It’s not how much you have, its how much you spend. To some $1.5 mil wouldn’t last a month, to some $100k would be plenty.Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle. And, don’t forget the value of your home, if needed it can be sold to pay for long term care.

You think? This place is turning into The One Upper Hunting Forum,

I always wonder about the guys who are so quick to scream "One upper thread".

I have yet to hear anyone on here say they retired with $10 million and it's the boats and hoes lifestyle for them. Maybe I missed it.

You're clearly not a noticer...

That's true. I should have mentioned I'm specifically referring to those who have medicare, or health insurance covered with minimal cost.

We’ve been retired now since 2009. We have invested money, which we rarely touch, and we have pension money and SS, and we are doing fine. Many good points have been made in this discussion. I think two of the most important things to consider are medical expenses and debt. Get the first covered and the second paid off. As a rancher neighbor told me yesterday “my personal check engine light comes on a lot these days”. So true.

Stealing this one! And, no it's not a One Upper move!

Just don’t drop it, makes good tamales.

I'm gonna ONE UPPER ALL YALL.... cause this Wednesday, May 31st at 5PM... I AM GOING TO OFFICIALLY FIND OUT!!

I was speaking of equivalent to $1.5 mill after tax cash as liquid as a jar in your back yard or savings account.

Congrats!

Congrats! My wife is 2 years away and I'm 4 years away! We are healthy and on track with retirement goals and objectives. I enjoy what I do so it's not really work anyway!

Retiring?

4.5 is a very close number. We have zero debt. Only have two kids with my wife who I am still married to. One kid is in college now and the other is in junior high. We own three houses - the one we live in, one we rent out, and one at our ranch. Our health insurance is $1,200/month and goes up every year. Our property taxes are over 20k/yr across the properties. I am spending around 25k/yr on the kid in college.Just those three things are around 5k/month. It all adds up.

Could we live on the money we have if we had to? Sure it would be possible but taking 4% a year off 4.5 million (which is what I consider a safe withdrawal rate) is only 180k/yr which is significantly less than we have been making for the past 15 years. This doesn't seem wise for someone in their 40s to significantly reduce their income and quit working so they now have a ton of free time on their hands. After a while people get used to whatever income level they have. I remember when I made 30-40k /yr, my wife stayed at home, and we were happy with that at the time but I think it would be very difficult to go back to that after living the way we have for the past decade. You just get used to certain things and I would not want to change that by retiring.

I’d retire on you reduced income and save money every year. It’s not that you guys couldn’t it’s that you don’t want to.

saving 7k a year @ 5.5% ROI is roughly 500k after 30years of saving.

I think we all can say “I wish I’d saved a little more.” I know I do.

The 20-30 crowd should really read this thread.

if you made 50k a year from age 25-55 and saved 20% you would have 707k based of 5.5% growth. Biggest thing is wether you need 300k or 5mil make sure your plan isn't just based off a set age like “65” because tax penalties could cause you to have to wait longer to retire then maybe your body would like etc.

Congratulations! Gonna finally start that photography career? Well done.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! Along with a kazillion other opportunities

My buddy just retired from the PD at 20 years of service and age 44.

In the last 7 years he went from $15k in debt to having well over $700k in cash and investments. He bought 200 acres in Val Verde county for $275k cash. Got a house built, and is setting up the solar panels this week. His monthly expenses for the past 7 years has been roughly $1000, $300 of which was rent for a bedroom. He still has over $500k in cash and investments, plus he starts drawing his pension now. Aside from propane and a few groceries, health care, auto insurance, he really doesn’t have any bills and should continue to get by on $1000 a month or less.

He’s not married, kids are grown and gone, that’s the biggest factors.

Wade, I really do understand what you said, but adding in those very real costs of healthcare/insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, federal taxes, property taxes, and maintenance/deferred maintenance changes that picture a whole lot. Heck, do the math again with those factored in. You know the numbers better than I do. Either way, he did an impressive turnaround in seven years! It shows what can be done if you really want it.

THIS is so TRUE - I posted before this one the same thing - drives me crazy when folks think there is one number needed to have a good retirement - there is no such thing!

It varies from person to person and the amount needed is based off of what your INCOME needs are - if you need 50K a year to live in retirement then it takes much less than if you need 100K a year to live in retirement -

As someone who retired early I have to strongly suggest you find a group insurance plan that will cover you in retirement. Something....anything that will prevent you from having to buy private insurance. For a lot of people it can be a budget buster.

So he’s single? My wife is pretty hot.

Some of ya’ll calling out the one uppers have got some real nerve. One thing i learned looking at this thread is i make a lot more than some who spend way way more on hunting rifles, scopes, etc. If you ask me a quick look at this thread puts it all into perspective.

Imagine retiring at age 40 on $1.5 million. That might cover 50 years of groceries and food if we eat out no more than 4 times a month, and skip all birthdays and holidays.

I have been working and never without a job for more than three days for the past 32 years. For the first 12 years or so of my working I never made more than 30k/yr and often much less than that. My first house bought in 2004 cost 49k. I certainly am not trying to one up anyone I am just trying to share my experiences. Back then if you asked me if I could retire on 1.5 million I would have said heck yeah but today it is different story.

I don’t think we live a lavish life style. We have taken four vacations in the past ten years. Two were to lake Texoma for a week, one was to Disney world for three days, and the other to great wolf lodge for a weekend. I drive a 2004 truck and the wife drives a 2018 car. We do have about 400 acres that produces no income so there are the expenses of upkeep on it. We eat out at restaurants maybe four times a month. Nothing extravagant.

It is such a weird thing though. The thought of living on less sounds horrible but I honestly believe we were just as happy when we made 30k/yr as we are now. Money doesn’t buy happiness for sure but once you get used to a certain income level and living on that it is hard to go backwards.