Did Anyone Retire with "Only" .75M$ Saved?

[ShokWaveRider]

Wow--I was really surprised to read this and the similar posts surrounding it last night right before I went to bed.

I haven't responded because (a) I was not asking for advice in my original post--I was simply asking if anyone had retired with under $1M; and (b) I was quite enjoying the variety of responses, and sometimes if an OP jumps in and replies, that tends to kill a thread and people move on--so to keep the new responses coming, I left it alone.

Also, I'm not "confused" about what we have. My post simply stated "this is what we have IN OUR IRAs (I meant 401k's, but same diff). I also said *"I know there's a LOT more to it than how much you have in your IRAs*. But I just wanted to ask--did anyone here take the leap with less than $1M put away?"

I am the least rude person you'll ever meet, honestly--and I couldn't believe that those few posts made it hard for me to get to sleep! I don't know why--shouldn't give that much power to the opinions of a bunch of people I don't know--but sheesh.

Finally, if this thread is "a mess", I had nothing to do with that. People go off on the tangents they feel like going on--and how does that hurt anything or anybody??

It's a spectacularly beautiful day, so I'm going back out to enjoy it. My thanks to everyone who actually answered my original question, and also to those who offered other thoughts and experiences without judging my crappy, rude, senseless and messy post. Now go have a nice day.

Please do not take the views of the few seriously. Most of us had no issue, and knew exactly what you meant. I found that your post was useful and inspired informative responses for the most part. Most folk responded as desired. Simply ignore the posts that do not.

 

[flintnational]

Please do not take the views of the few seriously. Most of us had no issue, and knew exactly what you meant. I found that your post was useful and inspired informative responses for the most part. Most folk responded as desired. Simply ignore the posts that do not.

+1 OP, your post was appropriate and led to an informative discussion.

 

[Carpediem]

It's a spectacularly beautiful day, so I'm going back out to enjoy it. My thanks to everyone who actually answered my original question, and also to those who offered other thoughts and experiences without judging my crappy, rude, senseless and messy post. Now go have a nice day.

I was so glad to read your original post when I did. You see, I had just given my retirement notice a day or two before your post and I was having a bit of anxiety thinking "oh gosh, what have I done, do I have enough, etc...". After reading your post and some of the first few more informative posts, I felt better. Thank you for posting it and I hope some of the more negative replies don't discourage you from posting more in the future.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

OP You see.

"The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few" - Spock

 

[joeea]

I retired 8 years ago with less than that in a HCOL. My wife was working and we had low debt and free medical. Now we're enjoying life, moved to a LCOL area and still have under $1 million. Oftentimes life is not about money.

LOL!

It may not be about money when you have a spouse still working, low debt, free medical, and move to a LCOL area.

Oftentimes it is precisely about money.

 

[Rianne]

ER.org is a little bit like a party. Sign in, join in, read, laugh, get offended, get shocked, learn something...it's a big salad with lots of ingredients. This is one for the books. This is why I love this forum. My dad lived most of his life in debt and had a heck of a good life. OP asks retire with + $750? Stop and think about how many so called "wealthy" people are living by the seat of their pants and their question is "what bank will lend me more $$?" One of my family members is this way, lives a lovely life and has a pregnant wife and a great attitude. He's in debt up to his ears and tomorrow is another day.

The posters on this forum happen to be responsible people who calculate their wealth the way it's supposed to be calculated. Then share opinions and discuss.

IMHO keep the posts coming about any and all discussion regarding ER, spending, saving. This is the only forum I actually read and take seriously advice (not all of it) but quite a bit.

 

[Tiger8693]

Some people just can't help themselves...

 

[Major Tom]

Congratulations! Long time members here know you have been considering this for a long time, and have thought it through thoroughly.

It will be a great safety net to have, in case your present rental situation becomes unavailable to you at some future time.

Thank you W2R. As you say, I've been wanting to try the RV life for a long time now. It will be a fun vehicle for trips - and perhaps even full-time living if things work out well and my current living situation changes, or gets under my skin in any way

What!!! I almost miss this.

All right! You finally agree that you cannot take it with you.

Will there be a thread where you tell us about your first trip? I am looking forward to it.

The computer that I use for photo editing is on the fritz, otherwise I would have posted some photos by now. I hope to be back on track in a few weeks and, by that time, might even have taken a few exploratory short trips. In the meantime, I am becoming immersed in the world of city water inlets and check valves, the wonder that is self-leveling lap sealant (and knowing when to use the non self-leveling kind), the advantages of Reflectix, and all other manner of RV-related knowledge.

I must admit that accepting an increased WR and spend amount was quite stressful, but I am adjusting. As you say, you can't take it with you, and I have been sorely lacking in exciting and interesting life experiences over the last few years.

Yesterday, I spent all afternoon disassembling the ceiling-mounted Fantastic Fan to find out why it wasn't working. The previous owner disclosed to me that it wasn't operational, and supplied a copy of the full inspection by the local Airstream shop, which also showed that it wasn't working. On disassembly, I found a relay, and curious-looking yellow wire that disappeared into the bowels of the vehicle. It looked as if there were some remote switch that enabled and disabled the fan, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where it was. Then, a post on the FB page for owners of my camper, alerted me to the fact that there is a thermostat near the bunk, which controls the fan. I switched the thermostat on and - Bingo - the fan sprang to life! I spent several hours disassembling, inspecting, and fault-finding, all in vain. If only the instruction manual for the RV had been written thoroughly, all my effort could have been saved, and directed to a more worthy cause.

This brings me to another realization. If my RV is anything to go by, RV manuals are not very well-written. I'll save that observation for another post. Anyway - pictures coming in another post, in a few weeks!

Apologies for the major thread drift which, of course, is quite common in these parts

 

[NW-Bound]

... If my RV is anything to go by, RV manuals are not very well-written...

You even have a manual?

When I got my second-hand class C, I spent time to trace through all its wiring, and was able to discover and fix a few things that could have resulted in a short and catastrophic fire later on if ignored.

PS. My, it's 9 years ago. How time flies!

OP You see.

"The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few" - Spock

That's the logic they used to justify throwing virgins into a volcano.

 

[Moemg]

Oh heck, I'll take the bait. When I began withdrawals from my portfolio, at age 47, I had ~$750K. I am now 55, and it has worked out for me so far. My WR has been hovering at about 2% for most of this time. However, I just splurged and purchased a rather nice older Airstream Class B* camper. As a result, my WR is about to go up quite drastically, unless I move into it! We'll see how things go from here.


*NW-Bound made me do it. That's my defense,

Wow ! Congratulations ! NW made me buy an air fryer but that was a little smaller purchase .

 

[IrishMoss]

Pensions and SS can always be calculated as a present value lump sum.

Already retired 18 months. No pension, but I will get SS in 9 years. I figured out in order to understand my true nest egg total it was important to include SS as a lump sum/guaranteed part of my portfolio and I did just that.

To determine the present value of my SS, I split the calculations:

- First calculation of present value of future payments from when I reach FRA up to the year 2034. (After 2034 the SSA might be dropping benefits because they are due to run out of $$$ by that year.)

- Second calculation of present value of future payments from year 2035 to age 96. I assumed those future SS payments would be decreased by 25% of my starting value.

Then I added the 2 together to get the total present value of expected SS from FRA of 67 to 96 yrs old.

It's significant to see how SS benefits change the financial landscape because it's a sizable chunk of money. It also takes the pressure off in thinking I might not have saved enough; that's not true and the math bears that out. And I see I can (and should) increase my asset allocation because SS is like a big bond or annuity with a payout schedule and when added to my other investments my total AA is lower than it needs to be.

On top of that I like to use FIREcalc because I can input everything and then ask FIREcalc to determine exactly how much I can spend each year so that my portfolio has a >99% chance of success, meaning I won't run out of money before I run out of time.

 

[street]

OP You see.

"The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few" - Spock

Absolutely!

 

[NW-Bound]

Pensions and SS can always be calculated as a present value lump sum. In fact, many folks have that option on their pension. Assuming it is an actuarially neutral calculation, it should not matter which is selected. That being said, personally I do see value for a guaranteed income stream (longevity insurance - but a lower wr should provide the same)...

... It's significant to see how SS benefits change the financial landscape because it's a sizable chunk of money...

I planned for ER without knowing what our SS was going to be. It's because I kept reading about it not being around, and that it would not be much anyway. Oh yes, we received the occasional mailing from the SS administration, but filed it away without paying any attention.

One day, after already retiring, I sat down and downloaded the SS calculator from SSA.gov, tracked down our earning records from the past tax returns, and entered everything in. Hmmm... This SS does help quite a bit.

I don't care about computing its NPV though, and want to look at it from a cashflow viewpoint. One thing I need to remember is that when one of us croaks, the lower SS is lost. On the other hand, our investable asset stays with the survivor.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

If one wants to know what roughly SS is worth in a lump sum, this calculator gives one a good idea, all things being equal and NOT taking into account any potential reductions down the road. We are convinced that any potential reductions to SS will be insignificant to our current and future Standard Of Living.

https://opensocialsecurity.com/

 

[NW-Bound]

https://opensocialsecurity.com/

I just did it out of curiosity. Is it as much as what it could have been if we put the same money over the years into 401k? Probably not, but it is higher than what I have thought.

At this point, I will take what I can.

 

[flintnational]

......I don't care about computing its NPV though, and want to look at it from a cashflow viewpoint. One thing I need to remember is that when one of us croaks, the lower SS is lost. On the other hand, our investable asset stays with the survivor.

NW, I agree and I also look at SS as an income stream. My comment about the NPV was in response to someone that indicated a pension might be more valuable to some rather than a similar lump sum investment. I responded about pensions and SS. But, my original post on this subject,#189, included pensions and SS as annual annuities offsetting annual spending.

 

[IrishMoss]

For my SS present value lump sum calculation I used this calculator:
http://financialmentor.com/calculator/present-value-of-annuity-calculator

I assumed interest rate of 2%, payment interval of monthly, and as I said upstream I calculated the total using full amount of SS benefits before 2035 and then ran it again with a reduced SS monthly benefit (by 25%) from 2035 on.

BTW, Michael Kitces wrote an article about SS as a present value lump sum and the effect on the portfolio asset allocation.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

For my SS present value lump sum calculation I used this calculator:
http://financialmentor.com/calculator/present-value-of-annuity-calculator

Invalid Link: Here is the correct one: https://financialmentor.com/calculator/present-value-of-annuity-calculator

 

[joeea]

If one wants to know what roughly SS is worth in a lump sum, this calculator gives one a good idea, all things being equal and NOT taking into account any potential reductions down the road. We are convinced that any potential reductions to SS will be insignificant to our current and future Standard Of Living.

https://opensocialsecurity.com/

Using the Advanced Options, the calculator can take into account any reductions starting at any period of time.

 

[Nemo2]

I love it when engineering types argue about imaginary numbers!

 

[jimbee]

All numbers are imaginary, as they are a mathematical abstraction.

 

[Nemo2]

All numbers are imaginary, as they are a mathematical abstraction.

Touche.

 

[stepford]

Put 2 meals in front of 3 starving men and see how abstract those numbers are.

 

[Tiger8693]

For my SS present value lump sum calculation I used this calculator:
http://financialmentor.com/calculator/present-value-of-annuity-calculator

I assumed interest rate of 2%, payment interval of monthly, and as I said upstream I calculated the total using full amount of SS benefits before 2035 and then ran it again with a reduced SS monthly benefit (by 25%) from 2035 on.

I used this calculator and it came out much higher that opensocialsecurity for me, maybe different duration? I used 30 years for DW (start at 62) and 25 yrs for me (start at 67).

 

[NW-Bound]

All numbers are imaginary, as they are a mathematical abstraction.

Far from it. All numbers are "real", including complex numbers with their so-called imaginary part.

Put 2 meals in front of 3 starving men and see how abstract those numbers are.

Yes.

Kronecker argued that "God made the integers; all else is the work of man", meaning that men created all the numbers that are not integers.

Integers are basic for enumeration or counting, and even an animal like a lion knows the difference between one hyena and two hyenas, or a whole pack of hyenas. Even 3 hungry cavemen know there's trouble ahead when there are only 2 hamburgers in front of them (how cavemen get to eat hamburgers, we will not get into here). Lions and cavemen would not understand 2.345, or 15/16, or square root of 2.

But Kronecker was wrong, because it was later found that there are so-called transcendental numbers such as pi and e that are not an algebraic number, and men could never "construct" them as roots of any polynomial. It means that these transcendental numbers always exist, and men simply discovered them.