What was your "safe" number?

[bizlady]

25 times planned annual expenses at retirement, including taxes and medical. That, plus a non-cola pension and anticipated social security for both of us (both decent amounts) was our number. This was for a planned 42 year retirement.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator Nothing personal taken. No real heirs, other than a sister who is older and some neices and a nephew. Maybe I will go the Anna Nicole Smith route... UPDATE: Not the Anna role, the old guy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RISP That sounds like fun.

No, that's not fun. If that's what you want, should not wait till you are that old and infirm.

[Senator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound No, that's not fun. If that's what you want, should not wait till you are that old and infirm.

I better get started right away!

[NW-Bound]

All right!

Will you keep us posted, please? I am sure many here want to live vicariously.

[robnplunder]

$2M in liquid asset which I am not there yet, and $350k in home equity. But I am willing to take a risk and RE now. Taking risk means 5% WR with Bernicke spending model checked in FireCalc, and willingness to reduce spending if needed.

[NYEXPAT]

I used $3 mil when I retired 27 years ago. If I had known about the future divorce, I would have buried it a bit deeper.

[Rustic23]

As said in other post, if your 'safe' number is what you can live on with a 4% withdrawal, and you forecast that as your total income, then it is close to a safe number, I would want more. However, have you forecast other downstream income? Or is it those incomes with your 4% of your savings? If so I would definitely want more. Too much dependent of what future income streams will be. The more positive you are about other income streams, i.e. pensions and SS. then the more certain you can be about your 'safe' number. For me $500,000 is my number, and it is what I have now. As I am drawing my 'future' income streams, it is fairly easy for me to calculate total income and expenses.

Caveat: As by tag line says it is after 5:00 and happy hour is in full bloom here.

[FIREd]

It's a tough question, as "safety" is such a personal thing. I felt like we secured our basic needs "forever" with a paid-for home and our first million. That was when we lived in a low to average COL area. But in order to secure a great quality of life for our future, we need considerably more.

[Asher Aion]

Being involved as a business owner I remember many times thinking that if things went bad in a hurry I could realize $500G cash if assets liquidated. This was in my early 30's. I had the feeling that we could get by with that stash and any low pay j@b and be comfortable.
Fast forward 15 years and I don't want a j@b anymore. Now 35x expenses is my comfort level. Soon this will happen, at least I am planning for it.

[NW-Bound]

I have told the story of how I discovered this forum. I never really thought about ER, because I was going to work for a looong time, as I enjoyed what I was doing. It was when I was seriously thinking about ER, and wondered how much I could draw on my stash that I searched the Web for a SWR number, and found this forum and FIRECalc.

Then, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 hit, and I was glad that I was still working part-time, as I was still paying college tuitions and did not have as much after-tax savings. When the recession was past, my children out of college, and I had been tracking expenses with Quicken for a couple of years, it came as a revelation to me that our then expenses were 3.5% WR without college tuition.

Son of a gun! I got my number. So, I quit.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd ... I felt like we secured our basic needs "forever" with a paid-for home and our first million. That was when we lived in a low to average COL area...

My memory is so good, I remember that post of yours too (pat self on back!), back when you were not "multimillionaire".

[Senator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYEXPAT I used $3 mil when I retired 27 years ago. If I had known about the future divorce, I would have buried it a bit deeper.

My Uncle always told me his ex-wife made him a millionaire. He used to have 2 million, now he only had one...

[wingfooted]

I actually had a discussion on the SAFE amount with DW earlier this year.

The number was $3MM in our after tax brokerage account.

Above $3MM I felt we were were in a comfortable enough position.

Below $3MM I be began to look at the gourmet cat food in the fridge as a potential asset.


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[bw1990]

My FIRE number is $2MM, but I remember when we hit $1MM that we'd be "just fine" if all we did from that point forward is break even over the next 20 years.

Like another poster, I'd rather call this "coasting" or "critical mass" ...

[flyingaway]

Our safe number would be $2M. With $2M, we would be able to handle loss of both jobs by downsizing our house. With our jobs and $2M, we would be able to spend more and save less and enjoy life, i.e., slow down in our retirement account contributions. However, I will not feel comfortable to retire before we reach $6M. With $6M, we can do whatever we want to do and do not need a job anymore.

[Lucantes]

$3M is our minimum number based upon our expected expenses and desired fun spends for an ER at 50 for both of us (2017). Currently at 77% of our goal and well on track to meet/exceed it.

[mathjak107]

same here , 3 million is our number . with no pension ,living in nyc (queens,not manhattan) and a bucket full of wants and do's we will need quite a bit of money. retiring july 31st at 4:30 pm

in fact after 3 months of waiting to be approved our long term care policies were approved yesterday so that adds quite a number to our expenses.

[foxfirev5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robnplunder $2M in liquid asset which I am not there yet, and $350k in home equity. But I am willing to take a risk and RE now. Taking risk means 5% WR with Bernicke spending model checked in FireCalc, and willingness to reduce spending if needed.

This is very similar to our situation. DW wants me to go now and I'm still in the OMY syndrome mode. Right now it's either May '15 or Feb '16.

[eta2020]

I second 3 million mentioned by several people.

I like to be extra safe so 3 million after 20% pullback (which can come at any time) which makes it about 3.7 million.

[dallas27]

In hindsight, I guess I didn't ask the question in a way everyone understood. For those that "got it", congrats on your reading comprehension skills.

So let me try this differently - Maybe a safe number (or Coasting number, which I agree could be a better term) should be in the format of number@age.

Also, to clarify - this number was a number in which you are "over the hump", and you know that even if life turns sideways on you, you'll have a little something, you will not starve. You might live in a tent hunting and fishing till the day you die, but you will always have a nice tent, a nice pole, and ammunition. You have your basic needs met for life, not your "lifestyle choices".

For those that said multiple millions for this number, I pray my question was unclear for you, otherwise I will pray for you, and I'm an atheist. :-)