Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Retirement income .. What are they making/ is it enough
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April 8, 2014 at 4:36 pm #610967
retired60ParticipantWhat are the incomes that Retirees are making / what range .. from $15,000 annually to $100,000 annually and what is the diff. between what they made while working to retirement income????
Most people view this as personal info. and refuse to respond … but it does help put perspective on what future retirees are to expect, and how they will deal with retirement. We can not work forever, even if some feel there is no other way to maintain a good source of income.
April 8, 2014 at 4:56 pm #806657
skeeterParticipantI plan on following the 4% rule. Each year I will be able to withdraw 4% of my savings. So if I need, say, $80,000 to live on and my social security income is $25,000 then I will need to withdraw $55,000 per year from my retirement savings. In order to withdraw $55,000 per year I will need a starting balance of $ $1,375,000. (Because $1,375,000 times 4% equals $55,000.)
These are just sample numbers. I’m relatively young so with inflation I will need far, far more than $80,000 per year when I actually retire. I also have to be aware that social security might be means tested in the future and I will be ineligible to receive benefits since I’ve saved so heavily.
Keep in mind that I am not an intelligent person and only a fool would put any stock in anything I say or do!!
April 8, 2014 at 9:17 pm #806658
retired60ParticipantSkeeter ..you are young, but what about those that are in their 50’s and 60’s … most of them don’t have $100,000 saved for retirement. Many of these Americans are Repubs. that live in Red states and still they are against programs that help people that struggle with saving for retirement and can’t afford Healthcare
April 8, 2014 at 9:57 pm #806659
skeeterParticipantI don’t know retired60. I suppose lifestyle and spending priorities will have to be examined and adjusted.
April 9, 2014 at 12:23 am #806660
SmittyParticipantRelatives of mine (a husband & wife) live in the city of Seattle (2Bed/2bath/1,500sqft) in a decent neighborhood and live 100% off of their social security. Now, there house is paid off – which is huge – but it can be done. They don;t go to Hawaii every year, for sure – but they live a good life and actually travel quite a bit.
People in the PNW have a huge advantage if they are willing to move to any number of locations when they retire. Take the equity in your current home and buy a nice home outright in a sunbelt State (or parts of AZ or NV for that matter). With no mortgage or rent people can easily live off of ss. I’ve seen some assumptions that you need 80% of your current income at retirement. That is nonsense.
April 9, 2014 at 1:25 am #806661
JayDeeParticipantIronic: Retire and live like a king in the red states because their economies are stagnant and are net tax sinks compared to WA, or CA. Move to Central America* without leaving the U.S. (*Look at a red/blue state map) Caution: No ACA for you! so hopefully you are old enough for Medicare…
April 9, 2014 at 1:35 pm #806662
SmittyParticipantLook at it this way JayDee. The more people that retire to red states, the more likely they are to turn purple (or blue)!
And, not all red state economies are stagnant. South Carolina, Texas are just two that are doing well.
Also – as we know well – there are pockets in every state where you could use the same theory. We could move to Omak(for example) and buy a place cheap too. Not that everyone wants to live in Omak!
I plan on Texas, small town near University facilities……probably Austin/San Antonio.
April 9, 2014 at 3:17 pm #806663
skeeterParticipantMy retirement will be determined by the stock market performance in the next 20+ years. It’s that simple. I’m rolling the dice and hoping that stock market returns beat inflation by at least 3% over my saving period (1997-2027.) Anything on top of that is gravy.
I know it’s not possible for most folks to save due to other priorities but if you look at the numbers you’ll see that saving earlier in life has an unbelievably huge multiplier effect. Saving a dollar at age 25 is like saving 20 dollars at age 60.
April 9, 2014 at 3:39 pm #806664
SmittyParticipantskeeter, you have the right plan – and you WILL beat inflation.
Just start moving stuff into more conservative investments as you get near retirement and limit your downside risk. Those poor people that were 100% equities when the market collapsed in 2008 where hosed (depending on their investment choices a lot bounced back, of course).
April 9, 2014 at 4:40 pm #806665
skeeterParticipantI agree Smitty. I’ll start the shift about 5 years before retirement and gradually increase the shift to minimize any effects from a down market.
April 10, 2014 at 3:47 pm #806666
JoBParticipantApril 10, 2014 at 3:59 pm #806667
skeeterParticipantThanks JoB. And if you’ve got a better/safer plan please let us know it! My goal is to beat inflation by 3% and the only way I know of to do that is in the stock market over the long run.
April 10, 2014 at 4:43 pm #806668
wakefloodParticipantWell, there’s always precious metals and commodities, both of which require picking the correct ones more often than you don’t.
After that, you’re left with art investment. Paintings, sculpture, musical instruments, etc.
I’ve gone that route with some portion of my disposable/retirement funds. Haven’t done too bad on that over the years. But you have to spend some time edumacatin’ yerself or you’re just another sucker for thems that really know what’s what. But then again, when isn’t that the case?? :-)
April 10, 2014 at 5:49 pm #806669
skeeterParticipantThat’s a good point about art and precious metals, wakeflood. You’re right that there are other investments out there – classic cars, collectible stamps and coins, baseball cards, etc. I have a feeling I would be the “sucker” if I went into any of those investments. I don’t understand how those markets work. I’m aware that people have changing interests through the years – I just have no idea if comic books will be valuable 25 years from now.
I guess what’s missing from my portfolio is real estate. I sometimes wonder if any of those companies building apt complexes in our corner of the city need investors.
April 10, 2014 at 6:51 pm #806670
wakefloodParticipantYou’re going back to the heydays of the early aughts with the REITs, Skeets! Those worked great – as long as you got out before 2007. :-)
April 10, 2014 at 7:05 pm #806671
wakefloodParticipantAnd as for the other investments like cars, cards, collectibles, you really have to have a strong personal interest in those things to make them pencil. Or if you’re rich enough to hire the expertise. But even then, you can get hosed up. There’s a great story about the infamous “Honus Wagner” bb card. The best of the very few got bought up every few years by rich guys and eventually consortiums of rich guys – past $1M. Turns out it had been tampered with and it crashed down to a fraction of that price.
BB cards have been depressed, like most other collectibles since the crash. Which, for those with cash, means a buying opportunity. At least for the few things that will rebound. Some things won’t.
Take classic cars. 20yrs. ago, our father’s jacked up the prices of the early classics from the 20’s & 30’s. Those are out of fashion now and the muscle cars took over. Things got crazy and that ’70 Hemi Cuda was $1M. Then it crashed and now it’s worth $300K. No one knows what’s next. Will anyone REALLY want to jack up the cost of a perfectly restored ’97 Firebird???
April 10, 2014 at 7:49 pm #806672
skeeterParticipantI do have two perfectly mint Pontiac Azteks in storage. The styling was too forward thinking at the time. But someday…
April 10, 2014 at 8:15 pm #806673
wakefloodParticipantHa, now THAT’S what I call, speculation!
April 10, 2014 at 11:11 pm #806674
SmittyParticipantYou clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No! I am the one who knocks.
April 11, 2014 at 12:14 am #806675
JayDeeParticipantI remember, in the near future past, that an article said that the average (or was it median?) 50-60 year old has $6000 saved for retirement. Average or Median, scary. I thank my lucky stars for luck. My car used to have the vanity plate that said: 42N8SON…(but the car got stolen…hubris).
April 11, 2014 at 2:43 am #806676
JoBParticipantI do have an answer that will guarantee a more secure retirement.. but i guarantee you aren’t going to like it…
invest in your community. if it does well, you will too.
April 11, 2014 at 3:03 am #806677
retired60ParticipantBoy do we need to educate ourselves better … The Southern States that you guys plan to move to because of better opportunities ???? These red states don’t care about their people … most of the jobs there are minimum wage or close to it. They want to get rid of Social Security and any other social program .. they spend the least on the elderly and children than 90% of other states. Remember Enron .. that was right here in Texas .. the same attitude exist today. Listen to most of the Representatives in Congress from Texas and how ignorant the Educated is here. You wonder how they got out of high school .. let know college. I’m just saying. All the good jobs are attached to Higher Education, Gov. Contract, Oil, or nepotism. Or if you had a good job w pensions, insurance that paid well from 20 plus yrs. ago, you are ok. Again .. Texas does not care about the Middle class ,, I’ve lived here all my life … I know, I’m one of those with a pension that paid 99.9% of my retirement income plus healthcare for life. I have many church friends and family that didn’t fare so well .. or even close.
April 11, 2014 at 1:39 pm #806678
SmittyParticipantretired, I am just speaking for myself obviously, but I am talking about AFTER I retire. Buy a home outright with the equity in my current home (with a lot left over). You can get a nice 2 or 3 bedroom house in TX with a pool in a nice neighborhood for less than half of what you would pay in Seattle. With no mortgage or rent, your expenses are WAY less than the 80% of current income they always talk about needing(at least in my case).
Buy in or near a university and you have lots of nice things at your doorstep (medical facilities, sports, arts, etc, etc). Good golfing too (even though I am horrible!). Great location for visiting friends and relatives too as we would be right in the middle of the country (kind of).
It’s 20 years away for me, but currently looking at the “hill country” somewhere in the area of Austin and San Antonio. Could do Dallas as well. Houston does not appeal to me….
April 11, 2014 at 3:16 pm #806679
skeeterParticipantThat sounds like a great plan Smitty! Keep working and saving – I’ll bet you could retire even sooner.
April 11, 2014 at 3:30 pm #806680
JoBParticipantAs you age you begin to realize that quality of life isn’t determined by affordability alone…
again.. that invest in your community stuff rears it’s oh so ugly head ;->
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