Max, earmuffs

ORAggieFan said:

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Pretty much all stocks and in my 40s. But, there is no way I'll be happy with 3-4% returns. That is many years of less retirement.

Once you have enough, get a great financial advisor and let them be smart with it.

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I met with a manager at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Maryland last friday.

still not sure it's worth turning over 10% of my AUM over a decade just so they can put me into 7% private realty funds.

that's over $110,000 of the portfolio over a decade.

are they going to outperform what I have done on my own up to this point by $110,000 over a decade?

HECUBUS said:

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2025

Date, not a number. Passed the number, just waiting to get the last kid through High school. That date might move. I like my work, but feel we should travel before we're too old. How much money do you want to leave your kids in a world where starter homes are seven figures?

Salaries are 4X what they were in 1991, homes 10x.

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I don't have kids so my goal is to pass with nearly 0 in the bank...

LMCane said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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Pretty much all stocks and in my 40s. But, there is no way I'll be happy with 3-4% returns. That is many years of less retirement.

Once you have enough, get a great financial advisor and let them be smart with it.

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I met with a manager at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Maryland last friday.

still not sure it's worth turning over 10% of my AUM over a decade just so they can put me into 7% private realty funds.

that's over $110,000 of the portfolio over a decade.

are they going to outperform what I have done on my own up to this point by $110,000 over a decade?

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This resonates with me. I can't figure out why I would move money to a wealth management firm. I've ask firms their philosophy on moving from from growth equities to other forms of revenue as we age, and I've yet to receive a strong answer.

7% REIT and then what is their cost to manage? 1%? So, it's not 7%. It's 15% (estimated) less than that and that doesn't include other fees from the fund.

BoDog said:

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Im 47 and retired back in January. I am living off a decent chunk of change at 5% interest plus incoming producing commercial real estate. Just holding on a few more years to graduate my kids from private school then its smooth sailing. Their tuition along with BS health insurance is what kills me every month.

My smartest play was putting $250k in bitcoin when it was at $16k. I will cash out when it gets to $76k. I expect that to happen by mid October.

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Hell ya brother. Love to hear that!

GenericAggie said:

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LMCane said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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Pretty much all stocks and in my 40s. But, there is no way I'll be happy with 3-4% returns. That is many years of less retirement.

Once you have enough, get a great financial advisor and let them be smart with it.

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I met with a manager at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Maryland last friday.

still not sure it's worth turning over 10% of my AUM over a decade just so they can put me into 7% private realty funds.

that's over $110,000 of the portfolio over a decade.

are they going to outperform what I have done on my own up to this point by $110,000 over a decade?

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This resonates with me. I can't figure out why I would move money to a wealth management firm. I've ask firms their philosophy on moving from from growth equities to other forms of revenue as we age, and I've yet to receive a strong answer.

7% REIT and then what is their cost to manage? 1%? So, it's not 7%. It's 15% (estimated) less than that and that doesn't include other fees from the fund.

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Two good reasons, I think.

1. If you're not going to do it yourself. Doesn't take much effort, but the difference between doing the basics and not can make up for the cost of fees.

2. If it's part of a bigger plan and your advisor is going to be part of the team doing tax, estate, and business exit planning. This isn't your random Merrill Lynch advisor.

I had an advisor with RJ for a few years but I fired them early last year. I never saw the value and I have done well since managing things myself. I think if you have a complicated estate it may be worth the investment, but mine is simple. Makes me so pissed I waste the money on next to nothing.

Not a waste. You gained some valuable experience. Learned it's not for you.

Would've been worse to run the experiment when you had a bunch more money in your account.

LMCane said:

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HECUBUS said:

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2025

Date, not a number. Passed the number, just waiting to get the last kid through High school. That date might move. I like my work, but feel we should travel before we're too old. How much money do you want to leave your kids in a world where starter homes are seven figures?

Salaries are 4X what they were in 1991, homes 10x.

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I don't have kids so my goal is to pass with nearly 0 in the bank...

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You just might be my hero!

Hoyt Ag said:

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I had an advisor with RJ for a few years but I fired them early last year. I never saw the value and I have done well since managing things myself. I think if you have a complicated estate it may be worth the investment, but mine is simple. Makes me so pissed I waste the money on next to nothing.

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this would be my hesitation-

I have no dependents, only debt is $32K on a car and no ex wife/spousal support/weddings/college to pay for

just my own life.

so why pay $100,000 minimum to have someone else do what I am doing?

the only reason is the tax harvesting and to put me into investments I can't get on my own (private equity, VC, Private realty)

even Merrill Lynch will not put any of their clients into PE, only into different funds that work in private realty.

so not sure with the increased risk, that the return is going to surpass their fees of AUM.

We are similar, I am single and no kids. I put mine in a 3 fund portfolio, brokerage in high yield divided stocks and just let it cook. I dont see the value for my situation and I have a lot more confidence I will reach my goal whereas before I felt like I would never retire.

Awesome, congrats

You got to 10MM+ Mainly through 401k?

If username checks out, probably didnt pay income taxes either...

b0ridi said:

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BoDog said:

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I will cash out when it gets to $76k. I expect that to happen by mid October.

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Famous last words

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bump

Mid 30's now, 10 Million by 60 is my goal.

I lived frugally and saved early in my career. Did not get paid much to start but compound interest was always a topic on my mind. Not having any college debt helps a ton.

Had some fun experiences via some light credit card churning to travel around the globe.

Mid 30s, goal is 4M in 401/Roth by 65. Our rental properties will be paid off by then which will be a big bonus given they cash flow with a mortgage today.

We're on track but 3 young kids and wife is a SAHM currently so it's tight.

What do you have so far?

$1.2 right now pushing 50, not including home equity. Zero debt. Two kids. Very little interest in working more than 5 more years. We both have pensions that will kick in at 62, 2 modest rental properties that will be paid off in about 10 years. We're making more $ now than ever, but it's not a ton, still in 22% tax. We'll be around $1.5 in 5 years. Coupled with our low cost of living and future inheritance, we will be comfortable.

South Platte said:

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$1.2 right now pushing 50, not including home equity. Zero debt. Two kids. Very little interest in working more than 5 more years. We both have pensions that will kick in at 62, 2 modest rental properties that will be paid off in about 10 years. We're making more $ now than ever, but it's not a ton, still in 22% tax. We'll be around $1.5 in 5 years. Coupled with our low cost of living and future inheritance, we will be comfortable.

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You should have close to 2 million in 5 years, no? 10% interest if historical norms hold.

easily or higher accounting contributions


they could flirt with 1.5 next year if the market just avoids collapse

I hit 5M at age 41 and chose to back off considerably instead of double down. The company I was with offered equity that could have doubled my net worth in 5 years if all went well, but it just wasn't worth it to me. I have four kids at pivotal ages, and I can't get these years back.

I did the math on the real estate we have (10 houses) and the money I have in the market, and just by holding the course and saving no more net worth should be 10-12M by age 65. So now I just have to figure out what to do for the next 20 years because my personality is not one to sit around or even play golf all day. I need to be solving problems of some sort.

The biggest reason people leave their financial advisor is getting jitters in a bad market and pulling their funds out and going to someone else. If as a financial advisor you move your client to fixed income assets and focus discussions on their income stream instead of account balance you are less likely to lose the people with the biggest nest eggs.

If you buy the market (index funds) there is almost no scenario where you wont be better off than shifting to fixed income long term, other than perfectly timing the entry into Japan's economy since the late 80's. And in the event that the market totally tanks for along term downtrend, well guess what? Life is going to get tougher no matter what, and a fixed income portfolio will get hammered by defaults.

My target number to walk out of the job today is $3 million (Brokerage, 401k(trad and roth), IRA (trad and roth). In addition, we'll have my wife's TRS pension at 62 for her and SS would be a bonus if it still exists.

Sitting here at 40, I have about 10 years left on the conservative side. That will put my kids in upper high school/starting college. The calc to come up with that target includes a $20k per year allowance for health insurance, invested HSA to pay for the rest of the costs as needed. The health insurance number is probably very generous depending on withdrawal strategies (and existing markets!). I'll dig in deeper in about 5 years to really home in on that quitting timeline.

Their college funds are an independent calc that I don't include in the rest of the numbers. They received a good starter fund from grandparents to kickstart it, so they are pretty set with my ongoing contributions.

Some of these numbers that people are posting seem crazy or people just don't know that they can actually retire before 62/65 and have things to do besides sit in a recliner. Work doesn't define my worth in myself, I have to many other things outside of it that I think are more important..
I run out of hours in the day constantly as it is. Watching my Dad, he got busier post-retirement but got to do what he wanted on his schedule which is awesome.

My number could probably be around $3MM or less and we would be fine, assuming a paid off house. Being 38 and probably 20 years from retirement, I'm thinking inflation will push that number closer to $5MM. If I continue my same retirement contributions for the next 20 years and get an average market return of just 5% I should hit $5MM by 58.

txaggie_08 said:

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My number could probably be around $3MM or less and we would be fine, assuming a paid off house. Being 38 and probably 20 years from retirement, I'm thinking inflation will push that number closer to $5MM. If I continue my same retirement contributions for the next 20 years and get an average market return of just 5% I should hit $5MM by 58.

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I calculate my spread sheets in future dollars. So, the $3million number today looks more like $4.2 in 10 years (all depends on what inflation really looks like, I just use 3% over the long run). It helps me to think in future dollars instead of seeing my target go up each year in current dollars.

I think it is important to have a target other than just age for retirement. We are 40 and actively planning what retirement means for us. Some of the things we're realizing is there is more we could be doing today instead of waiting, so why wait on those things? Too many people don't actually plan for retirement (outside the money part) and those are the ones who hate it because work is life for them.

I inflate the dollars needed forward, but it's effectively the same.

As far as inflationary assumptions go, I assume a 4% differential in nominal rate of return on the portfolio and inflation. So whether it's 6.5% portfolio return and a 2.5% inflation rate, or whether it's a 10% portfolio return and 6% inflation, the result doesn't change as long as you assume your compensation rises in conjunction with inflation.

My number gets closer every day I work. I start thinking of ways to retire in a few years, problem is I have kids still in grade school, but it might happen.