What was your retirement savings at 50, 55, 60

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 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.

Sorry if I came across as overly combative. The advice that newcomers often receive here is that Firecalc is a very useful tool for estimating how much income you can withdraw from a portfolio.

If, when you retire, you have a portfolio of ~$1M, that should be able to support annual withdrawals of 30 - 35K for a 30 year retirement. If you're conservative in your outlook, then you'd need more. Some around here use withdrawal rates as low as 1.5 - 2% in order to help them sleep at night, while others are comfortable with higher rates. Firecalc also has a section in which you can add other sources of income, such as SS.

Have a fiddle around with it - many people have found it to be a handy tool.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holme, 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire - YouTube

The movie this scene is taken from, High Society, was made in 1956. A $1MM then would be worth about $9MM now.

Even so, I do not think a barely decamillionaire today can afford a butler like the one who appeared at the end of the scene. Well, not for long anyway.

We are talking high-end decamillionaire, if not centimillionaire!

[cyber888]

Thanks. I understand that.
But here's my perspective. People who earn $1M and spend $2M would have 0 savings and have a negative net worth. So, most likely, savers who have $1 million at 50 are pretty frugal with their spending. My wife and I are frugal.

The fact that if you have saved say $2 million for retirement means that that you know how to control spending, create a budget plan, and not an emotional spender, as you plow your hard earned savings into your retirement.

I doubt that a person who have been a saver all their life, will suddenly spend their $2 million savings in 30 days. I'm sure they will try to make it last for 25 - 30 years. My point is that once you are a saver and spend way less than your positive cashflow, that habit stays with you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom 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

[Larro Darro]

This is how first posts go: Hi everyone, I've been reading these threads for years, but decided to come in from the cold. I'm ?? years old and my DW/H is ??. My Megacorp 401k has $??, and my DW/H is $??. We both max it out every month to get the match from said Megacorp. Our taxable accounts have $?? in them, and the tax deferred accounts have $??. We have $?? in cash as an emergency fund. Our income is $?? and we save ??% of that. We will be drawing $?? of SS in ?? years, and $?? pension in $?? years. Our expenses are $?? per month. We are hoping to FIRE at age ?? with a SWR of ??. I want to thank you guys in advance for all the good advice I will get here.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you, .

See, that wasn't so hard.
The amount you spend to live on is the MOST important number you will ever figure. You can not control what you make, but you can control what you spend. The DW and I had about $200K two years ago when I was 50. She is 60 now, and we have around $250-275K. That sounds small compared to most here, until I tell you we live on $30K a year with both of us working. That number will go down when she retires in three years. While at the same time her SS and pension will kick in. We will be almost FI by then, with savings of around $400K.

Raw numbers are just that.

[RockyMtn]

at 50 I had a bunch of money saved

at 55 I had a bunch more saved

at 60 I will have bunches more saved

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larro Darro This is how first posts go: ...

Yes. One does not barge into a room full of strangers and asks "Tell me how much you've got".

Well, people do not ask that in a room full of friends either.

[cyber888]

Thanks Larro for the heads up! I'm sorry - I should have done an intro, but I just saw this forum today and have no idea about the culture here.

Can you tell me what FIRE means ? As I said, I just saw the forum today and joined today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larro Darro This is how first posts go: Hi everyone, I've been reading these threads for years, but decided to come in from the cold. I'm ?? years old and my DW/H is ??. My Megacorp 401k has $??, and my DW/H is $??. We both max it out every month to get the match from said Megacorp. Our taxable accounts have $?? in them, and the tax deferred accounts have $??. We have $?? in cash as an emergency fund. Our income is $?? and we save ??% of that. We will be drawing $?? of SS in ?? years, and $?? pension in $?? years. Our expenses are $?? per month. We are hoping to FIRE at age ?? with a SWR of ??. I want to thank you guys in advance for all the good advice I will get here. Looking forward to getting to know all of you, . See, that wasn't so hard. The amount you spend to live on is the MOST important number you will ever figure. You can not control what you make, but you can control what you spend. The DW and I had about $200K two years ago when I was 50. She is 60 now, and we have around $250-275K. That sounds small compared to most here, until I tell you we live on $30K a year with both of us working. That number will go down when she retires in three years. While at the same time her SS and pension will kick in. We will be almost FI by then, with savings of around $400K. Raw numbers are just that.

[cyber888]

Forgive me, I realize what you are saying is correct .. I thought since people here use aliases, are anonymous, and don't really know each other face-to-face, they could throw in some estimates. Interesting! Even a mask needs to be protected with another mask and another

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Yes. One does not barge into a room full of strangers and asks "Tell me how much you've got". Well, people do not ask that in a room full of friends either.

[Willers]

Welcome to the board. I guess you've gotten a good lesson in the culture here...

Since I also believe you can't separate expenses from investments and get a useful number, I'll try to answer your question in a different way without giving absolute numbers out (as I am also hesitant to do).

I am 50 and right now have a little more than 30x my annual expenses in my investment portfolio. I will likely retire when I get to 40x. Some would be ready where I am now but potential healthcare costs are the great unknown and are making me more conservative.

I 2nd the use of FireCalc (and the other retirement calculators from Quicken, Vanguard, T Rowe, Fidelity, etc.) Your situation is unique so do your homework...

Good luck

[cyber888]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look for that survey function.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

[NW-Bound]

Well, as you can see from the join date of posters, some of us have been here a long time. And though only a few have met another in real life, we have shared enough details of our life that we feel like friends. Friends behind a mask, if you say so, but that's the culture here.

In order for posters to anonymously answer questions like yours, people usually think of a poll. Just recently, a poster asked how many of us had more than $5MM. It was a curious question, all right, but some people answered. I even said that, no I did not have that presently, even if I included my homes and the loose change in my pocket, but I liked to run FIRECalc occasionally because it told me I've got a chance to way way surpass it in the future.

[FIREd]

Here are some older polls to get you started:

The average board member is in his 50s:
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...you-66255.html

And he or she had a net worth in the $1-2M range back in 2011:
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...oll-55244.html

[larrytbm]

Guess I don't understand all the responses. I can't give you a simple answer, but I have no problem sharing what I can. I started serious retirement planning at age 43 with a goal of age 55. Can't recall what we had saved at 45 or 50, it wasn't very much, but at least 25% of income was saved each year. But there is more to retirement planning than just savings, a big one for us at age 50 was downsizing our home with no mortgage, lower taxes and lower utility expenses. Another one was various strategies to reduce fed. taxes and generate income sources before SS kicked in. I did retire at age 55 with only $500k, but a pension and SS in the future. It is now 10 yrs later and our investments are at $1M and growing. That is because with the pension and SS, investment liquidations are less than 1% per year.

[scrinch]

FIRE = Financially Independent, Retired Early

Welcome. I'm FI but not yet RE. Some of us are still cavemen who haven't yet mastered FIRE.

[steelyman]

We are actually a bunch of orangutans who act up but have good hearts. The thing to do is read for a while and post slowly.

[MikeWillRetire]

51 with retirement savings equal to about 8 times my anticipated annual spending. Its low, but my plan includes a small pension and social security.

[Gatordoc50]

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.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman We are actually a bunch of orangutans who act up but have good hearts.

I like that characterization

[GoodWishes]

I agree that most people would be more comfortable answering this in a poll.

I don't think trying to keep up with the Jones next door is a good way to measure how well you are doing with your retirement plans. As many have pointed out, savings, asset allocation, expenses, SS, pension are among many variables in retirement planning.

[tmm99]

50 - 650K ish
54 - >1M