How much liquid do you need to retire in today's world?

Um, about 6 8oz glasses a day............

 

Speak for yourself hehe

 

A case per year of 18/25 year old Scotch and life is good.

 

No debt and $1.5 to $2 Mill would do. You could spend almost $100k a year and still have the investment grow.

 

Boy I'm going to get flamed for this...

Considering if I live to the age of 3 of 4 grandparents I have 55-60 years left... I have to be conservative.

1st home fully paid for...

And $4M bare minimum. put it in preferred stocks and bonds. try to avoid as much tax as possible. maybe get 5% dividend a year. very safe. $200K/year. never touch principle.

But 60 years of inflation could put a dent on the lifestyle so.... My investment plan is aiming at $8-10M then retire...

 

I'm thinking 5M and debt free. Lifestyle changes would allow less--more traveling might require a bit more.

 

Thanks scotty.... glad someone else responded with a number in my ballpark!

 

if you have $1 , you wish you had $2 , $2 wish you had $4..... too much is never enough. you raise your lifestyle to what $$$ you have in the bank . instead of thinking one ferrari will do , you'll want 10 and so on and so on

 

stop counting!

 

It completely depends on the lifestyle you expect to enjoy when you retire... which you would hope is much like the lifestyle you're living today... or at least when retirement day arrives.

If you want to retire in a mobile home community in Pinellas Park, it will be a lot less than a retirement home near the beach in LaJolla. Then you have pension and medical considerations, inflation, etc. It's a very tough question... at least for most of us.

My advice, marry a nice, rich girl. Unfortunately I didn't get the rich part... but I got the most important part of the two.

 

IMO it ALL depends on what (your) medical expenses will be.

I foresee a time in about 20-30 years where the homeless rate quadruples because 50-year olds today don't have anywhere near as much in 'retirement' as they will need.

 

So very true. My wife knew a fellow who was worth about 80 mil. He was in his late 70s or 80s and all he would think about is how he could make more money. I dont get it. at that age how much longer do you really think you have. I would be out seeing the world, having fun, chasing young girls and going nuts in general. Hes dead now and and what good would a few more bucks have done him?

 

Maybe he was thinking about his kids or whoever would inherit his wealth.

 

I'm 45, thinking about the same. 6-8 with house and cottage paid prolly adequate for a reasonable lifestyle that will afford a half decent car and some travel. One of our kids will be with us for life, but that shouldn't be a huge additional expense.

 

All my life I wanted to earn 100's of millions. But right now, I am out at 5mil. 5 mil is all I will ever need.

 

Need? All of the answers so far are hilarious exaggerations if we're really talking about "needs," but I suppose we're not.

 

Let's analyze this. For one person in the US, $25k/year after taxes is probably a realistic minimum. That assumes that you're not eating dog food, have some sort of vehicle, a small amount of money for leisure (but not much), and are paying for some sort of health insurance.

Now, you'll need to cover taxes, so let's say about $35k gross (being conservative-- taxes would probably be less).

Okay, so $35k in 2006 dollars per year. I didn't see anything about the original poster's age, so let's assume that they need their assets to last in perpetuity. I have seen various rules of thumb about withdrawl rates, but if you want your assets to last in perpetuity and cover inflation, I personally would not recommend drawing more than 3% per year, and I'd be more comfortable with 2%.

So... 2% would require about $1.75 million. Add a small reserve fund, and you're at $2 million for "needs." Not so far off the previous posts.

If you're married and/or supporting someone else, the amount goes up from there.

 

If it was needs, I could retire today. No problem. I have taken a year off with just the money I needed and I have to tell you I was bored out of my mind.

Either way, I am done at 40. I am sailing around the world. (not kidding) But if I reach my goal of 5 million before I am 40 I will stop working that day. I will be done.

Its a personal goal.

 

10 mil minimum.

 

one...hundred....billion dollars..... [in Dr. Evil voice]

 

i say 1 mill at 7-8% interest and your making 70-80K a year in interest, i could get buy on that and be pretty comfortable and have a few cool toys to keep myself occupied

 

The tough part there, of course, is finding an 8% return in real terms.

 

1 million cash. (plus other income)