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Old 08-13-2013, 08:52 AM   #61
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I'm not quite 50, but I saved $760K and just retired with $38K annual expenses.

No more savings, so zero at 55 and 60.

Welcome and it seems you're doing quite well on the savings end.

Don't be put off by this thread. Your initial question is a little bit nosy given you offered nothing about your particular situation. This is by far the best online forum with so much to offer to those interested in all things finance.
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Old 08-13-2013, 08:57 AM   #62
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Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
Before you get too concerned about Zig's situation, please note that he's a 'kept man'. His wife is employed full time - or maybe I should say "all the time".
Yes, as long as DW and her congregation don't piss each other off, we're pretty secure. (I should note that for much of the first 20 years of our marriage, she was a "kept woman" so now it's my turn! )
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Old 08-13-2013, 09:02 AM   #63
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(I should note that for much of the first 20 years of our marriage, she was a "kept woman" so now it's my turn! )
No need to qualify your exalted status. I'm in awe of any guy who can swing a deal to have their DW employed while they retire early!
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Old 08-13-2013, 09:11 AM   #64
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Isn't this a forum where people ask questions? I am new here and you are telling me I'm nosy? Of course there is a purpose to such question. People ask these question to benchmark themselves if they have saved enough.
And YES - how much you save at 50, 55, 60 is big retirement issue at large. So I disagree with you on all counts. If you don't have anything useful to say to a new user, then please don't.
This is a forum where we discuss and learn from each other about the challenges to achieving financial independence. It's not a database where you query and expect an automatic response. I think you've got that from the several pages of postings since your first.

We all like to share our stories on the journey to FI, some ER once attaining FI, some continue to work in some capacity.

Me, retired in 2000 at age 50 with a 3 and 1 year old, hence my handle. Have a COLA'd pension so savings were supplemental. Calculated at the time that a withdrawal rate of 4% plus pension kept our living standard constant. So we had enough!! Actually, since I did not wish to give the boys a sense of entitlement, have not significantly increased the living standard since 2000. Before ER, I was saving about 30% of my salary. What really helped at the time of RE was that the house was paid off, so no mortgage payment to worry about. And so the boys know something of working life, I even work 3 months of the year (with overtime) and have fun in the dog days of winter (do income tax returns)

Expenses will definitely go up in next 8 years with kids getting driver's licenses and college coming up, but our modest living standard over the past 13 years means the resources are there to handle these expenses. Net worth up 140% and greatest withdrawal rate was 2% one year when we remodeled the house.

It's not about the absolute dollar amount, it's about having enough to maintain your desired living standard without worry. Each persons living standard, level of frugality, other sources of income other than from investments, is a unique combination of circumstances determining FI or "enough" so that decisions are made for other reasons than strictly earnings.
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Old 08-13-2013, 09:28 AM   #65
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Mine are:

Age 20 - negative net worth (started saving/investing fairly aggressively at 22 and increased every year)

Age 30 - 10 times annual spend (by mid thirties had increased save rate to 50% of gross salary for retirement)

Age 40 - 28 times annual spend (continued 50%, didn't want to do more)

Age 48 (today) - 45+ times annual spend (started to dramatically reduce savings rate from 50%, 3 weeks ago when spouse retired)

We have pensions that kick in 6 years that pay half of our annual spend. Next year my spend rate will fall between 1.8% and 2.2% of my market invested assets. (funds, cash) When our pensions kick in, that spend range will drop significantly. The low spend rate allows me to be comfortable with maintaining a higher stocks to bonds ratio going forward. My wife and I both made significantly more than we expected to which allowed us to live quite comfortably while saving significant amounts of money.
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Old 08-13-2013, 09:41 AM   #66
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(I should note that for much of the first 20 years of our marriage, she was a "kept woman" so now it's my turn! )
To be a kept woman?
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Old 08-13-2013, 11:39 AM   #67
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To be a kept woman?
That expensive surgery could torpedo the retirement plan.
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Old 08-13-2013, 11:50 AM   #68
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Originally Posted by RE2Boys View Post

This is a forum where we discuss and learn from each other about the challenges to achieving financial independence. It's not a database where you query and expect an automatic response. I think you've got that from the several pages of postings since your first.

We all like to share our stories on the journey to FI, some ER once attaining FI, some continue to work in some capacity.

Me, retired in 2000 at age 50 with a 3 and 1 year old, hence my handle. Have a COLA'd pension so savings were supplemental. Calculated at the time that a withdrawal rate of 4% plus pension kept our living standard constant. So we had enough!! Actually, since I did not wish to give the boys a sense of entitlement, have not significantly increased the living standard since 2000. Before ER, I was saving about 30% of my salary. What really helped at the time of RE was that the house was paid off, so no mortgage payment to worry about. And so the boys know something of working life, I even work 3 months of the year (with overtime) and have fun in the dog days of winter (do income tax returns)

Expenses will definitely go up in next 8 years with kids getting driver's licenses and college coming up, but our modest living standard over the past 13 years means the resources are there to handle these expenses. Net worth up 140% and greatest withdrawal rate was 2% one year when we remodeled the house.

It's not about the absolute dollar amount, it's about having enough to maintain your desired living standard without worry. Each persons living standard, level of frugality, other sources of income other than from investments, is a unique combination of circumstances determining FI or "enough" so that decisions are made for other reasons than strictly earnings.
RE2, I have to agree with you especially your last paragraph. When I retired 3 years ago, my investment portfolio was one whole year in expenses. But with a semi COLA pension that exceeds my monthly expenses by close to $2k a month, retiring has been simple. Well take that back, staying on this forum too much around retirement created a self induced paranoia that caused me to work PT for the last 3 years until I finally pulled it altogether this spring. Oh well, at least I have built up almost 5X in yearly expenses. I do a better job of saving in retirement than I did working.
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Old 08-13-2013, 12:25 PM   #69
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the basic rule of thumb is that you can live comfortable on 4% of your invested assets (that would exclude home, etc...). This would also include the present-value of annuities.

Obviously, the mix (pre-tax versus post-tax) also matters. So if you are like me, and spend $100,000 pre-tax per year, then your retirement number would be $2.5 million ($100,000 divided by .04). I had $1.1 - $1.3 million at age 50; and $1.9 million at age 55. I retired at age 53, and decided that I could earn my way through retirement (some part-time work and more aggressive investing).

But again, it all depends on what you feel comfortable with (I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country and have no intention of moving; I also have a small mortgage to pay off).
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Old 08-14-2013, 03:20 AM   #70
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I agree with this. The OP may use the google function at the top of this screen to help answer his/her question.

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Originally Posted by nash031 View Post
People aren't being intentionally combative. They are simply trying to tell you that benchmarking against others solely on a number is close to useless information.
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Old 08-15-2013, 11:42 PM   #71
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It may be useless to you, but not to me. Everyone's different and you don't seem to understand my point of view. "I'm benchmarking savings, not expenses". Sure, I understand the relationship of expenses vs savings. I understand that if you need $30K a year to survive, you need $900K (or 30X expenses) to survive for 30 years. That's the point of view most of you are coming from. I understand your point of view. But you don't seem to understand mine. I've been to a lot of forum that think people are stupid for asking questions and that their questions are pointless. I'm a Professor with a PhD degree and every day my students ask me some questions which I initially think is pointless, but it is not. They see things from an entirely different perspective. I have also been a Consultant and I see things that VP and Directors don't because they've been too long inside their company - they all think inside the box. They don't have fresh minds. You guys only see what you've been discussing in this forum for so long, that when someone new from the outside comes in - you don't see outside the box. So I will leave it at that. All I can say is that expenses is NOT a concern for me at all - but savings is. Now I will leave it to your imagination why I'm saying that. If you can figure it out, great for you. If you still insist it is pointless, you're still thinking inside your box.

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I agree with this. The OP may use the google function at the top of this screen to help answer his/her question.
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Old 08-16-2013, 12:37 AM   #72
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I understand your point of view. But you don't seem to understand mine.
No, I don't think I do, though I am trying. One thing I have noticed about many truly intelligent and educated people is that they usually express themselves in simple, clear language. If you are indeed a professor with a PhD, could you explain clearly why absolute numbers of amounts saved at the various ages you specified, are far more important to you than the same figures expressed as a multiple of the amount of annual withdrawal required in retirement? I think that's preferable to leaving it to our imagination. If there's a simple reason (which there must be) why not tell us?
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Old 08-16-2013, 12:40 AM   #73
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Oh, you know what - don't worry about it. I remember now that you did attempt to explain why, and I thought your logic was flawed. Well, thanks for the mildly entertaining thread anyway.
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Old 08-16-2013, 06:00 AM   #74
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You may be under the impression that everyone here retired early because of LBYM and saving/ investing. Some have, some sold businesses, some with great pensions, some with a few lucky breaks or windfalls, etc.
Some LBYM so they could invest in businesses where they caught a few lucky breaks and sold at a windfall.

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Old 08-16-2013, 06:21 AM   #75
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Not quite 50 . . .

Currently have 15x (lavish) to 30x (sustenance) anticipated annual retirement expenses saved.

I did it through LBYM, working in start-up companies where I caught a break or and some highly concentrated investments. This year I finally looked up and found my risk tolerance has dropped considerably. Gee, I'm not 25 any longer.

The goal in the next 6-12 months is to divest from my highly concentrated position into a low cost portfolio of index funds with a 65/35 mix.

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Old 08-16-2013, 06:31 AM   #76
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Hello Cyber888 -

Welcome to the forum. There is lots of good information here. I suspect you're question may have been addressed in previous polls. Doesn't hurt to start a new poll.

Yes there is a vague box that I/we live within but the box makes quite a bit of sense. I agree with many of the other posters... you're question seems a little odd without some context. So... assuming there is some method to your inquiring... and assuming the numbers will somehow be meaningful to you... maybe you should explain a little more without giving away your super-secret idea behind the question and use the method described earlier to start a new thread with a blind poll. I'd be happy to participate in the poll.

Many members of the E-R community have participated on this forum for years - some reading, many posting, many moderating. On the surface the forum may be anonymous - not knowing exactly where a poster lives, not knowing their real name perhaps - so in that sense it's anonymous. But financial matters are near and dear to everyone here so it's a little offputting to simply ask how much did a person have at a certain age without some context - particularly in the first post.
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Old 08-16-2013, 06:32 AM   #77
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You may be under the impression that everyone here retired early because of LBYM and saving/ investing. Some have, some sold businesses, some with great pensions, some with a few lucky breaks or windfalls, etc.
Yup. Some of us needed a combination of LBYM and one or more of the additional items you listed. Besides the LBYM, I needed a windfall in the form of a huge blob of company stock I cashed out at low tax rates (NUA, LTCG). It would have been much more difficult to ER when I did. I probably would have had to work longer or liquidate some of the pretax portion of my 401k and take a bigger tax hit.
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Old 08-16-2013, 07:18 AM   #78
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I still don't understand how a dollar amount is the least bit useful to you unless you are doing research in how much people have saved for retirement or you need some validation about your own piggy bank (but really a percentage would seem to make more sense there anyway), neither of which seem to apply. But do an anonymous poll and maybe you'll find the answers you are looking for.
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Old 08-16-2013, 07:53 AM   #79
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I still don't understand how a dollar amount is the least bit useful to you unless you are doing research in how much people have saved for retirement or you need some validation about your own piggy bank (but really a percentage would seem to make more sense there anyway), neither of which seem to apply. But do an anonymous poll and maybe you'll find the answers you are looking for.
He might have to do multiple polls to get graph-able data if that's what we are after. How much did you have saved at 30 years old? How much did you have saved at 35 years old?, etc. He might need to insure that the same people answer each poll depending on what is really desired. Unless there is a multi-question poll feature. Then with that info in hand this thread could be used for whatever specific questions come up.

I still think data like cost of living, size of family, or whatever aspect is being looked at would be necessary to give the data any real meaning, but my degrees are in math, stats and computer science, so I tend to be somewhat analytical.
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Old 08-16-2013, 08:00 AM   #80
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Of course our polls here are for our own entertainment and arguments and have all the validity of nothing .
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