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Thread: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

  1. #1
    Stegodon
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    Default Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    I'd put this in the polling booth, but it's far from trivial: What's YOUR number? That is, how much capital would you need to feel good about retiring?

    In the US, this is complilcated by some factors, so I'd outline mine as examples: from what I can gather from what I get in annual notices from Social Security, I'm due for close to $1500 per month at age 62. (I'm 55 now.) That actually sounds sounds sweet to me, and I was planning to retire when I was not much more than 62, because I've got all sorts of energy and plans and ideas for (probably non-lucrative) projects I'd love to do but for my time-consuming job. Until recently, I was thinking that I had saved up enough in my retirement account and in the value of my home that, given both increasing in value, plus that sweet $1500 per month (and health benefits paid for through my retirement plan), I was good to go.

    Now, that's shot--the retirement account has gone south, not north, the value of my home has dipped as well, and even the SS is far from a sure thing, at least at age 62, because I think Obama's going to raise the minimum retirement age in his second term, which still puts me in my late 50s. So I need to rethink what my number is.

    The good part is that I'm willing to live fairly poor: I don't eat very much, I could grow my own food in large part (assuming I can retire somewhere with a long growing season, which I'd like to do anyway), I don't need a lot of room (a one-bedroom house, or maybe one with a guestroom, is just fine), I don't dress fancy or require a lot of entertainment (I have hundreds of books to read and DVDs to watch) and I'm very mobile--I don't have close family or other people who determine where I'd live, and I'd like to travel some anyway, in parts I haven't visited before, so relocating is going to be determined by economics as much as anything else. But what figure do I need to retire on? And how do I determine when I've reached that comfort zone?

    I'm not looking for individual feedback (there's a limit to what personal financial information I'm willing to disclose) but rather to start a discussion of how people reach that number, what comfort they expect that number to yield, other factors I haven't yet raised, how much one's willingness to gamble on such an important issue comes into play, etc.
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    We wasted a lot of time and started later on our 401Ks than we should have. We were ok until the market wigged out. However, we've got CDs and a couple pensions, as well as social security. We don't need a lot to be happy. I had my financial dude do a projection thing and based on what we have and what we need, plus the fact that I have at least 9 more years in the workforce, we are at about 90% of the Kasa Kalhoun Happiness Point. The only thing that concerns me is that Mr. K is 11 years older than me, and health issues just might fuck things up for us.

  3. #3
    Elephant Wheresgeorge04's avatar
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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    I dunno, man. If I HAD to, I could move to a more reasonably-priced city, and probably live on that $1500 per month (My rent NOW for a 1-bedroom). All I NEED is a roof and food, I REALLY WANT internet, would LIKE Cable...

    Reasonable, in middle America, not SF, would be $2000 per month, minimum. Bare bones, in Needles, CA or some other shithole, $1,000.

    That's as a single. My wife complicates things IMMENSELY. She's much more... not high maintenance, but... comfort-liking? than I am.

    Joe

  4. #4
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    Quote Originally posted by Wheresgeorge04
    I dunno, man. If I HAD to, I could move to a more reasonably-priced city, and probably live on that $1500 per month (My rent NOW for a 1-bedroom). All I NEED is a roof and food, I REALLY WANT internet, would LIKE Cable...

    Reasonable, in middle America, not SF, would be $2000 per month, minimum. Bare bones, in Needles, CA or some other shithole, $1,000.

    That's as a single. My wife complicates things IMMENSELY. She's much more... not high maintenance, but... comfort-liking? than I am.

    Joe
    I hear you--not having an SO at the moment simplifies this equation for me, as does knowing what pleases me in terms of cimate, creature-comfort needs, etc. My last GF was very dismissive in terms of moving to a warmer climate (like FL or AZ--I currently live in NY) which I'd like to do.

    The scary (or comforting, depending on whether I should be scared) part is that, as stated, my minimum figure for living pretty well isn't far above my projected draw from SS, which should be around $1500. If I can supplement that with another grand per month, well, that's about $30,000 per year, net, which is around what I live on here in NYC, and that seems reasonable. Problem is, have I really covered all my needs or am I forgetting or minimizing something crucial?
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

  5. #5
    Mammuthus primigenius eleanorigby's avatar
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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    Roughly, off the top of my head, IF the health insurance issue gets resolved in this country, I need about $40K a year to live where I live now and not starve/alternate buying meds with buying food sort of thing. That's bare bones, but doable, given my predilection for public libraries, rented movies and the Internet.


    I'm 46, so I should still have some time. The time off I took to RAISE CHILDREN has fucked my SS amount. But that's another thread.

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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    Deleted double entry.
    Most of my time is spent in figuring out ways not to do anything productive. Socialist Hedonism is hard work.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Retirement savings, and how much one needs to live "well"

    Quote Originally posted by RedFury
    Quote Originally posted by prr
    I hear you--not having an SO at the moment simplifies this equation for me, as does knowing what pleases me in terms of cimate, creature-comfort needs, etc. My last GF was very dismissive in terms of moving to a warmer climate (like FL or AZ--I currently live in NY) which I'd like to do

    <snip>

    ...Problem is, have I really covered all my needs or am I forgetting or minimizing something crucial?
    Interesting question you pose and one that I've been giving a lot of thought to for quite some time. I'm more or less with you on the numbers needed -- thought the obvious problem I see there is that forecasting what will be needed by the time the moment comes is not exactly formulaic thus always looking at the higher figures. For me, although a couple of years younger than yourself, I'm looking to do this in two, three years max, pending proper sale of some property I have.

    Having said that, I'm in the same boat vis-a-vis a SO and both how it simplifies needs and reduces costs. But when you say if "you are forgetting something" it is, IMO, exactly that. Meaning that as simple, free and comfortable an existence one has as a bachelor, I've been without a SO for over six years now and not getting any younger -- starting to get a bit lonely and I suppose that is not going to get any better when one is no longer in workforce. Thus I factor in the possibility, and it just throws all my calculations off-kilter and I get more than a bit anxious. Why? Well, the dating scene for a guy my age gets rather complicated, especially when taking into account that I'm looking for someone that will be a companion more that a GF in the dating/party sense that I've loathed for the better part of the last two decades in my life. At least around here that narrows the field, to well, almost zero in so far as I've seen, for the few mature women with a similar desire that I've met come with a lot of added responsibility. Mostly in the form of children -- and its rare that we're talking a single child nor that they are even close to being financially solvent; it is what it is here. I just don't think I have it in me to take-on that kind of responsibility after having recently finished my financial commitments to my only child and having factored into my numbers the inheritance I would leave him if the numbers in fact, do work.

    So again, I don't know how you view your future in terms of aging alone, but that, to me, is the most distressing part of the whole plan. Just don't see how to fit it into the equation...

    I'd be interested in your thoughts on that particular issue -- or anybody else of course, as long as you don't feel we're straying too far afield of your OP.
    Most of my time is spent in figuring out ways not to do anything productive. Socialist Hedonism is hard work.

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