Poll: What is your basic income need (floor) in retirement?

[rescueme]

Are you seriously going to suggest that William Faulkner lived a limited existence? Maybe compared to God, but certainly not compared to me.

Ha

As I said in my original statement - It's my opinion; nothing more nor less. If you don't agree, just move on, please.

BTW, Bill and I have several areas that we have somewhat in common.

- He wrote "The Sound and the Fury"; I read the book in Eng 101.

- He went to Stockholm to get his Nobel medal and dined in the Blue Hall. I went to Stockholm and while I didn't get the Nobel, or have a chance to eat in the Blue Hall (nor the Golden Hall, upstairs), I did get to tour them both.

The difference is that he was there in 1950 and probably traveled the entire journey by ship, whereas I traveled to London last June via jet, and then got on a ship that traveled the Baltic (but did stop in Stockholm); another bit of a similar trip.

BTW, I never said he lived a "limited experience"; those are your words. The Nobel was not the only "prize" he picked up in Stockholm during his trip there (see Else Jonsson). That's where we are not the same, since my DW would allow me to accept the Nobel Prize, she would not like me to have an affair with the wife of the person who used my writings to introduce them to a Swedish audience. Sometimes, travel can be exciting, and you can learn new things ...

I'll leave this "discussion" with one of his quotes:
"This is a free country. Folks have a right to send me letters, and I have a right not to read them."

 

[GregLee]

1) Floor income in retirement: $64K pre-tax (no rent or mortgage $ included.)
2) 2 people
3) Hawaii (fairly high expense)
4) retired

 

[scrabbler1]

What is your minimum income need in retirement in dollars before tax. Please state the expected minimum yearly income need. This would be the floor that covers non-discretionary expenses and the basic discretionary items that would support your basic needs.

Please share the following information:

1) pre-tax income minimum floor in today's dollars (identify if this include mortgage or rent)
2) How many people will the income support (e.g. 2 people)
3) area of the country (e.g. midwest, west coast, east coast) plus if you are in a high expense are (e.g. Manhattan)
4) Status retired/working - Are you planning or have actual experience.

(1) $22k. No mortgage or any other debts. A studio co-op apartment I own outright. A 4-year-old car I own outright. About 40% is HI and dental, about 30% is co-op's maintenance charges, the rest is for everything else (food, other insurance, utilities, entertainment, etc.). I could probably shave $1k from it if I looked around enough, but I live a pretty simple lifestyle (i.e. no costly travel, low-cost and local hobbies, low-maintenance ladyfriend lives nearby) and my regular investment income already exceeds #22k by several thousand dollars.

(2) One person.

(3) Long Island, New York (Nassau County, a pretty high-cost area).

(4) Retired in 2008 at age 45.

 

[jacob]

1) $13000 (mostly rent, health insurance, and food)
2) 2
3) San Francisco east bay.
4) One retired (for 2 yrs), spouse working and saving like crazy following the epiphany.

This year we're going to start some serious self-watering container gardening to drive the food costs down and eat more organically.

 

[Blackwoodt]

1) Pre-tax income minimum - Should be able to safely take out 80K a year, includes mortgage, travel, golf, and housekeeper.
2) How many people - ideally 2 if my husband's kids ever grow up enough to take
care of themselves…..
3) Area of the country - Rural Midwest
4) Status retired/working - Working for another 580 days

 

[Hiredgun]

I read several posts that said they needed 80-100K per year. I'm probably in that boat myself.

How much do you think you would need to sustain that, if you quit today? In other words, what number would let you get out of the rat race today?

I'm 43 and I think I would need $3 mil minimum to quit today (not anywhere near that yet, but I think it's a realistic number) and sustain a $100K annual draw down. Thoughts?

 

[travelover]

.........what number would let you get out of the rat race today?..........

FIRECalc: A different kind of retirement calculator

 

[NW-Bound]

What is your minimum income need in retirement in dollars before tax. Please state the expected minimum yearly income need. This would be the floor that covers non-discretionary expenses and the basic discretionary items that would support your basic needs.

Please share the following information:

1) pre-tax income minimum floor in today's dollars (identify if this include mortgage or rent)
2) How many people will the income support (e.g. 2 people)
3) area of the country (e.g. midwest, west coast, east coast) plus if you are in a high expense are (e.g. Manhattan)
4) Status retired/working - Are you planning or have actual experience.


Our Information:

1) Floor income in retirement: $45K pre-tax (no rent or mortgage $ included. We will own a condo)
2) 2 people
3) Midwest City
4) Working

This is a good question that I have often asked myself. The answer is somewhat elusive, for me at least, as I tend to be sloppy in tracking expenses, and in addition still have part-time income to allow such indulgences. Another factor is that I am still trying to figure out some extraneous costs. The college tuition for our children should go away, but how about the maintenance cost for 2 homes, and vehicle maintenance or replacement, etc... I am not sure how to project some of the "one-time" costs.

The best I could come up with was that we should be able to maintain the same living condition with $50K after tax, but with no vehicle purchases, of course no mortgages, no home remodeling, no new roof, no major home repair, etc..., and of course with minimum travel. I believe we can live on that without feeling deprived at all (by watching Travel Channel instead of taking real trips ).

So, my answers are

1) $50K after tax
2) 2 persons
3) SouthWest
4) Part-time work

We can even cut costs further by eliminating one house, but as the $50K budget is already a fairly small percentage of portfolio, I think we are safe. In fact, if I can trust FIRECalc, I can spend a lot more. And then, there's SS too.

Or are we really safe? Just today's market action takes away half of that hypothetical annual expense.

Darn, I might just have to keep the part-time work a bit longer to build up that money to count.

 

[racy]

1) pre-tax income minimum: $60,000 (no mortgage)
2) people supported: 2
3) area of the country: mid-west
4) status: working / planning
This is minimum: no vacations, eating out the same as we do now, but increasing medical and health 3X.

 

[yakers]

Status retired/working - Working for another 580 days

But who's counting?


Calendar Countdown

 

[Hiredgun]

Doesn't Firecalc use a 4% SWR? I'm not comfortable with that.

 

[NW-Bound]

No. You can put in anything you want. Many of us look at less than 3% SWR, and as low as 2.5%. And we try to budget without SS too.

Have fun!

 

[REWahoo]

Doesn't Firecalc use a 4% SWR?

No, it doesn't. See How about describing FIRECalc step by step? located about halfway down the page.

 

[Hiredgun]

Oh, thanks! I guess I missed the details.

 

[mh]

1) $26000 floor (no mortgage paid + extra artificial expense included for health plan)
2) supporting 1 person ( and a mini schnauzer )
3) location: Southern california
4) Still working , but i've done 2 'ER trial' years at the above..

i plan on spending more than that. but that's my "floor" without feeling "deprived" including
replacement costs as describe in previous posts.. my Guesstimate is 25-30% more..

 

[obgyn65]

Reading this entire thread again this morning was most interesting. I wonder if "loosechickens" is still active on this website. I have not seen a posting from her in a long time.

 

[Ronstar]

1) Estimated floor income needed in retirement (2011 or 2012): $60K (no rent or mortgage)
2) 2 people
3) location: suburbs of Chicago
4) Me - working part time, DW - working

 

[hornet99]

1) Estimated floor income needed in retirement post-tax: $55K.
2) 5 people (2 adults, 3 kids)
3) location: Western NY
4) still working, hope to ESR in a 2-3 years

Assumes no mortgage. Largest expense will be property tax, currently $6200 on $170k full market value - my county was recently named the 2nd highest property tax to assessed value place in the country! We will be leaving NY once we become empty nesters or sooner if taxes go any higher.

 

[MDJO]

1) Estimated floor income $72K. home paid for.
2) 2 people
3) location: Ohio
4) Me - working full time, to retire in 2013; DW is retired, may go back to work but has disability

 

[HFWR]

...my penile analogy just broke down there.

Hate when that happens...

When you see people living on a dollar a day with a corrupt government siphoning off what little tax money there is, it gives one a new perspective.

But most of us already live in the USA...

 

[youbet]

1. Estimated floor income = zero. Roommate provides basics while we live in her paid-for home.

2. I person

3. Large city on the Great Lakes known for corrupt machine politics.

4. Fully FIRE'd. No wo*k, no part time business, no efforts to earn money whatsoever. Thank goodness........

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice room mate you have. I guess you mean your DW.

I hope she would also give you some stipends for coffee money or for gas, if you find yourself on that "floor income". Else, man, I would go greet people at Walmart. Scratch that! Being a grumpy "non-people" guy that I am, I would not get hired. I would be in big trouble.

PS. I remember reading about Nixon. Being a politician, of course he had to go around campaigning, greeting people and shaking their hands. He said that at the end of day, his hand hurt. And once at the end of such a day, when asked about his supporters, he said "I want to kick their ass". Honest speech...

 

[Spanky]

1) $75K (after tax) for a few more years; $48K after kids out of college
2) 2 kids in college
3) Midwest
4) Working

 

[Dog]

1. $30K (no mortgage)
2. 2 people
3. Puget Sound area
4. Still working, so this is planning

 

[kramer]

I just read Larry Swedroes August, 2010 book release The Only Guide You'll Need for the Right Financial Plan". He talks about having a Plan B if things go worst than expected. The idea is to figure out what are you alternatives: Going back to work, Spending less, taking fewer vacations, moving in with the kids, selling the second home. And then to take the pain of your alternatives into consideration when deciding how much risk you want to take in your investments.

I view this thread as an exercise in Plan B. In other words, my idea of a "floor" is the lowest I would comfortably go before thinking about making serious changes (that are less than comfortable). Swedroe actually asks you to do this as a mental exercise in the creation of your financial plan.

One way to think about it is take your lowest spending figure before you make big changes in your retirement. Then take that number and divide it by .04 (for the 4% SWR guideline). Now you know how much your portfolio can maximally decrease. This can give you a guideline for the amount of risk to take and you can actually compute a percentage of equities from this number.

Kramer