Multiple projection tools all say "Yes!"

[MI-Roger]

FireCalc: 100
Fidelity RIP: 132
i-orp: Assets will last until age 95 with maximum withdrawals at 6 times our current spending level.
Great Western Life tool: Assets continue to grow through final calculated age of 85.

After decades of scrimping, saving, planning, denying ourselves too many splurges, etc., it is still shocking to see we will enjoy so significant of a buffer in retirement.

Oh yeah, we have LTC policies too so that life-style altering potential cost is pretty much avoided.

 

[JohnTeetootoo]

FireCalc: 100
Fidelity RIP: 132
i-orp: Assets will last until age 95 with maximum withdrawals at 6 times our current spending level.
Great Western Life tool: Assets continue to grow through final calculated age of 85.

After decades of scrimping, saving, planning, denying ourselves too many splurges, etc., it is still shocking to see we will enjoy so significant of a buffer in retirement.

Oh yeah, we have LTC policies too so that life-style altering potential cost is pretty much avoided.

Congrats! What is your net worth, if you don't kind me asking?

 

[cynicalbuthopeful]

Wahoo -- time to celebrate - and retire.

 

[rodi]

That is great news. Go for it!

 

[Backpacker]

Congrats to you, from another Michigander!

 

[HadEnuff]

Congrats! What is your net worth, if you don't kind me asking?

what's yours?

 

[COcheesehead]

what's yours?

Touché

 

[Car-Guy]

Good luck switching from savings to spending mode. Lot's of folks just can't seem to do it after years of savings/sacrificing and end up continuing to deny themselves in retirement, even when they have more than enough.

The calculators can lead you to water but they can't make you drink. (analogy )

 

[RobbieB]

Muhaha!

That is my purpose here, to set an example. To spend freely as I've never done before.

Welcome to retirement from a former Michigander (Detroit) and don't forget to;

Blow That Dough!

 

[MI-Roger]

Good luck switching from savings to spending mode. Lot's of folks just can't seem to do it after years of savings/sacrificing and end up continuing to deny themselves in retirement, even when they have more than enough.

The calculators can lead you to water but they can't make you drink. (analogy )

Muhaha!

That is my purpose here, to set an example. To spend freely as I've never done before.

Welcome to retirement from a former Michigander (Detroit) and don't forget to;

Blow That Dough!

Yes that will be tough for two reasons: total change of long established habits; and most of our invested assets are in Tax Deferred accounts. Great for building worth but down-right lousy for allowing access when you do want to spend - such as buying a warm climate retirement home.

As for the Net Worth question; it isn't only the value of our investments, but also that we have chosen and lived a modest lifestyle in a low to medium Cost Of Living area for the past 40 years. A free spending life style in a high COL could not be sustained with what we have accumulated, hence the need for an individual to run projections based on their own spending habits, and not rely on specific values that work for an anonymous internet poster.

 

[COcheesehead]

Yes that will be tough for two reasons: total change of long established habits; and most of our invested assets are in Tax Deferred accounts. Great for building worth but down-right lousy for allowing access when you do want to spend - such as buying a warm climate retirement home.

As for the Net Worth question; it isn't only the value of our investments, but also that we have chosen and lived a modest lifestyle in a low to medium Cost Of Living area for the past 40 years. A free spending life style in a high COL could not be sustained with what we have accumulated, hence the need for an individual to run projections based on their own spending habits, and not rely on specific values that work for an anonymous internet poster.

Great response. You’re going to fit in well here.

 

[omni550]

Yes that will be tough for two reasons: total change of long established habits; and most of our invested assets are in Tax Deferred accounts. Great for building worth but down-right lousy for allowing access when you do want to spend - such as buying a warm climate retirement home.

Greetings from a fellow 'Gander with a similar 'too much in tax deferred' savings situation.

When I purchased my snowbird condo in FL in 2015, I purposely got a mortgage (10-yr. at 2.89%) to help spread out the draw-down from my tIRA. And the rest of my tIRA monies are all invested, earning more than the 2.89% mortgage interest.

omni

 

[stepford]

i-orp: Assets will last until age 95 with maximum withdrawals at 6 times our current spending level.

That's the part that stands out for me. By the same metric my maximum w.r. is less than 3 times my actual spending and I felt quite comfortable with ER at 55 - now thinking I worked a fair bit longer than I needed to. With a 6x safety factor it seems to me you could have done this years ago.

 

[MI-Roger]

That's the part that stands out for me. By the same metric my maximum w.r. is less than 3 times my actual spending and I felt quite comfortable with ER at 55 - now thinking I worked a fair bit longer than I needed to. With a 6x safety factor it seems to me you could have done this years ago.

Well........... I definitely need to better understand the output and assumptions. The maximum withdrawal may not be the constant withdrawal, but rather what the forecasting tool determines as the maximum amount you will need in any one year.

Our Financial Planner tells me the same thing you did in your post, "I don't understand why you found another job at age 56, you didn't need to continue working".

Hard to break old habits I guess. Plus, I hadn't looked at detailed forecasting tools yet, just assumed I would need to continue working for a while. Six years ago I actually thought my retirement would start at age 68! In my mind I am still retiring early by leaving at age 63-1/2!

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

I am bailing out July 1, 2019. My Independence Day. I have been trained since I was a kid from my grandparents and parents......”once you put money in the bank, YOU NEVER EVER TOUCH IT!” So, I will be one of those who struggles to withdraw!!!

 

[RobbieB]

Might just as well just toss it in the trash then eh?

 

[Dtail]

Well........... I definitely need to better understand the output and assumptions. The maximum withdrawal may not be the constant withdrawal, but rather what the forecasting tool determines as the maximum amount you will need in any one year.

Our Financial Planner tells me the same thing you did in your post, "I don't understand why you found another job at age 56, you didn't need to continue working".

Hard to break old habits I guess. Plus, I hadn't looked at detailed forecasting tools yet, just assumed I would need to continue working for a while. Six years ago I actually thought my retirement would start at age 68! In my mind I am still retiring early by leaving at age 63-1/2!

It is constant withdrawal, not to mention that default withdrawal strategy typically yields the lowest result. Try using the other withdrawal strategies and see what your number is then.

 

[Dtail]

I am bailing out July 1, 2019. My Independence Day. I have been trained since I was a kid from my grandparents and parents......”once you put money in the bank, YOU NEVER EVER TOUCH IT!” So, I will be one of those who struggles to withdraw!!!

RobbieB needs to provide spending strategies for the timid folks out there.
I track every expense, but have no struggles to spend.
You will get used to it.

 

[HI Bill]

FireCalc: 100
Fidelity RIP: 132
i-orp: Assets will last until age 95 with maximum withdrawals at 6 times our current spending level.
Great Western Life tool: Assets continue to grow through final calculated age of 85.

Assuming your retirement budget is as solid as your retirement calculations, sounds like you're ready for as risk-free of retirement as is really necessary (or maybe more so). Congrats, and enjoy!

P.S. Many here, do share the details of their assets and spending, to allow others to give them advice. Purely optional, of course! But without these details, it's impossible for others to find the problems (if any) or weaknesses that may exist within a plan. For example, you could have debt that you're not telling us about (I know, I know, you don't). Anyway, assuming your house is in order, and the assumptions you used in the calculators are correct, you are ready!
BTW, what duration (final age) did you use for FIRECALC? If it's 85, it may or may not be long enough...most here plan out to 100, and even Vanguard recommends this now.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Congratulations. It sounds like your plan has worked well for you.

I hope that you will enjoy retirement. Ours has been great

 

[MI-Roger]

Assuming your retirement budget is as solid as your retirement calculations, sounds like you're ready for as risk-free of retirement as is really necessary (or maybe more so). Congrats, and enjoy!

P.S. Many here, do share the details of their assets and spending, to allow others to give them advice.

BTW, what duration (final age) did you use for FIRECALC? If it's 85, it may or may not be long enough...most here plan out to 100, and even Vanguard recommends this now.

I don't have any problems sharing, invested assets total ~$1.5M with ~$900K of those in Annuities that will provide us with our pension equivalent monthly income. Everyone should know their own details and projections rather than relying upon a single number they remember from one posting on the internet - by someone they don't know - who lives somewhere with an unknown COL - and whose lifestyle may or may not match their own.

I typically use 95 for maximum age. I ran the Great Western Life projection earlier this Summer and right now I don't remember if 85 was their default or if I chose that number for some reason. My current employer uses GWL to operate our 401(k) Plans so I can re-run it for free at any time.

 

[COcheesehead]

So your current spending level is $10,000?

 

[Dtail]

So your current spending level is $10,000?

Good catch and Fidelity uses even less than the 4% rule.

 

[MI-Roger]

So your current spending level is $10,000?

Good catch and Fidelity uses even less than the 4% rule.

Still looking for and correcting errors in the various projections.

I re-ran the Great Western this morning, found some things that didn't make sense, corrected their origins, and the overall results are still favorable (as well as being more believable).

Age 85 is their default life expectancy but I found the edit assumptions fields and corrected that to age 95. The tool was double counting my 401(k) assets because it loads them automatically and I had included them in my manually entered investment assets value as well. I entered my wife's paltry pension amount as an annual total whereas the tool requests a monthly amount. Her pension's annual total is low enough that the automatic 'sense checker' didn't catch it, but I found and corrected it.

Now on to the i-orp projection tool with its insane Maximum Annual Withdrawal value.


In regards to the $10K spending level question; using our current annual spending amount/budget, less the payments we will be receiving from our annuities, less the payment amounts from SSA, less my wife's very small pension, our annual required withdrawal from our other assets/savings could indeed be only $10K. But let me track this down first to fully understand the question.

 

[HI Bill]

~$900K of those in Annuities that will provide us with our pension equivalent monthly income.

What type of annuity? Hopefully, it will at least keep up with inflation!