What age will you die?

Thanks for all the good posts. I have been really looking at what the nest egg needs to be for me to retire. I wasn't really thinking about the other side of the equation as some of you have pointed out. Withdrawal rates. I ran some additional numbers just dropping the withdrawal rate from 4% to 3.9, 3.7, 3.5 etc.

This also makes the numbers look better for an early retirement date. I think it is best to cover your basics for living costs, then use a slightly higher rate during exceptional years in the gain of the net worth and pull back on those where returns are lower. The closer you get to the end the less you obviously need in the net worth bucket.

If I were to eak out a light footprint meager lifestyle I am guessing I could retire as early as 2014, given a 6% increase in my net worth. This gives me a lot of options seeing I would only be 42. I am mentally putting that marker in the sand and will adjust as necessary based on my returns.

If my retirement funds keep on track, I might just take an easier job than the one I have now. I am very thankful for all your experience out there, from those who are really doing it. I am constantly learning to look at things from new angles, and am surprised at how much I don't really know. Thanks again...
 
I used 92 for myself and 94 for DW as recommended in the Fidelity Income planner. Our parents died at 81, 85, 84, 84. With the advances in medicine, I think our estimate is ball park safe. If we outlive the money...not sure we care
 
longevity calculators

If you google longevity calculators, there are quite a few of them. I entered my family info into many of them and got a range from 69-79. Some of them are quite in depth. Depending on your risk factors, and family history, probabilities can be estimated. Insurance companies do this all the time.

So I picked 85 for my firecalc runs, to be conservative. I doubt that I will live beyond that.
 
NW-Bound said:
Come on people. It's just a ball park guesstimate. Just because a computer program spits something out, the future does not have to unfold exactly like that.
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Great, NOW you tell me!

But I do agree, at best it is a guess. Things could go great, they could go sideways. I have good health right now but will I in the future? I view it as I have a number I hope to be able to withdraw each year in the future, but I can easily live off much less. I would just need to scale back if I need to. I don't include SS or the pension my wife will get in 3 1/2 years but I know they both will be there. So all you can do is find somewhere on that spectrum where you are comfortable, but I agree there are no guarantees.
 
How about looking for a retirement account that pays a good interest rate, and simply living off the interest? I have an annuity that pays 7%. When I reach retirement age, I'm eligible to withdraw 5% a year; that gives me a lifetime of income with 2% pay increases every year. In this way, it doesn't matter how long you live, you'll always have money.
 
obgyn65 said:
Apologies for the typo - please read "2012" instead of "2017" in my post below.
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Wait a second. Does your signature tell us you are a doctor? And you are planning to retire in your 40s? I didn't think that combination existed :)
 
I use age 100 for my calculations. I certainly do not expect o live that long myself, but DW is Japanese, with a family history of longevity in it's women. That said, I've been toying with calculations that allow for inflation increases up to age 70 to 75, with diet cola increases after that. Our budget has a lot of hobby and travel money in it, and beyond 70-75, I'm imagining that I probably will be less likely to spend heavily on travel and hobbies. By that point, I'll probably only be "half-fast" so it will take me twice as long to accomplish hobby projects...thus using half the money.

R
 
Hello Donheff - many clinicians retire in their 50s or even 40s if they can afford early retirement...

donheff said:
Wait a second. Does your signature tell us you are a doctor? And you are planning to retire in your 40s? I didn't think that combination existed :)
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I'm 55 and project somewhere between 75 and 82....based on family history.

Of course...since things are going downhill...pretty fast could be sooner.:)
Knees not liking the exercise, right shoulder not liking the weights..:)

I use 30 years for planning ...but every year I can save same during retirement and add to it... bumps that out. Really want to leave my heirs something as I think their lives may be very different going forward.
 
So many people plan to live to their 90s and beyond! This matches with the statistics showing most people believe themselves to be a better-than-average driver, and investor too.

Other than long-term care, I do not see what a typical 80-yr old would need money for. One only needs to walk through a nursing home or a convalescent home to see what its occupants long for: to regain the ability to walk, even if it means using a walker, to be able to make it to the toilet by oneself, to be able to reach and scratch that itchy spot. Travel, fancy homes, cars, and clothes have been purged off their minds.
 
NW-Bound said:
So many people plan to live to their 90s and beyond! This matches with the statistics showing most people believe themselves to be a better-than-average driver, and investor too.

Other than long-term care, I do not see what a typical 80-yr old would need money for. One only needs to walk through a nursing home or a convalescent home to see what its occupants long for: to regain the ability to walk, even if it means using a walker, to be able to make it to the toilet by oneself, to be able to reach and scratch that itchy spot. Travel, fancy homes, cars, and clothes have been purged off their minds.
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Agree, we just went through this with my 96 year old grandmother who still lived at home on SS, and my wifes 85 grandfather who went from self sustaining on a modest income to assisted living to nursing home, hospice and death in less than 6 months. Supplimental insurance and MC covered his medical bills, SS and his modest savings paid assisted living rent easily and would have for many years.
Even though both were in relatively good health up until the end, after around age 75-80 both no longer had the desire or need for anything lavish, simple things were what counted.
If you take long term care out of the equation simple living expenses can be pretty low after age 75-80.

A few years back I met a guy on the lift while skiing out west, 85 yo gentlemen that had move to a retirement community in Florida about 10 years earlier. He said after a couple of years of living with and listening to all the woe is me tales, and chronic complainers where the topic of the day was which doctor someone was seeing, he decided to sell everything and travel cheaply to enjoy his remaining years not worrying about long term care. Said he'd rather ski off a cliff when the time comes than live like those people.
I liked his attitude.
 
It's interesting to see how many folks compute their own lifespan as compared to their immediate "blood" relatives - those that share a direct lineage rather than via marriage.

In "my" family (e.g. consisting of grandparents/parents/siblings) the range thus far goes from less than two years old (brother) to mid-90's (paternal grandmother), with every variation in-between the two extremes. BTW, all passings were due to natural causes - not by accident or abnormal ends.

While DW/me planned to live till 100, we know if it is a crapshoot. Of course, in our case (having a disabled "adult child") if we pass before him, it will just go into his SNT trust. We don't have to worry about that "leaving money on the table" item (but of course, we have other "challenges" to worry about in that area of our life).
 
A good friend told me:
"If there's any money left when I die, I either died to young or mis-calculated"

Overheard at a Eulogy: (joke)
Minister: "It's a shame that a man like Mr Johnson died penny-less"
Someone yelled: "Nope, I think he timed it pretty good"
 
NW-Bound said:
Other than long-term care, I do not see what a typical 80-yr old would need money for. One only needs to walk through a nursing home or a convalescent home to see what its occupants long for: to regain the ability to walk, even if it means using a walker, to be able to make it to the toilet by oneself, to be able to reach and scratch that itchy spot. Travel, fancy homes, cars, and clothes have been purged off their minds.
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Try hanging out at the YMCA rather than nursing homes and you'll meet a whole different set of 80-yr olds. I've been very impressed at many folks over 80 that I've met over the past few years.

Last year we stayed in a student house at York University in England for a couple of weeks and talked a lot with a 60 yr old lady who was over from Australia accompanying her 85 yr old mother for a 3 month holiday. Her mother was footing the cost of the flights and they were flying business class with Emirates Airline.

I'd like to think that we'll be well enough off and still fit enough to manage trips like that in our 80's. Perhaps we are hopeless dreamers but we've always been optimists.
 
NW-Bound said:
.

Other than long-term care, I do not see what a typical 80-yr old would need money for..
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My Mom is 95 and she still needs money . Hairdresser , clothes, presents ,lunches out , red hats , bunko bets , card game bets , dinners out , movies , books , travel is now pretty much day trips ,manicures .
 
Moemg said:
My Mom is 95 and she still needs money . Hairdresser , clothes, presents ,lunches out , red hats , bunko bets , card game bets , dinners out , movies , books , travel is now pretty much day trips ,manicures .
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Your mom is an exceptional lady. My father-in-law of a couple of years younger is not in such a good shape. For more than 1 year now, he cannot get out of bed by himself. And in his nursing home, many of its occupants are nowhere near his age. Some are in their 60s, but most are in the 70s. It's depressing!

Alan said:
Try hanging out at the YMCA rather than nursing homes and you'll meet a whole different set of 80-yr olds. I've been very impressed at many folks over 80 that I've met over the past few years.
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Perhaps my perspective has been made gloomy by "hanging around" my elderly relatives. But after seeing enough of older people, I do not think of going to YMCA to see even more old people, even though they may be sprightly geezers.
 
Moemg said:
My Mom is 95 and she still needs money . Hairdresser , clothes, presents ,lunches out , red hats , bunko bets , card game bets , dinners out , movies , books , travel is now pretty much day trips ,manicures .
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+1....and ..."ordering from the clothes catalogs"...since they don't (can't go to the malls), still pays someone to maintain her home and yard..

Have a 94 year old friend of my moms...who is still driving...but has kicked back a lot the last year. She does all of the above...
 
We are 44, and our plans include 40 years for me and 50 for DW.
 
NW-Bound said:
Other than long-term care, I do not see what a typical 80-yr old would need money for. One only needs to walk through a nursing home or a convalescent home to see what its occupants long for: to regain the ability to walk, even if it means using a walker, to be able to make it to the toilet by oneself, to be able to reach and scratch that itchy spot. Travel, fancy homes, cars, and clothes have been purged off their minds.
Click to expand...

NW-Bound said:
Your mom is an exceptional lady. My father-in-law of a couple of years younger is not in such a good shape. For more than 1 year now, he cannot get out of bed by himself. And in his nursing home, many of its occupants are nowhere near his age. Some are in their 60s, but most are in the 70s. It's depressing!
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That makes your father-in-law 93. Was he like the typical 80-yr old you mention?

I can see that it is tough if you have a lot of your elderly relatives who are as you describe typical 80-yr olds to be.

We are very fortunate that none of our parents or grandparents ended up in nursing homes, which undoubtedly feeds our optimism.
 
Based on the way I've lived my life I'm amazed that I made it to 72.

When you are young you never think about you life span. When you are older you don't want to think about it.
 
Tiger that is quite a truism about life span.
Wow, I may have to gnaw at that one for a bit. This week marks the 3rd anniversary of the sudden death of a dear friend in his 40s. I am sure he never thought much about his life span.
 
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