How much of your money do you actually keep?

[A790]

Wife and I subscribe to the DINK FIRE approach.

We invest approximately $4k/mo and maintain 12 months of living expenses @ no QOL reduction. 24 months if we cut out BS expenses.

I'm on pace to retire at 42.

[gqmw]

I'm curious what the different definitions of retirement is. How much are you expecting for expenses in retirement and will you still have cash flow?

[benyl]

The calculation my wife and I did was that at age 65, we need $3.5M in cashable equity to maintain our lifestyle for 30 years. Both of us have grand parents that lived well into their 90s, so the expectation is that we will too.

We are also expecting to burn that cash to nothing on the day we die and not leave anything for our kids except for property.

[max_boost]

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I'm curious what the different definitions of retirement is. How much are you expecting for expenses in retirement and will you still have cash flow?

I'll always work but it'll be leisure and enjoyment with money not being the main driver. I could be pouring coffee or selling cars, I dunno. I like to keep busy. Retirement means different things to different ppl. I'm more of the "semi-retirement" type. Find ppl to travel with on the cheap etc. You have a pretty good idea of what you like and don't like by the time you are into your late 30s. Open to settling down but probably not

[Sugarphreak]

...

[blownz]

Back when I still had a mortgage I was "keeping" around 40-45%. Now I am around 60%.

I personally have no idea what I want out of retirement other than I don't want to work full time until 65 which is why I save quite a bit now so I there will be choices. I still try to make sure I have fun along the way: decent cars, a few good family trips a year, eating out, etc. I am 42 so still have time to decide what I want/need.

I think Benyl's retirement number is close to mine. I figure I need about $8k/month after tax, which works out to about $120K a year, and using the 4% SWR rule that equals about $3M. That has been my very rough goal for the last ~5 years that I have really been focused on wealth accumulation. Things constantly change for the good and bad though so who knows what will happen.

Also, although my %'s above look good, if I back up a few years earlier when my wife was staying at home with two kids, my number was much closer to 0-10% for about 5 years. I have been playing catchup the last few years and am just now really starting to make some real progress which is nice to see.

[Manhattan]

I get that lifestyles and spending habits are personal and varies greatly but I'm curious to know what people are planning to spend/buy with $8K/month or even $6K at retirement age when there's no mortgage to pay and kids are on their own. Beyond the maybe unexpected health care costs in old age I think its common that people overestimate how much they'll need for retirement. Recently been considering the scenario that we "overshoot" our retirement targets and end up being needlessly frugal in the prime of our lives although I would say our spending habits are more or less set in stone at this point (way we were raised, habits, etc) and we are very content.

[Buster]

My parents spend 5 months of the year in Arizona, and then go on a 2-4 week vacation every fall. They golf and do what they want, and they spend something like $200k a year in retirement. Spending money is easy shit man.

[davidI]

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I get that lifestyles and spending habits are personal and varies greatly but I'm curious to know what people are planning to spend/buy with $8K/month or even $6K at retirement age when there's no mortgage to pay and kids are on their own. Beyond the maybe unexpected health care costs in old age I think its common that people overestimate how much they'll need for retirement. Recently been considering the scenario that we "overshoot" our retirement targets and end up being needlessly frugal in the prime of our lives although I would say our spending habits are more or less set in stone at this point (way we were raised, habits, etc) and we are very content.

I made a post about FIRE back in the day and was amazed at how much answers varied. Some people think they need $5-$10MM+ for a comfortable retirement. https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/403...ghlight=retire

Personnally, I think having time is far more important to happiness than having money. That said, I never want to feel like there is something I can't do for financial reasons, but that doesn't mean every flight needs to be business class, every hotel has to be 5-star, and every meal needs to be at a Michelin Star restaurant. If anything, I would hate my life if that's how I lived it.

Sometimes a bicycle ride to the nearest patio with 'real people' and fresh _____ on offer is just as, if not more, rewarding. I've never really understood people who wait their whole lives to do things in retirement rather than doing them while they're young and able, but as I've said before, to each their own.

[Misterman]

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I made a post about FIRE back in the day and was amazed at how much answers varied. Some people think they need $5-$10MM+ for a comfortable retirement. https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/403...ghlight=retire

Personnally, I think having time is far more important to happiness than having money. That said, I never want to feel like there is something I can't do for financial reasons, but that doesn't mean every flight needs to be business class, every hotel has to be 5-star, and every meal needs to be at a Michelin Star restaurant. If anything, I would hate my life if that's how I lived it.

Sometimes a bicycle ride to the nearest patio with 'real people' and fresh _____ on offer is just as, if not more, rewarding. I've never really understood people who wait their whole lives to do things in retirement rather than doing them while they're young and able, but as I've said before, to each their own.

Time is definitely important, but I think people that say that generally undervalue money. You can go be homeless tomorrow and have all the time in the world. Time is great, but it's nothing without some money to enjoy it. And spending your free time clipping coupons so you can afford groceries is no fun either.

Personally, I don't want a decrease in lifestyle when I am "retired". I say retired in quotations because of the general consensus that being retired means just sitting on a big enough pile of money to get by till you die. I don't have any savings goals for retirement personally. I want to have a residual income coming in of 200k/yr so I never have to work a traditional job again. That to me is retired. Between my different ventures I will still work in a sense, but it will be mainly from a computer for an hour or two a day and can be done from the beach or the lake somewhere that has wifi.

[ExtraSlow]

I like how many beyonders idea of a "reasonable retirement lifestyle" is more money per month than my family has ever spent even paying for a mortgage and supporting two kids. Nice work guys, keep the economy going.

If I subtract costs of kid and mortgage out of my current lifestyle, and add a small cushion, I feel like my wife and I could get by pretty nicely on less than $4k/mo. There's room in that for some travel and restaurants and stuff too.

[tirebob]

I feel like a broke ass compared to everyone here! Lol! I have raised a family of four on a single income making less then most of you save in a month and I think my life is pretty damn great! My ultimate goal isn't retirement though as much as working selectively. I think I would get bored as fuck without some fire under my ass pushing me to survive. The second it got too cushy I think I would lose it.

[blownz]

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I get that lifestyles and spending habits are personal and varies greatly but I'm curious to know what people are planning to spend/buy with $8K/month or even $6K at retirement age when there's no mortgage to pay and kids are on their own. Beyond the maybe unexpected health care costs in old age I think its common that people overestimate how much they'll need for retirement. Recently been considering the scenario that we "overshoot" our retirement targets and end up being needlessly frugal in the prime of our lives although I would say our spending habits are more or less set in stone at this point (way we were raised, habits, etc) and we are very content.

Just to let you know where my $8k/month comes from, it really isn't very detailed... right now if I try to take out the monthly cost of the kids, my wife and I spend a little under $5K per month on average. Now we have no car payments, so I need to add money for vehicle(s) and then there is no monthly budget for travel which I expect will increase in retirement given the spare time (and we spend during the year at least $1500-2000 per month on travel now - with kids though). So I am just adding about $3K/m for those to get to ~$8K/month. I personally think there is lots of excess in there and I definitely don't need that much, but I use that as my rough estimate at a goal so that I will hopefully have more than enough. When I get (much) closer to retirement I expect that I will have that number fine tuned but I am still only 42 and have kids so there is time.

I found my post from @davidI tread on FIRE and it is funny that two years ago I had similar post.

[davidI]

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Time is definitely important, but I think people that say that generally undervalue money.

Personally, I don't want a decrease in lifestyle when I am "retired".

I want to have a residual income coming in of 200k/yr so I never have to work a traditional job again.

What aspect of your lifestyle requires $200k/year?

[Buster]

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I like how many beyonders idea of a "reasonable retirement lifestyle" is more money per month than my family has ever spent even paying for a mortgage and supporting two kids. Nice work guys, keep the economy going.

If I subtract costs of kid and mortgage out of my current lifestyle, and add a small cushion, I feel like my wife and I could get by pretty nicely on less than $4k/mo. There's room in that for some travel and restaurants and stuff too.

I dont think there is any "reasonable" lifestyle spend. My point was in response to the poster above who said that retirement is less expensive, so people over-estimate what they need. This point never makes sense to me. Lots of things are worth spending money on.

[ExtraSlow]

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Lots of things are worth spending money on.

I agree with that, but also suspect that the things that are worth spending money on are the things people would be spending money on throughout their lives and not just in retirement.

[killramos]

I was having this discussion with my wife on the weekend when I got my car out, I spend a ridiculous amount of money on my cars. I fully accept that.

But they are also the things that easily make me the happiest, so it’s hard for me to justify spending less on them.

What’s the point of money if you don’t spend it on what makes you happy. People who make themselves miserable for the sake of frugality, that makes me sad.

[Xtrema]

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What’s the point of money if you don’t spend it on what makes you happy. People who make themselves miserable for the sake of frugality, that makes me sad.

Also money can't buy everything. Enjoy travel and food before you body gives out and make it tougher for you to enjoy those things.

Your life is going to be different level of shit in 70s and beyond anyway. Travel insurance start to get expensive or prohibitive. Save for retirement but don't ignore your bucket list.

[max_boost]

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What’s the point of money if you don’t spend it on what makes you happy.

Indeed. I love spending money on pleasure.

[davidI]

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I was having this discussion with my wife on the weekend when I got my car out, I spend a ridiculous amount of money on my cars. I fully accept that.

But they are also the things that easily make me the happiest, so it’s hard for me to justify spending less on them.

What’s the point of money if you don’t spend it on what makes you happy. People who make themselves miserable for the sake of frugality, that makes me sad.

To me it's all a calculation of the time spent working for the money (after taxes) vs. the happiness derived from that money.

It's an individual calculation for everyone. Then again, I may just be burny out as suggested by this quote: "Burnout occurs when the reward for whatever we do is not equal or more than the effort we have to put in."