Anyone retire with less than $500k?

[comicbookgujy]

I'm thinking about putting money into Dividend stocks such as T and XOM so I can get about $25k a year from dividends, but don't want to get killed if we have run away inflation.

I put in $200k in short term bonds with 2-3 years duration/maturity and actually lost 1% since April. Should have stuck with my AMEX Savings earning .90%!

If 10 years Treasury even get back to 6%...I'm definitely pulling the plug.

 

[kikechico]

Here is me and my wife's current budget:

Food: 600
Phones: 200
Gas: 120
Car insurance: 145
Mortgage: 810
Bills: 200
Other= 100

TOTAL= $2175

The house should be paid off next year; this is how our budget will look when we are ready to retire

Food: 600
Phones: 100
Gas: 120
Car insurance: 145
Home insurance: 200
Bills: 200
Insurance= unknown when we retire... 200 a month with obamacare??
Other= 100

TOTAL= $1665

We make 120k before tax a year. With the money we are spending we have what we consider a good life. We go out to eat about twice a week and buy good food. We sometimes don't spend it all and the money we have left over and tax returns are used for vacations.

$1665 X 12=$19980 X 25= $499,500

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Here is me and my wife's current budget:

Food: 600
Phones: 200
Gas: 120
Car insurance: 145
Mortgage: 810
Bills: 200
Other= 100

TOTAL= $2175

The house should be paid off next year; this is how our budget will look when we are ready to retire

Food: 600
Phones: 100
Gas: 120
Car insurance: 145
Home insurance: 200
Bills: 200
Insurance= unknown when we retire... 200 a month with obamacare??
Other= 100

TOTAL= $1665

We make 120k before tax a year. With the money we are spending we have what we consider a good life. We go out to eat about twice a week and buy good food. We sometimes don't spend it all and the money we have left over and tax returns are used for vacations.

$1665 X 12=$19980 X 25= $499,500

That is great that you have such a low budget, but I am curious about a few things because ours is a lot higher.

Have you considered these items or are they not significant expenditures for you - car replacement cost, home repairs (new roof, new fence, plumbing repairs), car repairs, property taxes, dental expenses, and medical co-pays / deductibles.

I am also curious why vacations aren't listed as a part of the retirement budget. If you aren't working then they can't be covered by tax refunds.

 

[Fermion]

Even when your home is paid off there are still expenses like real estate taxes and maintenance. On a $200,000 home these can be $4,000 a year easy, which would mean you need to budget $333 a month for that.

Do you not have any utilities such as electricity, sewer, water, gas, garbage service, cable? I didn't see that in the budget unless it was under bills.

 

[Mulligan]

Even when your home is paid off there are still expenses like real estate taxes and maintenance. On a $200,000 home these can be $4,000 a year easy, which would mean you need to budget $333 a month for that.

Do you not have any utilities such as electricity, sewer, water, gas, garbage service, cable? I didn't see that in the budget unless it was under bills.

I can't speak for OP but the taxes and insurance could be baked into the mortgage payment. I have to admit that I use "fuzzy math" budgeting. I say I spend 3k a month as my budget, but things do pop up. I have a reserve fund that I use for that, and then replenish it later as my pension income allows that. The prudent ones I believe factor in the sinking costs on a monthly basis but I do not. And things will happen. I went 10 years and nothing, now I have a leak in my roof I can't figure out so I will have to pay, a dishwasher all the sudden going out, a water heater replaced a few months ago, and a car pretty soon will need to be replaced. As soon as that is all taken care of it will probably be my teeth and eyes go out on me.

 

[imoldernu]

Retire with less than $500,000?
Not too much more than that, and after 24 years of retirement, still in pretty good finanacial shape.
This is a good time to restate my Phase II theory of retirement. Very simple. A look ahead to the slow-down time of life, with a plan that could change the basic planning in the early years... (age 45 to 62 for example) and allow for more expenses in the early years. Ie... If you planned to retire at 60, you might be able to retire at 55.

My experience only... as DW and I are well past the 3/4 centiry mark.
We're slowing down. Happily. and looking realistically for the time between now and age 90.

So it comes down to: "How long will my money last".

Planning for the future became easy, when we discovered the actual costs of our Continued Care Retirement Community. Apartment living. 2BR,2BA 750sf.,
Following included:
Rent, Heat, Electricity, Water, Cable TV, Internet, 2 meals/day, light housekeeping 1/wk, free transportation to Medical, Shopping, Entertainment, and in house health and recreation facilities. No more taxes, fees, maintenance or ancillary costs

Cost for two persons... $2500/month or $30,000/yr. Add $10,000 yr for healthcare.
So from there, to "How Long Will My money Last?"
I'm retired, how long will my savings last? | Calculators by CalcXML

I simply used an asset figure (savings) of $300,000, and a required income figure of $4000/month, and placed it in the calculator as in the files below, to see how long it would last. (That's $8000/yr more than basic total cost.)

According to the calculator that would cover us until age 90. See the charts.

We're actually in better shape than the figures shown in the charts, but use the numbers as a way to look at the later years as apart from the normal retirement charts, which are BASED on the first year's expenses and projected for the entire retirement period, without recognizing the lower costs of the later years.

 

[kikechico]

That is great that you have such a low budget, but I am curious about a few things because ours is a lot higher.

Have you considered these items or are they not significant expenditures for you - car replacement cost, home repairs (new roof, new fence, plumbing repairs), car repairs, property taxes, dental expenses, and medical co-pays / deductibles.

I am also curious why vacations aren't listed as a part of the retirement budget. If you aren't working then they can't be covered by tax refunds.

My budget on food and gas is a little inflated. We usually have some left money left over. The $100 other can be used for unexpected repairs, vacations etc.

A new roof from experience is usually cover under insurance. Car repairs I am not worry about. I do all my car work from building engine and transmission. You can buy a cheap reliable Honda for 6-5K and if the motor goes you can buy an used one for $300 dollars with 100k miles and it will probably run 200k miles more if is in good condition .

Also remember that ER doesn't mean that we will not do anything at all. We probably have some small income from hobbies etc.

I think in our case we can retire with 500K but we will probably shoot for 650K or something like that just to be safe.

Even when your home is paid off there are still expenses like real estate taxes and maintenance. On a $200,000 home these can be $4,000 a year easy, which would mean you need to budget $333 a month for that.

Do you not have any utilities such as electricity, sewer, water, gas, garbage service, cable? I didn't see that in the budget unless it was under bills.

The $200 insurance; is actually the insurance + taxes + HOA
The $200 bill; is everything, water + electricity + gas and netflix