I don’t worry about it. I’m 50, DH is 55 and we have about $1m in retirement, $100k in our kid’s 529, and a few hundred thousand in equity in the house. We plan to work for another 10 years in our current jobs then downshift a bit until we retire. I don’t worry because there is no point. DH is a journalist and has been laid off 4 times in our marriage in the implosion of paid journalism. We’ve survived every time, and something new and interesting came out of each layoff. We don’t make a ton of money, so living on not a ton of money isn’t frightening to me. Yeah, life is more comfortable when you are rich. I’d like to be able to pay for assisted living when I am old, and we are working and saving with that in mind. But if we lose our jobs we’ll STILL be wealthier than like 90% of Americans. Why should that worry me?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$2m in my personal accounts, which I just hit. "My" accounts means my retirement, brokerage, and investment real estate. This doesn't include home equity, 529 plans or DH's accounts. $2m was my "number" and I feel like I could lose my job or retire now. Yes, we are married and I understand how community property works, but for me, it was more about feeling financial secure as an individual within our marriage or if DH dies or we get a divorce.

That's really good, what age range are you? Good at any age though.

39. The thing that keeps me going right now is that our youngest child's 529 plan isn't fully funded, but I think I'm going to lump sum my bonus this year into that account. I am a checklist person (maybe to a fault), and this is the last thing I feel like I have to accomplish financially in my current job. Once that's done, I'm going to approach my firm to see if they'll let me cut my billable hours to 1000 annually, but still qualify for benefits including health insurance and 401k. I don't want to sit around and do nothing, but I want to be able to take a month long summer vacation, a 2-week winter vacation, and a spring break and fall break. Perhaps this is all wishful thinking, but now I have the confidence to ask.

Similar here and also in late 30s. At two million I figured I could either get an easy job and coast to retirement or pack it in and get a townhouse in a lower cost area and live a simple life (cooking, long walks, good books) and be done. I still work but it’s different now. I am working to accomplish goals. Professional and financial and I believe what I do is generally positive for the world. But I’m not worried about losing my job, and if I was just slogging I’d quit.

This came about two years ago, markets have been nuts so we’re probably closer to $3 million now but I just let it ride in index funds and check annually.

Anonymous wrote:We are in late 40 and mid 50, 4 million + paid off house. Feel like we need another 500k to 1 million with 2 kids going to college, and health care for us and the kids

Did you think about this when you were younger? If so, did your goalpost move over time? If you had another $1m do you think the goalpost would move for other reasons (eg, building legacy wealth)?

We are in late 40 and mid 50, 4 million + paid off house. Feel like we need another 500k to 1 million with 2 kids going to college, and health care for us and the kids

I'm 37, my DH is 42. He basically has a job he can't lose. I have a job that even if I lost it, I could find another one very quickly in the same field so I never lose sleep over losing my job. Our NW is around 2.5M and a lot of that is home equity in two properties.

$5 million

Anonymous wrote:The number for us is what we spend each year multiplied by 30. So if you are good at 100k a year, You’ll need 3 million to feel secure

You are smart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our NW is ~$5M. Of that, about $2M is in home equity...the rest in other assets (stock, real estate, etc). We will also almost certainly inherit $5M+.

We are 43 y.o., with large 529s for our kids. I don't worry about either of us losing our job, though this is partially also because we both have highly in-demand skills and shouldn't have difficulty finding ways to earn money...even if at a lesser HHI.

I reached this comfort a couple of years (and ~$1M) ago. DH came to this conclusion this year.

Thanks. That’s helpful. It’s weird the way the brain keeps moving the goalpost, but, equally, circumstances change that require moving the goalpost (eg more kids)

Exactly.

Spouse said 1.5M. When we reached 1.5M, the number became higher…

—NP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number for us is what we spend each year multiplied by 30. So if you are good at 100k a year, You’ll need 3 million to feel secure

That seems low to me UNLESS you are already in your 60s-70s+ and thus Medicare is in play along w/ private insurance. Because if you're say 40 and paying for private insurance for the next 25 years, it goes up yearly and by decent amounts. This seems like more of a FIRE number - i.e. those people go on Medicaid if they have to just so they don't have to work.

DP: The OP question is when you are no longer concerned about losing your job--so IMO while this may be low to say you are ready to retire, but is enough to not worry about losing your job. If you have to pay private health insurance for a while as you look for other work, you're not worried.

Anonymous wrote:The number for us is what we spend each year multiplied by 30. So if you are good at 100k a year, You’ll need 3 million to feel secure

That seems low to me UNLESS you are already in your 60s-70s+ and thus Medicare is in play along w/ private insurance. Because if you're say 40 and paying for private insurance for the next 25 years, it goes up yearly and by decent amounts. This seems like more of a FIRE number - i.e. those people go on Medicaid if they have to just so they don't have to work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$2m in my personal accounts, which I just hit. "My" accounts means my retirement, brokerage, and investment real estate. This doesn't include home equity, 529 plans or DH's accounts. $2m was my "number" and I feel like I could lose my job or retire now. Yes, we are married and I understand how community property works, but for me, it was more about feeling financial secure as an individual within our marriage or if DH dies or we get a divorce.

That's really good, what age range are you? Good at any age though.

39. The thing that keeps me going right now is that our youngest child's 529 plan isn't fully funded, but I think I'm going to lump sum my bonus this year into that account. I am a checklist person (maybe to a fault), and this is the last thing I feel like I have to accomplish financially in my current job. Once that's done, I'm going to approach my firm to see if they'll let me cut my billable hours to 1000 annually, but still qualify for benefits including health insurance and 401k. I don't want to sit around and do nothing, but I want to be able to take a month long summer vacation, a 2-week winter vacation, and a spring break and fall break. Perhaps this is all wishful thinking, but now I have the confidence to ask.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$2m in my personal accounts, which I just hit. "My" accounts means my retirement, brokerage, and investment real estate. This doesn't include home equity, 529 plans or DH's accounts. $2m was my "number" and I feel like I could lose my job or retire now. Yes, we are married and I understand how community property works, but for me, it was more about feeling financial secure as an individual within our marriage or if DH dies or we get a divorce.

That's really good, what age range are you? Good at any age though.

DP but same - $2mil but none of it home equity, all "liquid" -- as in brokerage, retirement, cash etc., not a primary home I'd have to sell. I hit it at 40 - later than I would have wanted, esp looking at the numbers here but oh well. To be clear though it means not concerned about losing my job BUT NOT - if I lose my job I would just retire; it more means I could float and look for the right next thing AND be ok taking something that paid less if I really wanted to do it. I think to be at the - lost job and oh well I'll just retire phase, I'd need to be more at $4-5 million and that's without kids; plus I'd need to be at least in my 50s. I know people have tons of interests etc. but sitting home starting at 43 would get old so you'd REALLY have to be traveling the world etc., which I also wouldn't want to do excessively as I'd constantly be looking at that $4-5 million and not wanting to spend it down, though I suppose at those levels, your investment gains exceed your expenses.

I am not saying this out of greed, but I would not be comfortable at all leaving/stopping my lucrative business until my child launches. Child is in early elementary and although we have a comfortable net worth with paid off investment properties, the unknowns of life keep me in career mode for the next 16 years. After that, I will we ready to walk away from it all. The uncertainty of life was emphasized with the pandemic and shows that life can change on a dime.

Anonymous wrote:$2m in my personal accounts, which I just hit. "My" accounts means my retirement, brokerage, and investment real estate. This doesn't include home equity, 529 plans or DH's accounts. $2m was my "number" and I feel like I could lose my job or retire now. Yes, we are married and I understand how community property works, but for me, it was more about feeling financial secure as an individual within our marriage or if DH dies or we get a divorce.

That's really good, what age range are you? Good at any age though.

Anonymous wrote:Our fear of losing a job is based on fear of losing health care options. It is also what is keeping us from retiring earlier.

Me too.