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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 07-31-2003, 02:23 PM   #21
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

33% and the INTJ bit hooked me into signing up. Won't post much - two finger typist with sticky keyboard. Retired 1993 thru layoff, age 49. She took medical retirement from 1994 auto accident. 1994 my mother picked me (new orleans vs finlay, ohio). No budget, the 30 to 40% seemed to just occur naturally. No morgage helps.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-02-2003, 04:18 PM   #22
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

OUr biggest surprise was the savings from not working. I think Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News did an article a while back - you may have seen others. Cut back to one vehicle, two lunches and dinner out rather than cook at home, no suits, ties, dry cleaners, etc., etc. We never tryed to calculate the amount but I'm sure it was a contributer to my previous "no budget" statement.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-03-2003, 02:48 AM   #23
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Hi UncleMick! The savings (from not working) were
not really a surprise to me. "Bigger cars, bigger
houses, term insurance for your wife" are all gone now
and my suits are given away or in the rag bag. And,
I continue to simplify. It's a good feeling.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-05-2003, 06:40 AM   #24
 
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Based on only 3 months of data, I am spending less than I expected, although I don't have enough information yet to say I am living on X% of my former income. Nor has it been a long enough period to say it will continue this way.

I based my retirement needs on figuring out what I was actually living on while working (income less taxes, FICA, savings, investments, etc.) That became my baseline. I then figure out what I would need to get back to that after-tax level considering that my taxes would be lower, I wouldn't be paying FICA and I wouldn't be investing new money regularly. The given was my military pension less the taxes on it. Then I figured out what I would need to withdraw from my nest egg to get back up to my previous expense level. (I am initially accessing non-tax deferred CDs, so taxes were not yet an issue. I did, however, make sure that the number was one that I could support at a reasonable withdrawal rate if I did have to pay taxes.)

I figured I would need $2K per month, so I moved six month's worth of cash into my credit union savings account. Since I get my military pension at the beginning of the month, I figured that in the middle of every month, I would telephonically move $1500 from savings to checking. The remaining $500 ($2,000 - $1,500) would remain in the savings account to cover unexpected expenses.

The good news is that after 3 months, I have yet to move any money from the savings account to checking because I haven't needed it. This isn't yet a perfect indicator of retirement needs, because I let some cash accumulate in my checking account during my final six weeks of work and I got a small amount of vacation pay when I left my job, so I had a pretty robust checking account to start with. (But on the other hand, I've taken a couple of vacations and I am still doing OK.)

Not sure if this will continue over the long haul, but it would be nice if it would.

jtmitch
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-08-2003, 06:09 AM   #25
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

In my case, alothough not surprised by the reduction
in expenses, the whole ER deal turned out to be less
of a struggle than I anticipated at the start. That's the
good news. The bad news is that the passage of time
continues to accelerate. Tempus fugit!
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-08-2003, 10:34 AM   #26
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Hindsight. Having ER'd back in 1993 age 49 - now 60 and joining this board july 2003 after reading many postings I'm impressed how much tracked our (me,her, sandwich gen. mom) experiences. Combined income peaked close to dory36's example and the 33% in ER was right on target. The 50$ per day (no morgage, no car payment) and 100$ per day on trips (excluding airline tickets) in other postings were in the ballpark.We actually continued to save some money in the early years but time passes and we've become more 'extravagent'. with ten years experience.

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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 08-09-2003, 02:32 AM   #27
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Well, uncleMick, your story could be my story. Even our ages are the same. Kind of amazing actually. I couldn't
have covered it with the same degree of brevity however.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 01-27-2004, 10:30 AM   #28
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Dory, the reason's that most "financial advisor" types are working for the investment industry, where the more money they manage for you, the more they make in fees and commissions. They have vested interest in seeing you die with a $2 million unspent portfolio. Don't believe me? Read the bios of all the financial advisers who write articles with titles such as "Is $1.5 Million Enough to Retire On?" or any other such scare-mongering articles.

Of course, such articles never even hint at the hundreds of cheap places that you can move to and literally become the king of your own little fiefdom.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 01-28-2004, 11:31 AM   #29
 
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Re. people telling us that we will need
this amount or that amount to retire, I've never come close to what most of these "authors/experts" say
would be the minimum and I've been retired 11 years now.
No dumpster diving or eating cat food either

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While I agree that with oRe: 33%? That's my story.
Old 02-02-2004, 10:26 AM   #30
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While I agree that with oRe: 33%? That's my story.

I like the comments about not having to adjust downward because of never having adjusted upward.
In my case, when I remarried in 2002, we bought a house. Based on our combined incomes, we could have 'afforded' a near mansion. But for someone in his mid 50's that would have been foolhardy, especially since I had ER in mind. Don't want to be 85 years old when the mortgage finally gets paid off. So, although we bought a new house, it was an modest one (compared to our neighbors) and put down as much as we could at the time. Now, we add $$ to each monthly payment and hope to pay it off in about 3 more years.
Then we can be debt free, which is a John Galt "no brainer ".
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 05-30-2004, 11:05 AM   #31
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

I'm new here and just finished reading this thread. Since I am not retired yet, I find much of the thread very encouraging. One item that hasn't been mentioned is that it is probably easier to retire on 33% of 100k than 33% of 50k. I suppose everyone has to do their own budget & try it before they really know what they can live on.
Most of you have also mentioned having no debt. I currently have a mortgage at 4.75% interest. The house is in an area that is appreciating in value and I have felt that I should be in no hurry to pay it off. Does anyone have any thoughts on that subject.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 05-30-2004, 11:13 AM   #32
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

I think we've posted enough on paying off the mortgage, do a search.

Regarding 33% of 100k is right on. I have a base no frills budget of about 10k for necessary utilities and basic food. 16-18k gives me a good quality of life. 24k gives me a solid middle class existence with some toys and frills. 30k gives me all that plus appliance/car/etc replacements as needed.

Some threads list some details on budget items...those "others" and invisible things add up.
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 06-08-2004, 09:33 AM   #33
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

Quote:
The 50$ per day (no morgage, no car payment) and 100$ per day on trips (excluding airline tickets) in other postings were in the ballpark.
I find that I am needing 100% of previous take home pay -- always had 1k withheld for savings and recently (last 3 yrs) had 2k withheld to convert to a higher pension payout so I was only living on 40% of my salary. And I still want to replace my carpeting and linoleum.

However trips are definitely eating into the amt that I manage to save each month (down to 15% of income). Perhaps this $50 / $100 a day trick will help out
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Re: 33%? That's my story.
Old 06-09-2004, 08:36 AM   #34
 
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Re: 33%? That's my story.

"Retire on Less Than You Think" by Fred Brock, the "Seniority" columnist for the New York Times is a great read on this subject. The 70-80% is definitely something being pushed by Wall Street, those of us who recycle dryer sheets will do much better ; - )
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