What is your "magic number" for retirement?

[Anonymous]

3M, zero pensions

Paid for house, no debt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My "I'd walk away without another thought" number is $10M (single, no kids, 50s).

I won't get to 10M absent some kind of windfall, but will likely retire with $3-4M TSP, $1M other, fed pension in the 150-200 range, $1M house paid off.

How are you getting a Fed pension of $150-200k? Are you dual Feds?

Never mind, saw you are single. How are you getting $150-200K pension? Doctor?

My parent was not a Fed but worked for the IMF. Currently receiving a $250K pension, and they weren't even high up or anything in the organization.

Pensions used to be insane back in the day.

[Anonymous]

You people are all crazy with your $10M numbers and such. I know a guy that made $100K last year selling options (covered calls and cash-secured puts) using around $400K of his capital.

He was laid off early and decided to look at options to make his money last longer. Now he just lives off the option income and doesn't even touch the other $1 million he had saved. In other words, he retired essentially off $400K, so I hope you $10 million posters *love* your jobs. Otherwise, you're throwing away your life for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My "I'd walk away without another thought" number is $10M (single, no kids, 50s).

I won't get to 10M absent some kind of windfall, but will likely retire with $3-4M TSP, $1M other, fed pension in the 150-200 range, $1M house paid off.

How are you getting a Fed pension of $150-200k? Are you dual Feds?

Never mind, saw you are single. How are you getting $150-200K pension? Doctor?

I also wonder how you are getting 150-200K pension?

Some private companies still need offer pensions.

Yeah but PP mentioned a TSP account.

Which, not that I am reading about a single TSP with $3-4M, I am realizing PP is trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:54, widowed mom of a 17yo. I've been self-employed for the past 10 years and am currently soft launching retirement - I haven't taken on anything new for a while, but my current contracts run through 2025 so I'll be working part-time till I'm 56.

I have a paid-off house, $500K set aside for 17yo's education (and hopefully a leg up with down payment down the road), and $9m in investments. That feels like enough but it is hard to wrap my mind around not working. If I can get over my burnout, I might keep going longer since I genuinely enjoy my work.

Apply your skills to something that adds real meaning to your life and not worry about making money as you have more than enough.

[Anonymous]

$3M. Kids will be through college when I retire. Keeping my mortgage bc the rates 2.5%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people are all crazy with your $10M numbers and such. I know a guy that made $100K last year selling options (covered calls and cash-secured puts) using around $400K of his capital.

He was laid off early and decided to look at options to make his money last longer. Now he just lives off the option income and doesn't even touch the other $1 million he had saved. In other words, he retired essentially off $400K, so I hope you $10 million posters *love* your jobs. Otherwise, you're throwing away your life for no reason.

That’s great but what happens when he can’t trade options anymore? Sounds like he’s still working. Savings are for when you aren’t working.

Also $100k would not fund the lifestyle I want now or in retirement.

[Anonymous]

I will never understand why posters insist on their mortgages being paid off. What’s important is how much money you have, not whether you have a mortgage. It makes far more sense often to keep your mortgage in many instances. The key is to have enough money to pay the mortgage off tomorrow if you had to, not necessarily to actually do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people are all crazy with your $10M numbers and such. I know a guy that made $100K last year selling options (covered calls and cash-secured puts) using around $400K of his capital.

He was laid off early and decided to look at options to make his money last longer. Now he just lives off the option income and doesn't even touch the other $1 million he had saved. In other words, he retired essentially off $400K, so I hope you $10 million posters *love* your jobs. Otherwise, you're throwing away your life for no reason.

I'm the 15M poster. I never said I was working hard.
There's just a moment in time when I will be "retired", in my mind. Not do as much.
But right now I'm living a relaxed life already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are all crazy with your $10M numbers and such. I know a guy that made $100K last year selling options (covered calls and cash-secured puts) using around $400K of his capital.

He was laid off early and decided to look at options to make his money last longer. Now he just lives off the option income and doesn't even touch the other $1 million he had saved. In other words, he retired essentially off $400K, so I hope you $10 million posters *love* your jobs. Otherwise, you're throwing away your life for no reason.

That’s great but what happens when he can’t trade options anymore? Sounds like he’s still working. Savings are for when you aren’t working.

Also $100k would not fund the lifestyle I want now or in retirement.

Well, since he spends about an hour a day on the options sitting in a chair at home, he probably can do that until he experiences serious cognitive decline, say at age 80. Since he’s now 50 and not touching his other $1 million, that will be worth about $20 million when he’s 80. I think he’ll be OK.

[Anonymous]

We’re mid-50s and our number is around $4M to generate income (with one modest pension & SS). This will probably take into our mid-60s to do, so we have to guess when we reach the breakpoint of enough money to support a lot of travel vs enough healthy years to actually do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My "I'd walk away without another thought" number is $10M (single, no kids, 50s).

I won't get to 10M absent some kind of windfall, but will likely retire with $3-4M TSP, $1M other, fed pension in the 150-200 range, $1M house paid off.

How are you getting a Fed pension of $150-200k? Are you dual Feds?

Never mind, saw you are single. How are you getting $150-200K pension? Doctor?

I also wonder how you are getting 150-200K pension?

Some private companies still need offer pensions.

Yeah but PP mentioned a TSP account.

Which, not that I am reading about a single TSP with $3-4M, I am realizing PP is trolling.

Can’t 2 Feds do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$9000/ mth

I’m a single woman and own my home, btw

OMG, you will be rolling in it! How far away is this?

3 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re mid-50s and our number is around $4M to generate income (with one modest pension & SS). This will probably take into our mid-60s to do, so we have to guess when we reach the breakpoint of enough money to support a lot of travel vs enough healthy years to actually do it.

So glad I never understood the "magic" of traveling. I'd much rather spend time in my nice house than a random village in Thailand.

Since this magical activity seems to be a significant cost in retirement for many, I also get to retire earlier. Yay, me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are all crazy with your $10M numbers and such. I know a guy that made $100K last year selling options (covered calls and cash-secured puts) using around $400K of his capital.

He was laid off early and decided to look at options to make his money last longer. Now he just lives off the option income and doesn't even touch the other $1 million he had saved. In other words, he retired essentially off $400K, so I hope you $10 million posters *love* your jobs. Otherwise, you're throwing away your life for no reason.

That’s great but what happens when he can’t trade options anymore? Sounds like he’s still working. Savings are for when you aren’t working.

Also $100k would not fund the lifestyle I want now or in retirement.

Well, since he spends about an hour a day on the options sitting in a chair at home, he probably can do that until he experiences serious cognitive decline, say at age 80. Since he’s now 50 and not touching his other $1 million, that will be worth about $20 million when he’s 80. I think he’ll be OK.

So long as he has the good sense to stop before cognitive decline!!! That’s how my uncle wrecked his fortune and wounded up under family care in old age.