How Long Would You Work To Double Your Nest Egg?

[GalaxyBoy]

Enough is enough. I’ve got enough, and I’ve had enough. I told DW just the other day that there’s nothing I’d rather spend our money on than the ability to be free of w*rk.

[aaronc879]

If I had enough money today to live comfortably for the rest of my life then I wouldn't work another day.

[Dawg52]

At 48 I would go another 3 year to double. At 64..... zero.

[Car-Guy]

No, not if I already had "more" than enough to live in the life style I wanted.

[ABQ2015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 At 48 I would go another 3 year to double. At 64..... zero.

Agree with Dawg. I worked an extra 21 months from age 60 to 62 to increase my retirement income/nest egg by about 30%. While retiring at 60 would have satisfied my needs, the extra income satisfies my wants. Mainly travel, a nicer car, and some additional cushion in savings that gives me an added sense of security. But at this age, I would not go back to work.

[Qs Laptop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongo2 I know a lot of people here deal with "one more year" and "golden handcuffs". I'm in a situation where I've more or less hit my number, but my business is doing very well and for the next couple years I should be making 2-3 times what I made the last five. Enough that, with some luck, I can double my nest egg in just a few years. Is it worth it? If you've retired already but you could double your nest egg by working a couple more years would you?

It seems like you are asking two separate questions. First question is should you keep working to double your nest egg? Second question is if you are already retired, would you go back to work for a couple of years to double your nest egg?

To answer the first question, yes, I would keep working an additional couple of years to double my nest egg. You say you've "more or less hit your number", but I sense that you might want more. So, unless you can't bear running your business anymore, I'd stick it out and stockpile some more money.

Some personal background. I'm a 60 year old business owner whose business was almost taken down in the Great Recession. I recovered and I'm doing better than ever. I like running my business, it's not hard to do and there's still enough challenges to make it interesting, so I keep plugging along. After some very dark days I'm starting to get paid well, so I keep going.

If you're not stressed and you like your work I say keep going.

Answer to the second question would be no, if I was retired and I was living comfortably I would not go back to work to double my nest egg. Of course, if I was 50 years old, retired and bored, I might do it.

[Qs Laptop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 At 48 I would go another 3 year to double. At 64..... zero.

Succintly put, and agreed.

[UnrealizedPotential]

No. Not worth it to me. I made my decision over two years ago to walk away and I'm not going back.

[jollystomper]

At 48, if I was in good health, still enjoying the job, and had little stress from the job, I would keep working for those few more years.

My experience, at 54 all of the financial calculators, and the Megacorp financial planner, all said I had enough to retire. But I had not hit my "personal number" which would give mental comfort, and the job was still mostly enjoyable, so I kept working and putting money away. At 57, I hit my number, and soon after started my "glide path" in terms of trying to shift out of those components of the job that caused me stress, and continued to put money away.

This year, at 60, I chose to land the glider as now "time > money" for me. At some point in time you will have to decide when the "time > money" equation works for you.



At some point

[Mdlerth]

I voted "2 years".

The data show that although we were at FIRECalc 100% a year ago, I'm winding down OMY, during which our stash will NOT double. So if I'm willing to do one year for less than 2X, I guess it suggests that for 2X I'd probably do two years.

No doubt this has some of you seething, "So why haven't you retired already, you fraud? There's no such thing as more than 100%! Here at ER.org we coach and we coach about getting off the employment treadmill, but you keep not listening. What are you, some kind of subversive? Get off your keister and stop w*rking!"

Before you cut me from the team, I have an excuse: I don't REALLY know what my expenses will be. We keep good records so I know precisely what they HAVE been for the past three years, but I'm not confident that they won't go up once I have more free time to do discretionary activities that will cost.

For example, my RE spend plan allows for some international travel, which DW will love and I will not. It remains to be seen at what point my dislike of travel will prove a limiting factor. Will I be able to endure only a single month-long excursion per year or will she coax me into three? The only barrier keeping our travel under control now is the tiny ration of vacation our Megacorps permit. When three weeks off becomes 52 weeks off, my bride will be itching to wear out her passport. When the fever is on her, she could blithely bust our budget running round the globe.

If there's a fortuneteller or palmist out there who knows exactly what we'll spend, let me know now so I'll know the ideal day to bug out. In the meantime, I have to plan for worst case on the expense front. Hence OMY, hoping it doesn't turn into TMY.

[copyright1997reloaded]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 If I had enough money today to live comfortably for the rest of my life then I wouldn't work another day.

Interesting thread. I have enough money today to live comfortably the rest of my life, and yet I work. I don't work at the job that (with investments) made me enough money to live comfortably the rest of my life, I now have work that I mostly do for fun and mental stimulation.

OP, the question is how much is enough? If it is borderline (say after a steep recession) and you like/tolerate the work, then keep going given you are 48.

[tb001]

It depends. Like others, I would ask how much you enjoy what you’re doing vs the added stress it adds to your life. Many here have walked away from big money because they’ve had enough. It does sound though like the extra $ is enticing enough to *you* that it’s probably worth staying.

I’m the same age and walked away from a significant sum. It wouldn’t have doubled our nest egg, but close, and would have given us a lot of nice extras. But we have young kids and as a family decided it wasn’t worth what we were giving up. The extra $ came with a lot of stress and travel. As it turned out, once I decided I could walk away, I was able to go part time from home. So it lets us not touch our nest egg for a few more years, and *hopefully* let it grow a bit more, while having a much better quality of life. We’ll see how long it lasts, but so far it’s turned out to be a good alternative for us.

[Luck_Club]

@50 I would put in about 3 years to double that is roughly a 26% annual return.

Right now I'm indefinitely doing 1 more year at roughly 50% of my passive income. Just because I'm greedy, work from my home, it isn't that difficult, or negatively impacting what I want to do on a daily basis.

This exercise has me , since 3 one more years only adds about 5% to my stack. Of course I will never truly be retired in the eyes of this board since Real Estate Income is a heavy piece of my cash flow.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 If I had enough money today to live comfortably for the rest of my life then I wouldn't work another day.

I haven't noticed any medical updates from you lately. I hope you are doing better and having less pain.

[Fedup]

I’m 58 and I voted for 1 more year. Do I need the money, no. But my working life has not been stressful, the stressful part is the commute.

[Red Badger]

Like others have stated; now in retirement, not another day. If I was younger and working, perhaps a different answer.

Also, don't need more stuff. Pensions, SSI, and good retirement healthcare will cover all our needs. We'll spend from our egg on travel, experiences, and causes we support.

OP, if it's your baby and you don't mind the work, go a few more. However, if your yearning to be free, then by all means build your escape plan and execute it.

I had a number in mind for when I turned 60. If I wasn't there, I would keep going to perhaps 62. Favorable markets put me well ahead of my number. I walked at 60 and 26 days.

[gayl]

I hit it at 50 and worked until almost 52 so that I could more than 'exist' on pension (covers housing, medical, food, 1 trip a year). The extra 21 months covers another trip per year.

I went back to seasonal work due to boredom. But that's cured now

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdlerth I voted "2 years". The data show that although we were at FIRECalc 100% a year ago, I'm winding down OMY, during which our stash will NOT double. So if I'm willing to do one year for less than 2X, I guess it suggests that for 2X I'd probably do two years. No doubt this has some of you seething, "So why haven't you retired already, you fraud? There's no such thing as more than 100%! Here at ER.org we coach and we coach about getting off the employment treadmill, but you keep not listening. What are you, some kind of subversive? Get off your keister and stop w*rking!" Before you cut me from the team, I have an excuse: I don't REALLY know what my expenses will be. We keep good records so I know precisely what they HAVE been for the past three years, but I'm not confident that they won't go up once I have more free time to do discretionary activities that will cost. For example, my RE spend plan allows for some international travel, which DW will love and I will not. It remains to be seen at what point my dislike of travel will prove a limiting factor. Will I be able to endure only a single month-long excursion per year or will she coax me into three? The only barrier keeping our travel under control now is the tiny ration of vacation our Megacorps permit. When three weeks off becomes 52 weeks off, my bride will be itching to wear out her passport. When the fever is on her, she could blithely bust our budget running round the globe. If there's a fortuneteller or palmist out there who knows exactly what we'll spend, let me know now so I'll know the ideal day to bug out. In the meantime, I have to plan for worst case on the expense front. Hence OMY, hoping it doesn't turn into TMY.

Hey you! You, the fraud.

You should have written this before I retired! We are winding down on DW's first trip to Europe, and the second worst thing happened. She is absolutely smitten (the worst that could have happened was that she hated it and we'd have 20 grand worth of buyer's remorse). And, I may have that exactly back-asswards.

Funny thing. I usually have to put dynamite under her duff to get her to travel. She loves the travel, but when I start talking about another trip, I gotta get frickin' Alfred Noble on speed-dial for another of case ass blaster. I fear that I will look back on this problem with my heart longing and pining for "the good ol' days."

[Walt34]

At age 48 I'd stick with it to double the fund. But at 68, "Stick a fork in me, I'm done!"

[audreyh1]

Since I've been retired 19 years, I don't think I could go back to my old job, and what kind of super high paying job am I going to be able to get anyway that would double my net worth? And it would probably require me working 80+ hour weeks.