I think there are some excellent posts on this thread. Retirement is something that I’ve thought about quite a bit from a younger age ever since I graduated college.
Some people above posted about being almost obsessive about it. I’m not sure I’d say obsessed but it’s always been a goal of mine to be able to retire if I wanted by the time I hit 40.
Like some mentioned above, it all depends on the quality of life you will have in retirement. I know some friends that retired that don’t do anything. They don’t go out to eat to fancy restaurants, they don’t travel on vacations, and they live really low cost living lifestyles. Then we have other friends that travel all around the world very often, dine out quite a bit, etc.
So it all depends on the lifestyle you plan to live. Judging by what many of the mainstream newspapers and magazines write, not many people think about their retirement picture and the end game which surprises me. I always get scared thinking about being older and not having enough to live on or get by.
I always say I will take early retirement but not sure I could do it. I do enjoy working and can’t see myself stop working at this stage in my life. My wife thinks I’ll never be able to stop working as she thinks I’d get bored of not working on “deals”.
I agree with the others that say to discount and not factor in the equity you have in your house. I have my house paid off but I’m still not factoring that in my retirement picture as I’ll always have to have a place to stay after I stop working. Even though we will most likely sell our 5 bedroom house and move into something smaller when the kids get out of the house, we will still buy something else.
I would however count in the retirement picture any additional properties you might own and can liquidate being careful to accurately budget what it’s actually worth and also the time frame it might take to sell it. I have some friends that are dreaming when they value in their heads what they can get for their properties.
I’m in my late 30’s and I don’t factor in Social Security at all, even though I’ve contributed a TON. Frankly I don’t think there will be anything left when I hit eligibility (or they end up extending where you can’t take it until you are 75 or 80!) and factoring in the worst case scenario.
Unfortunately these days, $1 million isn’t much money or at least not what it used to be. But I think the important thing is to really be honest with yourself and think about what kind of lifestyle you will live in retirement.
I agree with the advice to work as long as you can to avoid starting to tap into your nest egg. I’m not sure about 70 but definitely if you enjoy what you do (and even if you don’t) it’s good to keep working and adding to the nest egg.
