You Dreamers what is your number

We're thinking $2.5M portfolio + paid-off house + rentals = ~$116k annual spend. Shooting for age 55 retirement (current age is 52). In preparation, we have been saving aggressively and house was paid-off last year. Health care coverage from 55-65 is our biggest mystery to solve - budgeting $20k/year for medical when retired.
 
Dreaming of Freedom said:
A couple years ago, I thought $1.25 million + $7,500 in rental income would be enough. Then I decided we needed $1.3 to $1.4 million + rental income. Now I don't know if there is any possible number if we can't obtain comprehensive health insurance at any reasonable cost in the near future. Is anyone else dealing with this issue squashing all their ER plans?
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Unless employer provided plan, everyone is looking at issue of health insurance. BUT, some of us don't want comprehensive medical insurance; for me/DW, just a barebones catastrophic coverage with say 50-100K deductible (or more, depending upon pricing) would be best--as long as we had advantage of non-rack rates for the out of pocket. Right now, we can't do that; hoping that changes. Nonetheless, we'll retire this year.
 
Dreaming of Freedom said:
A couple years ago, I thought $1.25 million + $7,500 in rental income would be enough. Then I decided we needed $1.3 to $1.4 million + rental income. Now I don't know if there is any possible number if we can't obtain comprehensive health insurance at any reasonable cost in the near future. Is anyone else dealing with this issue squashing all their ER plans?
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58 here and could have posted this exact same thing, including the numbers. So yes, we very much are dealing with the uncertainty and unknown costs of healthcare. I'm hoping we'll have an idea of what it's looking like by the end of the year. Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed for continued portfolio growth.
 
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I am always amazed and impressed with how many people can live on a relatively modest income. It reminds me how silly my "number" is... and then, even with that said, my number seems to always go up. I realize we are all different. In addition to different spending habits we each have different expenses, costs, liabilities, obligations, etc.... Oh ya, and some of us are more cautious so need more of a cushion to sleep better. It is fascinating though.
 
I was planning on 1.25m and a paid off house, now the healthcare situation has me waiting also. 52yo family of three.
 
Looking at $3M not counting RE for family of 6 at 55, 13 years from now. $1M invested now.
If I have rental properties free and clear, I could jump earlier, but only one property so far.
 
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CaliKid said:
I am always amazed and impressed with how many people can live on a relatively modest income. It reminds me how silly my "number" is... and then, even with that said, my number seems to always go up. I realize we are all different. In addition to different spending habits we each have different expenses, costs, liabilities, obligations, etc.... Oh ya, and some of us are more cautious so need more of a cushion to sleep better. It is fascinating though.
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On here I often start thinking that I'm going to be living very "cheap" relative to others (~$50k/year spending until mortgage is paid for then ~$40k/year). Then I remind myself that I'm spending that on just me and the average household income in the US is ~$50k so those people are supporting a family of ~3 on what I'm spending on just myself.
 
aaronc879 said:
$600K at age 55 with paid off mortgage and low mileage car purchased before retirement. No pension. That would give me $24K/yr. With no mortgage, I would have a hard time finding ways to spend that much. Then I would get SS on top of that at some point. Then I would really be living large by my standards.
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aaronc879,
How far off from retirement are you? Have you calculated what 24K will be worth then? You might be surprised if there is a period of more normal inflation between now and then.

-BB
 
exnavynuke said:
On here I often start thinking that I'm going to be living very "cheap" relative to others (~$50k/year spending until mortgage is paid for then ~$40k/year). Then I remind myself that I'm spending that on just me and the average household income in the US is ~$50k so those people are supporting a family of ~3 on what I'm spending on just myself.
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That's true. I didn't consider that. I look at my numbers which does include a gaggle of kids. Kids are cute but darn expensive.
 
2.5 million, not including a paid off house. That's likely generous but I'm a worrier and the peace of mind is priceless.
 
Aaron: your car will need replacing at some point and your house will need repairs. These expenses don't go away in retirement.
 
My original goal, set way back in 1999 at the age of 29, was $1M, and no mortgage. I had finally paid off the bills from a bad divorce in 1998, and '99 was the year I really started getting my financial act back together. Refinanced my condo to a lower rate, was able to qualify for 0.9% financing on a new '00 Intrepid...thought I had it made! I finished out 1999 owing around $73K on the condo, and I had about $40K in "investments" (after tax + 401k + IRA), and another ~$17K in checking/savings/savings bonds, or about $57K total. Back then, $1M seemed like a lot of money, and a long ways off, and with a mortgage out of the way, seemed like it would go a really long way.


Well, here it is, early 2017 and I'll be 47 in April. I'm up to around $1.2M in "investments", and another $14K in checking/savings/bonds (for some reason, I mentally keep the two separate...I think it's partly because the savings bonds were something my Mom and other relatives got for me, so I don't consider them "earned"). Condo is long gone, but now I'm in a house that has around $119K left on the mortgage. The Intrepid has probably been recycled into a new Prius or something like that, but I currently have no car payment.


Adjusting for inflation, I think my original goal would come out to around $1.5M, plus no mortgage, and I think I'd be happy with that. I'm planning on buying another house just before I retire though, and my tastes in homes seems to be all over the map, price wise. So now I've got sort of a floating goal of roughly $2.3M, which is a combination of investments + home equity + mortgage. I came about that figure because, in looking at houses, the most expensive one I've seen that I've really liked was around $800K.


That's probably some sloppy math, but that's what I'm sticking to, for now!
 
exnavynuke said:
On here I often start thinking that I'm going to be living very "cheap" relative to others (~$50k/year spending until mortgage is paid for then ~$40k/year). Then I remind myself that I'm spending that on just me and the average household income in the US is ~$50k so those people are supporting a family of ~3 on what I'm spending on just myself.
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Yep.

I mentioned in another thread that I'm looking at a pension of ~$50K in 2016 dollars, plus maybe $15-20K in withdrawals (not needed, but nice to have). I'm single no dependents and my friends think I'm crazy for planning to live on that amount. I think $50K is plenty and they think $70K isn't nearly enough. It's crazy how different people can be.
 
For me my number has always been about monthly cash flow, so it isn't a specific number, but a return monthly that matters. I've always thought that to be about $5,000 a month with no mortgage. Though I still have a mortgage and two kids in school, we are running a test to see how long $60,000 will last in the account.

I'm anxious to see how my experiment turns out. Because if turns out like I suspect, we can FIRE in 2019 when DS heads to college.:dance: If it doesn't work out we will need to buy another rental.:D
 
Luck_Club said:
For me my number has always been about monthly cash flow, so it isn't a specific number, but a return monthly that matters. I've always thought that to be about $5,000 a month with no mortgage. Though I still have a mortgage and two kids in school, we are running a test to see how long $60,000 will last in the account.

I'm anxious to see how my experiment turns out. Because if turns out like I suspect, we can FIRE in 2019 when DS heads to college.:dance: If it doesn't work out we will need to buy another rental.:D
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I took the same approach and averaged the last 3 years of household bills and last year of CC (new card) and it came out to 62k annually. If I max my 401(k) withdrawals to keep me in the 15% tax bracket (88k), after taxes, I'll have about a 15k buffer. 4 years and 10 months to go!:cool:
 
42 now, DW IS 40. Looking at 56/54 to be completely done with work. Sitting at ~1.1 million now, looking for about $4 million to feel comfortable. House will be paid off or covered by our rental property. Each year before social security kicks in is expensive!
 
CaliKid said:
Oh ya, and some of us are more cautious so need more of a cushion to sleep better. It is fascinating though.
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And Bill Paxton died at 61. He had probably been sleeping pretty well on his retirement nest egg.
 
It is fun reading all of your strategies and goal/plans. I always had a plan and that was to save all I could each pay check and to invest the best I knw how all my life. The interesting aspect in my plan there was no end point. Lol I always knew we had done a good job in saving and new roughly some numbers but never really run any numbers. I guess I thought I would never stop working and my earning would keep growing for ever. Till a couple of years ago my wife said you need to retire. Well that started me thinking about it and really started to put numbers together. Well the way it turned out I should/could of retired well before I did. The thing was I still was motivated and loved what I was doing so retirement never ever entered my mind. I always had that plan but my plan had NO END. LOL Since 10 months ago I have been retired and wish now I would have done it sooner.
 
You and me both. Never hated my job, always stackin' dough, one day it was time.

Yup, if I was more analytical I would have retired sooner. But I would rather have more dough than I need so I can do what I want, live the good life and have fun than always be worried about dough.
 
For me @ age 27:

With mortgage: $2m for a safe 3% W/D rate.
Without mortgage: $1.6m for a safe 3% W/D rate.

Lately I have been thinking of pursuing alternate career paths once I am "close", i.e., at $1m.

Current N/W: $409k net of mortgage
 
Fermion said:
And Bill Paxton died at 61. He had probably been sleeping pretty well on his retirement nest egg.
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Kind of getting on a bit of tangent here but I'm in my mid 40's, targeting to retire at 50 and nowadays, every time I hear of an entertainer/celebrity/athlete that I grew up with, who are now generally in their 50's/60's, pass away or get some kind of debilitating illness, it just freaks the hell out of me. My wife was originally not so keen on me retiring at 50 but I think she is slowly coming around to the realization that life is short.

That said, I do need a cushion to sleep better and I'm willing to work a bit longer to afford to do all what I want to do in retirement. Kind of balancing act based on your own needs and values.
 
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