What was your retirement savings at 50, 55, 60

[cyber888]

Hi. New here. I'm planning to retire early. Just wanted to see how much people saved at age 50, 55, 60 ... Thanks.

[Major Tom]

Welcome to the forum. A little more information about yourself and your situation perhaps, as an introduction?

[Amethyst]

Wouldn't it be more meaningful to know how much people saved as a function of how much they need? So if I saved $2Million by age 50 [which I didn't, by the way], that's obviously "better" than $1Million, but what if the $1Millionaire has all he/she needs to live on, while the $2Millionaire's spending needs are much greater?

Just a thought.

Amethyst

[GoodWishes]

Someone with an annual expense of $50k has very different savings need than someone with annual expense of $100k. $1 million retirement saving is 20 times for $50k annual expense but only 10 times for $100k annual expense. There are many variables for retirement and savings is one of them.

[cyber888]

I just want to know how people have saved at 50, 55, 60. This is not a theoretical question, and has nothing to do with people's expenses. It's a simple question - how much did you have at 50, 55, 60 ... I have no interest knowing your expenses at all. The fact that you have savings at 50, 55, and 60 means you are spending less than you are earning - that's self-explanatory. That's why expenses are of no interest to me.

[MichaelB]

Do you want the exact amounts or will rounded numbers suffice?

[Bestwifeever]

All we could. 100 percent of that.

(ETA: I really don't know the amount at age 50, 55, etc., but it was less than seven figures).

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 I just want to know how people have saved at 50, 55, 60. This is not a theoretical question, and has nothing to do with people's expenses. It's a simple question - how much did you have at 50, 55, 60 ... I have no interest knowing your expenses at all. The fact that you have savings at 50, 55, and 60 means you are spending less than you are earning - that's self-explanatory. That's why expenses are of no interest to me.

It's a good question but a little friendly intro goes a long way,around here. I don't post much but I am a longtime member. My guess would be that by 50, the average poster here would have saved $1MM. Like I said, purely a guess but I think a good one.

[RE2Boys]

Don't see any purpose to your question. We discuss retirement issues largely, not answer nosy questions that don't have any basis or background.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 I just want to know how people have saved at 50, 55, 60. This is not a theoretical question, and has nothing to do with people's expenses. It's a simple question - how much did you have at 50, 55, 60 ... I have no interest knowing your expenses at all. The fact that you have savings at 50, 55, and 60 means you are spending less than you are earning - that's self-explanatory. That's why expenses are of no interest to me.

But how can knowing a simple figure like that help you at all? If I told you that at the age of 50 (I'm not quite 50 yet, but for the purposes of this argument, let's assume I am already 50) I had saved 1M, that wouldn't represent as much of an achievement if my salary was 500K/yr as it would if it were 50K/yr.

Seeing that you don't want to know how much we have saved in relation to our income, you might as well simply ask whether we have any savings at all at these respective ages. PS - if you take the time to do a lot of reading here, you can find the answer to most, if not all, of these types of questions, and you'll learn an awful lot more in the process.

Forgive me if I seem a bit argumentative, but you are a brand new poster who gives no information about yourself, other than the fact that you want to retire early, and you want us to tell you how much money we had saved up at various ages.

Would it help at all if I told you that as a very rough guide, for an expected 30-year retirement, if you have somewhere in the region of 25 - 30 times your expected annual expenditure saved up, you should be good to go, depending on your investment strategy? If Social Security will be in the picture for you, you should be able to get by with less.

I just don't see how telling you a simple figure with no mention of current income or expected expenses can possibly be of any help to you.

Once again, welcome to the forum. Feel free to do lots of reading - there's plenty of good stuff here!

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RE2Boys Don't see any purpose to your question. We discuss retirement issues largely, not answer nosy questions that don't have any basis or background.

The poster could be trolling or just want to measure how he or she is doing versus the rest of us but did not provide any context. The poster does come accross as just plain nosy.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letj It's a good question but a little friendly intro goes a long way,around here. I don't post much but I am a longtime member. My guess would be that by 50, the average poster here would have saved $1MM. Like I said, purely a guess but I think a good one.

Yes, $1M is a nice round figure that works well for all sorts of purposes, as in -

"I wish I had a million dollars"
"I need a million dollars to retire"
"If only I had another million dollars"
"A million dollars isn't what it used to be"

Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holme, 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire - YouTube

PS - It's completely OK if you're an investing or retirement planning newbie cyber888, but if you can give a bit more information, there are plenty here who will be willing to spend quite a bit of time helping out. We'd just like to see a bit of effort on your part first (at least, that's my take.)

[cyber888]

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RE2Boys Don't see any purpose to your question. We discuss retirement issues largely, not answer nosy questions that don't have any basis or background.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letj The poster could be trolling or just want to measure how he or she is doing versus the rest of us but did not provide any context.

I vote for the latter. If you've got X amount of dollars it can be interesting to know where you stand in relation to others, even if it's not of much use at all in telling you whether it will be of any help in your particular situation.

[cyber888]

I am not trolling, but asking a question that a lot of people ask about how much people have saved at 50 or 55 or 60. Again, isn't this a forum for asking questions? I am new here and this seems like a hostile environment. If I were a veteran here, I would tell a newbie that 'being nosy' is a good thing, and encouraging newbies to ask more questions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letj The poster could be trolling or just want to measure how he or she is doing versus the rest of us but did not provide any context. The poster does come accross as just plain nosy.

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom I vote for the latter. If you've got X amount of dollars it can be interesting to know where you stand in relation to others, even if it's not of much use at all in telling you whether it will be of any use in your particular situation.

Ok, this would be useful to know. Can someone do a poll in this thread? I don't know how to do that.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 People ask these question to benchmark themselves if they have saved enough.

What most here would want you to do (I'm pretty sure) is to benchmark yourself against your own wants and needs as opposed to those belonging to the people around you. That's why I mentioned the rule of thumb that having 25-30 times your expected income in retirement is a good target to aim for, unless you will have extra sources of income such as a pension/SS etc. in which case you may need less.

[cyber888]

Thanks Major Tom. Thanks for welcoming me as a newbie here. I just wanted to see where I am in terms of retirement savings. I thought that was pretty obvious, since I'm putting it in the 'Young Dreamers' section.
Context: I live in NC, so I don't need much. I can survive on $30K-$35K a year. My networth is about $600K+ with about $140K tied to the house, and I'm still in my 40s, so that's why I'm trying to find out what people have saved at 50, 55, 65.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom Yes, $1M is a nice round figure that works well for all sorts of purposes, as in - "I wish I had a million dollars" "I need a million dollars to retire" "If only I had another million dollars" "A million dollars isn't what it used to be" Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holme, 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire - YouTube PS - It's completely OK if you're an investing or retirement planning newbie cyber888, but if you can give a bit more information, there are plenty here who will be willing to spend quite a bit of time helping out. We'd just like to see a bit of effort on your part first (at least, that's my take.)

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 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.

How much you have saved is indeed a big issue but it means virtually nothing unless it is evaluated in the context of how much income you will need to withdraw in retirement. I'd be over the moon to have 2 million, but I think that Donald Trump would be a lot less happy

[FIREd]

Welcome cyber888. I think that few people will come out and give you a straight answer as members of the board tend to shy away from sharing absolute numbers. An anonymous poll might yield the answer you seek though.