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View Poll Results: What is your min $ amount to be FI according to FIREcalc?
< $200,000 4 2.50%
$200,001 - $299,999 4 2.50%
$300,000 - $399,999 4 2.50%
$400,000 - $499,999 4 2.50%
$500,000 - $599,999 4 2.50%
$600,000 - $699,999 8 5.00%
$700,000 - $799,999 7 4.38%
$800,000 - $899,999 5 3.13%
$900,000 - $999,999 1 0.63%
$1,000,000 - $1,249,999 19 11.88%
$1,250,000 - $1,499,999 8 5.00%
$1,500,000 - $1,749,999 15 9.38%
$1,750,000 - $1,999,999 9 5.63%
>$2,000,000 68 42.50%
Voters: 160. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-01-2012, 12:16 PM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PolarisTLX
Hey thanks for all the responses and votes so far.

There are or course a lot of variables that will change many people's answers, and no one's answer is going to be exactly suitable to another's situation of course but that's fine. As many have gathered, this is just for fun/curiosity sake, this is not used seriously in any way, simply a way to see trends and get some light perspective perhaps along with friendly discussion

For example, I can see that no one voted for $900,000 - $999,999. That is interesting as it suggests perhaps that if someone is that close to reaching that 7th figure, they will probably try to stick it out to claim that milestone for themselves.

For myself I voted for $700,000 - $799,999 but could have gone one below.

I am surprised at how many chose over $2,000,000!!! I am curious now if that due to a vary lavish lifestyle or is that the amount considering the expenses of an entire family?
I would have agreed with your last sentence until I started visiting this forum 5 years ago. I had some posters afew years ago inform me that my cola pension was an equivalent to about a 2,000,000 annuity at my age. I had never thought of it in that terminology, so yes you could have 2 mil in the bank and definitely could only have a modest lifestyle. When spreading it out over a lifetime and making it last, that maybe isnt as much money as it appears to us who do not have that type of asset level.
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Old 02-01-2012, 12:28 PM   #42
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I'm not sure that I'm qualified to answer this as the question reads "What is your min $ amount to be FI according to FIREcalc?" and although I had a rough target figure in my head, my semi-retirement came about as a result of a layoff; it was forced upon me. I hadn't yet reached my target figure so I looked at the money I'd got, saw what income would still give me a 100% success rate in Firecalc, and started withdrawing less than that (my WR = 2.6%)

In other words, instead of saying "How much do I need to live", I looked at what I had and said to myself, "Hmmm.....is there a way I can live off this little?"

I voted anyway.
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Old 02-01-2012, 01:20 PM   #43
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I didn't have whatI needed for 100% when I lost my job, but I do now
IF I include social security.

What's more interesting to me is if you go over the spending allowed the numbers drop drastically .

Anybody know when the 2008 numbers will show up? Do we have to wait 30 years?
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Old 02-01-2012, 01:30 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lemming View Post
Anybody know when the 2008 numbers will show up? Do we have to wait 30 years?
No, all you need to do is travel back in time a few years...to January 17, 2009:

Quote:
Originally Posted by dory36 View Post
FIRECalc now includes the 40+% decline in the equity and interest market from 12/07 through 12/08.

I am using the 12/08 data instead of the as-yet unavailable 1/09 data, but I didn't want to wait another month to get the impact of the 4th quarter 2008 into FIRECalc. So look for a minor correction in another month or so.

dory36
And then this on June 23, 2010:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy R View Post
I just wanted to let you know that the historical data for FireCalc has been updated to include actual results from 2009 and year-to-date values for 2010.

Andy
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Old 02-01-2012, 01:36 PM   #45
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Originally Posted by PolarisTLX View Post
I am surprised at how many chose over $2,000,000!!! I am curious now if that due to a vary lavish lifestyle or is that the amount considering the expenses of an entire family?
Many on the $2MM category are planning on a very low WR (withdrawal rate). While 4% is often considered the SAFE withdrawal rate for a 65 year old, many here are retiring much earlier. I think the average on this forum in a recent poll was closer to 55. That most likely requires a larger nest egg and a lower withdrawal rate, closer to 3%. And if you add a safety factor for an even more conservative approach, there are people here withdrawing down at 2% or less. That works out to $40K/year - not lavish IMO.
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Old 02-01-2012, 01:58 PM   #46
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Over $2mm here, and between living in an expensive area, and wanting to retire in my 40's, 2 mil won't give me that lavish of a lifestyle. I would like to cut back on spending, but have been having problems with that. My beer fund is kinda high.

One thing that's kinda neat, I hadn't played with FireCalc in a while - if I retired today I actually do have a 1% chance of my money lasting 40 years! I didn't think I'd even get the 1%!
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Old 02-01-2012, 02:01 PM   #47
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Originally Posted by skipro3 View Post
I mentally converted and figured what size pot of money I would need to match the pension and added that to what I have.
If I do that then it would be >$2M
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Old 02-01-2012, 02:22 PM   #48
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If I do that then it would be >$2M
Alan, you're gona wind up in lotsa trouble with all that evil money! Wild women, fast horses, expensive booze........ Next thing you know you'll wake up drunk in the gutter, a floozy by your side and a bottle in your hand with a horse standing over you about to take a d......

Watch yourself.......
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Old 02-01-2012, 03:46 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by meekie View Post
One thing that's kinda neat, I hadn't played with FireCalc in a while - if I retired today I actually do have a 1% chance of my money lasting 40 years! I didn't think I'd even get the 1%!
I'd recommend you work another year or more...
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Old 02-01-2012, 04:41 PM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aiming_4_55 View Post
I wish I could pull the plug with a lower success %, but I'm just not ready.

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Old 02-01-2012, 06:00 PM   #51
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size 11 men's shoe....not sure what size in women's shoe.

I was surprised at how many need over 2 million to be FI....so many variables. With no mortgage, no debt, simple lifestyle, some defined benefit, I am FI with a good bit less than 1 million.
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Old 02-01-2012, 06:02 PM   #52
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Alan, you're gona wind up in lotsa trouble with all that evil money! Wild women, fast horses, expensive booze........ Next thing you know you'll wake up drunk in the gutter, a floozy by your side and a bottle in your hand with a horse standing over you about to take a d......

Watch yourself.......
You know me well

I didn't start saving for retirement until I was 39 so there is no way I would be in such a good situation without those pensions. I have 3 private pensions and none of those companies now provide DB pension schemes, they are all DC plans.
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Old 02-01-2012, 06:10 PM   #53
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This poll really doesn't make much sense without including the following information:

- How much Social Security and/pension income do you have? (You could have asked folks to annuitize the sum and include it in the total). Surely that information greatly effects the investment assets needed.

- At what age are you planning to retire?
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Old 02-01-2012, 06:40 PM   #54
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May Not Be Scientific But...

the poll is interesting. I'm surprised by the cumulative number of people that indicate they can manage with something equal or less than one million.

Yes, there are lots of variables not covered in the poll and to a great extent the amount of money (nest egg) depends on the withdrawal rate. Of course the earlier you retire the more money you will likely require.

DW and I don't have any pensions, we pay for our own medical insurance and we choose to live in a city with high taxes. Some of these factors may change with time but for right now we're young and our SWR is planned to be in the 3% range. Consequently, that "pot o' gold" has to be relatively large and last a long time.
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Old 02-01-2012, 09:03 PM   #55
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Originally Posted by meekie View Post
Over $2mm here, and between living in an expensive area, and wanting to retire in my 40's, 2 mil won't give me that lavish of a lifestyle.
I suppose it would depend on one's definition of lavish, but two million won't give a lavish lifestyle anywhere in the developed world. 3% of $2million is $60,000-before taxes. Live it up baby, bubbly every night and a single malt on Friday!

Ha
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Old 02-01-2012, 09:35 PM   #56
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Originally Posted by haha
Two million won't give a lavish lifestyle anywhere in the developed world. 3% of $2million is $60,000-before taxes. Live it up baby, bubbly every night and a single malt on Friday!

Ha
Depends on what is considered to be lavish, I guess. . And if one has a paid off house and so on.
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Old 02-01-2012, 10:31 PM   #57
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If you're shooting for retirement at around 45 years old (like I am), you probably want to use a withdrawal rate of 3% max (maybe 2% if you're risk averse like me) and who the heck knows what will be around for SS, so I'm not counting it.

If you take 2% WR of even $3,000,000 that's only $60K, not a lifestyle of the rich and famous. And if you have dependents, it's even less swanky. Hey, if we have an unexpected BOOM in the market, I'll move more over to bonds and adjust accordingly upward in my spending.

Then again, not looking for a lavish lifestyle. Just looking forward to an end to stressful work and the ability to choose how to spend our days.

Better to plan for the worst and be surprised.
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Old 02-02-2012, 05:52 AM   #58
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I was surprised at how many need over 2 million to be FI....so many variables. With no mortgage, no debt, simple lifestyle, some defined benefit, I am FI with a good bit less than 1 million.
It all depends on your current, plus anticipated future needs.

DW/me are certainly outliers in this sense. We not only have to account for ourselves, but also for our (disabled) adult son, expecting him to live 2+ decades after we both pass.

For the personal care he will need (which we provide now), it will be very expensive to replace with a person paid to perform the same duties, several days a week.

Unfortunately, public resources are grossly inadquate to take care of him and his needs (been there, done that over the last decade), so we decided to take the private care route. Before anybody asks, no - we don't have any family members who will take on this "job". Anyway, since we need to account for possibly five decades of care for him (assuming DW/me die tomorrow), we have no idea of who will be around to take on the responsibility. That's why we chose to have "institutions" handle his trust (three different partners - lawyer, investor, and commercial trust management), each with their own documented responsibility, and "separation of duties".

Expensive? Yes, but that's life. Like the Stones song says, "you don't always get what you want, but if you're lucky you get what you need". Luckly, we feel we can cover both his/our financial obligations many years into the future.

Heck, it's only money...
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Old 02-02-2012, 08:00 AM   #59
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Originally Posted by nvestysly View Post
the poll is interesting. I'm surprised by the cumulative number of people that indicate they can manage with something equal or less than one million.

Yes, there are lots of variables not covered in the poll...
That's an understatement!

Let's look at your under $1M comment. At 4%, that's < $40,000/yr. If someone has a $40,000 COLA'd pension/SS combo, they don't need any portfolio ($ZERO), and they would be equivalent.

I fail to see how anything can be learned from the results. It's as if I said:

X + Y = Z

What number did you use for X to make Z > 1?

The answer could be anything, depending on Y. Nothing could be learned from your value of X.


-ERD50
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Old 02-02-2012, 09:08 AM   #60
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I hear ya, ERD50. I almost made a post very similar to your first reply in this thread about how this poll can't tell us anything at all, then decided it wasn't worth the effort.

It's gone on for a few pages though, so apparently some people are having fun with it.

Maybe next time we can annuities pensions and count SS. Or just run some FIRECalc simulations.

What, you didn't think this will come up again?

But just replying to let you know that no, you aren't crazy, I had the same thoughts.
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