What was your magic Number? Was : Survey finds $880,000 is magic number

[eta2020]

?

 

[NW-Bound]

Was or is or will be?

The more I have the more I want. Right now, I think I would be really happy if I could see another digit in my number. No, I am not going to add digits to the right of the decimal point and look down to the penny. To the left of the decimal point, you hear?

It's not that I am unhappy now, but if I have more, I can do a few more things, like always flying 1st class or business seat.

Hmm... I may not get there in my lifetime. Better start thinking about how much lower I can go from that nice number and can still pay for better air travel without grimacing. I'll work on this, but I know it's more than what I currently have.

 

[Lsbcal]

If I could get an extra zero on the left of the decimal point, I wouldn't be posting so much here. Money would be a distant afterthought.

 

[NW-Bound]

Surely, you would post here to brag about it, would you not? I will envy, but still congratulate you (then beg for your trading algorithm).

Zeros to the left of the decimal point are actually very easy though.

Oh, you did not say non-leading zeros.

 

[photoguy]

It's not that I am unhappy now, but if I have more, I can do a few more things, like always flying 1st class or business seat.

It always seems to be double my current net worth.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

It always seems to be double my current net worth.

There is a term for that - accommodation.

"A Gallup survey asked people who made $10,000 a year, "Who is wealthy and happy?" Their response was, "That's simple-people making $50,000 a year." So Gallup went to folks making $50,000 and asked the same question. Their response was, "People making $100,000." For people making $200,000, the sense of who is wealthy and happy was a couple of million dollars. We tend to push the bar above and beyond where we are, no matter where we are, because of accommodation. "

Article: What-Happy-People-Know

 

[Meadbh]

$3m in net worth.

 

[aja8888]

Actually, my Lucky Number is 8. So the $880,000.00 is fine but we would like $8,888,888.00 even better. But for now, anything with 8's is just fine.

 

[TimSF]

My magic number was $2m.

 

[Fermion]

44

Time > Money

 

[Independent]

I like this:

It always seems to be double my current net worth.

But I like this even more:

Right now, I think I would be really happy if I could see another digit in my number. No, I am not going to add digits to the right of the decimal point and look down to the penny. To the left of the decimal point, you hear?

 

[NYEXPAT]

My number was 3 million, but that was 30 years ago!

 

[wingfooted]

Net investable wealth > $10MM

I have a shot at it, dependent on equity market performance.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[W2R]

I think that many older members may find that their magic number is/was considerably less than an $880K portfolio (excluding real estate). This would be especially likely for those with a paid off house, no dependents, and living in low COL areas, who have reached SS age and/or have a small pension, and who do not regard expensive international travel as one of their core activities. I fall in that category.

Younger retirees may need more to bridge the gap to SS and/or pension and to last for more than 30 years.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Our magic number was always a million, no reason whatsoever, first as net worth and then as investable $$. Still amazed that we reached it.

 

[Travelwanted]

I have changed my idea of the magic number many times. The truth is the "number" is relative to spending. No matter how many times and ways I run FireCalc, it keeps spitting out successful - 100% - results. I can't explain why, but I just don't believe it yet.

 

[MichaelB]

I imagine a magic number depends on availability of other sources of income, such as SS or a pension. In my case, there was no magic number, just a BS bucket that was overflowing.

 

[youbet]

This always comes up so I'll do it this time........ It's pretty meaningless to talk about "magic numbers" without the context of whether or not some ongoing source of retirement income (not derived from the investment portfolio) will be involved. For example, a retiree with a $70k retirement income from a cola'd pension and SS plus a $200k investment portfolio seems better off than a retiree with only $20k of SS and a 5X bigger $1MM investment portfolio.


My own "magic number" was the amount I had on the day that MegaCorp fire'd my sorry ass and booted me out the door and across the parking lot. Leaning on my car and wondering where my briefcase went while I was sliding across the asphalt, I decided I wasn't "fire'd" but that I was "FIRE'd." That was 9 years ago, at age 58, and I can't even remember exactly how much I had stashed away on that day to call my "magic number."

 

[youbet]

I have changed my idea of the magic number many times. The truth is the "number" is relative to spending. No matter how many times and ways I run FireCalc, it keeps spitting out successful - 100% - results. I can't explain why, but I just don't believe it yet.

It's easier to believe when some life events make you feel more mortal.

 

[Theseus]

A sufficient amount to provide a 100% success rate in FIRECalc when assuming conservative future ROI, life expectancy in the upper quintile of IRS actuarial tables, and expenses equivalent to the 5 years prior to retirement. And that amount was less than $880k, although including a NPV for pensions it was more than that. While some may claim that using pension NPV is not a prudent planning assumption, I didn't see ignoring it and continuing to w*rk prudent, either.

Now, if only I had spent more money during those 5 years, perahps FIRECalc would have told me to keep w*rking so as to yet be striving to reach a higher 'number'

 

[dvalley]

I posted this in the other $880k thread so might as well post it here too. In my case I'm shooting for $1.2MM with a 3.5% SWR (i.e. $42k without SS) and hopefully I can quit before my 50th b.day (10yrs to go but the BS bucket is starting to overflow). My budget is loosely based on what I'm currently spending and what sort of things will be reduced/eliminated (child support, mortgage etc) in the future when I retire:

Mortgage: 0
prop taxes: $2000
utilities: $3500
house up keep, maintenance: $2000
Car/RV insurance/gas/repairs/AAA etc: $8000
Food: $7000
Pets: $1500
Entertainmet: $3000
Healthcare: $2500 (ACA silver plan for 2 adults with $35k income and financial help)
Income taxes 15%: $5500

Total: $35000 (add another $5k for a buffer and I'm at $40k per year and I live in SoCal).

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Our magic number was lowering our annual expenses to match what we would have in retirement income without any additional earned income.

 

[NW-Bound]

I did not really have a magic number, a goal that I waited to reach before I retired. I did not even seriously entertain the idea of ER.

When I found this forum and saw people talked about 4% WR or less for ER, I started tracking my expenses, and saw that I had enough to maintain the same lifestyle, but needed my children college costs to be behind me. And while waiting for them to finish school, my stash grew some more, and made it easier. And that was how it worked.

Net investable wealth > $10MM

I have a shot at it, dependent on equity market performance.

Nice!

 

[rodi]

Once I hit 1.2M I knew I could go at any time. That and a paid for house made me and firecalc happy. I stayed working a bit longer (hoping for a layoff package) but the BS bucket filled up before I got the severance package.

 

[bizlady]

My magic number was 25 times expenses- including medical and taxes at retirement; less Social Security at age 62 (the earliest date we would take it) and less the non-cola pension.