$20M seems reasonable for that burn rate, especially if early departure leaves some meat on the bone, as the OP’s hypothetical assumes. What I recommend to anyone that listens is to really get a good idea of your spend rate.
What's Your Exit Number?
- Thread starter ZombieKissinger
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Exactly. Have to know your number like someone else said. Do the math, understand risk/reward, and then if you decide the juice is worth the squeeze, bust your *** to make it happen. It’s the only way I know how to do things.
It’s a moving target really. Cost of healthcare and age are the two big variables. Assuming you have access to reasonably priced health insurance and can start living on $100,000 a year and give yourself a 4% cost of living increase yearly, you need about 2.5 million in the bank to retire in your early to mid fifties.
Hoping to find out in about June 2023.
Not ready to retire just yet. But I'm close enough that if I walked in tomorrow and they fired me (not gonna happen), I'd say OK, walk out the door and call it an end to my working career. But I like what I'm doing, so it'll be a few years before I do call it quits.
Not to be all glfr here and provide an information dump but… For several years my particular situation — being really experienced at what I do & other in-state positions inside and outside PERS not being good fits (e.g., I was approached about a private gig back in 2020 that was & still is really good but I’m not taking a 25 percent pay cut if I’m also not able to draw state retirement at the same time) — was that I felt like I was trapped.
That status changed last year. Soon after I qualified for state retirement, I applied for a non-state position and interviewed.
I didn’t get the job but feel good about things considering the feedback I’d gotten & that there were only two other people seriously considered for what was likely the best available opportunity in my profession in-state the past couple years.
Anyway, so I’m working and keeping my eyes and ears open.
I’m young so I’ll say either $12 million, or $7 million plus a thriving Friday Fourplay OnlyFans account
If you enjoy what you are doing that is cool. But I had an old MSU buddy I rode back and forth to college with that retired at 65 and he wasn't retired 2 months before he found out he had cancer. Lived about another 6 months. Can't live your life in fear but something to think about.
I definitely have a target and plan, but I also struggle with how much focus to put towards it versus enjoying life while my family is still young. I’ve seen too many coworkers retire with nice 401ks and grand plans for how they want to live out their lives - then die in less than 5 years. Guess you have to find that happy medium
I retired almost 3 years ago and was concerned whether I had enough cash to maintain our lifestyle. I had plenty of assets that placed me at a solid place in net worth terms but you need to be able to generate monthly income to retire comfortably. I have been surprised at how easily
I have covered out expenses and we are actually still growing our accounts even in this bad stock market environment. For most people I would think two million would be more than enough to generate 150k per year without excessive risk.
Very true. It’s all about finding that balance that you are comfortable with. I used to work with a guy that worked for our Company for 43 years. Retired on his 65 th birthday, found out he had cancer 30 days later, and was dead in 6 months. On the other hand, my father in law retired when he was 62 and enjoyed life for another 30 years. It’s a crap shoot. Balance. I will say that we worked hard to build a proper nest egg for retirement. It’s a comfortable feeling and yet I am starting to think we over shot the runway. Been retired about 5 years, had a great time, and have not yet withdrawn a single penny from any of our savings. SS, pensions, and interest has covered everything and had some left over. The one thing you can’t really accurately estimate is nursing home expenses. Hopefully no one ever finds themselves in that situation but the reality is that it does happen, a lot. Both of my parents spent a short time in a nursing home. I handed all of the finances and as of several years ago it would eat up a minimum of $7,000 a month. It’s all out of pocket unless you have insurance, which is also expensive. You want to be prepared just in case. Medicaid is available if it eats up your savings but means that everything is pretty much gone. I know more about this now than I wish I did. I still have nightmares about the things that I saw and dealt with. You don’t want your family to have to walk that path. Just food for thought.
My wife and I had kids early(we’ll be empty nesters as 45) and put an emphasis on paying off student loans early, so we haven’t traveled much. I am making significantly more than I did 5 years ago and we’ll be traveling some now that our kids are getting old enough that it isn’t a massive burden for our parents to watch them for a week or so. We are still saving a chunk of change for retirement, and will be saving more after this year.
Enjoying life now and later is very important to us. Finding that balance is key. I believe we have found ours. Stuff can happen at any time and delaying all gratification until retirement seems as poor a decision as not saving for retirement at all.
Enjoying life now and later is very important to us. Finding that balance is key. I believe we have found ours. Stuff can happen at any time and delaying all gratification until retirement seems as poor a decision as not saving for retirement at all.
I guess it's not that big a deal to say here. I am in RSA and that is the way to go. In fact if you are open to moving, Alabama has a ton of open positions.
I doubt I will ever quit working. Sure I will retire from what I do now. But after that I am hoping to move to Pensacola, buy a boat, and sell bait.
I recently went to a retirement seminar with my teacher wife put on by RSA (Alabama). It addressed the non-financial impacts of retirement, and that hit me harder than the $ topic. Like, if you're older than your friends they will still be working while you look for something to do.
I got that figured out. I don’t have friends
Fish in the morning, eat lunch, take a nap, play 18 that afternoon.
How much do I need to do that say five days a week?
How much do I need to do that say five days a week?
I'm reminded of a Bum Phillips quote. Reporter was interviewing him about a year after the Saints fired him. Asked him what he was doing these days. "Not a damn thing. And I don't start till noon."
My mom is a retired teacher. There is a reason all her friends are teachers or retired state employees. Even now working it's hard to find people to do stuff with on Jefferson Davis' Birthday or Confederate Memorial Day.
I've always lived my life on my own terms and the thought of going into a NH worries me. I've never been one to want to live into my late 80s or 90s (i think this thought process is more common in men). I've instructed my family to either give me a big hand full of pills or let me go in the woods if I ever get to the point I can't care for myself. Dignified self directed termination (in situations where a person is in late stages of life) should be something that we should get onboard with in this country (it's done is several other western countries). I realize big health care will fight it as so much money is made on those in the late stages of life.
Just about anything is better than a nursing home. Even the best ones. When I was dealing with all of that I went by the nursing home every afternoon after work and stayed for a little while. It was hard to handle. Also hard to sleep at night. After it was all over it still took me another year to get over the experience. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
A former across the street neighbor investigated NHs for the AG. He had horrible stories.
Clear $10 million. 5% return. I can live off 500K/year where I never have to touch the principal. I want to be able to enjoy the $$ and not necessarily have to worry about it.
If I want to go to New York - buy a plane ticket the day before. Don't worry about the cost.
If I want to go to New York - buy a plane ticket the day before. Don't worry about the cost.
Interesting. I am in the same boat and am also 40 years old all except the executive stock options. Years fluctuate, but the preferred number would be 10 million to maintain 400k per year or so. The general rule would be 4% of the balance each year to be offset with growth overtime without touching principle.
Years ago I had two on my pest control route. One was great but the other was just grade a hell. It at least got a little better when they fired the lady running the kitchen because it stayed filthy and started doing some repairs in there to cut down on the roach population.