Anonymous
10/13/2025 08:36
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We are aiming for $20k/month or $240k/year. So, $8M at the 3% rule. We could definitely be happy with less but that's the goal.
We are planning to own one home (roughly $1.5m value in today's money) travel extensively and spend a lot of time with kids and grandchildren. No country clubs or second homes, aren't into designer products. Nice cars replaced every 7-8 years but not range rovers or anything.
We’ve been retired for ten years (wife was always a SAHM) and this is exactly what we live on. Our net worth is closer to $9M (before today’s crash ha ha) and has doubled since we retired (early, when I was 53).
Remember that you’ll be getting social security so you’re not going to need $8M necessarily to hit your number. We elected to take SS early and collect a combined 45k a year. We also have a basement rental in our DC home that brings in another 30k. So we’ve been able to live on $240k a year while our net worth continues to grow.
We have found it very easy and comfortable on this amount. We have a nice home in the city and a large second home maybe 90 minutes away. We have house cleaners and yard help, we travel abroad frequently, spoil the kids and grandkids, eat out whenever and whatever (always footing the bill), and basically don’t want for anything or really even have to think about money. It’s amazing how much more money you have when you’re no longer saving for retirement or spending on kids.
I wouldn’t say we live extravagantly, of course—we certainly don’t spend foolishly—but living on what we have has proven over ten years to be very easy. Maybe it helps that we were never the country club type when we were making money. You don’t miss what you never had—or wanted.
We don't count on SS (Different pOster). We will get ~$4-6K/month when we are 67 ( in 10-11 years, one of us has been SAHP for 25+ years) That hardly puts a dent into what we need/want monthly (~$40-45K) It will be nice if we get it, but we are assuming it might be diminished in the next 10 years
Then start taking it early.
I think it’s funny that you think you need that much money in retirement.
Anonymous
10/13/2025 08:16
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
We plan to go back and live in our home country. My DH will inherit a family home as he s the only child. So we will sell our primary residence here..therefore include it in our net worth. We d like to travel a lot. I think 200k a year we will live like a king. But I plan for 300k a year. We are at 5mil now. We r 45 and 48. Our social security maybe 60k yearly but we don’t count on it.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 23:26
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Single so no more than $80K a year in today's dollars with hopefully two fully owned houses.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 19:09
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
I retired after a layoff at the beginning of the year and so far am on track for about $65K per year. I’m single with a young adult DC whom I no longer need to support. House will be paid off in a few months.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 18:35
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We are aiming for $20k/month or $240k/year. So, $8M at the 3% rule. We could definitely be happy with less but that's the goal.
We are planning to own one home (roughly $1.5m value in today's money) travel extensively and spend a lot of time with kids and grandchildren. No country clubs or second homes, aren't into designer products. Nice cars replaced every 7-8 years but not range rovers or anything.
We’ve been retired for ten years (wife was always a SAHM) and this is exactly what we live on. Our net worth is closer to $9M (before today’s crash ha ha) and has doubled since we retired (early, when I was 53).
Remember that you’ll be getting social security so you’re not going to need $8M necessarily to hit your number. We elected to take SS early and collect a combined 45k a year. We also have a basement rental in our DC home that brings in another 30k. So we’ve been able to live on $240k a year while our net worth continues to grow.
We have found it very easy and comfortable on this amount. We have a nice home in the city and a large second home maybe 90 minutes away. We have house cleaners and yard help, we travel abroad frequently, spoil the kids and grandkids, eat out whenever and whatever (always footing the bill), and basically don’t want for anything or really even have to think about money. It’s amazing how much more money you have when you’re no longer saving for retirement or spending on kids.
I wouldn’t say we live extravagantly, of course—we certainly don’t spend foolishly—but living on what we have has proven over ten years to be very easy. Maybe it helps that we were never the country club type when we were making money. You don’t miss what you never had—or wanted.
What do you estimate is your monthly spend on two paid-for homes? Ie: what do you spend on insurance/taxes, cleaners, yardwork and general upkeep?
DP: that will vary so much. For us in a HCOLA, we have a condo in an expensive city and a house nearby. Both paid off, taxes and maintenance (including HOA fees at the condo) will run us $60K+ per year (and both places were recently gutted/renovated so maintenance is minimal). But for many people that would be 50-75% of their total expenses for a year
Anonymous
10/12/2025 18:33
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We need at least $400k to cover costs which include membership at two clubs with hefty annual dues and minimum spend, property taxes, house upkeep, and elder care assistance for once set of parents, so that works out to roughly $10m in investible assets. It's nuts. If I were single, I could live on significantly less.
Mine is similar to this PP. If with DH, probably $350k-400k a year. Without him, $150k a year
I just went through figuring out the budget and our spend will be $300 a year plus taxes. We just had a cash flow analysis done and I am feeling better about it, but one interesting part of the analysis was showing maximum spend, which would be $500K a year in today's dollars. That means if I start spending that amount now and continue that every year (with added inflation), we will run out of money by the end of life. If we stay on course at our planned spending, we will die with almost double what we have in assets now.
yes, for most people if you are spending 500k/year, they will run out of money before they die. I mean that's no rocket science, right?
You simply need to calculate what you have and find a way to live on what is available. For us, we can take $500K/year after taxes and probably only touch a little portion of our principle. For others they better not live past 80.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 18:31
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our goal is 360k/yr after taxes in today's dollars because that covers assisted living for two people. We probably won't get there, and that is ok because most people do not need assisted living for all 30 years of a retirement.
People usually only need it for a couple of years
Well people tend to live longer. I have 5+ elderly relatives who have been in Assisted/memory care/nursign care for over 2 years. One was in memory care for 7+ years, caught the flu and it them in. But otherwise had been looking at easily another 2-5 years. Another has been in nursing care for 3+ years now, still going strong relatively speaking. It's not that far fetched to need advanced care for more than a few years.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 18:28
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We are aiming for $20k/month or $240k/year. So, $8M at the 3% rule. We could definitely be happy with less but that's the goal.
We are planning to own one home (roughly $1.5m value in today's money) travel extensively and spend a lot of time with kids and grandchildren. No country clubs or second homes, aren't into designer products. Nice cars replaced every 7-8 years but not range rovers or anything.
We’ve been retired for ten years (wife was always a SAHM) and this is exactly what we live on. Our net worth is closer to $9M (before today’s crash ha ha) and has doubled since we retired (early, when I was 53).
Remember that you’ll be getting social security so you’re not going to need $8M necessarily to hit your number. We elected to take SS early and collect a combined 45k a year. We also have a basement rental in our DC home that brings in another 30k. So we’ve been able to live on $240k a year while our net worth continues to grow.
We have found it very easy and comfortable on this amount. We have a nice home in the city and a large second home maybe 90 minutes away. We have house cleaners and yard help, we travel abroad frequently, spoil the kids and grandkids, eat out whenever and whatever (always footing the bill), and basically don’t want for anything or really even have to think about money. It’s amazing how much more money you have when you’re no longer saving for retirement or spending on kids.
I wouldn’t say we live extravagantly, of course—we certainly don’t spend foolishly—but living on what we have has proven over ten years to be very easy. Maybe it helps that we were never the country club type when we were making money. You don’t miss what you never had—or wanted.
We don't count on SS (Different pOster). We will get ~$4-6K/month when we are 67 ( in 10-11 years, one of us has been SAHP for 25+ years) That hardly puts a dent into what we need/want monthly (~$40-45K) It will be nice if we get it, but we are assuming it might be diminished in the next 10 years
Anonymous
10/12/2025 17:00
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Retired (early) at the end of ‘24 so I look at the numbers frequently to see if our expenses are where I thought they would be at…
Last year with both of us working, our income was around $520k. That put our top marginal rate at 32% and an average effective tax rate at 26%.
I expected us to spend about $16k per month ($192k/ yr) in retirement pre-tax. So far that has tracked pretty closely. That includes $36k/ yr mortgage that will be paid off within a year, about $30k/ yr in travel and $4k/ yr for retiree healthcare premiums. Property taxes are $13k and another $2k for our cars.
From what I have seen, our expenses have not changed much from our working years, but they have shifted. We do spend less on lunches at work and dry cleaning but spend more on golf and other recreation activities.
Knowing your expense numbers and where future income will come and when is key. I used a couple of different planning tools to help validate.
Also, tax planning is pretty critical. Post work, there are opportunities to pull some levers to do 401k conversions when your marginal rate drops.
Last year with both of us working, our income was around $520k. That put our top marginal rate at 32% and an average effective tax rate at 26%.
I expected us to spend about $16k per month ($192k/ yr) in retirement pre-tax. So far that has tracked pretty closely. That includes $36k/ yr mortgage that will be paid off within a year, about $30k/ yr in travel and $4k/ yr for retiree healthcare premiums. Property taxes are $13k and another $2k for our cars.
From what I have seen, our expenses have not changed much from our working years, but they have shifted. We do spend less on lunches at work and dry cleaning but spend more on golf and other recreation activities.
Knowing your expense numbers and where future income will come and when is key. I used a couple of different planning tools to help validate.
Also, tax planning is pretty critical. Post work, there are opportunities to pull some levers to do 401k conversions when your marginal rate drops.
Anonymous
10/12/2025 16:16
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
We have a 7 year age difference and Dh is aiming for $300k retirement while I continue to work for another 5 years or so. I bring in $250-300k a year so we’ll be below our typical HHI but it should be more than enough (one paid off house, one CC membership). I’ll retire sooner if I can figure out health insurance that doesn’t eat away at too much of our savings. We plan to stay in the DC area. Kids can sell our house if we need LTC. It’s worth $2.5 million now so should cover those costs.
Anonymous
10/11/2025 11:49
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We ran calculations using 150k/year factoring in inflation and taxes. It will be more than we need and using the 4% rule as a guide, we’ll never run out of money.
$75k per person is pretty darn cheap!
dp col doesn't run like that. It's not 50/50 per person. You have shared costs.
Our current monthly expenses is about $12K per month (including some travel), and that's with one child in college and one senior in HS at home. Once our youngest goes off to college, I'm going to retire. Our monthly budget won't change much because while we will stop contributing to the 529 ($13K per year), we will need ACA insurance which is going to be more like $20K for 4 of us.
We plan on pulling out $120K from our retirement accounts, and $50K from our cash account, and increase it by 3% every year. We can do this for 10 years. But, my spouse can start getting medicare in 3 years, and also start collecting social security and a small pension after 5 years.
Anonymous
10/11/2025 11:27
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We need at least $400k to cover costs which include membership at two clubs with hefty annual dues and minimum spend, property taxes, house upkeep, and elder care assistance for once set of parents, so that works out to roughly $10m in investible assets. It's nuts. If I were single, I could live on significantly less.
Mine is similar to this PP. If with DH, probably $350k-400k a year. Without him, $150k a year
I just went through figuring out the budget and our spend will be $300 a year plus taxes. We just had a cash flow analysis done and I am feeling better about it, but one interesting part of the analysis was showing maximum spend, which would be $500K a year in today's dollars. That means if I start spending that amount now and continue that every year (with added inflation), we will run out of money by the end of life. If we stay on course at our planned spending, we will die with almost double what we have in assets now.
yes, for most people if you are spending 500k/year, they will run out of money before they die. I mean that's no rocket science, right?
PP here. The $500K spend would mean I wouldn't run out of money UNTIL end of life, not before end of life. It's just reassurance that my budget of $300K is sound and we can feel confident about it.
How much money do you have now?
About 15M in investments and getting about $90K a year between the two of us in SS.
Anonymous
10/11/2025 11:00
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We are aiming for $20k/month or $240k/year. So, $8M at the 3% rule. We could definitely be happy with less but that's the goal.
We are planning to own one home (roughly $1.5m value in today's money) travel extensively and spend a lot of time with kids and grandchildren. No country clubs or second homes, aren't into designer products. Nice cars replaced every 7-8 years but not range rovers or anything.
We’ve been retired for ten years (wife was always a SAHM) and this is exactly what we live on. Our net worth is closer to $9M (before today’s crash ha ha) and has doubled since we retired (early, when I was 53).
Remember that you’ll be getting social security so you’re not going to need $8M necessarily to hit your number. We elected to take SS early and collect a combined 45k a year. We also have a basement rental in our DC home that brings in another 30k. So we’ve been able to live on $240k a year while our net worth continues to grow.
We have found it very easy and comfortable on this amount. We have a nice home in the city and a large second home maybe 90 minutes away. We have house cleaners and yard help, we travel abroad frequently, spoil the kids and grandkids, eat out whenever and whatever (always footing the bill), and basically don’t want for anything or really even have to think about money. It’s amazing how much more money you have when you’re no longer saving for retirement or spending on kids.
I wouldn’t say we live extravagantly, of course—we certainly don’t spend foolishly—but living on what we have has proven over ten years to be very easy. Maybe it helps that we were never the country club type when we were making money. You don’t miss what you never had—or wanted.
What do you estimate is your monthly spend on two paid-for homes? Ie: what do you spend on insurance/taxes, cleaners, yardwork and general upkeep?
In calendar year 2024 we spent 45k for maintenance, taxes and insurance for the two houses. This year it’s trending to be lower, somewhere in the mid 30s. So maybe 15 to 20 percent of total spend. Our second home is large and on 7 acres with a pool so that requires some upkeep.
Anonymous
10/11/2025 10:46
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We are aiming for $20k/month or $240k/year. So, $8M at the 3% rule. We could definitely be happy with less but that's the goal.
We are planning to own one home (roughly $1.5m value in today's money) travel extensively and spend a lot of time with kids and grandchildren. No country clubs or second homes, aren't into designer products. Nice cars replaced every 7-8 years but not range rovers or anything.
We’ve been retired for ten years (wife was always a SAHM) and this is exactly what we live on. Our net worth is closer to $9M (before today’s crash ha ha) and has doubled since we retired (early, when I was 53).
Remember that you’ll be getting social security so you’re not going to need $8M necessarily to hit your number. We elected to take SS early and collect a combined 45k a year. We also have a basement rental in our DC home that brings in another 30k. So we’ve been able to live on $240k a year while our net worth continues to grow.
We have found it very easy and comfortable on this amount. We have a nice home in the city and a large second home maybe 90 minutes away. We have house cleaners and yard help, we travel abroad frequently, spoil the kids and grandkids, eat out whenever and whatever (always footing the bill), and basically don’t want for anything or really even have to think about money. It’s amazing how much more money you have when you’re no longer saving for retirement or spending on kids.
I wouldn’t say we live extravagantly, of course—we certainly don’t spend foolishly—but living on what we have has proven over ten years to be very easy. Maybe it helps that we were never the country club type when we were making money. You don’t miss what you never had—or wanted.
We are planning on $250k/year in today’s money. That should allow for maintaining two (c. $1 million) homes, frequent travel (flying business, but otherwise comfortable rather than luxurious), and some treats for kids. We have cleaning, pool service, lawn service, but otherwise drive crappy old cars, don’t eat out at super high end places etc.
Most of the $200k will be covered by pension, so we only have about $2million in investments. If we need long term care we will sell one (perhaps eventually both) of the houses. We live in NW Dc, second home also 90 minutes away.
I’m the poster you’re responding to. We don’t fly business but get upgraded frequently because of frequent flier status. We wouldn’t be comfortable paying for business and don’t think it’s worth it. It’s good enough to sit near the front in economy plus.
Anonymous
10/11/2025 10:23
Subject: How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?
I’ll be dead so it’s about providing for my wife. With just her my savings will outlive her. We’re in our early fifties and our home has been paid off for a while. All of our children will be grown and flown in a couple of years. Every year I can still work pads her retirement.