One million saved…can I stop now?

[Anonymous]

On track to have 1 million in my retirement savings at age 50. Can I stop contributing (but would still work) once I reach age 50? Will that be enough for me and my spouse if I stop working at 65?

[Anonymous]

No.

Are you going to kick it on the beach or golf for 35 years?

Your SS full retirement age is 67.

[Anonymous]

You might live to be 100.

[Anonymous]

This question depends on your monthly spend. If you live in a low cost of living area with a paid off house and a very frugal lifestyle that could be plenty. If you still have a mortgage, or live in a high cost of living area, or have expensive tastes that won’t be enough.

[Anonymous]

This depends on so many factors that it can't be answered here. I suspect if you fleshed it out on the Bogleheads forum, many would say no, but it depends heavily on desired lifestyle, among many, many other factors.

[Anonymous]

"but would still work" is NEVER guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Does your employer contribute to your retirement savings via match? Are your contributions to your savings pre tax?

[Anonymous]

If you are still working but no longer saving for retirement, what are you doing with the money you are earning at work?

[Anonymous]

I don't think $1M in retirement savings for both you and a spouse is going to set you up very well for retirement especially if there's more inflation. If you stuck to the 4% withdrawal rate rule that would give you about $40,000 per year. Add social security (did your spouse also work?) and your total annual income would likely be $70-80k. That would be doable now if you also have a paid off house, but it's going to feel very meager in 20 yrs. A lot of people think you could withdraw closer to 6-7% and still be fine, but you're going to have very little wiggle room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think $1M in retirement savings for both you and a spouse is going to set you up very well for retirement especially if there's more inflation. If you stuck to the 4% withdrawal rate rule that would give you about $40,000 per year. Add social security (did your spouse also work?) and your total annual income would likely be $70-80k. That would be doable now if you also have a paid off house, but it's going to feel very meager in 20 yrs. A lot of people think you could withdraw closer to 6-7% and still be fine, but you're going to have very little wiggle room.

The 4% rule and SS are both inflation adjusted, so it shouldn't feel extra meager over time, not that I would make this decision or actual withdrawals based solely on the 4% rule....

[Anonymous]

If you stopped investing today and we had a moderate 7% growth over the next decade you’d have:

2 million at 60
4 million at 70

Rule of 72

If you had a pension and social security, remained healthy for a while and lived within your means you’d probably be fine.

[Anonymous]

One Million is not very much money, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This question depends on your monthly spend. If you live in a low cost of living area with a paid off house and a very frugal lifestyle that could be plenty. If you still have a mortgage, or live in a high cost of living area, or have expensive tastes that won’t be enough.

However, unless you have excellent LTC insurance, you likely need more than that for LTC. Not unusual to end up in Assisted living/nursing care/memory care for more than 1 year, and those typically cost $10-15K/month. $1M plus SS is nowhere near enough for any of that, even with low cost of living/being frugal.

[Anonymous]

No, I don’t think so. College will be that much per kid. That’s like 3-4 years in memory care living.

[Anonymous]

I could and I did, but I have many things going for me to make it happen.The list is too long.
I'm not even touching the money ever.