What is your target amount?

[never give up]

Most of the numbers here are based on US $, are there any Brits/Europeans on here? We receive free medical care, and everyone receives state pension so be interesting to see what UK version.

Here you go @DadzillaGorilla

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/uk-tax-discussion/what's-your-uk-fire-amount/

[jojoguy]

My target goal is $1,000,000 or whatever we have in 9 more years. I would like our withdraw rate to be anywhere in the 2.5% and to 4% every year. We could probably achieve FIRE at about roughly $600K, but I want to be really conservative about the withdraws for that added peace of mind with $1mill instead.

[albireo13]

Current stash is $1.5M
If we retire within 2 yrs, estimated pensions will be another $1.2M as a lump sum.

Would like to get the stash up to $1.75M but, not sure I will by the time I retire.

[ender]

$1M is the "think about FIRE" amount. Circumstances will be different enough by then that it's impossible to know if it's enough or not.

[rantk81]

Current goal is $1.75M plus a paid off home.  Not quite there yet.  It's possible (maybe even probable) that the goal-posts will be changed again in the future though!  I've already far-surpassed the goals I had set several years ago!

[jeroly]

When I FIREd in 2001, my target NW had been $750k plus a paid-off mortgage on my HCOL-area home.

This was based on the assumption that I could withdraw 6% a year though, using historical averages of market returns.  I did not take sequence of returns risk into account at all.

It also did not take health insurance costs into account.  I was in my 30's when I was doing the calculations (and I fired at 41), and health insurance and health care in general were much cheaper based on both my age and the era.

So, we're now 18+ years later... and I'm still FIREd.

I had a lot of things go very right.  Almost all were completely due to dumb luck.

- First of all, I was forced to exercise my stock options when I quit, and that turned out to be the absolute best time to exercise them as my company's share price started to tank that very day.

- Secondly, I got super conservative when I quit (initially thinking I would avoid risking capital whilst I considered using a chunk to start a business) and got completely out of the market - timed perfectly to avoid the dotcom crash.

- I got back into the market in late 2002 (after deciding not to start what would've been a dotcom-type business) and captured a terrific run-up to the financial crisis.

- I got involved in some all-consuming passions in 2007-9 and basically ignored my investments, thus managing to avoid my likely inclination to pull $$$ out of the market and allowing me to reap the full benefit of the run up post-2009.

Fast forward to now, where thanks to those lucky breaks plus a 300% run-up in the value of my house from its purchase to its sale in 2014, as well as inheriting from two relatives, I now have much more than I started FIRE with. I'm now in a relatively secure (fat FIRE) situation where I'm spending at a 4% WR but could if need be cut back to perhaps 1.2%.

If I were FIREing now, I definitely would want to have more than I did when I FIREd, even after taking inflation into account.  I figure I'd want at least $1.5M.  That breaks down to: $1M to fund living expenses (including housing) @4%, $150-200k to fund healthcare contingencies, and $300k to fund end-of-life care.

[Cannot Wait!]

So, I don't measure net worth as much as passive income, so my goal was to get my basic expenses paid by that.

That's my plan too.  Curious about what people have to say about that plan?
I've been humming along for 3+ years like that.  Sometimes feels too easy.

[FIREstache]

So, I don't measure net worth as much as passive income, so my goal was to get my basic expenses paid by that.

That's my plan too.  Curious about what people have to say about that plan?
I've been humming along for 3+ years like that.  Sometimes feels too easy.

I specifically don't use "net worth" as mentioned a few posts up and never had a net worth target.  I'm not going to live off the equity in my home, so net worth is irrelevant to me.  I go by what I need in stash to pay my base expenses, but not just stopping there at base expenses, I also allow a significant discretionary amount on top of my base expenses.  And my WR can drop down when SS kicks in, which reduces the need for as much stash at that point in order to fund all the same expenses, per my earlier post.  I think that's pretty common thinking actually.

[BuddyXL]

I figure I need $800k now and obviously less each year down the road.

Kind of pointless for me to discuss however as I am a LONG way away so I try not to think about it and just save as much as I can.

[londonbanker]

So, I don't measure net worth as much as passive income, so my goal was to get my basic expenses paid by that.

That's my plan too.  Curious about what people have to say about that plan?
I've been humming along for 3+ years like that.  Sometimes feels too easy.

I like that.
My targeted income producing invested amount is set around £2.0m in today’s money - which I should be 2-3years away depending on market condition and bonus pay out.

[2sk22]

I have a college friend who works at a hedge fund who told me that the really high earning finance types typically have target numbers of upwards of twenty million dollars. As corroboration, I found this oldish article:

https://www.forbes.com/2007/02/25/wall-street-retirement-lead_achieve07_cx_lm_0301number.html#7f2763362056

To be able to retire at age 30 and maintain that $1 million-a-year-in-expenses lifestyle for the rest of your life, you'd have to have around $30 million socked away.

I have kept a record of my finances for many years and I don't think we have ever spent more $100k in one year (excluding college costs which come from a different bucket) - I have no idea what we would spend a million dollar a year on.

Added: Take a look at what younger financial industry types think is their magic number for retirement (its a bizarro universe :-)) https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/whats-your-dream-age-income-location-for-retirement

[jeroly]

have kept a record of my finances for many years and I don't think we have ever spent more $100k in one year (excluding college costs which come from a different bucket) - I have no idea what we would spend a million dollar a year on.

Private jets cost $700,000-$4M/yr to operate, not counting the purchase price.

[jaysee]

I've been having a read other people's posts and introspecting. Very interesting.

I want to assume the worst and set the bar low for myself, just so I can relax, enjoy life and lower my anxiety. I don't want to be rich at 65 but almost dead from stress.

My current net worth at 32 years of age stands at about $900K AUD.

My goal is to have $2.2M AUD by the age of 63, simply by leaving it alone in a low-cost index fund for ~30 years.

After taxes and inflation, that would net me about $1000-1400 of income p/week.

This is about double what I live off currently (including rent). I don't own a house, so that $1000 would have to cover rent as well. But given that this is double my current expenses, and takes into account into account inflation, I think I'd be Ok.

It's a bit disappointing, as I had dreams of reaching $5M, but I have to be realistic about the possibility of a persistent low-growth investment environment and unescapable reality of taxes and inflation and not being one of the rock-stars in my profession.

There are advantages to my situation:

• Made it to 32 with no health conditions so far (fingers crossed)
• Eat pretty clean and go to gym 4x per week and plan to never give those habits up
• Australian, so (hopefully) have access to universal healthcare and a pension
• Single and no dependents
• Enjoy living in house shares and have no need to live in an apartment
• Enjoy cooking and have no need to go restauranting
• Work in a profession that's reasonably well paid, fun and unlikely to be automated anytime soon

I'm going to assume that I can maintain my current lifestyle, pay for a few emergencies here and there, take a few long holidays and occasionally upgrade one of my devices.

On those assumptions I think I'll manage.

Who knows... maybe I'll find ways to hack around inflation or boost my income or decrease my taxes or increase my net worth.

But I'm not going to count on it...

[FIREstache]

I've been having a read other people's posts and introspecting. Very interesting.

I want to assume the worst and set the bar low for myself, just so I can relax, enjoy life and lower my anxiety. I don't want to be rich at 65 but almost dead from stress.

My current net worth at 32 years of age stands at about $900K AUD.

My goal is to have $2.2M AUD by the age of 63, simply by leaving it alone in a low-cost index fund for ~30 years.

After taxes and inflation, that would net me about $1000-1400 of income p/week.

So, you're not planning to FIRE until age 63?

[jaysee]

So, you're not planning to FIRE until age 63?

I'm starting to give up on FIRE, frankly.

The numbers just don't add up.

Low growth economy for the next 10 years and then I still have to pay income tax on my investment income, which I had neglected to factor in. So even if I had enough investments to earn $100k per year, after tax that quickly drops down to $70-80k.

If I retire on $1M, then how am I supposed to pay for all my living costs + potential medical bills for life, on a measly 3% pre-tax income from a $1M portfolio? That's $30k AUD... a drop in the bucket.

It looks like $5M is the new $1M, sadly.

FIRE was a nice fantasy for a while, but being realistic, it looks like I'll be a full-time salaried minion for most of my life.

I take some consolation in the fact that I somewhat enjoy my work and that I can always keep jumping between employers, so I'll never be really stuck with a bad boss/management.

[BuddyXL]

So, you're not planning to FIRE until age 63?

I'm starting to give up on FIRE, frankly.

The numbers just don't add up.

Low growth economy for the next 10 years and then I still have to pay income tax on my investment income, which I had neglected to factor in. So even if I had enough investments to earn $100k per year, after tax that quickly drops down to $70-80k.

If I retire on $1M, then how am I supposed to pay for all my living costs + potential medical bills for life, on a measly 3% pre-tax income from a $1M portfolio? That's $30k AUD... a drop in the bucket.

It looks like $5M is the new $1M, sadly.

FIRE was a nice fantasy for a while, but being realistic, it looks like I'll be a full-time salaried minion for most of my life.

I take some consolation in the fact that I somewhat enjoy my work and that I can always keep jumping between employers, so I'll never be really stuck with a bad boss/management.

I kind of feel the same way Conwy but mainly because I didn't start early enough in my career saving and have never worked anywhere with a retirement\pension plan.  I posted something about it here  https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/how-do-you-stay-motivated-if-fire-might-be-impossible/

So I get encouraged by coming here and seeing what has worked for others but even when I increase my savings rate, the numbers still say I have to work another 15 or so years (putting me well into my 60s) to be able to stop working.  Thats kind of when I figured I would retire anyway even when I never knew anything about FIRE.