Only need $207,000 to retire at full retirement age?
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daylatedollarshort
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I get the feeling there are a lot of posters here who never lived in low cost areas. I suspect most of the people in my hometown retired on SS and 2 cents, not $200K.
We live in California now. Our expenses are still pretty low. We have a low interest rate mortgage on a house we bought a long time ago and low property taxes due to Prop 13. California doesn't tax Social Security income. We are on Medicare and a cheap ACA plan. Groceries are relatively inexpensive at the discount stores and ethnic markets.
Related link: Cost of Living Is Really All About Housing - Bloomberg
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FANOFJESUS
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You are doing a great job. Your city or state if you don't mind?
Long Island, NY.
FANOFJESUS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Are you serious?
Yes. Housing is a condo.
FANOFJESUS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Still you are more talented than us on 19k in the Midwest.
FANOFJESUS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Is it rent controlled or a special senior housing deal?
Regular deal, no specials, no controls. I do get some free stuff for low income, medical, phone, Internet, $28 off my electric rate a month.
FANOFJESUS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My hat is still off to you. Good job.
FANOFJESUS
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How much are your property taxes? I know they are high in New York.
High for a condo, rather not say the number.
FANOFJESUS
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And that is included in the 15k number?
Yes.
Samsung4321
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In Australia it is entirely possible to retire comfortably at 67 with $0 capital but $A405,000 of Age Pension Assessable Assets allows for capital expenditure.
Full Age Pension is $A37,000 / y for home owning couple. Means tested welfare. Only criteria for eligibility is age and sufficient years of citizenship. No contributions required.
From $A405,000 to $A891,500 benefit tapers to $A0.
No capital gains tax on home so investing in home improvement to reduce Assessable Assets and attain full Age Pension returns guaranteed 7.8% / y, tax free, inflation indexed.
Cost of living 4 bed detached home, car, utilities, medical, insurance, property rates, telecommunications, etc $A20,000 / y. Cost of entertainment is => $A0.
Full Age Pension is $A37,000 / y for home owning couple. Means tested welfare. Only criteria for eligibility is age and sufficient years of citizenship. No contributions required.
From $A405,000 to $A891,500 benefit tapers to $A0.
No capital gains tax on home so investing in home improvement to reduce Assessable Assets and attain full Age Pension returns guaranteed 7.8% / y, tax free, inflation indexed.
Cost of living 4 bed detached home, car, utilities, medical, insurance, property rates, telecommunications, etc $A20,000 / y. Cost of entertainment is => $A0.
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I believe my 92 yr old grandma retired on about 20 to 30k of SS and a very small pension. She seems happy. Hasn't driven a car for at least 5 or 6 years and doesn't remember my kids names. She never has travelled in her life, rent is subsidized, meals on wheels etc.
She has been upset the last few years that she doesn't have too many friends or close family (sister brother etc). Her children and grand children and great grandchildren go visit her and she always has words of wisdom when I visit which I cherish. She never speaks about money ever. Last couple years its about who is still left in her life.
She started using a cane/walker and doesn't get out much. Especially last year.
So even if people plan to live to 100, from 90 on its basically a sit in place mode of operation unless you are like super lucky. I don't see any 90 yr olds in the airport.
Hardly many 80 yr olds tbh.
Get your travel in while you can.
If you come up short...there's always the food bank.
She has been upset the last few years that she doesn't have too many friends or close family (sister brother etc). Her children and grand children and great grandchildren go visit her and she always has words of wisdom when I visit which I cherish. She never speaks about money ever. Last couple years its about who is still left in her life.
She started using a cane/walker and doesn't get out much. Especially last year.
So even if people plan to live to 100, from 90 on its basically a sit in place mode of operation unless you are like super lucky. I don't see any 90 yr olds in the airport.
Hardly many 80 yr olds tbh.
Get your travel in while you can.
If you come up short...there's always the food bank.
daylatedollarshort
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Between SNAP benefits, Meals on Wheels, food bank help, senior or low income housing, Medicaid, and senior / low income discounts on most utilities, senior clubs with free activities, transportation and lunches, etc. one wouldn't need that much other income to get by.
Posters on this forum seem to like to travel, but that is a luxury item for many households, senior or not. Only one third of Americans even have a passport.
Surewhitey
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Yeah, I looked at our budget and if we reduced our travels, contributions, went to 1 car & moved to a low property tax market, we could get down under $30k. If we are talking basic expenses, $36k is very doable.
Until we must, we'll probably stay in the $50-60k annually.
Music Lover
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
For every active 80-year old there are another dozen sitting on the couch too tired to do stuff, and a bunch more that never made it to 80.
Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky ones (I work out to increase the odds), but we're trying to have as much fun as we can now, which comes with increased spending, knowing that it could end at any time.
FANOFJESUS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I have been thinking about what a great job you are doing for a couple of days. Just curious what does the condo cost? How big?
daylatedollarshort
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One of our kids lived in a high cost of living city for college and it actually didn't cost that much for a small, but very nice apartment in a trendy area near the beach. I know exactly all the living costs because we paid most of them, and even covered some of the roommate's rent. Some of their college professors lived in the same complex. They had a car but since parking was an issue, they mostly skateboarded around and took public transportation, which was free for college kids. Utilities on a small apartment in a mild climate weren't much, especially split with a roommate. Health insurance was a subsidized ACA plan. For fun they went to college events and had barbecues at the beach. All the furnishings came from Ikea, family donations and thrift shops. I furnished quite a bit of the apartment from thrift shops, and it turned out really cute.
Inflation adjusted, I doubt it cost more than $36K a year for the two of them to live like that, and it seemed like a nice life. Our kid and the roommate seemed pretty happy there. They stayed in the same place for years even after they graduated and had good jobs. Seniors would have even more government programs to take advantage of than college kids, because college kids are usually still dependents on their parents' tax returns and don't qualify for low income programs.
Robert Schiller had advice along those lines for his college students, "Robert Shiller, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, offered some simple advice for people trying to get ahead when he visited Yahoo Finance recently: Live like a student.“My students are living alright,” Shiller said. “I’ve suggested to them, why don’t you just continue to live at that level after you get a job? It would pile up into a lot of money.” https://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-to-bank-hundreds-of-dollars-more-each-month-163549084.html
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MC Rider
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Live like a student.
Interesting thought, but I don't want to live in a dorm room and go to the cafeteria to eat, and share the bathroom with 3 other guys. Hmm, sounds suspiciously like one of those old folks homes.
Interesting thought, but I don't want to live in a dorm room and go to the cafeteria to eat, and share the bathroom with 3 other guys. Hmm, sounds suspiciously like one of those old folks homes.
