Would you retire with a NW of $10m?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We wouldn’t, at 50. I don’t trust our home values, which is a million of it or more—too many family members burned by RE crashes. They could expand a highway near us and we’d lose all that equity — even a school reasons could impact it. We have no pension and I’m not optimistic that SS will be there for us. I just feel like y 50 there are too many uncertainties — what if one of us gets cancer and we need to pay out of pocket for more aggressive treatment (happening to a friend). Why if one of the kids is struck with a chronic illness and can’t support themselves (happening to another friend). What if health insurance hosts increase more than anticipated (already happening and about to happen more due to all the regulation and litigation happening around prescription drug prices). The longer the timeline the wider the range of possible outcomes. And we are in fields where it would be hard to re enter once retired — if I were in a high demand field I would feel differently I think.

$10 million is enough to weather all of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'll never make it on $10 million--well, maybe in the real world you could, but not in DCUM land.

Hahaha good one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early 50s is usually too young to retire with a pension plus health care.

Huh? A pension plus health care makes early retirement more feasible.

I meant that usually you have to be older to be eligible to retire with pension and healthcare. For example, most federal employees need 30 years service and be a minimum age (around 57) or 20 years service and age 60. (There are some exceptions for certain law enforcement positions).

[Anonymous]

Of course. That is an obscene amount of money. Even if 2M of it is tied in real estate

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely retire with a NW of $10m. I can live comfortably at a $300k annual income, which is a conservative withdrawal rate.

Similar situation with similar aged kids. I wouldn’t. Heath insurance is an issue.

With $10MM NW, you really don't think a family can just buy health insurance? Why not?

It adds significantly to the annual budget.

But not really. Of course, OP indicated they receive health insurance even if they were to retire today.

I still don't understand why anyone thinks $20k - $30k per year for health insurance is much of an issue with a $10MM net worth.

It all comes down to how much do they need to live each year (in the lifestyle they want)? 10MM is great if someone is living on 130K/year. But lets say you live until 90 (typical for my family on both sides). that means another 40 years of living and expenses. Take away $1M for college for the 3 kids (one is only 12, instate might be $50K+/year). Then how much of that NW is in intangible assets like a home or boat or car? Let's say 2M. Now you are down to 7M and you need to generate income from that to live. All while realizing you still have a decade before your kids are really out on their own.
If you need $400K to live/year, then you likely will be drawing down the principle. If you need only 200K you can probably find a way to generate income without drawing principle.

Just need to do the calculations

I doubt OP was including a boat or car or even equity in a home in her $10m net worth. People who are sophisticated about these things don’t do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, not with kids that young as I believe it sets a bad example. I could have retired at 52 but I had two kids in HS and I had no desire to hand around the house or hang out with old people. So I worked until I was 60 and tripled my net worth.

And wasted eight years of your life working when you didn’t have to.

I’m 62 and still working even though we have $14m NW. I like working, and don’t consider it a waste. I’m at the peak of my career (took longer as a working woman to get here) and make over $1m/year. I will work for 2-3 more years before dialing it way back but may continue to dabble in work until 70. Some people do great with early retirement but I’ve also seen some who flounder and age more quickly mentally post retirement.

[Anonymous]

yes still working at $3m

[Anonymous]

I could have retired at 52 with more than $10 million. But I still had two kids in HS, all my friends were working and I still had the desire and energy to work. My company was sold and I could have retired but I quickly got bored and started another business investing a good amount of my net worth. It paid off really well when I finally retired at 61. You can definitely afford to retire with $10 million but it’s not just about the money, it’s about what works best for you at a certain point.

[Anonymous]

Hell yes I would. Sad about these posters with mental health issues that believe they couldn’t

[Anonymous]

If your job is your passion, then you never work a day in your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your job is your passion, then you never work a day in your life.

Wow. Deep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hell yes I would. Sad about these posters with mental health issues that believe they couldn’t

I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, not with kids that young as I believe it sets a bad example. I could have retired at 52 but I had two kids in HS and I had no desire to hand around the house or hang out with old people. So I worked until I was 60 and tripled my net worth.

And wasted eight years of your life working when you didn’t have to.

I’m 62 and still working even though we have $14m NW. I like working, and don’t consider it a waste. I’m at the peak of my career (took longer as a working woman to get here) and make over $1m/year. I will work for 2-3 more years before dialing it way back but may continue to dabble in work until 70. Some people do great with early retirement but I’ve also seen some who flounder and age more quickly mentally post retirement.

I hope for your sake that you live long past 70 and have mental and physical health to allow you to enjoy your life when you are relieved of the burden of working. I think you may realize it is an amazing gift to be able to do that.

[Anonymous]

OP, my answer to your question would depend on the following factors:

1. Whether I like my current job
2. Whether the current job is demanding and takes me away from my family too much
3. Whether anyone in my family has health or other issues that could benefit from having more of my time and attention
4. Whether college funds are fully funded or not
5. Whether house is paid off
6. Whether we have any other major expenditures coming in the future that have not been saved for

[Anonymous]

People on dcum always frame this as “retire” or “not retire” but it’s been my experience that it’s much more like “stay in the job you have” or “switch to whatever job you want, or pursue (an) unpaid passion(s) full time.”

“Retirement” is a pretty fuzzy concept especially if you do it at a young age. There are a lot of people with high net worth out there who aren’t grinding away at the job they had at 30 but who are not “retired.”