When my DH retired from full time at 61 he had a 5 year goal of continuing to work to cover our costs so that we didn't have to dip into our retirement savings. He had some consulting and advisory work that kept him pretty busy but with enough free time to enjoy life. Since we never took money out of any investment accounts he achieved his goal and our investments have done very well with the booming stock market up at least 50% in those five years. He's now 67 and still works part time (but less) but we are now collecting pensions that pay around $100,000 a year and in two years we will start collecting SS at which point he may fully retire. Our retirement accounts are now in great shape and the income stream is excellent. We started saving for retirement when we were very young and it really paid off. As an "elder" it is the best advice I can give.

If my wife and I keep working all the way to 65ish, and keep saving at the rate we do, and have raises that merely keep up with inflation, and have investments that return 5% after inflation, we would have something like $7M plus a ~$55k/year pension plus, I don't know another $50k per year in combined SS.

That's waaaaay more than we will need in retirement, so I think we'll probably hang it up a few years early. Maybe at about age 50-55 if things go well.

We're currently in our mid 40s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

There can be a happy medium though too. My parents, for example, work out at the gym a few times a week for about two hours which is relatively low cost. They also take classes at the community college for free and go for walks/light hiking which is a minimal cost. They also meet up with friends and play cards or other board games (ok board games sounds kinda boring but they really enjoy it, maybe I will when I'm older too). My dad does some volunteer work that he likes and that keeps him busy. They do some traveling too and enjoy various Caribbean destinations. They have the money to live larger than they do but they seem very happy with their current lifestyle.

That's a good life.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

Great for you to have such options. Most people don’t — there’s a reason so many elderly are home watching TV all day and the one big trip is to see the grandkids once a year. It’s not that most don’t want to travel or have new hobbies (though some probably don’t), it’s just so far out of the budget that it’s not even a consideration.

I think what the PP said was that when you think about a retirement budget when you are in your prime working years you need to consider what you'd really like to do in retirement and try to save enough to be able to do it. Unfortunately, most can't save enough to really enjoy retirement and they sit around and watch Fox News!

My DH and I both will have government pensions (DH's @ $50K/yr and mine @ $30k/yr). I also have a pension with a nonprofit that, if it still exists, will be $11k/yr. I can retire with full pension at 59, DH at 60. We will also have healthcare provided via our government pensions.

We're aiming to save @ $53k/yr. We should have @ $500k in retirement accounts by the time we retire. We also have $1M in equity in our house (we don't plan to move, though). We own a 2-family and rent out one floor -- if we continue that in retirement, it should bring us @ $2k/mo. That, plus SS and Medicare, and I think we ill be OK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

There can be a happy medium though too. My parents, for example, work out at the gym a few times a week for about two hours which is relatively low cost. They also take classes at the community college for free and go for walks/light hiking which is a minimal cost. They also meet up with friends and play cards or other board games (ok board games sounds kinda boring but they really enjoy it, maybe I will when I'm older too). My dad does some volunteer work that he likes and that keeps him busy. They do some traveling too and enjoy various Caribbean destinations. They have the money to live larger than they do but they seem very happy with their current lifestyle.

That's a good life.

Agreed. That sounds like a goal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

Great for you to have such options. Most people don’t — there’s a reason so many elderly are home watching TV all day and the one big trip is to see the grandkids once a year. It’s not that most don’t want to travel or have new hobbies (though some probably don’t), it’s just so far out of the budget that it’s not even a consideration.

NP. Isn't that the point of this discussion, however? People are talking about what they think they need to retire and people that have options (they can work longer or save a larger portion of their income for retirement). When I think about how much I need for retirement I need to include all the things I am going to want to do.

Both my DH and I have divorced parents, so 4 senior households across them. All are in their mid to late 70s, in various stages of semi or full retirement. Each of my parents is fully retired but has taken on or is pursuing a second career of sorts. Both are (thank goodness) financially stable and this is due to interests, not financial need. DH's parents both work on very flexible schedules. My MIL likes to travel, so she is pretty much working to support her lifestyle, which includes large blocks of time (2-4 weeks, 3 times a year) in very nice vacation locations. I would like to be able to pursue interests, likely volunteer, and have the multi-week vacations 3-4 times /year. We will have close to or more income when we retire as we do today. That makes me comfortable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

There can be a happy medium though too. My parents, for example, work out at the gym a few times a week for about two hours which is relatively low cost. They also take classes at the community college for free and go for walks/light hiking which is a minimal cost. They also meet up with friends and play cards or other board games (ok board games sounds kinda boring but they really enjoy it, maybe I will when I'm older too). My dad does some volunteer work that he likes and that keeps him busy. They do some traveling too and enjoy various Caribbean destinations. They have the money to live larger than they do but they seem very happy with their current lifestyle.

That's a good life.

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

There can be a happy medium though too. My parents, for example, work out at the gym a few times a week for about two hours which is relatively low cost. They also take classes at the community college for free and go for walks/light hiking which is a minimal cost. They also meet up with friends and play cards or other board games (ok board games sounds kinda boring but they really enjoy it, maybe I will when I'm older too). My dad does some volunteer work that he likes and that keeps him busy. They do some traveling too and enjoy various Caribbean destinations. They have the money to live larger than they do but they seem very happy with their current lifestyle.

Anonymous wrote:Clearly I'm preaching to the choir here, but everyone needs to have a brokerage account. Please manage your own finances.

Combine a combination of high yield dividend reinvestment stocks and ETFs and a smattering of high growth stocks.

Watch the markets and the world around you. Please be personally engaged every day in the process of building your wealth. If you are not in the game you'll never see opportunities that come your way.

These are examples and definitely not recommendations Canada Goose, orthofix, and Halyard all tripled during the past two years. They now probably have limited upside potential so don't invest in them now. They are just examples of opportunities if you are in the game. I've also lost money on Ablemarle and Frontier Communications.

Be a capitalist. The goal is to Sell/Rent out your wealth - and not be forced to sell your labor - especially your manual labor.

Good luck - you can do this!

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You have the benefit of lifelong fantastic healthcare coverage.

I'm not disagreeing, but everyone has access to Medicare. If people are projecting draconian Medicare cuts, exorbitant out of pocket expenses, etc. it's all in the same bucket as people who don't even project they will get a minimum (likely 2/3) of their social security benefits because they think the whole system will collapse.

If you think you need to accumulate $5 million in taxable accounts to live in retirement because the social safety net will entirely collapse and you'll need $50,000 of medicine to survive every year, do what you need to do. I'm just pointing out that these people are projecting for a worst 1% scenario.

It doesn't have to collapse. All it takes is a tweak of the formulary. Currently, his drug would cost about $1k a month WITH Medicare Part D coverage. We cant rely on it staying that amount. Medicare Part D is great for the run of the mill drugs that have cheap reliable generics available, but for the more expensive biologics that do not have generics, it is a whole different ball game.

Clearly I'm preaching to the choir here, but everyone needs to have a brokerage account. Please manage your own finances.

Combine a combination of high yield dividend reinvestment stocks and ETFs and a smattering of high growth stocks.

Watch the markets and the world around you. Please be personally engaged every day in the process of building your wealth. If you are not in the game you'll never see opportunities that come your way.

These are examples and definitely not recommendations Canada Goose, orthofix, and Halyard all tripled during the past two years. They now probably have limited upside potential so don't invest in them now. They are just examples of opportunities if you are in the game. I've also lost money on Ablemarle and Frontier Communications.

Be a capitalist. The goal is to Sell/Rent out your wealth - and not be forced to sell your labor - especially your manual labor.

Good luck - you can do this!

Anonymous wrote:We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!

Great for you to have such options. Most people don’t — there’s a reason so many elderly are home watching TV all day and the one big trip is to see the grandkids once a year. It’s not that most don’t want to travel or have new hobbies (though some probably don’t), it’s just so far out of the budget that it’s not even a consideration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You have the benefit of lifelong fantastic healthcare coverage.

I'm not disagreeing, but everyone has access to Medicare. If people are projecting draconian Medicare cuts, exorbitant out of pocket expenses, etc. it's all in the same bucket as people who don't even project they will get a minimum (likely 2/3) of their social security benefits because they think the whole system will collapse.

If you think you need to accumulate $5 million in taxable accounts to live in retirement because the social safety net will entirely collapse and you'll need $50,000 of medicine to survive every year, do what you need to do. I'm just pointing out that these people are projecting for a worst 1% scenario.

Medicare is very different from the FED retirement heath plan. It pays far far less and the non-Fed retiree has to pay much more. My parents had the FED retire plan; my Il Laws had Medicare. The difference was immense.

We are both retired and have more money than we need for retirement (we are very blessed!) but one thing we have discovered is that we spend far more in retirement than when we were working. We are both healthy and in good shape and with a ton of leisure time available to us a lot of it is filled in with different sports and travel both domestic and international. We have the luxury of being able to do all of this but you really need to factor in what you would like your life to be like in retirement. Do you want to travel, do you want to escape the winters or awful summers, do you want to take up a new hobby? All of this costs money and is often not in one's current budget. Our travel expenses are probably 3-4 times what they use to be and our overall expenses are likely up 25% or so because when we were working we were not spending money!