Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just crossed it, this morning, based on this market price advance. (Investment portfolio, not counting house.)

That is nice. But I just heard you now need ten million to retire. It is a big milestone. But what gets me mad is I was told when did my first 401k if I hit one million I could retire rich!!, then around 10 years ago Suzie Orman started pushing you really need 5 million to retire. Ok, I get it inflation. Now in the last year or so people are pushing you need 10 million. They are staying 5 million is ok if you are 65 today but a 45 year old person will need at least 10 million by the time they retire.

When does it stop? I guess kids in college today will need 20 million to retire.

The minute you die, it stops immediately, and you can die randomly at any moment. So instead of worrying about how many millions you will need, just do your best and remember to enjoy life.

Exactly! Can't take money with you to the grave. Some of you need to remember to LIVE a little. Take the trip!

We do live a little. In fact, we live a lot. But thanks for the advice. Our funds are growing faster than we can spend it.

We're 53/54 and making about $550K/yr passively off our investments. Our two houses (the other one is in western Wyoming) are paid off. Kids are done with college and on their own killing it in their professions. But it just doesn't seem like it's enough.

I just hit $18M and I don't feel like it's enough. I have a family to feed.

Anonymous wrote:We retired with $3 million in retirement plans and brokerage, and a paid off $1.2m house. Small pension, $3k/month, kids launched/done with college and grad school, and health insurance fully covered.

Health insurance fully covered is the only reason we could retire with these numbers

Retired military?

Great job. But the bar has moved to $15M so you have a ways to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just crossed it, this morning, based on this market price advance. (Investment portfolio, not counting house.)

OP, congrats on the family money. You’re full of it if you expect people to believe you accumulated this much by the time you reached 47 and did so without help.

what? family of 5, one big law income for 10 years-exit to vp level and move to lcol city and this insane stock mkt & it is absolutely possible. 400k home, kids in public. only shop for things on sale/used athletic gear if you can & do overseas vacations in the winter. only 1-2 weeks of camps per kid per summer, and one less expensive 5 day camping/cabin trip and spring break on points. this was only possible after moving away from DC though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s definitely possible with 2 people saving and investing.

Can you provide a specific, numerical example that substantiates your claim…as opposed to qualitative and unintelligible hand waving?

Of course, it’s possible. It’s also highly improbable. Particularly when one considers the expenses of college, graduate school, saving for a down payment on a first home, etc. This entire post is little more than a microcosm of ill-gotten white privilege.

Bragging on about passing the $5M mark when $4M of that was likely passed down from wealthy family members is hardly a notable and worthy achievement.

I know it's hard to believe but I'm 47 (a DP) and spouse is 52. About 5 years ago, I got a job with a major pay raise but we didn't increase our spend (in fact, it decreased b/c we moved a kid from private to public school). So we save 100k/yr. That's how we got to $5M. I think we were at about 3-ish M before I go that job. Last tax year, our income from investments was more than our w-2, also. Total w-2 income about 700K depending on bonus. We both started saving by 30 maxing out roth annually and the 401K with employer matches, often generous.

I came into the marriage with $75K profit from a home sale at the top of the bubble. DH has $20K in unspend college funds. Of course, that was 20% on our SFH in the close-in DMV. That said, the $5M doesn't count the paid off house.

My father was comfortably retired on about $3800 per month (that was SS and pension). He had a paid off condo (but still had to pay fairly high HOA fees) and a paid off luxury automobile. He was able to travel a few times a year, including out of the country. He lived fairly frugally otherwise, but not as a pauper. The only other income was the mandatory IRA distribution, but that was only around $4k per year. Doing some quick calculation $3800 per month is roughly $1.15 mil in a 401K with a 4% distribution rate and not counting SS at all.

DH and I have been investing for just over 29 years. We have about 4.6M. It was all accumulated through the TSP so got matching but that is all. We maxed up until about 5 years ago when we shifted some investment dollars towards college savings (we had some but increased that).

No family money, there may be inheritance in the future, but nothing crazy and we have received zero so far. We both had help with undergrad but paid for our own law school educations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s definitely possible with 2 people saving and investing.

Can you provide a specific, numerical example that substantiates your claim…as opposed to qualitative and unintelligible hand waving?

Of course, it’s possible. It’s also highly improbable. Particularly when one considers the expenses of college, graduate school, saving for a down payment on a first home, etc. This entire post is little more than a microcosm of ill-gotten white privilege.

Bragging on about passing the $5M mark when $4M of that was likely passed down from wealthy family members is hardly a notable and worthy achievement.

DP here. We did it, without family money, on mostly 1 income (and a SAHP.) The key is at least one person has to make a fairly high income and live beneath your means. DH started at $140k and went up from there. The median over the years was probably $300-$350k. It’s a little higher now. 2 kids, no private school, luxury cars, or country clubs.

Anonymous wrote:We retired with $3 million in retirement plans and brokerage, and a paid off $1.2m house. Small pension, $3k/month, kids launched/done with college and grad school, and health insurance fully covered.

Health insurance fully covered is the only reason we could retire with these numbers

Wow, that's a little depressing. I am in almost your exact situation, except that I'm in my late 50s and won't retire until I'm 70 probably. But at 70, with projected SS (yes, I realize I can't count on that) and annuity, I'll be bringing home more than twice as much as I do now and I'll have a paid-off house. So I will meet my monthly expenses and have some left over. Why won't a supplemental $3 million last me 20 years?

Anonymous wrote:These numbers are mostly made up I think. Certainly not representative of the majority of folks. Most people would be lucky to have $500,000 when they retire.

Why don't we discuss why they don't have it? I invested $500 out of my $2k take home when I could for 30 years. I will never use up all this money.
I am so interested why others didn't do it and I do ask. Lots of interesting excuses among the 50 I collected.
Not one of them has said that they just didn't know any better.

It is not hard to reach 5 million invested by your late 40s

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just crossed it, this morning, based on this market price advance. (Investment portfolio, not counting house.)

That is nice. But I just heard you now need ten million to retire. It is a big milestone. But what gets me mad is I was told when did my first 401k if I hit one million I could retire rich!!, then around 10 years ago Suzie Orman started pushing you really need 5 million to retire. Ok, I get it inflation. Now in the last year or so people are pushing you need 10 million. They are staying 5 million is ok if you are 65 today but a 45 year old person will need at least 10 million by the time they retire.

When does it stop? I guess kids in college today will need 20 million to retire.

Both you and Suzue are idiots. $5m not enough? Really?

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s definitely possible with 2 people saving and investing.

Can you provide a specific, numerical example that substantiates your claim…as opposed to qualitative and unintelligible hand waving?

Of course, it’s possible. It’s also highly improbable. Particularly when one considers the expenses of college, graduate school, saving for a down payment on a first home, etc. This entire post is little more than a microcosm of ill-gotten white privilege.

Bragging on about passing the $5M mark when $4M of that was likely passed down from wealthy family members is hardly a notable and worthy achievement.