Is this a little or a lot?

[Anonymous]

My husband and i are in our early 40s, own our own home (mortgage paid off) that's worth about 800k (in a neighborhood in which real estate values have stayed pretty solid), and have approximately 800k socked away in IRAs and 401ks. We both work full-time. Husband is military and will retire in the next few years with a pension of roughly 50k/year. He'll presumably find a civilian job when he leaves the military. We have two kids now in late elementary school, and another 50k saved for each in VA college savings accounts.

I have no idea how much is "enough" in terms of retirement savings. I've tried online retirement calculators and they give answers that are all over the place. Should we be patting ourselves on the back and relaxing a bit about the further future? Or should we be anxiously trying to save more? Is what we've saved a little, or a lot? Perspectives?

[Anonymous]

A LOT

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Well, now I feel poor.

[Anonymous]

HUMBLEBRAG ALERT!

[Anonymous]

Troll

[Anonymous]

Run your numbers and goals by a fee only financial advisor. We paid $1000 for an incredible analysis and plan going forward and peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Good numbers. Depends on your lifestyle, of course, but its good. The pension is a great bonus. What amount of income do you feel you need in retirement?

This is me https://www.networthiq.com/people/dcguy

If you browse that site you'll see a lot of other people against which to compare. Some will make you feel good, others feel worse, but on balance you'll see you are very well off.

[Anonymous]

How much do you need in retirement? That's the basic question. we make a lot of money right now -- HHI 400,000/year before taxes -- but roughly 90,000/year goes towards kids private school tuitions, nanny, summer camps, etc. (not even counting food, clothes and so on for kids, just big ticket stuff). I figure that when the kids are grown and out of college, our spending will go way down. Also, right now we have a 5br house, but again, we have kids and when the kids are grown we'd probably be fine with a much smaller place. Most of the retirement calculators seem to assume you need 70% of your pre-retirement income from retirement until you die-- seems to me that we'd probably be fine on 30% of our preretirement income once the kids are all grown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you need in retirement? That's the basic question. we make a lot of money right now -- HHI 400,000/year before taxes -- but roughly 90,000/year goes towards kids private school tuitions, nanny, summer camps, etc. (not even counting food, clothes and so on for kids, just big ticket stuff). I figure that when the kids are grown and out of college, our spending will go way down. Also, right now we have a 5br house, but again, we have kids and when the kids are grown we'd probably be fine with a much smaller place. Most of the retirement calculators seem to assume you need 70% of your pre-retirement income from retirement until you die-- seems to me that we'd probably be fine on 30% of our preretirement income once the kids are all grown.

I agree the 70% number is way high for those of us who spend a lot on kids. Plus, even with kids, we live on 60% of our net income now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you need in retirement? That's the basic question. we make a lot of money right now -- HHI 400,000/year before taxes -- but roughly 90,000/year goes towards kids private school tuitions, nanny, summer camps, etc. (not even counting food, clothes and so on for kids, just big ticket stuff). I figure that when the kids are grown and out of college, our spending will go way down. Also, right now we have a 5br house, but again, we have kids and when the kids are grown we'd probably be fine with a much smaller place. Most of the retirement calculators seem to assume you need 70% of your pre-retirement income from retirement until you die-- seems to me that we'd probably be fine on 30% of our preretirement income once the kids are all grown.

I agree the 70% number is way high for those of us who spend a lot on kids. Plus, even with kids, we live on 60% of our net income now.

Ya. We spend ~$4,000 a mo on the kids, plus $2500 a mo on mortgage plus $3,000 a month on other stuff like insurance and food etc. once the mortgage is paid off, and the kids are grown, I can live quite comfortably on $100k a year, which ain't shit in real terms. A few million can throw that kind of cash off each year.

[Anonymous]

Of course, given the state of the economy, we're all gonna be supporting our kids for the rest of our lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course, given the state of the economy, we're all gonna be supporting our kids for the rest of our lives.

So true. We're actually planning on this (of course the kids don't know that).

[Anonymous]

Where are your investments? If a USAA or 1st Command - give them a call and have them run the numbers for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course, given the state of the economy, we're all gonna be supporting our kids for the rest of our lives.

So true. We're actually planning on this (of course the kids don't know that).

Why? I fully expect my daughter to adapt and find a way to be self-sufficient. I see people my age finding new jobs, with and without degrees. I'm 29. Many of us them have jobs working from home or sending them internationally for work. We're all from working and middle class backgrounds, so no family hookups.

My goal for my preschooler is to be trilingual by HS graduation. We're moving abroad for a few years with my work so the opportunity is there.