Not rehashing TMND thread

[Bigdawg]

I read all 181 posts on TMND thread after it closed. Wow! Lots of interesting thoughts. I sensed an underlying premise in some of the hypothetical calculations/assumptions. One of those was the median income assumption over a 40 year period. I don't know about the rest of you but I started working (a paper route) 38 years ago. My last pay check (January 2015) was just a bit higher than that first one. My first monthly check in the military in 1990 was less than $900. My last check when I retired from the military in 2013 was close to $7500/mo. My point is that since we all started our road to FIRE I would be willing to guess that the vast majority of us received some sort of raises and increased job responsibility. So yes, many can't save much when they start off in their 20's. But, if you find yourself in your mid to late 40's and you are still not saving much for retirement then maybe you weren't trying (or you had that horrible divorce/health issue). My personal experience is that most people don't really try.

 

[braumeister]

I sensed an underlying premise in some of the hypothetical calculations/assumptions. One of those was the median income assumption over a 40 year period.

For many here, the w*rking career was far less than 40 years.

After college, I only had 33 years in the w*rk force, and that's high compared to many of our members.

 

[HFWR]

I've been in the w*rkforce for forty-four years, but my "career", such as one would call it that, will be thirty-two and change when I FIRE.

Of course, I'm only a NPV millionaire...


Sent from my iCouch using Early Retirement Forum

 

[NW-Bound]

I guess I did not have it as easy as some here. As I recall, I have 140+ quarters on the SS record. That's more than 35 years of work, though not all as a professional job.

 

[Fred123]

I read all 181 posts on TMND thread after it closed. Wow! Lots of interesting thoughts. I sensed an underlying premise in some of the hypothetical calculations/assumptions. One of those was the median income assumption over a 40 year period. I don't know about the rest of you but I started working (a paper route) 38 years ago. My last pay check (January 2015) was just a bit higher than that first one. My first monthly check in the military in 1990 was less than $900. My last check when I retired from the military in 2013 was close to $7500/mo. My point is that since we all started our road to FIRE I would be willing to guess that the vast majority of us received some sort of raises and increased job responsibility. So yes, many can't save much when they start off in their 20's. But, if you find yourself in your mid to late 40's and you are still not saving much for retirement then maybe you weren't trying (or you had that horrible divorce/health issue). My personal experience is that most people don't really try.

Here are some data points for from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances for median *household* income (not individual income) for several age groups. The overall median was $46K.

25-35 44K
35-45 61K
45-55 62K
55-65 65K

So, yes, income does increase in the 44-54 age group -- by about 40% which is considerably less than the roughly 900% increase that you experienced. BTW, your income would place you in the 67th percentile if you were the sole wage earner in your household, and in the 81th percentile if you were a dual income family with your spouse making an equivalent amount, which is, of course, much above the median.

 

[Fred123]

Oops, type on 55-65: should be 56K