Comfortable FIRE $$Number in Every State Article

[finnski1]

In Maine, our biggest city is Portland with 60,000 population. Draw a 40-mile radius around Portland and you have 50% of the entire state population. They have a COL roughly 10X higher than the remaining 95% of the state. It seems that all of these 'studies' assume the COL and level of taxes in that corner of the state while ignoring the majority of Maine.

I find this a little annoying, but such is life.

The average age of Mainers is higher than any other state, we have the highest percentage of retirees. Tourists come here and if they explore anywhere outside of Portland they find that most of the state is really enjoyable, and the COL is low.

As a retiree, I socialize with a lot of other retirees. Nearly all of us are from other states, often from the deep South, though I am from California.

Well the 10x figure is obviously a wildly over exaggerated figure but I get the general point.

We love Maine and spend most of our vacations(is that the right term when you are retired) along the midcoast or above or in the Moosehead Lake area.
Apparently in NH I need to spend $27,000 more per year to be comfortable.

I better start blowing that dough.

 

[ckelly78z]

Ohio
Average retirement age: 63

Annual cost of a comfortable retirement: $57,468.72

Retirement savings needed: $1,149,374.40

I'm not sure i'm going to hit that number in my investments, but with my pension, and SS, I should be close.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Do you really mean 10X or are you just exaggerating for effect? It just seems that Portland must be insanely expensive and/or rural Maine insanely cheap for that kind of ratio to hold.

Friends of mine who live in Portland, complain about their taxes every time I see them.

From the numbers that they report, yes they are paying well over 10X what I am paying for property taxes.

I own 150 acres of river frontage forested land for which I have been paying $157.50 a year. I live in a 2400 sq ft house which is taxed at $600 a year.

We have friends in the city who own 0.25 acre of land and a 2000 sq ft house paying $6000 a year in taxes.

If they owned 150 acres of land in the city, I am confidant they would pay well over $8000 a year.

 

[Koolau]

Friends of mine who live in Portland, complain about their taxes every time I see them.

<SNIP>

Heh, heh, if I lived in Portland right now, I don't think taxes would be my biggest worry, but YMMV.

 

[brett]

Absolutely meaningless.

Does this include the value of home equity, the value of your DB pension, or the value of your SS pension?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The maximum SS benefit at age 65 is currently $2,857 a month. That is a lot of cash not take into account in a how much do I need to retire kind of article, especially for a household with two maximum SS incomes. Plus in higher cost of living states, retirees would likely have had higher wages during their working careers, and may have higher retirement expenses offset by having earned higher SS benefits.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Heh, heh, if I lived in Portland right now, I don't think taxes would be my biggest worry, but YMMV.

BLM-Maine had promoted a protest for last weekend, but the day before they canceled it.

They have not seen any rioting [so far] and the marches have been fairly peaceful.

 

[kgtest]

I agree. We are aiming for 1.5 to 2.5m investable assets and no debts before we ER "comfy"...

We have at least 3 to 4 more legs of our stool though,

 

[Katsmeow]

The maximum SS benefit at age 65 is currently $2,857 a month. That is a lot of cash not take into account in a how much do I need to retire kind of article, especially for a household with two maximum SS incomes.

Exactly. The combined SS for DH and I is over $50k a year. That is really enough to cover our necessary expenses. (We do spend more but that is for the more descretionary stuff). So, retirement articles that act like people never get SS are absurd for many people.

 

[HI Bill]

Well, like most things, it depends on your desired standard of living, how much house you have, and your desired budget. I could easily live on $30K in rural California, or on $50K in a Waikiki apartment. Try buying a house on Maui, and you're likely to need $2-4M+ to RE. Travel? Cars? Race horses? Race airplanes? Yachts? Ocean view? Oceanfront?

What's necessary, and what's desired...it's the tradeoff between time and those desires...that kept me w$rking five years longer than I wanted. The payout is that now I can afford a decent home in a gated community, and still do a few international trips a year...hopefully, starting next year.