# Where would you fall in this survey?



## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Was reading an article bout money needed for retirement. The following raises a question as to the amount needed:

"42% of surveyed workers think they'll need at least $500,000 in savings for their retirement. Near 25% of the respondents reported that they would need less than $500,000 in savings."

Me, I never considered a dollar amount needed, I planned for a needed (wanted) income to meet my needs/wants. Trust me to generate that wanted income the amount was way less and still is less then the mentioned $500K.


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## dademoss (May 2, 2015)

Generally, the recommended withdrawal rate is <=4% per year from your retirement nest egg. Depending on your wants and needs, that may be enough, it sure was in my case.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

There are too many variables for a question like that to have much meaning. For instance, when do you intend to "retire" and what do you intend to do once you do retire? Case in point, my dad retired at 65. He spent a few weeks doing little things and then decided he needed something to do. He held a paper route for the next 17 years which happened to be a considerable job. He also used to drive cars between car dealerships in about 7 states after that. All of those things were paying jobs that went beyond "retirement" and were things he wanted to do, not things he had to do to survive. I don't think he ever had more than $70k or so in cash (mostly CD's) plus owning his home. He's 93 and will likely run out of life before he runs out of money. 

For a person who intends to retire at 65 or 67 and never do another thing to earn a thin dime, then it's different than someone who intends to retire from their career of 40 years and then work at something else they want to work at. Of course, a person generally does run out of gas at some point but some don't want to just sit down in front of a boob toob and waste into oblivion when they finally get their Social Security check. Some really want to continue working in some capacity. Hey, some people are just coming into their prime by age 65 and go on to do some pretty big things after that. 

I'm not planning on any kind of retirement. I plan on puttering around as long as I can, doing little stuff to make a few dollars here and there as I can. I plan on working towards lowering my needs to minimize the funds I'll need as life moves forward. There really are things, such as growing a garden, that I want to do for as long as I possibly can, hopefully even when I'm so old that it takes four times as long as it used to. 

"Retiring" to travel or have a life of leisure doesn't really appeal. I've had times in my life when I've been able to do as little as I wanted. Traveling was OK, for a while. But I got tired of that. Doing nothing was OK, for a short time, but then I wanted something useful and meaningful to do, leisure wasn't all that fulfilling to me. 

To each their own. I just don't think it's a one size fits all or if you don't have a million in cash by the age of 65 you're doomed.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Well managed low-risk mutual funds today are returning 2 - 3%. As you move toward high-risk funds you can find some that are returning as 'high' as 5%.

From a portfolio of $500,000 that means that your annuity would be $10,000 to $25,000/year without drawing it down.

Some people are okay on that. Some people are not.

My military pension is $1,480/month [or $17k/year]. We may have a couple thousand in farm income each year. We have no debt. So for us this is fine.

We migrated to an area that we enjoy. We own 150 acres of woods with 1/4 mile of river frontage. We grow most of our own food. We are off-grid on solar power. Our new car is a plug-in hybrid we are able to charge from our solar system.

I have been on pension since 2001.


We would NEVER draw-down our portfolio.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

Micheal said:


> Was reading an article bout money needed for retirement. The following raises a question as to the amount needed:
> 
> "42% of surveyed workers think they'll need at least $500,000 in savings for their retirement. Near 25% of the respondents reported that they would need less than $500,000 in savings."
> 
> Me, I never considered a dollar amount needed, I planned for a needed (wanted) income to meet my needs/wants. Trust me to generate that wanted income the amount was way less and still is less then the mentioned $500K.


Why save up $500K so the nursing home gets it?


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

Bellyman said:


> *snip*
> 
> To each their own. I just don't think it's a one size fits all or if you don't have a million in cash by the age of 65 you're doomed.


I agree.

To me I would be ready to retire with no cash on hand so long as I had income properties throwing off a certain amount per year.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Declan said:


> Why save up $500K so the nursing home gets it?


It kind of depends on your heirs. If your heirs don't care if you live you last days in a govt supported assisted living or nursing home...which many times are run down, filthy, and provide less than minimal care....then I guess you wouldn't need the money. But, if your heirs do care about how you live your finals days, and if you have no cash reserve in the bank, then they may decide to pay for your care which will likely impact a lot of their future plans and funds.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

I am not really sure how to answer the OP's question. Is the question will a person need only $500K or is it $500K on top of a pension. I will have a pension that is about 2/3rds of my current income. I don't think I'll need $500K.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

Cabin Fever said:


> It kind of depends on your heirs. If your heirs don't care if you live you last days in a govt supported assisted living or nursing home...which many times are run down, filthy, and provide less than minimal care....then I guess you wouldn't need the money. But, if your heirs do care about how you live your finals days, and if you have no cash reserve in the bank, then they may decide to pay for your care which will likely impact a lot of their future plans and funds.


Most people end up in the same nursing home either way. A great many communities have limited options. It is just a matter of who is writing the check.


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## rockpile1 (Aug 24, 2016)

Well doing it all wrong my wife says we're better off not having anything in savings and that is what we have. 0 in savings.

I have Social Security and Pension and my wife has Social Security and working part time.
Been retired drawing Pension for last 8 years 63 now.

Our Son was upset because he didn't have enough to retire at 38.

big rockpile


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Retirement? I'm just trying to claw my way through the here and now! I realized long ago that I will probably never be able to formally "retire".


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## Scott SW Ohio (Sep 20, 2003)

I am a bit of a tightwad and my natural inclination is to save. Combine that with my pretty good paying job, multiply by 30 plus years, and I have a fair amount put by.  I don't have a dollar target in mind but (like some others here) keep track by salary years. That approach makes more sense to me. Right now I have about 14 times my current salary in retirement savings. My target was 12.5, which at a four percent draw replaces half my current gross pay, so I am a bit ahead of my goal.

The men in my family tend to drop dead of heart attacks at about the age I am now (58) so I may never have to worry about my own retirement security or nursing home care - but who knows? Mostly I worry about my wife having enough to sustain herself for twenty or thirty years after I am gone. But it is awfully hard to have faith in any financial projections I could make that far out. I guess at some point we have taken our best shot at preparing and have to accept we cannot guarantee our future.


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

I believe in the old adage about the best laid plans--we had savings, everything about paid off, sitting pretty. then hubby had aaccident, detached retina, went blind in one eye, had to quit trucking, diagnosed with brain cancer, with the resulting 10 long year fight, and dementia. savings gone, refinanced farm, hubbys gone-and i live on social security. but--i cherish the 10 years we fought his cancer.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Worried a little retiring early. 6 years on, doing much better than anticipated. No S.S. yet, haven't touched a couple retirement accounts. We don't need much and have everything we want. Travel as much as we want/can. That puts us in the rose garden of life. We know where we will go if/when we can't care for each other. We know the cost and income streams are adjusted as needed for that. Sweetie's Mom was there, very nice place, good people. Beautiful retirement facility. Full medical facilities. From assisted care cottages to memory care to end of life care. It isn't how much you have, it's that you have enough and did the best you could....James


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

One thing to remember about this and other surveys that are taken by financial groups - they ain't aimed at the $25K to $50K a year earner, nor on someone who's retirement income is 50-75% SS or qualifies for medicaid, hence the reason they used the $500K figure.
Keeps the rift-raft (like most of us) from tilting the scales......


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