Why wouldn't you retire on $5M?

[Anonymous]

When I think of hitting marks, I think of me, as an individual, rather than us as a married couple. $5m wouldn't be enough to retire because if we got divorced, it would turn into $2.5m. Once I hit $5m as an individual (retirement accounts, separate brokerage account), excluding home equity, 529 plans, and spouse's accounts, assuming they are close to even with mine, then I'll feel ready to retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be happy with health insurance, paid off modest home, $ for food, couple of grandchildren. Have seen elders pass last decade. You really don’t need that much. Crazy, greedy, malcontent people

Same here. I've gradually shifted over the years from spending money on stuff to spending money on experiences. If you're single, you can retire full time overseas on 30k income. You can even have a nice lifestyle in the US and travel several months a year on under 100k income. But if you're still focused on material goods in retirement then you can easily piss away tons of money.

You say this as if it's a surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can spend 10k+ a month forever on a portfolio of this size. Seems like I could retire comfortably on this amount, even needing to pay for health insurance and having 2 kids. We are 30/31 with $2M so not at this level yet.

Asking because there are a lot of rich people on here with way more than 5M who still work.

Because we spend more than 10k a month.

Even on just one vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like a lot of ballers on dcum will be retiring awfully late in life due to ridiculous spending habits.

college is expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like a lot of ballers on dcum will be retiring awfully late in life due to ridiculous spending habits.

Why do you assume that? I’m not going to retire at 5 million, but I had that a decade ago. I’ll retire in my mid 50s with 40 million or so. Seems like a good fit for me.

You are not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need 20 M to be comfortable

If I had that, I'd put at least 5mil in a foundation and spend some of my retirement time giving grants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need 20 M to be comfortable

If I had that, I'd put at least 5mil in a foundation and spend some of my retirement time giving grants.

Not me. I'm comfortable giving 10% of my current income during my lifetime and waiting until death to give out 7-figure gifts. You never know what health issues may come your way. You may want to help out your kids and grandkids. However, I would feel comfortable giving significant lifetime gifts at $50m.

[Anonymous]

DH (49) and I (45) are in a financial position compared to OP where we could retire now. Between our net worth, pension, and healthcare coverage until Medicare, we’ve hit the benchmarks. But we’ve chosen not to retire yet—for one simple reason: our kids.

We have three children, and we couldn’t live with ourselves if our early retirement meant only offering them a state undergrad education and calling it done. We believe the biggest leg up we can give them is fully funding their undergraduate and graduate education.

Inheriting money in their 60s would only fuel decades of resentment. We'd rather invest in them now when it matters most.

To be clear, we’re not saying we’ll pay for private undergrad for all three—if they choose their schools wisely or secure scholarships, we’ll be in a position to help with graduate school too. At this point, we’ve saved about $700K across three 529s and still have GI Bill benefits available.

Curious how others in a similar situation have thought about tradeoffs between retiring early and fully funding education for multiple kids—including grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all about what works for you. I went back to work full time a year ago at 58 after almost 30 years as a sahm and PT consultant. What nobody tells you is staying busy and happy and fulfilled takes a lot of work. I wasn’t happy once my kids were grown, parents died and husband returned to the office. Lunching, Yoga, pickleball and travel got old and having my life’s purpose on most days being making dinner walking the dog was honestly depressing. I couldn’t imagine doing just that and volunteering for 30 more years. I love the structure and camaraderie of work and the paycheck. My job is not high stress but it’s interesting. I’d like to work til 65-67. Just my perspective - and we have a little over 5 mil now.

I mean that would depress me too, but there are a lot of things I want to do instead that are unpaid or cost money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can spend 10k+ a month forever on a portfolio of this size. Seems like I could retire comfortably on this amount, even needing to pay for health insurance and having 2 kids. We are 30/31 with $2M so not at this level yet.

Asking because there are a lot of rich people on here with way more than 5M who still work.

Because we spend more than 10k a month.

Even on just one vacation.

'

Yep double to Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH (49) and I (45) are in a financial position compared to OP where we could retire now. Between our net worth, pension, and healthcare coverage until Medicare, we’ve hit the benchmarks. But we’ve chosen not to retire yet—for one simple reason: our kids.

We have three children, and we couldn’t live with ourselves if our early retirement meant only offering them a state undergrad education and calling it done. We believe the biggest leg up we can give them is fully funding their undergraduate and graduate education.

Inheriting money in their 60s would only fuel decades of resentment. We'd rather invest in them now when it matters most.

To be clear, we’re not saying we’ll pay for private undergrad for all three—if they choose their schools wisely or secure scholarships, we’ll be in a position to help with graduate school too. At this point, we’ve saved about $700K across three 529s and still have GI Bill benefits available.

Curious how others in a similar situation have thought about tradeoffs between retiring early and fully funding education for multiple kids—including grad school.

DH is an older dad, so even if he retired at a normal age like 62, he wouldn't be able to cash flow college for our youngest from his current income. So, I started 529 plans at birth and funded them aggressively from my paycheck. He actually pushed back on it (not liking the "pay cut" to the joint checking account), but this was a hill I was willing to die on. Our kids will have fully funded 529 plans before he retires, even if he retires at 62.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people who amass $5 million are probably used to a fairly extravagant lifestyle! For them, it would be a step down to live on $10,000 per month.

Disagree. We got that wealth from living frugally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s all about what works for you. I went back to work full time a year ago at 58 after almost 30 years as a sahm and PT consultant. What nobody tells you is staying busy and happy and fulfilled takes a lot of work. I wasn’t happy once my kids were grown, parents died and husband returned to the office. Lunching, Yoga, pickleball and travel got old and having my life’s purpose on most days being making dinner walking the dog was honestly depressing. I couldn’t imagine doing just that and volunteering for 30 more years. I love the structure and camaraderie of work and the paycheck. My job is not high stress but it’s interesting. I’d like to work til 65-67. Just my perspective - and we have a little over 5 mil now.

This sounds nice. If you don’t mind answering, did you go back to your previous field / line of work or try something new?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be happy with health insurance, paid off modest home, $ for food, couple of grandchildren. Have seen elders pass last decade. You really don’t need that much. Crazy, greedy, malcontent people

Same here. I've gradually shifted over the years from spending money on stuff to spending money on experiences. If you're single, you can retire full time overseas on 30k income. You can even have a nice lifestyle in the US and travel several months a year on under 100k income. But if you're still focused on material goods in retirement then you can easily piss away tons of money.

I don't want to retire abroad and have to make all new friends. I haven't had enough time to spend with the friends I have in the US.

[Anonymous]

Agree with 14:19, the biggest variable in our plans are the kids. How much do we fund? How much do we leave for them and their families?

Absent our kids we could (but wouldn't) retire tomorrow. The amount we decide to fund their futures determines how much longer we work, how much we save vs. spend etc.

Ultimately I imagine the answer is different for everyone. We'll fund undergrad but not graduate school and plan on helping with first homes and weddings. Also cash to ease them over life's bumps and make their own plans for their descendents.

I do feel an obligation to continue passing on wealth from generation to generation. Not an absurd amount, but enough to make MC or UMC life achievable with hard work.