Once you reach a couple of million, your number is just 2x whatever you have now. That never changes.

FrioAg 00 said:

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When I was 20 my number was $5m, and a paid for home.

By the time I was in my 30's my "number" had grown to $10m and a paid for home.


Today at 45 I'm beyond all the "numbers" but I still figure I've got 5-7 more years in me. The rationale has a few drivers:

1) I have certainly grown used to spending far in excess of "need" and I'm willing to work more to spend more. Mostly the growth has been in travel and experiences - where I'm also giving my people cool experiences they otherwise wouldn't get.

2) I have hit the place in my career where I freaking love my job. I'm good at it, and let's just say I get a lot of positive reinforcement daily because of it.

3) a future big draw is grandkid time, and my kids are still 5-10 year away from having kids. I do believe that will change a lot.

4) global economic uncertainty and cultural decline make me worry about my kids and grandkids future - so it's difficult to stop stockpiling resources for them. I'm past the point that it has any impact on my own standard of living, but how do I make my grandkids "cancel proof".

5) the current NIL landscape suggests a football national championship can just be bought for the right price. I'm preserving the right to just freaking buy one if we haven't broken through by the time I hit 75. I figure I'm going to need a minimum of $50m hard cash to get it done by 2055.

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The hero we need!

I don't have a number, and I believe it's not the greatest target to shoot at for retirement security. I'm a believer in a retirement income goal being the most important measure, To get there, first decide how much is the minimum you want to leave as inheritance or charitable gift when you (or you and a spouse) die. Set that aside, probably physically in a different account, and then anything left over at the "endpoint" from the below gets added to your bequest. Then, solve for what kind of retirement you want:

Let's use a round numbers example - say you want $100,000 pre-tax at today's value per year to live on (multiply as many times as you ingrates want). You may or may not have a paid off house, or a low-interest mortgage. Consider your income sources, which may look something like this:

- Social Security: $30,000 for you, $20,000 for your spouse
- Pension Income: $25,000 per year for one of you (the other had no pension)
- IRA of $1,000,000, for which a safe withdrawal rate is 4%, equals $40,000 per year income (fully-taxable).

That means you have $115k to live on the first year. Throw any remainder in an after-tax brokerage account each year and invest moderately aggressive.

Inflate this by whatever factor you want to use for inflation (3-4%???), and you might be fine with COLAs and maybe some continued IRA and after-tax brokerage portfolio outperformance (?), and you're likely gonna be OK through retirement. If you hit a rough spot, consider selling the house, or raiding the inheritance fund if you are gonna starve, or not get the latest Lamborghini you want. It's your money, after all.

The only guarantee I've made the future heirs is that they will not have to financially support us in our old age.