How much do people have saved for retirement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lots of friends that have retired. I am getting close. The middle class friends have seen their expenses drop assuming house paid for. Interestingly my UMC friends (sample of 3) all have had expenses stay the same or even increase -- also with house paid off. Why? They say spending more on travel than planned (1) Regularly visiting kids who do not live in this area, and (2) taking more vacation type trips. Also they say they spend a lot on kids when visiting. Not for everyone but that is their experience.

Bingo -- this is what I was thinking.
With kids in school we generally take 1 major vacation per year (summer), and sometimes some smaller trip during winter break.

If we were completely free, it would be awesome to take a trips 4-6 times per year. And since you don't need to "conserve vacation days" from work, you could actually do longer trips, where you could explore more. So I would think that travel expenses could definitely be higher than current.

+2. I don't expect expenses to decrease at all for several reasons: 1. health insurance costs until medicare kicks in 2. more "entertainment" costs such as traveling/hobbies 3. vacation as a family including kids/grandkids when they have families of their own. I also think that we may spend more than we currently do. Glad someone else spoke up.

Are you expecting to pay for all your adult kids and your grandkids? I think I'd expect my adult kids to pay their fair share if they're employed and have their own families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lots of friends that have retired. I am getting close. The middle class friends have seen their expenses drop assuming house paid for. Interestingly my UMC friends (sample of 3) all have had expenses stay the same or even increase -- also with house paid off. Why? They say spending more on travel than planned (1) Regularly visiting kids who do not live in this area, and (2) taking more vacation type trips. Also they say they spend a lot on kids when visiting. Not for everyone but that is their experience.

Bingo -- this is what I was thinking.
With kids in school we generally take 1 major vacation per year (summer), and sometimes some smaller trip during winter break.

If we were completely free, it would be awesome to take a trips 4-6 times per year. And since you don't need to "conserve vacation days" from work, you could actually do longer trips, where you could explore more. So I would think that travel expenses could definitely be higher than current.

+2. I don't expect expenses to decrease at all for several reasons: 1. health insurance costs until medicare kicks in 2. more "entertainment" costs such as traveling/hobbies 3. vacation as a family including kids/grandkids when they have families of their own. I also think that we may spend more than we currently do. Glad someone else spoke up.

Are you expecting to pay for all your adult kids and your grandkids? I think I'd expect my adult kids to pay their fair share if they're employed and have their own families.

I am, if I want them to vacation with me. I already pay for parents and in laws. Eesh.

[Anonymous]

Travel/vacations are not “expenses” - this falls under entirely optional discretionary spending which you can easily plan around your budget, whatever that budget may be. (In other words, you are not required to spend lavishly on travel in retirement, therefore you are not required to save excessive amounts of money to cover lavish retirement travel. Duh.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I stand corrected. Taxes in Fairfax ARE that high, and start getting there real quick even without a mansion. Another reason not to live there, I guess.

True. I have a borderline teardown worth about $900K and our taxes and insurance run $15K a year.

Oof. A retired person in DC would be paying something like 3K/year on that!

We've got about 1M at 35. We're only going to save up to our matches from here on out. Really no need more more savings (other than college). We spend about 80k/year after-tax these days, but that includes 30K in mortgage payments (not including property tax+insurance). Current employers let us retain health care if we leave at age 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel/vacations are not “expenses” - this falls under entirely optional discretionary spending which you can easily plan around your budget, whatever that budget may be. (In other words, you are not required to spend lavishly on travel in retirement, therefore you are not required to save excessive amounts of money to cover lavish retirement travel. Duh.)

Right. But if you expect to be able to travel, then you should include enough savings to cover your "planned spending". Whether or not you want to call them expenses is up to you, but you need to match your savings to the lifestyle you plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel/vacations are not “expenses” - this falls under entirely optional discretionary spending which you can easily plan around your budget, whatever that budget may be. (In other words, you are not required to spend lavishly on travel in retirement, therefore you are not required to save excessive amounts of money to cover lavish retirement travel. Duh.)

They are expenses, just discretionary expenses. But if you're doing your retirement planning and it's important to you to have plenty of travel, then you have to save adequately to do so. No one is REQUIRED to save any retirement money at all--you could live off of social security as the majority of retired Americans do. Just not as well as you like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lots of friends that have retired. I am getting close. The middle class friends have seen their expenses drop assuming house paid for. Interestingly my UMC friends (sample of 3) all have had expenses stay the same or even increase -- also with house paid off. Why? They say spending more on travel than planned (1) Regularly visiting kids who do not live in this area, and (2) taking more vacation type trips. Also they say they spend a lot on kids when visiting. Not for everyone but that is their experience.

Yes. We are pretty UMC, but with MC parents. They are planning on retiring soonish, and as far as I can tell, mostly will rely on social security. They have some other savings and a paid off house, but I can't imagine they have anywhere near $1M. They told me "you know, we won't be able to visit as often when we are retired" because their budget will be more limited. But like, they stay with me when they visit, so it really is just plane tickets, so I was pretty surprised their retirement budget doesn't include enough for that. It seems pretty odd to me, but I think they are just pretty ready to retire. We can't increase our visits to them significantly either, because we still only have so much vacation time.

Wouldn't you just buy the tickets for your parents so that they could come visit you? My parents would certainly do that for me if I didn't have the money, and in fact try to do that all the time even though I probably have more money than them. It would be a no brainer that I would that for them so that I could see them as often as we all wanted -- and to make sure they saw the grandkids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lots of friends that have retired. I am getting close. The middle class friends have seen their expenses drop assuming house paid for. Interestingly my UMC friends (sample of 3) all have had expenses stay the same or even increase -- also with house paid off. Why? They say spending more on travel than planned (1) Regularly visiting kids who do not live in this area, and (2) taking more vacation type trips. Also they say they spend a lot on kids when visiting. Not for everyone but that is their experience.

Bingo -- this is what I was thinking.
With kids in school we generally take 1 major vacation per year (summer), and sometimes some smaller trip during winter break.

If we were completely free, it would be awesome to take a trips 4-6 times per year. And since you don't need to "conserve vacation days" from work, you could actually do longer trips, where you could explore more. So I would think that travel expenses could definitely be higher than current.

+2. I don't expect expenses to decrease at all for several reasons: 1. health insurance costs until medicare kicks in 2. more "entertainment" costs such as traveling/hobbies 3. vacation as a family including kids/grandkids when they have families of their own. I also think that we may spend more than we currently do. Glad someone else spoke up.

Are you expecting to pay for all your adult kids and your grandkids? I think I'd expect my adult kids to pay their fair share if they're employed and have their own families.

I am, if I want them to vacation with me. I already pay for parents and in laws. Eesh.

At some point, I hope my kids would be willing to spend their own money to vacay with me. The idea that they will only spend time with us if we pay for everything is pretty sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I stand corrected. Taxes in Fairfax ARE that high, and start getting there real quick even without a mansion. Another reason not to live there, I guess.

True. I have a borderline teardown worth about $900K and our taxes and insurance run $15K a year.

Oof. A retired person in DC would be paying something like 3K/year on that!

We've got about 1M at 35. We're only going to save up to our matches from here on out. Really no need more more savings (other than college). We spend about 80k/year after-tax these days, but that includes 30K in mortgage payments (not including property tax+insurance). Current employers let us retain health care if we leave at age 50.

Do you mind telling us which employer allow you to stay on their health plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel/vacations are not “expenses” - this falls under entirely optional discretionary spending which you can easily plan around your budget, whatever that budget may be. (In other words, you are not required to spend lavishly on travel in retirement, therefore you are not required to save excessive amounts of money to cover lavish retirement travel. Duh.)

You are not required to have fun either but it is nice. You can't argue with the way someone else want to organize their life. I spend lavishly on travel now. I plan on doing it in retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lots of friends that have retired. I am getting close. The middle class friends have seen their expenses drop assuming house paid for. Interestingly my UMC friends (sample of 3) all have had expenses stay the same or even increase -- also with house paid off. Why? They say spending more on travel than planned (1) Regularly visiting kids who do not live in this area, and (2) taking more vacation type trips. Also they say they spend a lot on kids when visiting. Not for everyone but that is their experience.

Bingo -- this is what I was thinking.
With kids in school we generally take 1 major vacation per year (summer), and sometimes some smaller trip during winter break.

If we were completely free, it would be awesome to take a trips 4-6 times per year. And since you don't need to "conserve vacation days" from work, you could actually do longer trips, where you could explore more. So I would think that travel expenses could definitely be higher than current.

+2. I don't expect expenses to decrease at all for several reasons: 1. health insurance costs until medicare kicks in 2. more "entertainment" costs such as traveling/hobbies 3. vacation as a family including kids/grandkids when they have families of their own. I also think that we may spend more than we currently do. Glad someone else spoke up.

Are you expecting to pay for all your adult kids and your grandkids? I think I'd expect my adult kids to pay their fair share if they're employed and have their own families.

I am, if I want them to vacation with me. I already pay for parents and in laws. Eesh.

At some point, I hope my kids would be willing to spend their own money to vacay with me. The idea that they will only spend time with us if we pay for everything is pretty sad.

Why would I want them to spend their money on almost anything? One of the points of having money is spending it. If I have millions and a large income, I plan to spend it in lots of ways including on adult kids. Life is not a game where everyone starts out even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel/vacations are not “expenses” - this falls under entirely optional discretionary spending which you can easily plan around your budget, whatever that budget may be. (In other words, you are not required to spend lavishly on travel in retirement, therefore you are not required to save excessive amounts of money to cover lavish retirement travel. Duh.)

You are not required to have fun either but it is nice. You can't argue with the way someone else want to organize their life. I spend lavishly on travel now. I plan on doing it in retirement.

I'm the retired biglaw partner. In the four years pre-Covid (2016-2019), our records show that we spent on average $26k a year -- broadly defined -- on "travel." That includes air fare, lodging, food, entertainment, local transportation etc. We did a lot of traveling over those four years, often for weeks at a time, and we did it comfortably -- but not "lavishly."

I guess some people are into "lavish" travel, and that's fine. The problem with "lavish" travel for us, though, is that the more "lavish" it is, the less authentic it tends to be. For example, we spent a month in Vietnam. How does one travel "lavishly" to Vietnam for a month and get any real exposure to what the country and its people are all about? That makes no sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are planning for retirement, it's NOT a good idea to depend on SS.

We got started late in the game for a variety of reasons but it is what it is. We are early 40s and have the following breakdown:

- $300k in liquid accounts
- $300k in retirement accts
- $100k in college savings (have 3 kids) so far

Based on excel modeling, we'll be at ~$1-2m by age 60.

That’s quite a broad range!

How old are you?

[Anonymous]

We are 65 and 60, and have about 3 million in retirement funds. Our house is paid off and the kids’ college costs are fully paid as well. DH has a pension and will retire in a few months. I plan to work for another few years.

[Anonymous]

I am age 44, wife 48. HHI of $155K. Together we have $350K in retirement funds on top of my pension which should pay $6k a month as early as age 60 or whenever I want to fully retire. House and college will be already paid for. I can keep the employer insurance, but it is about $1000 a month for each of us by that point.