Why wouldn't you retire on $5M?

[Anonymous]

Because teenagers are very expensive so living on only $10K with a large chunk of that taken out for health insurance isn't a lot of money.

Plus many people want to travel and live well in retirement. I would never want to retire early and have to live frugally.

[Anonymous]

Very simple reason. My spend is way higher than $10,000 a month. In retirement looking to match current spend. Around $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Need to hit $12 million or perhaps $15 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very simple reason. My spend is way higher than $10,000 a month. In retirement looking to match current spend. Around $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Need to hit $12 million or perhaps $15 million.

On what?

[Anonymous]

Our goal is to build generational wealth. We want to leave as much of the capital to our kids as possible, not spend it down.

In order to live on the dividends only, the capital needs to be a lot more than 5M.

Choice of stocks depends on whether you favor a growth portfolio, where dividends will be very small compared to stock price, or whether you wish to max out dividends immediately, in which case you pick stocks with low potential for growth but high returns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very simple reason. My spend is way higher than $10,000 a month. In retirement looking to match current spend. Around $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Need to hit $12 million or perhaps $15 million.

This is the reason for us as well. We spend 30k a month on housing alone. Then add in private school tuition for our DC (this will obviously go away after she graduates); clothes, food, etc.; travel; donations; supporting family members. I have no idea what total spend per year is, but I'm guessing on the order of 700k-800k. I'm hoping to retire with at least 30 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can spend 10k+ a month forever on a portfolio of this size. Seems like I could retire comfortably on this amount, even needing to pay for health insurance and having 2 kids. We are 30/31 with $2M so not at this level yet.

Asking because there are a lot of rich people on here with way more than 5M who still work.

Because we spend more than 10k a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our goal is to build generational wealth. We want to leave as much of the capital to our kids as possible, not spend it down.

In order to live on the dividends only, the capital needs to be a lot more than 5M.

Choice of stocks depends on whether you favor a growth portfolio, where dividends will be very small compared to stock price, or whether you wish to max out dividends immediately, in which case you pick stocks with low potential for growth but high returns.

I’m sure I agree with leaving most of your capital with kids. We should have a a sizeable estate by the time we are in our 50s. We plan to only leave about 25% to our heirs. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to earn their own keep and we feel it will make them better human beings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our goal is to build generational wealth. We want to leave as much of the capital to our kids as possible, not spend it down.

In order to live on the dividends only, the capital needs to be a lot more than 5M.

Choice of stocks depends on whether you favor a growth portfolio, where dividends will be very small compared to stock price, or whether you wish to max out dividends immediately, in which case you pick stocks with low potential for growth but high returns.

I’m sure I agree with leaving most of your capital with kids. We should have a a sizeable estate by the time we are in our 50s. We plan to only leave about 25% to our heirs. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to earn their own keep and we feel it will make them better human beings.

Good for you. Others disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You certainly can but for folks it depends on variables--what is college tuition projection, etc.

What is your income to amass 2 million and it must be liquid because you won't be able to access retirement accounts until 59 1/2 or sometimes 55.

+1

Also, some of us need/want more than $10K/month to live on. It's okay, we have planned and saved and can do it. But we need $45-50K/month for 2 homes, travel, entertainment (sport season tickets/symphony season tickets/etc). Healthcare thru the ACA is $2.5k+ per month with extremely high deductibles/Max OOP, so in reality it's $3.5K+/month alone.

[Anonymous]

I did, but I became a SAHM so I don’t look “retired.” I still work some and will work more when kids are older, but it’s because I want to and it’s all projects/jobs that are fun for me. I also have a several major hobbies/pursuits that are unpaid.

[Anonymous]

Some crazy lifestyles here. 30-50k a month is insane. Did you guys grow up rich and this is “normal” to you, or did your lifestyle inflate the more you earned?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some crazy lifestyles here. 30-50k a month is insane. Did you guys grow up rich and this is “normal” to you, or did your lifestyle inflate the more you earned?

I am one of the posters above. I grew up in a working class family. Single mother household, 3 kids, very little money. Spouse the same. The more we earned, we definitely inflated our lifestyle, though only recently when income became very large did we start to spend accordingly. We live in a VHCOL place and send our kid to private school, so that is a lot of expense. And while we rarely buy things, we do like to travel, and I like to travel in luxury (spouse couldn't care less about that part of it), so it can get expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very simple reason. My spend is way higher than $10,000 a month. In retirement looking to match current spend. Around $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Need to hit $12 million or perhaps $15 million.

This. $10k a month is really not much. We have $9M in cash/investments and no where near retirement (young 50s). Sure we could retire but I’m not living frugally in retirement

[Anonymous]

I've recently realized that if you want to avoid assisted living and nursing homes and instead pay for in-home caregivers if needed, a couple could easily run through 5M.

Depending on how much care one or both of you need, you could be paying 4-5 nurses to cover 24/7. That's easily 500K per year. And if you live like this over 10 years, well the savings quickly dwindles.

Then add in the regular household expenses. It seems like you can't count on living at home till death should you have mobility or serious physical issues unless you have 5M in reserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very simple reason. My spend is way higher than $10,000 a month. In retirement looking to match current spend. Around $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Need to hit $12 million or perhaps $15 million.

This. $10k a month is really not much. We have $9M in cash/investments and no where near retirement (young 50s). Sure we could retire but I’m not living frugally in retirement

For a normal person it’s a lot of money especially for not having to work. Assuming no mortgage or other debt, that’s a ton of money for me and most other people. We live in a TH and send our kids to public school though.