My friends and I were discussing what the target should be before we chuck our jobs.

For now, I think $15M affords a good life to pay for healthcare, any debt, travel, housing etc.
Thoughts?

Congrats on 8 digits. But your question cannot be answered without knowing your consumption/lifestyle. I know broke high earners and wealthy low earners. More of the former. And the rarest of the rare, wealthy high earners.

At $15MM it should get easier to grow, at that point your money has enormous earning/compound potential.

8% of 15 million is 1.2 million. Can you live off 1.2 million a year realizing that medicare will cover most major medical costs and a supplemental insurance policy will cover most of the rest? My number is significantly lower than yours.

I've changed careers a few times and am now in salary maximizing mode (maybe should have done it before, but I was in "save the world" mode).

I've wrestled with this question a lot. For my family, I'm willing to love in our medium cost of living city in a sit urban house with 4-6 weeks of travel a year once we have an empty nest. In that case, I think that $5m is enough. At 4% that's $200k a year, which feels good.

However, I'd really like to land at $10m. Eliminates some of the tail risk and creates more freedom for better trips, and maybe even a chance to spend the extreme seasons in a different location.

If you want to do 6 months of travel and live in expensive places, $15m might not be enough.

And, if you live wisely and have a strong family and network, $1m + social security might be enough. Some people would love to live in the same house as their adult kids, and that would mean you'd need a lot less.

Edit: also staying healthy to address medical bills concerns. Health care industry seems to be on track to take all the money you have, so doing what you can to avoid preventable diseases definitely changes what your optimal number should be.

I make a decent living, but won't be able to sniff 15 million at a medium age

Howdy Dammit said:

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I make a decent living, but won't be able to sniff 15 million at a medium age

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Passive income. Look into it...

15 seems a little high unless you have very high living standards and want to continue to consume at a very high level throughout retirement.

I'm targeting 7-8 mil. Should provide plenty of income for a very comfortable lifestyle with plenty of cash for travel and hobbies. And is pretty easily attainable by a relatively young age. No point shooting for the lavish retirement life if you can't start enjoying until you're 75+ and no longer capable of doing half the things on your bucket list.

Bluecat_Aggie94 said:

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I am cruising toward about $4.5M and feel very comfortable with that.

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Do you mean that you currently have $4.5M or are you saying that you will have $4.5M when you are at retirement age?

riverrataggie said:

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If you are thinking 15M and have house debt you need to rethink things.

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I have a few mils right now and have no house debt. Home is paid off. No other debt. Kids will go to college in a few years but I plan on paying rather than take on debt.

Gilligan said:

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Howdy Dammit said:

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I make a decent living, but won't be able to sniff 15 million at a medium age

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Passive income. Look into it...

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Most diligent folks have a passive income. Still won't sniff 15M by 55

You can't really make any projections without an estimate of your annual expenses in retirement, what you will be invested in, and how long you need it to last.

infinity ag said:

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riverrataggie said:

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If you are thinking 15M and have house debt you need to rethink things.

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I have a few mils right now and have no house debt. Home is paid off. No other debt. Kids will go to college in a few years but I plan on paying rather than take on debt.

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Well unless you have a serious cocaine habit 15m is likely high. But you do you.

Didn't realize I never answered your question. Mine is 5M with house and college paid off. 7M without.

Hope to go into my retirement gig before 50. So kids won't be out of college but should have enough in their plans.

Acquaintance of mine told me there was no way he and his wife would retire with less than $100mil in the bank, plus $20mil to leave to each kid. They currently only have one kid so that's only $120mil I guess, but he was astounded that anyone would try to retire on less than that. I think he was serious, and given their current house, I gotta assume they're living like paupers or he's gonna die at his office.

I think that's about where I end up. That will allow me to travel a little and not starve. Maybe give a few gifts to the grandkids from time to time. What else do I need?

I go through that amount on a good weekend.

Escort services and blow ain't cheap.

You can probably get by with hookers and crack with that money.

I'm assuming your mortgage should be paid off by the time you retire at 65 years. Assuming you live another 30 years, how much money do you need per month?

30 years
x 12 months/year
x $5000/month
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$1,800,000

PlanoAg98 said:

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I'm assuming your mortgage should be paid off by the time you retire at 65 years. Assuming you live another 30 years, how much money do you need per month?

30 years
x 12 months/year
x $5000/month
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$1,800,000

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The $5,000 you spend in month 1 of a 30 year retirement is going to go a hell of a lot further than the $5,000 you spend in the final month 30 years later.

Quote:

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The $5,000 you spend in month 1 of a 30 year retirement is going to go a hell of a lot further than the $5,000 you spend in the final month 30 years later.

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Hopefully your retirement savings is in some type of conservative funds that will match the yearly cost of living increase.

That will allow you to (in theory obviously) live for 25 years on $600k a year, which is far, far higher than you will probably ever need. So yes, $15 million for the average person is more than enough. Even if you retire at 50 and average $250k a year in living expenses (still high), you'll have over $6 million left at age 85. And that's assuming the remainder of the $15 million isn't making gains or at least interest over that period of time (which it would be). More than enough.

My net worth at age 32 is a little over $1 million, and I'm shooting to retire from full time work with $10 million by age 50, and then just do stuff here and there to cover bills so I'm not dipping into retirement income. We'll see how that goes.

riverrataggie said:

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infinity ag said:

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riverrataggie said:

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If you are thinking 15M and have house debt you need to rethink things.

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I have a few mils right now and have no house debt. Home is paid off. No other debt. Kids will go to college in a few years but I plan on paying rather than take on debt.

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Well unless you have a serious cocaine habit 15m is likely high. But you do you.

Didn't realize I never answered your question. Mine is 5M with house and college paid off. 7M without.

Hope to go into my retirement gig before 50. So kids won't be out of college but should have enough in their plans.

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I am deathly scared of not having enough when I am old and cannot get back to work in a job that I would like to do. Ageism exists in the tech field.


As of now unless I have a rethink, my goal is $15M net worth (everything I control). I might be able to reach it if my investments go well. I figure I have 12 years more of working life. I can work more but I don't think I want to.
5M seems low to me and I feel I might be running out when I am really old. Maybe I am wrong, just a feeling. 10M seems comfortable and 15M seems like one is safe.

Scotts Tot said:

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I have a hard time understanding how people need so much money to live at a pretty high standard. I live in a decent house in a nice neighborhood in a large city with a wife and 2 kids, take nice trips, eat out, etc, and we spend about $120k/yr. I could easily envision spending $150k or more, but anything over $200k feels pretty splurgy.

Anyone who is unsure if they're able to retire with $15M is either trolling or has issues.

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I am looking for a goal to shoot for. $15M seems very safe to me. $10M seems just about right. $5M seems like I am on the edge. I am just curious if the 40+ folks here have a number in mind before they retire.

My friend just moved to Dallas and will retire there in 3 months. He is 57. I didn't ask but he seems comfortable. They just sold their $600k house in my sub-div. Kids settled, one in med school, other working.

Bluecat_Aggie94 said:

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I think that's about where I end up. That will allow me to travel a little and not starve. Maybe give a few gifts to the grandkids from time to time. What else do I need?

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I get the feeling you may be a bit short with $4.5M. Yes, I also want to buy stuff for the g-kids every now and then and enjoy life after decades of slaving.

Scotts Tot said:

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Anyone who is unsure if they're able to retire with $15M is either trolling or has issues.

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Most likely trolling.

In the OP, he starts with "My friends and I...",

and we all know he has none.

infinity ag said:

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Scotts Tot said:

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I have a hard time understanding how people need so much money to live at a pretty high standard. I live in a decent house in a nice neighborhood in a large city with a wife and 2 kids, take nice trips, eat out, etc, and we spend about $120k/yr. I could easily envision spending $150k or more, but anything over $200k feels pretty splurgy.

Anyone who is unsure if they're able to retire with $15M is either trolling or has issues.

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I am looking for a goal to shoot for. $15M seems very safe to me. $10M seems just about right. $5M seems like I am on the edge. I am just curious if the 40+ folks here have a number in mind before they retire.

My friend just moved to Dallas and will retire there in 3 months. He is 57. I didn't ask but he seems comfortable. They just sold their $600k house in my sub-div. Kids settled, one in med school, other working.

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I see our difference. I'm moving away from Dallas to retire. Not moving to it