<p>“Probably closer to three million, which is what one retirement calculator came up with for us last week. Yikes, we will be working until we are 70…”</p>
<p>I expect that most people on this site, need roughly 3 million to retire which includes ss, pensions etc. - or 4% of 3 million = 120 k per year - probably a lot less than many here currently make.</p>
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<p>Me neither. Many of the good comprehensive retirement calculators allow you to put in yield and/or inflation rates. You could easily find the range of growth of the networth with one of those calculators.</p>
<p>My father kept all his records of every payment he made from 1952 to the present. If you want to get really depressed, look at something like this and you’ll see how difficult it is to safely retire especially if you’re not risking life and limb putting it all into the stock market.</p>
<p>“When Walmart replaced Caldor in our area…”</p>
<p>I was a big Caldor fan!</p>
<p>Yep…Doct…</p>
<p>I am going to live another 35 years ago…</p>
<p>I look at what things cost 35 years ago…</p>
<p>I could buy a new car for 4,000…Now maybe 20,000 for a similar car.
A house that was 70,000 is now 600,000. Property taxes were under 1,000.
Gas was a dollar a gallon.
Healthcare was so cheap…nobody talked about it.</p>
<p>Today…my folks live in an independent living center and it costs about 75,000 a year. </p>
<p>What are the costs of these items going to be in 35 years?</p>
<p>Lots of how much you need in retirement depends on your current and projected future expenses. If you take Tightwad Gazette as your bible, you can retire on very little. If you aim to be a Kardashian or Hilton, you need boatloads/truckloads of assets. Everyone in the middle has to see what the are spending and where they will need to spend after they retire.</p>
<p>If you have a guaranteed pension from a VERY secure source, I don’t think you really need $3M in cash/assets in ADDITION to that pension, if said pension is adequate to finance your current and projected lifestyle. I’m no expert, but that’s my take.</p>
<p>I remember when gas was 19 cents a gallon. My parents in 1952 were paying $35 dollars a month for heating their house with oil. I was looking at my childhood dog’s vet bill in 1962. It was $8 a visit.</p>
<p>I said 3 million that includes ss and a pension or a total yearly income including ss and a pension of 120k. Try living on 120k 30 years from now.</p>
<p>Well…doct…you are older than me. You are ancient. ;)</p>
<p>Himom…A decent pension changes everything…</p>
<p>i love walmart! sometimes i opt not to go there b/c of the long lines. otherwise, target is my other favorite store. wish we had a costco</p>
<p>I began shopping at Wally World because the brand-name insulin for my dog is $25 there, which is about $20.00 less than the next cheapest pharmacy here. The box looks just like the branded box from the vet or other pharmacies but has small print indicating that is was packed for Walmart. That’s the power of volume buying. I have discovered a wide range of substantial savings in packaged and frozen foods, as well as pet foods and health and beauty items, which are the same at Wally’s or the grocery if you buy a national brand. House brands are exceptional values if you find products you like. Meat and bakery are less stellar buys but are quite good quality at the store I use. But the produce is awful.</p>
<p>Although I have a high net worth, I am cash poor, with assets trapped in house and retirement accounts. I need to find quality bargains wherever I can.</p>
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<p>According to [CPI</a> Inflation Calculator](<a href=“http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1&year1=1977&year2=2012]CPI”>http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1&year1=1977&year2=2012) , $1 in 1977 (35 years ago) is like $3.76 now. Not too far off from the increase in the price of gasoline (though now it does not poison the air with lead).</p>
<p>2012 cars are much better than 1977 cars. That 1977 economy car was probably lucky to get 25mpg, was slow, was tiny inside, was noisy and rough riding, had drivability issues due to first generation emissions controls that still allowed hundreds of times the pollution that today’s cars emit, had minimal crash protection, did not come with a radio (and you had to pay even more if you wanted FM or cassette or more than one speaker with it), and needed maintenance, repairs, and tires often.</p>
<p>Of course, in some areas, house prices have inflated much more than general inflation, taking property taxes with them (unless you are a long term homeowner in California who bought a $70,000 house back then, in which case, your house would be taxed based on a value of at most about $140,000 instead of its actual value now).</p>
<p>Medical care prices have also inflated much more than general inflation, but people have now come to expect as routine treatments that were rare, expensive luxuries or did not even exist back in 1977. Of course, the problem of rapid inflation of medical care prices and expectations is magnified by the predominant use of third party payment, where the user has no incentive to self-ration as s/he would if s/he were self-pay (but of course self-pay is now unaffordable and difficult to be effective with due to the absence of price transparency).</p>
<p>WalMart has some clothing that I can’t find anywhere else on our island (believe me, I have looked exhaustively). We purchase those things there with no apologies.</p>
<p>It is really sad and tough that so many pensions are being undercut and so many plans and dreams eliminated with no warning or notice to those who have devoted decades of service.</p>
<p>It is so tough to invest well enough to be SURE you will have the security you need, especially if you may live many decades beyond a “normal retirement.” Longevity runs in my family, with my great uncle living through 107! With my health issues, can’t know how much additional costs I’ll incur in living another 50+ years if I follow the family genes.</p>
<p>It’s scary to have to invest wholly for yourself & not count on SS or any pension, but that is the reality most in the US are facing. I don’t trust my skills in this and am grateful that we will have H’s pension, so we can sleep soundly at night.</p>
<p>Sorry, if I’ve meandered from the thread.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus…as we know the past is not a perfect indicator for predicting the future…and the cpi is an imperfect measure. Despite this… using the past as a guide…if a couple lives on 100,000 and ignoring SS and pensions, taxes etc…it is going to take 375,000 in 35 years to match that 100,000 today.</p>
<p>[Retirement</a> Calculator - How much to retire?](<a href=“http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/retirement-calculator.aspx]Retirement”>Retirement Calculator - How much to retire?)</p>
<p>That is close to a 4 percent inflation rate.</p>
<p>If a percent nets 4 percent after tax…not that easy with interest rates </p>
<p>where they are…it is is going to take 3.6 million to do it…and after 35 years…the principal is gone. </p>
<p>I can see this spending of principal a problem, psychologically. Probably kill a person before the 35 years are up. I remember my grandmother was really concerned about this. So concerned, she bought an annuity when she was 90 years old. And she was in ill health. I told her she had
enough to live another 20 years on her money which would take her to 110… But she was worried. I am not 90, but I look at elderly people and I see that outliving their money is a major concern. I may not be any different. </p>
<p>By the way… I had that annuity cancelled after threatening that bank manager. My grandmother died at 91.</p>
<p>Forget the 100,000 a year…the average income is closer to 50,000 a year. After SS…33,000 a year may need to be generated…that would require approximately 1.2 million for 35 years. This board skews a lot wealthier than society as a whole. Only a relatively few people have a net worth of 1.2 million.</p>
<p>I know this thread has turned in a different direction, but a majority of people retire with signifcantly less then 1 million dollars…and lets admit commericals showing couples ‘retired’ enjoying their time together at the Ritz in Grand Cayman are propaganda,lol., for money management firms…I am not saying one shouldn’t save for retirement, but spending your 50’s eating ramen noodles in the hopes of living La Vida Loca at retirement is foolish</p>
<p>Well…you go ahead qdogpa…give retiring on less than 1 million a try… ;)</p>
<p>[Facts</a> of the Day | Retirement USA](<a href=“http://www.retirement-usa.org/facts]Facts”>Facts of the Day | Retirement USA)</p>
<p>Not a concern ;)</p>
<p>I know…;).</p>
<p>But it is ok for others to retire on a pittance.</p>
<p>"55% of people 65 or older rely on Social Security for half or more of their income.</p>
<p>As the share of workers covered by secure pensions has shrunk, Social Security is more important than ever to Americans’ retirement security. More than half (54.8 percent) of people age 65 or older receive half or more of their income from Social Security, and 15.4 percent have no other source of income.</p>
<p>Source: Social Security Administration, “Income of the Population 55 or Older, 2008,” April 2010, Table 9.B1."</p>
<p>No, what i am saying is don’t waste the best years of your life in hopes of having the health to enjoy your retirement…i’d rather eat ramen noodles and yodels when 80, having enjoyed my money from 55-65… I have friends who are ‘loaded’ who live like paupers, never enjoying a fine dinner or luxurious vacation, they are waiting for retirement. ;(</p>
<p>I thik it is US baby boomers who created this ‘retirement dream’ ,which is unattainable for the masses…once again, save as much as possible,but it shouldn’t be your sole mission…</p>