Poll: What is your basic income need (floor) in retirement?

[chinaco]

What is your minimum income need in retirement in dollars before tax. Please state the expected minimum yearly income need. This would be the floor that covers non-discretionary expenses and the basic discretionary items that would support your basic needs.

Please share the following information:

1) pre-tax income minimum floor in today's dollars (identify if this include mortgage or rent)
2) How many people will the income support (e.g. 2 people)
3) area of the country (e.g. midwest, west coast, east coast) plus if you are in a high expense are (e.g. Manhattan)
4) Status retired/working - Are you planning or have actual experience.


Our Information:

1) Floor income in retirement: $45K pre-tax (no rent or mortgage $ included. We will own a condo)
2) 2 people
3) Midwest City
4) Working

 

[CyclingInvestor]

1) Floor income $36K needed, $60K for all hobbies. Obviously I could
make do with less, but my minimum plan is $36K. Mortgage is paid off.
2) 1 person, 3 dogs, allowing for outside chance of a 2nd person
3) Long Beach, CA. 3bd 2bth older tract homes run about $500k.
4) Retired 7 months, 48yo

 

[OAG]

Current Minimum required 27.5K. No mortgage, no car payments, no other debt. RE taxes are largest cost item.
2 Persons
Midwest (currently); previously Florida 19 years, before that Virginia 11 years.
Retired since 1986 -- 20 year veteran retiree.

 

[yakers]

1) About $100K, pretty much all taxable from pension & tax deferred income
2) Three people, DW & I and youngest son who is starting college in the fall
3) Southern Cal, paid off house worth @$500k
4) DW retired last year and I expect to retire in next 6 to 15 months, tried earlier this year but missed buyout.

 

[Jake46]

OOPS! Wahoo is correct -- missing 0.

1) pre-tax income minimum floor in today's dollars: $100,000(no mortgage or car payment)

2) How many people will the income support: 3

3) area of the country: Colorado

4) Status retired/working: retired + some consulting (as of 6/1)

 

[W2R]

1) $35K (no mortgage or loans)
2) 1 person
3) small town midwest
4) Still working now, but won't be working after I retire

Right now, I don't spend anywhere near that much but I want to have that much income after I retire.

 

[Sam]

1) 12K (VN), 18K (Thailand, Malaysia)
2) 2 persons
3) South East Asia
4) Maid will be doing the work

 

[greg]

4) . . . but won't be working after I retire

Obviously, you're not married.

 

[PPT]

1) $180K
2) 1
3) Rust belt.
4) Working.

 

[Sam]

1) pre-tax income minimum floor in today's dollars: $10,000 (no mortgage or car payment)
2) How many people will the income support: 3
3) area of the country: Colorado
4) Status retired/working: retired + some consulting (as of 6/1)

Wow! Jake46, how do you do it? Is it even possible?

 

[justin]

1) $30k/yr for our current LBYM lifestyle and minimal hobbies/vacation expenses
2) 2 adults plus 2 kids
3) Raleigh, North Carolina
4) still working - at least 6-7 years from FIRE

Assumes house will be paid off (based on my plans to do so). This doesn't include an extra lump sum I'd need to cover kids' college expenses far in the future. It does include replacing cars every 10 years with new, equivalent cars (accord and civic). The $30k number is fairly accurate, as I just happened to go through the stripped-down "what if" retirement budget calculations yesterday.

 

[PPT]

Wow! Jake46, how do you do it? Is it even possible?

Most of these amount are pretty scary to me. I believe we are looking at much higher income/property taxes and insurance costs (especially dental) moving forward.

 

[REWahoo]

Wow! Jake46, how do you do it? Is it even possible?

Jake46 isn't online to respond, but my guess is he left out a 0.

 

[kcowan]

1) $90k (includes rental of $35k)
2) 2
3) PNW
4) Retired Aug 2002
The budget includes significant travel which we consider essential to our lifestyle. If a sustained market correction required an adjustment, we would move to a lower cost location and maintain our travels.

 

[W2R]

Obviously, you're not married.

You're right!

 

[TromboneAl]

1) $28,000 excluding college expenses (temporary)
2) 2
3) West coast rural
4) Retired

 

[FinallyRetired]

1) $70k not counting mortgage but counting hobbies and travel.
2) 2 people
3) NE
4) Working part time

 

[Jake46]

Wahoo was right!

$100,000 in floor income.

 

[dm]

1: $35,000
2: 2 people
3: Midwest
4: Part time for 21 more weeks.

No mortgage or debt. Our pre-tax budget is $65,000 and firecalc says we can spend more than that.

 

[USK Coastie]

1. 30K for basics
2. 2 people 4 pets
3. Eastern Washington
4. Fire date July 1, 2007

 

[Sarah in SC]

1. $32k year, includes regular living expenses, house paid for, some travel.
2. 2 people, innumerable pets (10 right now)
3. Lowcountry of SC -Rural
4. One FIRE in 6 yrs, other in another 6-7 years more. May work PT for big ticket items if desired, like a boat or expensive travel.

Sarah

 

[tiredofwork]

1. $56K/yr with house paid for
2. 2 adults, 2 teenagers
3. Florida
4. RE 3/07. May do some part time work or consulting.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

1) think i'm paying off mortgage so will be $35k including all the goodies plus about another $10k/yr for domestic travel over next few years. after that possibly a few years living in third world with international travel and after that maybe a liveaboard cruising life.

2) one person unless i find that rare compatible rich, handsome, well-built stud either with daddy complex or someone who actually enjoys someone their own age. or as i said, one person.

3) fort lauderdale now, maybe third world later, after that i'll be a man with no address.

4) at age 50, i have almost 2 years of early retired experience.

 

[fazerman]

1. $40K/yr with house paid for
2. 2 adults, 3 children (14, 11, 5)
3. Western US (non Coastal)
4. Working, plan to FIRE June 2012 (not set in stone)

 

[loosechickens]

For a basic floor income that supports all non-discretionary expenses and what is needed to keep us fed, etc., would be $10,000 or so. This would be a budget that should times get hard, investments way down, income streams drying up, we could live on without invading capital.

Of course, we would prefer not to ever have to go that low, especially living here in the U.S., but we could. For a comfortable lifestyle that still allows for some eating out, movies, and other discretionary expenses and extra travel, we could still keep it under $20,000.

Because of our nomadic lifestyle in a motorhome, with no property taxes, producing our own electricity on the roof, etc., our actual NEEDS are very small. If tough times hit, we would locate in an area with good weather, not move around much, etc. With the skills we have of carpentry, plumbing, electrical, solar photovoltaics, sewing, gardening, food preservation, etc., we could probably barter for a lot of stuff, would be able to stay free, and could probably get even below $10,000 if we were forced to without really "doing without" anything we needed. We certainly know people today who are living rewarding lives on that little without untold difficulty.

we're lucky in that a huge number of the things we like to do don't cost money. Our problem in recent years is that our portfolio has exceeded our spending to the point where even when we spend pretty much all we want to, it's still not much over half of what we could spend with a safe withdrawal rate.

It's funny, but so long as we are healthy, I don't really worry about money, how much we have, how much we might need, etc. Even when there was very little, we felt abundance in our lives and now that the actuality really IS major abundance, that doesn't seem all that different either. it's fun sometimes to just marvel at the numbers on the brokerage statement, and it's certainly nice not to ever have to concern ourselves with what that funny noise is in the engine and whether a repair will be expensive, but we didn't worry overly about those things when we didn't have money either.

It's almost seemed through our lives that the less important money was to us, the more seemed to accumulate. We would watch friends and acquaintances focus their lives on getting it, keeping it and worrying about it, while all we did was be frugal, not go into debt, learn to do things for ourselves and not worry about it, and it just grew like Topsy........

Nice feeling to know that you can live, and even relatively comfortably on $10,000 per year. Even if the economy takes the biggest dive in history, we'll still be fine. Sure helps us sleep at night.

LooseChickens