - 50, then semi-retire to landlording for awhile.

 

[FIREd]

My number includes the value of stocks, bonds, cash, and rental real estate.

 

[foxfirev5]

I know the definition of net worth, however I spend no time bothering to calculate it. The only important number for me is the value of our liquid investments. I have played with our second home value but still don't count it. That's part of plan B or C.

 

[obgyn65]

I voted before reading the posts. I used the approach below.

* savings/investments.
* equity in real estate/home.
* pension = 25* annual payout (or something like that.)

 

[padlin00]

Need to do another that asks the age of those who voted in this one.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Need to do another that asks the age of those who voted in this one.

Good point... then you have to ask single, # of spouse, kids, pets, cost of living location, annual expense, good looking if single .... it's endless.
but important as it impacted my number.

Edit - No offense to the OP, kidding in some sense but some of the above variables were considered in my pursuit of FI, the number can become very personal and detailed considering "bazillion variables" as the OP stated in the original post.

 

[ocdokie]

I put the amount we had at retirement two years ago. Did not include my pension, home equity, or SS (for which we will both be eligible).

 

[rodi]

I included my house, too. In my case, it was the square footage x my shoe size x 10.7. Close enough.*
Didn't include my itsy bitsy [-]teeny weeny yellow polkadot bikini[/-] FERS pension or SS.


* (The product also happens to be identical to the purchase price back in 2002. )

If I include my shoe size in the numerator, my number is HUGE. (I have very big feet.)

 

[SumDay]

Good point... then you have to ask single, # of spouse, kids, pets, cost of living location, annual expense, good looking if single .... it's endless.
but important as it impacted my number.

If someone (or a group of someones) wants to put together a more complex survey, I'll be glad to put it in Survey Monkey (anonymous) and run it here.

It would be interesting. We use Survey Monkey at work all the time. I'd want someone else to come up with the questions though.

 

[sheehs1]

I voted and used:
1. Value of all current liquid assets ( stocks, bonds, CD's and cash)
2. K1 income X 20 years (historical average of: functions like a pension)
3. Value of stock in family business

Excluded:
- SSN
- Value of home (all but 20K paid off), worth about $300,00-$400,000 (who knows)
- Husband's assets (he's still working on it)

Did Not factor In:
Any material changes to items #1, #2 or #3 above (cross fingers)

 

[obgyn65]

After reading all the posts so far, it appears that these survey results are no longer valid.

 

[audreyh1]

Since I retired in 1999, I converted my retirement goal (which I met) in 1999 dollars to 2012 dollars. It's been a long time.

 

[SumDay]

After reading all the posts so far, it appears that these survey results are no longer valid.

They never were - there's no way to make this valid with only one question. This is a back of the envelope type thing.

Again, if someone wants to come up with the questions, I'm happy to create something that will give us more relevant results and then y'all can analyze away.

 

[ERD50]

If someone (or a group of someones) wants to put together a more complex survey, I'll be glad to put it in Survey Monkey (anonymous) and run it here.

It would be interesting. We use Survey Monkey at work all the time. I'd want someone else to come up with the questions though.

A more complex survey would get very complex, and I think you would end up with just a bunch of data points that represent individuals. Plus, there are a few jokers among us I just don't see what could be learned.

Overall, people have some combination of portfolio/pensions/SS/income, some COLA'd, some not. And then people have different comfort levels with their WR and their AA. Different people are at different ages and may have different ideas on their longevity. Some may have spouses much younger or older than they are with different survivor benefits. Some may have dependents. Some are planning on spending decreasing with age, others fear their expenses will increase with age. Some may want to leave an estate to individuals or charity. And probably dozens of other things I didn't think of.

How do you capture that in a survey? What would you do with all those numbers?

-ERD50

 

[bondi688]

When I put together an estimation of the net worth, I realize I forgot to factor in the government. And the real number is less than what shows on paper after the taxman takes its bite, when I sell the investments. And I suspect the bite will only get deeper as time goes on from here.

 

[traineeinvestor]

What would you do with all those numbers?

Select the data points that fit whatever thesis you are selling and ignore the rest?

 

[traineeinvestor]

When I put together an estimation of the net worth, I realize I forgot to factor in the government. And the real number is less than what shows on paper after the taxman takes its bite, when I sell the investments. And I suspect the bite will only get deeper as time goes on from here.

Happily this is something of a non issue for me (at least under the law as it currently stands), but I do have a lot of investments denominated in HKD which is pegged to the USD and, worse, a lot of my equities are in companies whose main business is in China which currently has a managed currency. At some point in the future currency fluctuations could have a material impact on our plans (for better or for worse).

 

[bondi688]

Dr. Wolff at NYU estimated, using data from the Federal Reserve, the net worth of top 1% is over 9 millions dollars. According to the response to the survey here, over 6 millions dollars in net worth does not even put one in the top 5% (at this time 6.1% of people taking the survey have assets over 6 million dollars).

 

[bondi688]

Happily this is something of a non issue for me (at least under the law as it currently stands).

I just realize you are located in HK, where they do not tax capital gain (and dividends?). There is a flat income tax. And there is no estate tax. Lucky dog! ! Carnac the magnificent says: May the cost of your apartment or rent there eat you alive.