NW-Bound
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 35,712
I think the reason Firecalc starts reducing expenditures at 56 (I guess from Bernicke - I've read his article but don't recall that exact detail) is because that is a time that probably most people are reducing expenditures -- but not because they are becoming enfeebled. For most people, that is probably the point at which they have completed raising and educating children (as someone who had her first child at 40 and my DH was 46 - that isn't true for us but we are outliers on this particular point).
Yes, we are both 56 now, and our youngest child finished college last year. With the college tuition gone, our expenses just got a big reduction. Right on schedule per Bernicke's model!
Both of us stopped craving for "stuff" long ago. Things like new cars, clothing, fancy furniture, a bigger home, we care for less and less. And it's not even because we have "done that". Even things we have not owned or done, we simply do not care for anymore.I do see though that even so we do have reduced consumerism. Things we would have once spent for we don't spent for now. It is kind of a been there, done that thing so our expenses are less than they were, say, 10 years ago.
The only thing left that I still like to do is to travel, and I have been thinking I'd better do more of that soon, because in 10 or even 5 years, I may not even care for that.
Scary for a 56-yr old to say that, but then I am a geezer before my time.
I haven't read the source works either, but if it is based on averages, FIRECALC shows the average retiree could succeed with ~ 6% WR (before any Bernicke adjustment).
Not very comforting for the 49.9% on the wrong side of history.
Sure! That's why I have run Bernicke's model in FIRECalc to see how high I could go, then chuckled and went back to 3.5%WR. And that 3.5%WR may be going down with time too, because I may not care to spend. Isn't that sad?
I actually do not spend too much time thinking about LTC. I do not know why, but have a feeling that when my time comes, I will not linger long.I share your concern on LTC planning and spend more time than I'm comfortable with planning to be self-insured for that. That's a thread in itself.
NWBound, I sincerely hope you're craving experiences and adventures until you're 110 and that you use some of that stash you've put away to do whatever the hell you want ...... That's what it's all about.
Thanks for your well wish. I do not know about traveling until the age of 110, but I can squeeze in a bit in the next 10 years, I will be happy and call my life a completely satisfactory one.
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