How much you “need” to RE is very assumption driven, and what you assume is dependent on one’s risk appetite. My spouse and I are worth $2.4m, but if I assume only 3% real return (5% return less 2% inflation), and add a 5% cushion our expenses, and that we live to 90, and that we spend 10k a year for vacation, then only having 2.4m makes for a “nail biting” retirement.
But if I change real return to assume 4%, or take inexpensive vacations, I can retire today. Also, no one in my family has come even close to living to 90. I doubt I will to.
But I’ll still work another 2-3 years to strengthen our financial position while the job iron is still hot. Once I stop working for big salary at BigCorp USA that’s hard to come back from.
When I was younger I thought $2m I’ll retire for sure! Yet here I am still working.
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If I had $2,000,000 by 55 or so, or any age whatsoever, I'd be so incredibly happy.
I would never even come close to having to work another day in my life with that amount.
Either I'm way off on what it takes to retire or I spend way less than others.
I usually spend about $20,000 per year. If I spent $25,000 I could have a blast.
I have no way to save more than $500,000 unless I come up with a brilliant money-making idea all of a sudden...which I've been trying to do for years....so not likely.
(or I can work my current job which I hate until I'm well into my 60's.)
Some of you should be very thankful for how much you have accumulated.......my stress would vanish instantly if I had what some of you have.
I feel like I'm close to living in a homeless camp after comparing my situation to most others posting here.
Can someone who plans on having a very small amount for retirement post here to make me feel better? :)
You're going to have a rough time if you insist on comparing yourself to others this way.
If you had 2M, you might be incredibly happy or you might be miserable. It would really depend on what it took to get there and how you ended up there.
If you trained for years to become a surgeon and then only ended up making enough to save 2M while living on only 20K, you might not be too happy.
If you had actually saved 20M and then through some bad money moves had lost almost everything and ended up at only 2M, again, you would probably be pretty bummed about it.
For one family, 2M might buy every luxury they could possibly want and make them the richest of everyone they know, for another, it might be really, really difficult to fit in with their friends and colleagues with only 2M, which may or may not matter to them.
As for saving, can you explain why you can't make more money? I make a lot of money, but that's because I put in an astronomical amount of time and energy into developing the skills, education and network needed to get here.
Making money in and of itself is a skill that can be learned. So if you want to make more money, then perhaps put some of your resources towards that. Those of use who make good money typically set out to do so, for some (few) it's luck, but for a lot of us, it's pretty intentional and woven into the fabric of years of decision making.
In particular, if you hate your job, then that's probably your biggest issue. People tend to envy those with money more when what they most want is freedom from circumstances they feel trapped in.
There's a reason I don't envy the 5M, 10M, 25M, 50M, etc folks I know is because I'm not unhappy. My work is remarkably difficult and insanely high pressure, as a lot of well paid work is, but I really enjoy it. I could retire right now if I had a 20K spend, but I have no interest in not working, so I make a lot and can afford to spend more and save a lot.
2M might not fuel such envy in you if the job you had that could get you to 500K was something you really liked doing and you really enjoyed the life it provided.
If you aren't happy, then focus instead on changing something, not worrying about the trade offs other people choose to make in their lives.
Spend some time here, there's A LOT to learn here about career building, not just reducing spending. I've learned a lot of what I needed to be successful from being an active member here.