I know there are many factors such as location, etc. and we all know the more amount the better, however if you are to retire in 2022 what is the lowest amount you feel you would need to safely retire if you retired at 62 years old with an average check of $2300 or at 65 years with an average check of $2800. Remember this is just your total savings / investment amount and just a monthly SS check. Would $250K, $500K, $750K be enough ??? Just wanted to see what people thoughts are and would answer with. God Bless !!!

Don't forget to figure figure in if you are debt free or not. House pmts or rent eat a lot pf income.

Impossible to answer with the information provided .

I assume you have no debt, but what are your monthly fixed costs such as property tax, homeowners insurance or rent, auto insurance, etc.? Health insurance if under 65 can be expensive, I recall I was paying almost $2,500 per month just for that until I reached 65 and Medicare. Auto or truck depreciation can run around $500 per month.

Right now my monthlies (including car insurance and property taxes) are about $650 not including food.

I could do fine with any of those amounts.

What are your expenses? You'll need to factor that before going after any number as a good amount.

At least a million if you are debt free. Perhaps less if you live in a dump and eat Spam every day.

I knew a guy who said tell me how much money you want to have and when your going to die and I can make you an investment strategy.

The numbers are going to swing in an incredibly wide range depending on lifestyle.

Many "experts" seem to think that the typical person will need about 80% of their current income to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. That means that someone who is currently accustomed to renting an apartment in North Dakota will need a lot less income in retirement than someone who wishes to maintain their $10,000,000 beachfront property.

Another thing to consider is that people have different notions of how money is to be spent in retirement. Some people plan on building up a nest egg and then start spending it in retirement hoping that they die before the money runs out. Others plan on building up investments and living off of the income generated from those investments only, and dieing with plenty of their retirement money left.

I'm 38. I don't have a target number for retirement because I like to think that my highest earning years are still ahead of me. I do not yet know what lifestyle I'll be able to afford, because that lifestyle is being revised upwards with each successful year. We save more than half our income, sometimes upwards of 80% of our income, and fight lifestyle creep aggressively.

I recently read that someone with a 30-year life after retirement will spend between $230k and $250k on healthcare

I'm close to the same situation and am thinking about early retirement myself, but for me right now the biggest reason why I won't pack it in is because of healthcare

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I recently read that someone with a 30-year life after retirement will spend between $230k and $250k on healthcare

I'm close to the same situation and am thinking about early retirement myself, but for me right now the biggest reason why I won't pack it in is because of healthcare

This is good timing for me because I just fully funded my HSA for the second year, without deducting anything, and I was asking myself, "Self, what will I do with this if I never have any catastrophic medical needs?". Of course I'll be able to do something with it one day, with penalties all considered, but HSAs are a big thing right now and I couldn't help but ponder the what ifs. Then of course is the tax shelter...

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I recently read that someone with a 30-year life after retirement will spend between $230k and $250k on healthcare

I'm close to the same situation and am thinking about early retirement myself, but for me right now the biggest reason why I won't pack it in is because of healthcare

I think the healthcare expense curve is non-linear. Retiring early may not add as much healthcare expense as living longer at the tail end will.

I'm too young to get Medicare and other programs and the abysmally poor and outrageously overpriced public plans are a non-starter

what I might do is figure out how long I can get COBRA before I turn 65 and retire at the earliest possible time and continue on my current plan as long as possible

Our monthly income is comprised of Social Security, VA compensation and a Annuity. we get by with no complaints. Yes we have Medicare. Our dwelling was paid off years in the past. We are able to invest income with out a problem not a large sum but not insignificant either.

If you really need to ask the question, you probably shouldn't consider retirement (collecting Social Security) until the 66+ "full retirement" age.
Pay everything off that involves financing, mortgage, car payments, no credit card debt, etc., and you can live relatively inexpensively.
Otherwise, keep working.

For me to be comfortable retiring at the end next year at 62.5 I would want retirement income greater than we live on now (not more than what we make now, but what we actually live on), be debt free and have enough savings to cover rising costs of health care and have some spending money to enjoy the time off. A million isn't what it used to be but that would sure be nice.

Health insurance and other related costs are the big wildcard for most people in retirement, especially prior to Medicare eligibility. I'd like to retire in a few months at 55 and financially could probably do it, but I still have minor children so we need a good health insurance plan for the next 10 years, which ain't cheap.

You have gotten some good feed back so far.

It is really pretty simple. First let me bring up two things that have been brought or mentioned already to a degree.

Do you have kids/grand kids.
If the answer is yes, then do you plan to leave them an estate when you die?

Second things is, will you be debt free at the point you retire. If the answer is yes. Then proceed. If the answer is no. Then it is less so.

Then the question would be, what are your monthly living expenses. Including everything broken down into a monthly figure. Housing, Groceries, gas, taxes, healthcare, Insurance, utilities, travel, entertainment, etc.

Once you have answered the above question and have a handle on all your monthly expenses you can determine the answer to your question.

As an example. If you need $3800 to cover all your monthly expenses and you receive $2300 in SS. You will need an additional $1500 a month or an additional $18,000 annually.

That means you will need an IRA or investment account with a balance or $450,000 in it to be able to withdraw $18,000 annually using the 4% rule.

This is a very simplistic formula. But it gives you some basic strategy to look at things in a way that can help answer questions that you have and gives you a basis to do a more detailed look into your specific circumstances.

There are basically two ways people look at retirement.

One looks at it in a way that will get them retired.

The other people spend a long time trying to determine (make excuse's) why they can't or shouldn't retire.

Good luck.

Figure out your actual expenses and the your life style and what it cost you every month to live at whatever you find comfortable.

Rule of thumb is if you take about 4% out of your investments historically over time your retirement money should last 30 years.

Decide on your number and work backwards.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
Figure out your actual expenses and the your life style and what it cost you every month to live at whatever you find comfortable.

Rule of thumb is if you take about 4% out of your investments historically over time your retirement money should last 30 years.

Decide on your number and work backwards.

agree with this

you really can't say until you have a SOLID grasp on ALL your likely monthly / yearly expenses. retiring LOCATION expenses could vary significantly. rural Iowa vs inside the belt-line Wash DC for instance

the 'standard minimum' is considered 25x expenses invested (aka 4% annual spend-down) from a conservative portfolio

of course you would need to assess the SS / pension situation. healthcare cost is of course dependent on MANY variables and unique to the individual's situation.

ETA : one thing i think a lot of people do is make a straight line projection. but will you really spend as much in your 80s as you do in your 60s?? something to ponder. maybe some of our older members can chime in...

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quote:

if you retired at 62 years old with an average [SS] check of $2300 or at 65 years with an average check of $2800

Do these two amounts account for federal taxes (and in some cases, state taxes) and, at 65 y/o, for Medicare payments?