Poll: How would you feel with $90k/year in retirement?

[FIREd]

My answer was based on $90k /year for a couple.

 

[NW-Bound]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm a little bit that way too. I will hire someone to do things I don't have the skills or strength to do myself, but cleaning up the house isn't one of those things. Plus, I would be ashamed for the cleaners to see what my house usually looks like, because I'm such a slob. My mom uses a cleaning service, because this house is too big for her to keep up single-handed any more (and I'm not a whole lot of use in that department at the moment), but usually we go through the house and tidy up a bit the day before the cleaners come!

I am starting to loosen up a little, though. I went down to Lacey last Friday, and with the recent rainfall but continuing mild temperatures this fall, the grass is really growing like crazy. It's an 8000 square foot lot, almost all in lawn, and with normal WA winter weather, it's likely to stay too wet to mow for the next three or four months. I took one look at it and thought, if this keeps up, it will be knee high by the time I get moved in--and maybe still too wet to mow. Then too, I've been told it takes at least as long as you were in treatment to get back to your pre-chemo energy level, plus I will have at least 6 weeks of "no lifting, pushing or pulling over 5 pounds" following reconstructive surgery, which is scheduled for late next April. At that rate, it will be too tall for me to see over by the time it's a) dry and b) I am fit to cut it myself! My mom has offered to give me her old power mower (she also uses a lawn service, so she doesn't need it any more), but even though I probably could cut that much overgrown grass, I don't think I'm going to. Maybe there will be a neighborhood teenager who wants to make a little moolah.

From your past posts, I remember that you are a DIY woman, and you even thought of building your own retirement home. However, with your current health condition, it's better to let someone else take care of the grass.

And as much as I like to do things myself, I know there are things that are unsafe for me to do, such as climbing up my big trees to trim the branches with a chain saw. Would not want to ruin my ER!

 

[WestLake]

Just eat at Commander's Palace (and the like) every night, you'll be well on your way to spending $90K...

No, go for lunch, when they have 25¢ martinis.

 

[Walt34]

We'd be ecstatic to have a $90k/year retirement income, all other things remaining the same. Except perhaps for the high-dollar cities I would think that would be very comfortable for anyone.

 

[marko]

+1. We live in the same part of the country.... I am just a bit closer to Boston.

When you factor in state income tax, other state taxes/fees, state mandated HCI and the general local COL, my guess is that $40K of that $90K goes toward the privilege of living in the great state of Mass.

Of course our weather is awesome, the roads are perfectly maintained and the people are the nicest in the country, so there's that.

 

[Dreamer]

We could live very comfortably on $90,000.00 per year.

 

[Corporateburnout]

+1. We live in the same part of the country.... I am just a bit closer to Boston.

+1 We live 25 minutes south of Boston and I would like to relocate to a cheaper part of the country once I call it a quit in about a year assuming I'm able to talk DW into it.

90K is about what we would need if we stay here.

 

[Ally]

Since we live in a low cost area and we don't have debt, $90000 would be more than adequate for the two of us.

 

[martyb]

I guess I missed it...is that 90k pre-tax or after all possible deductions? If it's gross, then what is the net? That's the number I'm more interested in. We're planning to live on $4000 net per month. That's after federal tax, health insurance, life insurance & survivor's benefit percentage deduction. IMO net is what matters.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

90k would be great we could buy two new cars each year and still have plenty money left over.

 

[NW-Bound]

In my case, I will be living off after-tax accounts for a few years before tapping before-tax accounts. Not much income tax until then.

I figure that by the time I draw from 401k and IRA and have to pay income taxes, Bernicke's spending model will step in, and my spending will reduce to compensate for tax payments. Hence, the gross amount will stay roughly the same.

 

[LeavingOhio]

If you were told you could retire at 60 on 90k in todays dollars, exclusive of SS income, would you be happy, disappointed, etc?

Is this high, low, about the target you personally strive for to meet your lifestyle goals?

My wife works half time, and between the two of us, we are just shy of $90,000 annually today. At age 46, I currently have 2 kids living at home, so they eat a LOT of our income (both literally and figuratively), and we still pay on a mortgage that we don't plan to have in retirement. So, you're saying that if at age 60 with $90,000 a year in today's income with Social Security still to come later on (which for us would be about $45,600 a year if we took it early at age 62) would I be happy?

The answer is YES.

Right now, our plan is to retire at age 60 with $1 million in retirement accounts. IF I take 4% of that a year, that's $40,000. We plan to be 100% debt free including owning our home outright by then, so that makes that VERY doable. We could probably even get by on less, but what we MIGHT do is take 4% until we are 62 or maybe even a little later...maybe 65...and then start taking Social Security. If we take Social Security at 62, we'll get about $45,600 in future dollars. If we wait until age 65, our SS income would be about $63,500. We could really pare back our draw on our other retirement pile then if we wanted to.

Who knows though, maybe we'll take from our investment money all the way up to age 70 before we start taking from SS. Probably not though...I'd rather use income from SS as early as possible and let my investment pile continue to grow.

 

[eytonxav]

If you are saying $90K per year starting at age 60 until SS kicks in, we could probably live at or a bit above that number. Certainly after SS/pension kick in at 66 and 65 respectively, we would not need anything close to that amount coming from our nest egg.

As someone else said, I am not sure what is magic about $90K. Everyone's situation (wants vs needs) is different.

 

[Tree-dweller]

I should have clarified, this would be for 2 people to live on.........

I voted ("about what I was targeting") before I was clear on this. It's what I was targeting for me alone, combining COLA'd pension and SWR. I've been blessed with a wife who is blessed with a job that's going to provide a second pension (with survivor bennies, no less, but - not COLA'd) when she retires in a few years. We're in a high COL state, and DW isn't as [-]cheap[/-], er, frugal as I am, so we won't be rolling in dough, but we'll be good.

 

[T-bird]

.

As someone else said, I am not sure what is magic about $90K. Everyone's situation (wants vs needs) is different.

Funny that number is just about what DW and I will have in COLA'd pensions once I SIRE in March. Living in the low cost South has its advantages as this is more than enough for us to live and would still be saving 10% due to our LBYM tendancies. Those are hard to break. Still we will both have SS and now look to take at 62 (I am 57 and DW 56) but that could change. Health insurance, LTC are already taken care of and no debt but the house and that will be gone once we get into the 2014 tax year. Now we just have to stay healthy.

T-bird
Class of 2013
DW Class of 2012 (May a done deal)

 

[JustMeUC]

I am well under 60 and haven't worked in years... so I guess I am "retired" I live on well under that but I have chosen to live in places where the US dollar goes far (and I am very happy there for the most part). As for maids and such, yes my BF and I do have a few full-time house staff but they each cost much less per month than the average car payment here in the USA (his house.. and he pays their salary). It was a bit hard at first getting used to the lack of privacy but now I don't even think about it anymore.

 

[Mulligan]

From your past posts, I remember that you are a DIY woman, and you even thought of building your own retirement home. However, with your current health condition, it's better to let someone else take care of the grass.

And as much as I like to do things myself, I know there are things that are unsafe for me to do, such as climbing up my big trees to trim the branches with a chain saw. Would not want to ruin my ER!

I find myself not doing certain things now because I think I have a $5500 deductible now, not going to risk injury and literally having to pay for it. Concerning living on 90k, I currently make a little over 6 figures including my part time job, but live on 50k very comfortably for my single person needs. Of course, living in a low cost area helps.

 

[Telly]

90K as defined for the poll is WAY more than our needs! I've been early-early retired for 10+ years, so have the track record with expenses and unexpecteds too.

 

[Sue J]

The 2 of us live very comfortably on less than $30,000 - no mortgage, no debt, low COL area, subsidized retiree health insurance. Next year it will be closer to $34,000 as our health insurance undergoes drastic changes.

Around here $90,000 a year would be a very nice income for a family of four with a mortgage and kid expenses.

I wouldn't be able to spend $90K but I'm sure DH could!

 

[haha]

Of course our weather is awesome, the roads are perfectly maintained and the people are the nicest in the country, so there's that.

 

[Corporateburnout]

When you factor in state income tax, other state taxes/fees, state mandated HCI and the general local COL, my guess is that $40K of that $90K goes toward the privilege of living in the great state of Mass.

Of course our weather is awesome, the roads are perfectly maintained and the people are the nicest in the country, so there's that.

Not to mention the best drivers in the country

 

[Bestwifeever]

When you factor in state income tax, other state taxes/fees, state mandated HCI and the general local COL, my guess is that $40K of that $90K goes toward the privilege of living in the great state of Mass.

Of course our weather is awesome, the roads are perfectly maintained and the people are the nicest in the country, so there's that.

Not to mention that giant moat that keeps people from relocating when they're not happy.

 

[novaman]

Wow! Less than 20% say they would be dissappointed in this amount. I must reevaluate my situation. I've got enough to generate 160k a year and I thought I still need to bump it up.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have yet to see Larry Ellison making a comment.

Oh wait, Larry has not retired yet, and probably never will, hence would not frequent this forum.

 

[haha]

Wow! Less than 20% say they would be dissappointed in this amount. I must reevaluate my situation. I've got enough to generate 160k a year and I thought I still need to bump it up.

Bump it up man. You never know when you may need more wives.

Ha