How the hell are we supposed to retire?

[Cassinonorth]

it is about lifestyle - and ability to maintain it.
say early retirement is on the wish list, the time previously spent making money becomes time to spend it.
can't be sitting around all day. even low cost activities cost money - bike will break more, hiking shoes wear out,
fishing equipment breaks.

can't count on the bingo winnings, although becoming a bridge or cribbage shark could be profitable.
Except the cookies donated the pot luck cost more than the day's pot.

And a bunch of expenses will go down. No more work clothes to buy, lunches/dinners dined out because you aren't home, commuting miles on the car, etc. True, maybe you run through 2 sets of tires a year instead of 1 normally but you have more time to learn to fix your own bike, mow your own grass, etc. Some line items will go up and some will go down.

My expenses right now are ~$32,700 annually WITH a mortgage. If I feel like it I may pay extra towards that when I hit my peak earnings years and then all I have is my extremely low (for NNJ) property taxes. If the 4% rule holds up I have $7300 worth of leeway to play with.

I would really only consider retiring in my 40's if I could maintain my current salary/lifestyle. We would want to travel, go out to eat, and generally have a good time. That costs money. I could live on $40k/year if I sat around and did nothing, but that's not very exciting. Also, I wouldn't retire unless it meant my wife could also retire.

There's a huge gap between $4 million and 1 million in retirement accounts.

I travel, go to sporting events, see concerts, and eat out plenty...I also don't spend money on frivolous bullshit I don't care about....like alcohol. $4k annually back in my pocket.

Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't.”

 

[JimN]

There's a huge gap between $4 million and 1 million in retirement accounts.

That's true, and I spent all of three seconds coming up with that number. I definitely wouldn't even dream of retiring early with only $1 million though.

 

[Cassinonorth]

That's true, and I spent all of three seconds coming up with that number. I definitely wouldn't even dream of retiring early with only $1 million though.

Meh, it's proven to be enough for my lifestyle to sustain but to each their own. Too many people die without really retiring. I'll take my chances on the trinity study.

 

[JerseyPete]

Sure it saves time. The fastest you could drive would be 22 hours without stopping overnight somewhere. But who wants to go through that torture? The train for us is 27 hours door to door. Breaking up the drive to two days (one night in a hotel) takes about 34 hours. If we drive, we do it in 3 legs (2 nights in a hotel) which takes a total of about 54 hours. So the autotrain cuts our time in half.

As much as I like this, with two dogs I don't think it is possible for me. You have cats, correct? You put them in a carrier and they stay with you?

 

[JimN]

Meh, it's proven to be enough for my lifestyle to sustain but to each their own.

Yeah I hear you, and that's great for you. If my wife made more money and I could convince her to continue working for the next 25 years and take care of our health insurance then I'd be right there with you. Except for the fact that I also don't have the million bucks yet to retire on anyway 🤣

 

[Bike N Gear]

And a bunch of expenses will go down. No more work clothes to buy, lunches/dinners dined out because you aren't home, commuting miles on the car, etc. True, maybe you run through 2 sets of tires a year instead of 1 normally but you have more time to learn to fix your own bike, mow your own grass, etc. Some line items will go up and some will go down.

My expenses right now are ~$32,700 annually WITH a mortgage. If I feel like it I may pay extra towards that when I hit my peak earnings years and then all I have is my extremely low (for NNJ) property taxes. If the 4% rule holds up I have $7300 worth of leeway to play with.



There's a huge gap between $4 million and 1 million in retirement accounts.

I travel, go to sporting events, see concerts, and eat out plenty...I also don't spend money on frivolous bullshit I don't care about....like alcohol. $4k annually back in my pocket.

Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't.”

Most expenses will go down, but to enjoy retirement I expect my travel expenses and other leisure expenses will go up. Don't plan on retiring to just watch TV.

 

[Cassinonorth]

Yeah I hear you, and that's great for you. If my wife made more money and I could convince her to continue working for the next 25 years and take care of our health insurance then I'd be right there with you. Except for the fact that I also don't have the million bucks yet to retire on anyway 🤣

Personal finance is definitely personal. Keep riding that bull market to the moon!

Most expenses will go down, but to enjoy retirement I expect my travel expenses and other leisure expenses will go up. Don't plan on retiring to just watch TV.

I can see many people planning like that that health willing. That's a scary factor to rely upon IMO in a traditional retirement.

 

[goldsbar]

Don't plan on retiring to just watch TV.

Me neither. The problem is the amount of perfectly healthy people I've seen who all of a sudden aren't so healthy anymore. Can happen literally overnight. Really depressing!

 

[Dave Taylor]

Long term

Real estate. Actual assest.
Be it
Flipping
Land
Or
Rental

As long as we have inflation…

 

[rick81721]

As much as I like this, with two dogs I don't think it is possible for me. You have cats, correct? You put them in a carrier and they stay with you?

Nope cats stay in NJ. Our next door neighbors watch them while we are in FL (and our son stops by occasionally). Our cars freak out during a 1 mile drive to the vet - a long road trip isn't happening.

 

[rick81721]

Me neither. The problem is the amount of perfectly healthy people I've seen who all of a sudden aren't so healthy anymore. Can happen literally overnight. Really depressing!

Yep just got informed from our 25 year club at work that a guy who retired 10 years ago at 59 just died of lung cancer. He was a big time cyclist and went mountain biking all around the country. At least he retired early and got to enjoy some good years.

 

[Santapez]

As much as I like this, with two dogs I don't think it is possible for me. You have cats, correct? You put them in a carrier and they stay with you?

Carrier? You can't just buy them a seat on the auto-train?

 

[JerseyPete]

Carrier? You can't just buy them a seat on the auto-train?

View attachment 160347

I think "Service dogs" are allowed but all others have to be under 20 lbs including carrier. Even then I am not sure train rides over 7 hours allow pets. I tried finding the info on the site.
BTW, is that cat safety belted in with its harness?

 

[JerseyPete]

I think "Service dogs" are allowed but all others have to be under 20 lbs including carrier. Even then I am not sure train rides over 7 hours allow pets. I tried finding the info on the site.
BTW, is that cat safety belted in with its harness?

Pets on Amtrak Trains

Enjoy your journey with your pet on Amtrak. We welcome cats and dogs up to 20 lbs for most trips up to 7 hours long.

www.amtrak.com

 

[mfennell]

And a bunch of expenses will go down.

My big expense is a 12yo but WFH has nearly brought my work-related expenses to retirement level already. It was pretty eye-opening.

 

[Santapez]

I think "Service dogs" are allowed but all others have to be under 20 lbs including carrier. Even then I am not sure train rides over 7 hours allow pets. I tried finding the info on the site.
BTW, is that cat safety belted in with its harness?

Yes. Shorter "stretch" style leash clipped into a seatbelt adapter on the rear seat. If there's an accident or something there's some stretch before he reaches the end.

He had a good time on our 9.5 hour drive last week to NH. Until I did my Mario Andretti imitation on some backroads and he puked a bit when we'd go zero gravity.

Perfectly fine on the 6 hour drive home.

 

[MadisonDan]

Shorter "stretch" style leash clipped into a seatbelt adapter on the rear seat. If there's an accident or something there's some stretch before he reaches the end.

Did you measure the stretch relative to front and side windows?

 

[Santapez]

Did you measure the stretch relative to front and side windows?

We're betting he'll slam into our faces to lower his momentum in a roll-over.

 

[shrpshtr325]

Did you measure the stretch relative to front and side windows?

those setups are generally meant to keep them from becoming a projectile outside of the vehicle in the case of crash (and then keep them from wandering off) more than they are to provide protection, at least the setups i have looked at.

 

[Santapez]

those setups are generally meant to keep them from becoming a projectile outside of the vehicle in the case of crash (and then keep them from wandering off) more than they are to provide protection, at least the setups i have looked at.

Yeah, the biggest thing to me is that we can open the doors and not worry about him running into the woods or whatever.

When we come home he wants to immediately run across our parking lot to the front door. He doesn't look both ways for cars first.