The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Getting there! on June 14, 2015, 03:32:27 PM
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I was re-reading the post this morning from January regarding calculating networth. My question is regarding a defined benefit plan. Do I include the contribution my employer makes which is about 1% more than mine?
Also how do I include the monthly pension amounts my husband receives from employer pension, Canada Pension and Old Age Security? I know the monthly amounts, but do I include a lump sum amount in a networth statement? Particularly the employer pension which will continue for as long one of us is living.
I appreciate any comments.
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Do you have a specific reason for calculating your net worth? If "just to see what it is," you can use any method you want.
How to treat pension cash flows would depend on your specific reason, if any.
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Right,
I had the same preponderance, and there are a number of ways you can calculate a number.. pick one..:)
But seriously its a waste of time, the reason you want a stash is to generate income... If you have an income (I.e likely pension payout) there is no value in back calculating it to NW.
I.e you need $1M to generate $40k.. Lets say you have a pension that projects $20k.. if you need $40k to live, well now you only need a stash of $500k... that's the only useful comparison.
OK, so your inner Scrooge is still not satisfied?.. OK take the value of the annual pension in x years time.. now multiply that by 25 (4%)rule... Thats the extra future net worth.
so lets say you have $32,000 a year.. multiply by 25 =$800k
But what is that worth today?.. lets do some sample numbers.. you can put in your own.. Lets say you have $800k in 5 years time.. and x is the value in todays dllars assuming a 3% inflation.
so x*(1.03)^5 = $800k
1.03^5 = 1.159
so x = $800k/1.159 = 690k.
As they say "close enough for government work"
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Thank you! I hadn't been including the pension amounts in networth before, but we're seeing a fee only planner on Tuesday, so I was just crunching some numbers to prepare for the appointment best I can.