How much do you need for an UMC retirement?

[Anonymous]

I can't see us getting by under $300k annually in early retirement. Budget includes:
- Property taxes ($20k +)
- Insurance: Health, dental, property, umbrella
- Club membership dues
- Travel: We want to take big trips while we can afford it.
- Life: Food, utilities, car
- Sports equipment (spend a lot between bikes, skis and golf clubs)

It does not include gifting money to kids over 22 and done with undergrad, other than offering them a lump sum toward their wedding. DH has expressed an interest in doing more, in which case those funds are coming out of DH's retirement account, which will be his trade-off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at the poster saying that you’ll have to maintain your spoiled adult child in retirement. That’s on you! Raise them to be independent and cut them off once they get a job lol. So ridiculous

If loved ones are struggling, and I have the means, I will help them. My values, my money.

There's a difference between struggling and not buying a house at 27.

We are Boomers. We got a house in our mid 30s. We never saw ourselves as struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at the poster saying that you’ll have to maintain your spoiled adult child in retirement. That’s on you! Raise them to be independent and cut them off once they get a job lol. So ridiculous

If loved ones are struggling, and I have the means, I will help them. My values, my money.

Your values that lead to raising spoiled children? great values, buddy…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I approach it from the expense side. I think for us, we will need $14K per month to stay here in a home mortgage free.

We have a pension that will generate $6K (if taken today at age 55), another $6K (today) in SS for two at FRA. Not all of that income will be there the day we retire.

So for a certain number of years our funding gap is $8K per month or $96K annually. And then that gap goes down to $2K.

We have $4.5M in retirement, brokerage and cash. Assuming a 3% withdraw rate to be conservative.

if you have no mortgage, what are you spending 14K a month on?? Sheesh! Kids will be out of the house...etc

DP:

We own a 2 homes, no mortgages. Taxes and HOA (one is a condo) between the 2 is $5K/month. Add in utilities, landscaper, general maintenance for the house and I'd estimate $8K in fixed costs.
Now add home and auto insurance and cell phones and health care costs: $2-3K
So I'm at 10-11K and we haven't eaten or travelled or put gas into the cars or bought clothing/shoes/anything else.
So it's not difficult to see how someone can get to $14K. However that is not UMC. That is rich and I admit that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I approach it from the expense side. I think for us, we will need $14K per month to stay here in a home mortgage free.

We have a pension that will generate $6K (if taken today at age 55), another $6K (today) in SS for two at FRA. Not all of that income will be there the day we retire.

So for a certain number of years our funding gap is $8K per month or $96K annually. And then that gap goes down to $2K.

We have $4.5M in retirement, brokerage and cash. Assuming a 3% withdraw rate to be conservative.

if you have no mortgage, what are you spending 14K a month on?? Sheesh! Kids will be out of the house...etc

DP:

We own a 2 homes, no mortgages. Taxes and HOA (one is a condo) between the 2 is $5K/month. Add in utilities, landscaper, general maintenance for the house and I'd estimate $8K in fixed costs.
Now add home and auto insurance and cell phones and health care costs: $2-3K
So I'm at 10-11K and we haven't eaten or travelled or put gas into the cars or bought clothing/shoes/anything else.
So it's not difficult to see how someone can get to $14K. However that is not UMC. That is rich and I admit that

>2 houses
You’ll get the guillotine first, you know that, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ll get such a wide range of answers here. For example, 250k is a lot.

I’m part of a financial forum and most who have been retired a while say they spend less than they planned. Some do choose to pay a lot for health insurance plans. Those on the ACA are paying low costs for good care.

I’d consider:
Any deferred maintenance (roof, etc)
Mortgage and property taxes
Travel
Utilities
Groceries
Cars
Etc

I added ours up and could barely get past $50k / year and that included traveling.

If you don’t calculate correctly, you might end up thinking you have to work longer than you do. No problem working longer if that’s your life goal but most want to have more time for other pursuits.

Guess it just depends on how you live. Our property taxes on one house are over $20k, and we need a new fridge which is north of $20k. One vacation is $10k at least. Our car tax is over $7k for the year and insurance is over $10k, not including health insurance.

A freaking fridge is north of 2oK - you are out of your mind

Says someone who has never purchased a subzero.

They are awesome fridges. They last 20+ years and typically do not have any issues. Had 2 subzeros make it to 20 before we moved/remodelled. Lived in one place for 10 years, the other 5 and never had a single issue with the fridge. Can't say the same about literally any other fridge I've had.
Had a Samsung when it was "highly rated". 18 months in it developed issues with cooling and it was so bad (Samsung had tons of issues) it would be 4+ months for a part to fix it (this was 2010, well before covid). So I had to ditch a nearly new fridge because I actually needed it to function and couldn't wait 4+ months.
Most of my fridges never made it beyond 8 years without some major issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the time we would have retired, we would have paid for
- college, masters, professional schools for both kids
- their weddings for around 200K each.
- our mortgage (currently 200K left on a 800K house)

In retirement we would have - 2M in our savings and investments and 200K pension.

Here is what we will use the pension for -
- our living expense, home and car maintenance, taxes, insurance, travel.
- annual max gifts to our children
- help with down payment for homes for our kids.
- some money for our grandkids college education
- Outsourcing chores and services for ourselves and our children when our grandkids are young.

Here is what we will not use our pension for -
- pets
- 2nd vacation home
- Travel expenses with our children for family travel
- Sports cars
- Jewelry
- Yacht or boat
- Swimming pool

Ok to pay for the swimming pool...best exercise when you get old, saves you tons of $$ in healthcare

But you can easily move to a retirement or any community with a pool and pay $200/month for access and none of the stress(or insurance or other costs) of having one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I approach it from the expense side. I think for us, we will need $14K per month to stay here in a home mortgage free.

We have a pension that will generate $6K (if taken today at age 55), another $6K (today) in SS for two at FRA. Not all of that income will be there the day we retire.

So for a certain number of years our funding gap is $8K per month or $96K annually. And then that gap goes down to $2K.

We have $4.5M in retirement, brokerage and cash. Assuming a 3% withdraw rate to be conservative.

if you have no mortgage, what are you spending 14K a month on?? Sheesh! Kids will be out of the house...etc

DP:

We own a 2 homes, no mortgages. Taxes and HOA (one is a condo) between the 2 is $5K/month. Add in utilities, landscaper, general maintenance for the house and I'd estimate $8K in fixed costs.
Now add home and auto insurance and cell phones and health care costs: $2-3K
So I'm at 10-11K and we haven't eaten or travelled or put gas into the cars or bought clothing/shoes/anything else.
So it's not difficult to see how someone can get to $14K. However that is not UMC. That is rich and I admit that

>2 houses
You’ll get the guillotine first, you know that, right?

Huh?!?!

[Anonymous]

Fridge 1 - $1200 lasted 10 years
Fridge 2 - $1400 current but on 10th year and will be swapped out at upcoming kitchen remodel.

I’m pretty sure both kept food same cold temperatures as your subzero. Plus I got $17400 to play with. 😁

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the time we would have retired, we would have paid for
- college, masters, professional schools for both kids
- their weddings for around 200K each.
- our mortgage (currently 200K left on a 800K house)

In retirement we would have - 2M in our savings and investments and 200K pension.

Here is what we will use the pension for -
- our living expense, home and car maintenance, taxes, insurance, travel.
- annual max gifts to our children
- help with down payment for homes for our kids.
- some money for our grandkids college education
- Outsourcing chores and services for ourselves and our children when our grandkids are young.

Here is what we will not use our pension for -
- pets
- 2nd vacation home
- Travel expenses with our children for family travel
- Sports cars
- Jewelry
- Yacht or boat
- Swimming pool

Ok to pay for the swimming pool...best exercise when you get old, saves you tons of $$ in healthcare

I disagree. I would pay for a gym membership with pool and aquatic exercise classes. I want to socialize with others and gym (close to my house) would enable me to have that. Besides the pool in the gym is indoors and they also have a heated therapeutic pool, so you can use the pool 12 months of the year. I would be saved from the maintenance and servicing of the pool which is $$$. Also, the return on the pool when you sell your house is very little.

[Anonymous]

Upper Middle Class people don't do much. Mu MIL and mother in retirement only traveled once every few years and only if a wedding or something, went out to dinner or lunch 2-3 times a year only if a reason like former co-workers or neighbor get together.

They do not buy new cars and budget is for house and gifts for grandkids at parties.

My MIL lives in her paid off house at 83. Has no maid or landscaper. Does her own grocery shopping and drivers her perfectly good 2003 car with low miles.

I don't think my MIL has been on a plane in the last 20 years. She can afford to but at 83 and a widow she dont want to.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these posts fail to account for taxes that have to be paid yearly. Tack on another 18 to 30 percent depending on your state and divestments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fridge 1 - $1200 lasted 10 years
Fridge 2 - $1400 current but on 10th year and will be swapped out at upcoming kitchen remodel.

I’m pretty sure both kept food same cold temperatures as your subzero. Plus I got $17400 to play with. 😁

DP but there is a coolness factor to Sub-Zero fridges. Mine has a glass door and a blue LED light - I've had it for 10 years and sometimes, when entering my kitchen, I still stop and think how cool it is. It's my favorite thing in my entire house. Of course it's not a necessity, but neither is anything besides basic food, clothes, and a roof over one's head. Also, $20K is at the very top of the price range, even for Sub-Zero fridges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upper Middle Class people don't do much. Mu MIL and mother in retirement only traveled once every few years and only if a wedding or something, went out to dinner or lunch 2-3 times a year only if a reason like former co-workers or neighbor get together.

They do not buy new cars and budget is for house and gifts for grandkids at parties.

My MIL lives in her paid off house at 83. Has no maid or landscaper. Does her own grocery shopping and drivers her perfectly good 2003 car with low miles.

I don't think my MIL has been on a plane in the last 20 years. She can afford to but at 83 and a widow she dont want to.

From what I saw with my grandparents and now see with my parents, it seems like there are three periods of retirement:

1. The active years (roughly 60-75) are when you spend a lot of hobbies and travel.
2. The sedentary but still independent years (roughly 75-85) are when you don't spend much.
3. End-of-life care years (roughly 85+) are when you again spend a lot.

We probably need $300k annually in Phase 1, $80k annually in Phase 2, and up to $300k annually in Phase 3. By Phase 3, we can spend down assets like our home, which has a lot of equity that we don't include for retirement planning purposes, but it would become available and could fully fund extra expenses in Phase 3 over Phase 2. Since we have substantial home equity (say $1.5m+), I favor drawing down more than 4% in Phase 1 to enjoy life as much as possible while we're healthy and active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fridge 1 - $1200 lasted 10 years
Fridge 2 - $1400 current but on 10th year and will be swapped out at upcoming kitchen remodel.

I’m pretty sure both kept food same cold temperatures as your subzero. Plus I got $17400 to play with. 😁

When you own a $2M+ condo/home, part of the value is from an upscale kitchen. Subzero is a part of that. Along with the Wolf range and Bosch/Miele Dishwasher

And that hasn't been my luck with fridges. I've had major repairs and new ones every 8 years or less.
So if you have the $$, subzero is the way to go for a higher end kitchen