Always count it since it’s an asset, that simple.

If you need assisted living or a nursing home it will get sold and pay for your care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

Our house is paid off. Not having a mortgage does matter for retirement planning.

So is ours, what is your point? It’s still not throwing off income the way that investments do. The only way it creates income is buy selling it or borrowing against it, neither of which I’m going to do. Therefore it’s not part of my retirement income plan.

But if you need to you can sell it and move to something smaller/cheaper. Many people are still living in large homes their raised their families in. They can 100% get something smaller for less if they need to.
And if you need to sell the home and move to a retirement facility, you can use the home value as you own it.

I could but the whole point is I don’t want to so I’m saving accordingly. If you have to sell your house to afford your life you are overextended.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t count it. I need a place to live so it’s not wealth to me.

Everyone needs a place to live, dummy. Your home that you own is in fact an asset, i.e. part of your wealth.

Exactly! That $2M home can be sold and you can pay rent in a 1 bedroom for a long time with the proceeds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

Our house is paid off. Not having a mortgage does matter for retirement planning.

So is ours, what is your point? It’s still not throwing off income the way that investments do. The only way it creates income is buy selling it or borrowing against it, neither of which I’m going to do. Therefore it’s not part of my retirement income plan.

But if you need to you can sell it and move to something smaller/cheaper. Many people are still living in large homes their raised their families in. They can 100% get something smaller for less if they need to.
And if you need to sell the home and move to a retirement facility, you can use the home value as you own it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

Our house is paid off. Not having a mortgage does matter for retirement planning.

So is ours, what is your point? It’s still not throwing off income the way that investments do. The only way it creates income is buy selling it or borrowing against it, neither of which I’m going to do. Therefore it’s not part of my retirement income plan.

What do you think net worth means? Because you sound extremely confused.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t count it. I need a place to live so it’s not wealth to me.

Everyone needs a place to live, dummy. Your home that you own is in fact an asset, i.e. part of your wealth.

Why on earth do you care?

It’s an asset. Therefore you count it. You also have to include your mortgage (if you have one) as a liability when calculating net worth including your home.

I count it, it’s important for estate planning purposes to know what you have. We have 2 expensive paid off homes.

That said, our retirement projections are based on a combination of income from investable assets, pension and SS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

Our house is paid off. Not having a mortgage does matter for retirement planning.

So is ours, what is your point? It’s still not throwing off income the way that investments do. The only way it creates income is buy selling it or borrowing against it, neither of which I’m going to do. Therefore it’s not part of my retirement income plan.

Do both. I have a column on my spreadsheet with “networth” than another one that adds home equity.

Anonymous wrote:I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

Our house is paid off. Not having a mortgage does matter for retirement planning.

Count it because the other thing you can do with it is, borrow against a paid off home in retirement, live off the loan, pay lower taxes, never sell it in your lifetime, and your kids get the stepped up basis when they sell it after you die, so you repay the loan against equity out of that and avoid the long term capital gain taxes completely.

I understand that it is part of the definition. But I’m not spending that money during retirement so I don’t count it. The same way I don’t count the 529’s, which are also massive.

We primarily track investments. Separately, we are aware of our home value given that if at some point we need LTC that can't be done at home, that money could be put toward that.

However, we hope we can age at home and not need to sell the house. Which means we have to be able to pay for our expenses and at-home LTC from our investments alone. To that end, all numbers we run are based on investments alone.