This is a thread going on over at bogleheads. The answer in the first post--$10M. Ten. Million.
I think we could ALL retire together somewhere with that much.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=97673&newpost=1411482
Early Retirement Extreme Forums » Money Questions
What's your Number?
(20 posts)-
Posted 11 months ago #
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Just shows the insanity around personal finance in America. No wonder people work until they drop dead.
Posted 11 months ago # -
:-)
At 3-4% withdraw rate, that's $250-300k AFTER TAXES. Or, spending about $750 per DAY, which is more than my MONTHLY spending would be if I lived in a small paid off home.
I'd guess that the poster is making over half a million per year now and that he wants the same income after retirement.
Posted 11 months ago # -
haha some of the comments on that thread are so funny; like this one:
''For a couple age 50 this year, yes, $10M sounds high.
But you have 15 years of health insurance and related expenses to cover, so allow $1M for that.
Say two teens at home, so another $1M to get them through college.
A million here, a million there, it adds up...''I mean seriously...??
Posted 11 months ago # -
well it does sound high...
until you add in inflation?????
If inflation is bad enough to make this the case, I'll go without money thank you very much.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Kinda want to go in there and post my ".25 million" and see how many people think I meant "25 million".
Posted 11 months ago # -
Hmmm, I see opportunity. Since few people will acquire 1 million (absent hyperinflation) I see a huge market for cubicles that collapse into coffins for the safe, easy and sanitary disposal of expired employees. Maybe 10 million is possible after all :)
Posted 11 months ago # -
The back of your head is redicalus.
Posted 11 months ago # -
There seems to be an uneasy tension between certain posters on bogleheads and ERE (or just me, maybe for offending their core beliefs).
They say ERE is irresponsible advocating not saving those huge amounts and retiring early thus missing the opportunity to work and save more, namely, millions. Also, some say I apparently don't understand the most popular finance theories of academia in the 1970s (index investing).
I say they don't know how to budget nor do they know very much about being frugal. It seems that the faith in diversification does not extend to having more than a single income source and relying on a single method (money) to pay for all one's needs. I'm sure there are exceptions.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I read that inflation in venezuela is over 20%. perhaps they are projecting for retirement there? :-)
Posted 11 months ago # -
@jacob -- this would seem to relate to your other thread about advice. They focus on general advice without defining goals. And then mistake dollar figures for freedom.
Posted 11 months ago # -
jacob
CLEARLY you do not understand retirement! (once again I see your frustration.... fortifying my ignorance in my proposed promotion of you last year as some talking head on TV etc.)Some people just don't want to admit the truth and quietly implore to be controlled.
My advice
Turn off your inbox and crank out a blog post occasionally about your retirement (read freedom)
Posted 11 months ago # -
The vitriol in those threads would be amazing if I weren't already so familiar with these types of people (read: most people).
Not only Jacob, but everyone here on the ERE forum gets pulled into their jealous rage. Apparently we're all young and foolish sheep being led to slaughter by Jacob's perilous propaganda of simple mathematics and historical trends.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I'm not really convinced that hitting a magic "number" in a brokerage account has any meaningful significance for making a determination when to retire.
I believe this was mentioned in prior posts, but all that really should matter is how much passive income can be generated. It is also important to be confident that the amount of passive income will keep pace with inflation. Additionally, a buffer should be built in for "black swan" events, such as market down-turns, dividend cuts, unexpected expenses, problems with renters, etc.
For my personal situation, I would be more than happy to live on 2000 dollars per month of after-tax passive income (in 2012 dollars). I will probably continue to work until I have enough investments and rental properties to generate passive income of 2500 or 3000 per month (again, CPI adjusted to what a dollar is worth today in 2012.)
Since I am still really young, I think it would be a worth-while trade-off to work an additional couple of years to permanently increase my standard of living by 25% or 50% for the rest of my life. After my portfolio of dividend stocks and real estate rentals reaches a critical mass, if I continue to work for a couple of years, the savings will be compounding with great effect :)
Posted 11 months ago # -
My number would be $5000 a month income from my rental houses (in today's dollars). I don't see any need for more than this. A paid off property that can neutralize the effects of inflation is the way to build long term wealth.
My current strategy is to flip a house when I can find a 20-25% return on the flip (typically $15-20K) then dump these funds into cash cows (rentals that produce close to a 25% ROI per year.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Jacob, I hadn't seen some of those threads. I only remembered the one from the night you pulled the plug in December. One comment jumped out at me:
>>So, one more time, it is not about Jacob, but about the danger of the influence of his message on uninformed young people.
Wow.
The bogleheads community is just like Stepford. I actually know 3 people on the board who post regularly (they don't know that I know--they gave themselves away once assuming I was just a dumb wife and didn't know what they were talking about). One guy is the guy I mentioned who built a $50K pool house. Think about living in a bogleheads city--that's what it's like living in Stepford.
People really think I'm *harming* my kids by not giving them the best of everything. (as they define it) I get called "low rent" because even though I have the money to buy [insert status symbol here] I don't have the sense to do so. They try and explain the value of spending money on such things so people will get the "right impression." I get "Why would you want to look poor?" To be clear, I don't look poor, I just don't look rich--there's a difference. And the truly rich often look poor, it's only the wannabes in Stepford that try so hard to look rich.
I'm not trying to fuel the us v. them thing. I really am trying to be less judgemental. But if they're going to pile on judgements, right back at ya...
Posted 11 months ago # -
@ JennyPenny - That really irritated me too. I think its just the usual story of how someone having the courage to live differently from the mainstream is always viewed as a sort of threat to society.
Still, we'll all have the last laugh :)
Posted 11 months ago # -
My number is about $2.5k per month. But this thread doesn't seem to be about anyone's number.
What's the primary gain here? Confirm ERE'ers conceit and build group solidarity by uniting against a perceived threat? It's working! I hate bogleheads! Lawlz thier so stupd!!!1! We are teh smartist!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Once again dragoncar you have created anarchy in our ranks through your spellin
Posted 11 months ago # -
If I could, I would 'like' dragoncar's post. Ma croissant!
Posted 11 months ago #
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