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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, don't think of retirement security as a number, but as an income stream.

Figure out how much income you will need in retirement.  Say right now, your income is $60,000 and you are 45 years old.

Let's say you want to retire at age 60.  You have calculated that your pension will be $35,000 per year, and your Social Security will be $15,000 per year.

If your income grows at 3% per year, your income at age 60 will be approx. $94,000.   If you want to retire on 80% of your income, you will need an income of about $75,000 per year.

Your pension and Social Security will be $50,000 per year - so you will need enough retirement savings to bring in $25,000 per year.

This is a bit simplified, but shows you how to think it through - "net worth" does not tell you much compared to estimating  your income needs.

[/quote]

Recently retired and this is how I did our retirement planning years ago.

57 years old, no debt. Everything paid off (SFH, beach condo, large sailboat).

Monthly net income:
$6500 military pension (COLA adjusted)
$4000 dividends from taxable investments 
$8500 available from CD ladder that will last until we turn 59.5 and then we can tap into various retirement accounts.

Our problem is that we way over saved. Like PP, I was born w nothing (neither parent graduated from high school). Started investing aggressively at age 21 upon college graduation. Still live fairly frugally (hard to change financial habits after a lifetime of living well below our means).   I’ve had a couple of significant health scares, so aware that money isn’t everything and trying to enjoy life as each day comes. Will pass on significant assets to two sons and alma mater. [/quote]

I forgot to add that our average monthly expenses are $7000.  The biggest thing that helped me is tracking our expenses to the penny. That was the only way my spouse and I knew that we had plenty of cushion between income and expenses. We’ve got a separate savings account just in case of exceptional emergencies.  [/quote]

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