Even though I do not plan to retire any time soon (maybe in 15-20 years, lol!), this thread made me think about some ghosts of the past… Bingo! Located my long-forgotten Vanguard account with my old 401k rollover. Amazingly, I remembered my login credentials. Yay me!
We are all different. The best way to have some idea of what you will need in retirement, as has been previously suggested time and again is to estimate your CURRENT spending and to project any changes that retirement will bring, eg lower transportation costs if you commute, perhaps lower wardrobe costs, no need to save for retirement (if applicable), no need to pay mortgage (if you’ve paid it off), perhaps no more Ed expenses if you’ve finished sending kid(s) thru school.
There is NO one magic % or amount for ALL people. Some folks spend MORE than retirement, while others spend MUCH less. It really depends on interests, health, opportunities, cost of living, and other factors. Some of us are giving financial assistance to loved ones and others aren’t; some travel, some move to higher or lower cost of living areas. People do have substantial ability to affect hoe much (or little) they spend and save.
I am not a good cook, though I can make a few tasty items. It’s not that its that difficult, I just don’t like it. How do you force yourself to enjoy cooking? It would save money and be healthier than eating out so much, fortunately, my dear MIL is an even worse cook than me, so my husband is grateful for what he gets! If the spouse isn’t thankful, then they should do the cooking!
I think for retirement, one could save a LOT if they didn’t eat out.
I enjoy cooking when I WANT to cook, but being able to dine out when we prefer to do so, without worrying that we are burning a hole in our budget.
I am a pretty good cook, though I don’t like to devote a ton of time or effort to cooking. I make amazing soups and whatever I’m interested in eating. If it involves a ton of prep, I prefer to go out and enjoy the food at a restaurant.
Yes, lots of money can be saved by dining at home instead of dining out. When we had a lot of expenses (tuitions, ed expenses, mortgages), we rarely are out and I prepared a lot of healthy and inexpensive meals. Now that we no longer have those expenses, we enjoy dining out when we desire. 
In general, I enjoy cooking (grocery shopping - not at all) but its less fun and satisfying for me when its cooking for just the two of us and my spouse isn’t a big fan of leftovers.
H and I enjoy going out and either bringing home leftovers for a 2nd meal or splitting the meal and not having leftovers, depending on our mood and portion sizes. It’s nice to have options–eating at home OR dining out as the mood strikes. 
When the kids are no longer home and it’s just the two of us, it’s easier to be spontaneous about meals–eating a late meal or early one, depending on whims and scheduling.
We also bring home a lot of leftovers. Nice to not have to cook the next day, too!
It’s clear how different everyone’s circumstances are. None of the expense reductions outlined by @notrichenough really apply to us (mortgage paid off years ago, no plans or need to downsize, minimal commute, tuition not coming out of our daily expenses, no plans to stop shopping for clothes, etc.), plus I’m assuming we will entertain more in retirement (not much time now with our busy schedules), eat out more, go out to more theater and films, and travel quite a bit more. We live frugally, and I’m hoping to live just a little less frugally in retirement. Our biggest savings will be no longer tucking money away for retirement and (probably at 70) starting to receive Social Security.
Well, if you are talking in terms of replacing “pre-retirement income” these things count IMO, because they come out of pre-retirement income.
But I agree, it is illogical to think of it in terms of a percentage of income. To really get a handle on what you need in retirement you have to approach it from the expense side.
And everyone’s circumstances are different. For example, much of our college expenses came out of current income. Those are gone off of the expense side, now. We still have a mortgage (actually, 7 of them 
), the one on our primary residence will be paid off in a few more years and that kills another $2000/month expense. I could move and cut my $11000 property tax bill in half. Etc.
It’s all about the expenses though. If you don’t know what you need, throwing out a random number like “75%” is kind of pointless.
@mcat2, everyone’s circumstances are different, it’s hard to have a general rule which will apply to everyone. You have to look at your own situation.
And a lot depends on the lifestyle you want to lead. If “retirement” means eating out all the time and traveling the world, you will need more money. But I believe many people can shed enough expenses that they can live on half their pre-retirement income, although that pre-supposes you are currently putting away 15-20% for retirement and still have a mortgage. If you are already spending 100% of your income and you don’t have these expenses, you are going to have a more challenging time.
When we retire, some expenses might go up, at least in transition. We have two plans, and aren’t sure which (if either) we are going for. In one, we buy a house in NW CT and another down south somewhere (maybe rent). The other plan is for me to get EU citizenship, and buy homes in Scotland and Italy. In either case, we would have debt in the interval between buying the new and selling our current (and long paid off) home. We do not intend to have a mortgage for anything but the transition. If we go the US-based plan, we might buy 30-100 acres in CT and build a contemporary farmhouse. The nice thing about that plan is that expenses could be staged so that they’re paid out of current cash flow and/or savings, without needing a mortgage. If I can talk DW into it, I’d prefer a wonderful home in CT and a few two-week vacations someplace warm during the winter.
I half-jokingly referred to a personal chef before, but I’ve thought about it. I cook, but not very well. There are services that create a menu to your tastes/needs and cook a week’s worth of meals for your fridge. They cook in your home, and are not as expensive as you might think. Breakfast is our daily staple: steel cut oats made in our rice cooker; DW has hers with maple syrup (real!) and milk, I have mine with fried eggs on top. Wonderful tasting and keeps us feeling full until the afternoon. I might also bring my sous vide machine out of storage and cook with it again.
Medical costs are probably going to increase. Unpleasant, but likely.
Travel will go up; gas costs will go to 0 once I convince DW to get a Tesla to go with mine, arriving “soon,” and if we build a home, it will have solar panels. People who follow Tesla will get the joke about “soon;” Elon Musk is a genius and a force of nature, but don’t count on his time estimates :))
As it currently stands, we could afford to “live large,” but will probably live “comfortably” (according to our 3-column spreadsheet) and leave a bit extra to charity and the kids.
I look forward. I don’t think about replacing pre retirement income. We are going to get to the same place.
What are our future expenses? What is our future income?
We are still hashing out our plan, but I have my heart set on a solar house. I am trying to convince my husband. We will be moving from a high-tax very good school district to a low-tax very poor school district. But we have decided to rent for a year or two after we sell this house and before we build or buy a new house in the low-tax area. I would like to get a handle on our expenses during that rental period, since we will not be spending any on home maintenance.
Solar energy, batteries, and electric vehicles are very much in my plan. They are not cheap up front, but will be worthwhile in the long run.
@BerneseMtnMom, I believe the cost of solar had come way down. If it keeps declining, and government rebates stay available, it might not end up taking that long to recoup your money.
We will never reach the pre-retirement income when we retire. Not possible at all. We will be poor. Oh, well, the fact of life!
^^ we won’t reach our pre-retirement income levels either, but with planning, lots of savings, smart investments in rental properties in a college town, massive reductions in Health insurance [ we are both currently self employed] and mortgage payments coming soon, we will be comfortable.
Most people make less in retirement. Zuckerberg probably won’t make less. He pays himself a dollar. He may be able to make that up in retirement. 
@MiamiDap, I thought you were never going to retire. Buffett is never going to retire. Speaking of solar and Buffett.:. Buffett…What a bs artist. Free markets… Lol.
Residential solar in Nevada is probably a little iffy right now.
I am retiring in 2 weeks Yay!
Benefits question.
My company took out a life insurance policy on me that would have gone to me if I had stayed til 65 (which I knew I was never doing, but whatever). The terms of the policy were such that I got vested x% per year in it - which at this point I’m vested 30% / the company 70% in the cash value. Which means that I have to terminate the policy, the life ins co writes a check to me to the full cash value at this point and I turn around and write a check for 70% of that to the company. Any advice on how to do so in a way that I don’t wind up paying taxes on that “income” which then gets turned back around and given back to them?
Other Q is … the company, by contract, always put $X per year into the life insurance as part of my bonus. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say the number was $10,000 a year. They faithfully did so at the end of each year – though it seemed as though sometimes they put in $10,000, sometimes they put in $20,000 to cover two years (which is fine - I get wanting to pre-pay large bills for tax reasons, that’s no problem).
In any case. Supposing it’s $10,000, what they did is … that would have gotten reported as $10,000 extra income on my W-2 forms. But that would have left me having to pay taxes on that. So they grossed me up at ~39% and then reported having paid those taxes, to keep me whole. (I confess I don’t fully get this, but my H, accountant and financial adviser all seem to think it’s completely kosher.) Here’s the Q. Is it appropriate of me to also request that I have been upped not just by the ~39% for Federal but by the state tax I pay on top? Or is that just greedy? Welcome any thoughts from those more experienced.
@Pizzagirl, not a tax expert, but did the $10k show up in your state reported income also? State and fed don’t always agree on what’s income. In any case, it’s not greedy to ask, but I wouldn’t pick this as a battle if they say no.
ETA: congratulations on your retirement.
ETA: yes, the gross-up is kosher.
When you cash out an insurance policy you pay taxes only on the difference between the payout, and your basis, which is the amount you have cumulatively paid in premiums.
This amount will probably be small, and might be negative depending on how long you’ve had the policy and what the startup costs were. It’s an odd scenario, because you are considered to have paid the entire premium since it showed up as income and you got taxed on it. This is beyond my knowledge, but as a WAG it seems like you would reduce the payout by 70% when calculating whether you owe taxes, and the company would have income equal to 70% of the payout that they would have to pay taxes on. How to do this on your taxes? You can probably add a note for that line where you declare the income explaining that you had to give some back to the company.
A 39% gross-up is needed to cover taxes at a 28% rate. You may win, lose, or break even in this scenario depending on what your actual federal+state marginal rate is. Your company probably uses a standard rate for all employees, because it is impossible to know exactly what the correct amount should be for every employee’s individual situation. So there’s no harm in asking, but I bet they tell you the rate is the rate.