How much money is enuf to retire?

[januaryguy]

Your income is more than enough for a single guy. I earn about the same as you and can manage to save about USD500 a month. Live moderately and dont spend lavishly. I can even go overseas vacation once a year. The secret is live within your means. Dont ever get into debts or borrow for an "Ah Long"(money lender)
Pvt me if you want to chat.

 

[duroc5088]

realisticaly. $500,000 at age fifty, and I could live of the intrest it would bring me in CD's and stock for the rest of my life.

But truth be known. I'll probably die at work. If not at a young age from an accident, at an old age from a heart attack. So I doubt I"ll get the chance to enjoy any kind of retirement.

Dirk

 

[chrmd1]

I really do recommend 401K plans, the money comes out of your check before taxes therefore you really dont even notice it when you get your net pay. Also Buy a home or more if you can. I invested in my first home in Southern California 6 years ago and I sold it for 4 times that amount one year ago. Now I have a huge brand new home. I believe real estate is the way to go at least where I live. I also have the luxury of working for the best company (the largest non profit HMO in the US) I get to retire after 26 years with full benefits and free medical, dental and life insurance. There are a lot of companies out there with great unions, look into them.

 

[dte]

I'm shooting for $250,000-$300,000 by the time I'm 30-35 so I can retire young and happy. that's about enough for a single guy anyways. roughly thats about 1/3 of my cheque going into a savings account or RRSP

The current prediction that one needs to retire on if retiring at 65 here in Australia is $600 000. One must remember that life expectency is much longer than it used to be and therefore you will need more if you are going to live longer.

Here in Australia we have superannuation that now is tax free after you reach the ripe old age of 60. So the more you can siphon away in the earlier years it will continue to accelerate with compound interest. Whilst you can officially retire at 55, the new tax rules make it much better to wait until 60.

I would not have thought that $US1 500 pm was a great deal. Not by our standards anyway. I get more than that net per fortnight, and there are many more who would get paid much more than me.

Your wish to retire at 35 on that amount seems altruistic.

 

[Bennykoh_gay]

DTE,

I'm not the one who said that I want to retire by 35 (even though that sounds great ) but its thirstycanadianboy...
I know USD1500 sux by global standard

Januaryguy,

Good to know that you can save that much every month but I have family to support, so not easy for me...

 

[metta]

I'm finding this thread to be fascinating. I have never seen a thread where the opinions varried so much. It makes it even more interesting that the opinions on this particular issue are coming from various countries as well. Please keep them coming.

 

[metta]

You ask why the doctor might retire on less then the attorney...it is due to the doctor not being as educated in investments as lawyers. Also the fact that most doctors have a "God complex" and feel they are invincible and think they will live forever, supporting their family. Alot of doctors also like to spend money up front v.s investing wisely...

Could it not be possible that the reason why doctors spend more up front is because they see the end of life more often in their job and they realize that it is important to have a balance between saving and enjoying life now? I could be wrong, but I doubt that doctors feel that they are invincible. I went to a lot of doctor appointments with my best friend. I can't tell you how many speialists I have spoken to or even how many hospitals. They see on a regular basis, life ending.

Some people save and save and forget about enjoying life now, others go to the other extreme and only enjoy the moment and spend everything now.

Doctors see these people. They see people who have spent their lives saving every penny only to find that they did not live long enough to enjoy it. One of the many things that I personally think that the Buddhists are correct on is that extremes are normally never good.

For me, I probably will not have enough to retire on in a way that I would like to. But I'm not going to kick my self every day for not saving enough. I have decided to just do the best that I can and hopefully enjoy life as well. My best friend, who I dearly miss, taught me that. Of course, I'm looking at this from my personal perspective. I remember right after my best friend past away, one of my neighbors, who is a business consultant, told me that I should expand my business as big as possible and then sell it. Then just start a new business. I look at my business as my child that I created. I created it because it is what I believe in. It was never created to make tons of money. My business is my dream. I know that logically, I probably should not look at my business that way. I could see myself open more businesses but to sell my child would be a tough thing for me to do. There are other businesses that I want to open but I have more requirements than most people have on what I'm willing to create. Mine must be environmentally friendly and hopefully try to make a positive difference in the World because that is the kind of effect that I would like to have on this World. I'm not judging anyone else here...it is just a personal choice that I made that works for me, just as I don't expect people to become vegetarians because I am.

Chance1826, your perspetive on life is so different than mine that it is even difficult to imagine being in that situation. Yours is correct, just as each of us have our own perspective. You are very fortunate. And I do appreciate you sharing your knowledge as well as everyone else here. Thank you.

 

[Smitho]

If you seriously want to look at the amount you need to retire, do a google for annuities, these are financial products that you can buy (at 60 years plus) and will pay you out for the remainder of your life. They may not offer the best returns, but they are safe, as they guarentee an income till you die, there are variations, that will increase / decrease the amount you will be paid out each month from the initial investment, such as do you have a partner you want paid out after you die (should you die first, and here I am not sure about the standing of gay couples) or do you want it to increase each yr for inflation etc, you will be pleased to know men are expected to live shorter lives than women, so the pay outs are normally higher per month for men.

Before taking on any financial product such as this you should get independent financial advise, but it would be good for someone with no pension and a lump sum to invest at retirement, either from previous savings or a large inheritance.

 

[metta]

If you seriously want to look at the amount you need to retire, do a google for annuities, these are financial products that you can buy (at 60 years plus) and will pay you out for the remainder of your life. They may not offer the best returns, but they are safe, as they guarentee an income till you die, there are variations, that will increase / decrease the amount you will be paid out each month from the initial investment, such as do you have a partner you want paid out after you die (should you die first, and here I am not sure about the standing of gay couples) or do you want it to increase each yr for inflation etc, you will be pleased to know men are expected to live shorter lives than women, so the pay outs are normally higher per month for men.

Before taking on any financial product such as this you should get independent financial advise, but it would be good for someone with no pension and a lump sum to invest at retirement, either from previous savings or a large inheritance.

You also need to be careful with financial advise. Often times, the professionals will put you into something that gives them the biggest commissions. I'm not saying that insurance produts are bad, but they are produts that are known to pay high commissions. Make sure to take the costs of the product into consideration in combination with the returns when comparing products.

 

[Bennykoh_gay]

Thanks guys for all the replies. Keep them coming...

 

[metta]

Fifth of Americans forced into retirement: study

Fifth of Americans forced into retirement: study

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061213/us_nm/sunlife_retirement_dc

Fifth of Americans forced into retirement: study
Wed Dec 13, 5:22 PM ET


More than a fifth of all Americans are forced into early retirement, usually by layoffs and cutbacks at their companies, according to a study by Sun Life Financial Inc.
"Unanticipated, forced retirement is occurring at an alarming rate, leaving the retirees unprepared," said Mary Fay, head of the Sun Life annuities department. Sun Life conducted the study in conjunction with Harris Interactive, a worldwide polling organization.
Losing their jobs, on average about eight years early, leaves them ineligible for Social Security, unprepared for the future, and with half the savings they had expected for retirement, the study showed.
Sun Life, one of Canada's largest insurers, and Harris said a survey of 701 adults in the United States showed that 22 percent of all retirees had been involuntarily retired several years before they had anticipated, and 69 percent had to change their lifestyle as a result. About 55 percent were ineligible for Social Security when forced out of work.
Layoffs and downsizing accounted for nearly half of all forced retirements, with illness and injury the second biggest cause. Ten percent of women said family obligations were the reason, while 2 percent of men did.

 

[Bennykoh_gay]

I just caught an episode of Oprah on 'Debt Diets'. Kinda alarming that many people nowadays live outside of their financial means. Except paying for my car loans and credit card, I don't have any additional bills to pay YET!

Scary...