I retired at 58 because my employer went down the tubes for being stupid. So 16 years later, I have a little more than $500K, but still live comfortably and simply. I'm satisfied with my life style and don't expect to run out of money, and there are important things to be concerned about. Without being especially astute financially, or working, my net wealth seems to be increasing about $35K/year without consideration for my home's appreciation. I have Roth, 401K, and cash brokerage accounts. I'm a vet in good health with the VA taking care of monitoring my health.
Of the many many plans I’ve seen walked through, this was of the cleaner, more concise, without getting too caught in the weeds, plan walk throughs I’ve seen. Regarding long term care, too many plans focus on your retirement funds and ignore the often very significant equity you have in your home. While long term care can be extremely expensive, not all retirees need it. Don’t we all hope to die peacefully of natural causes, after all long happy life, in our own bed? In the cases where we need LTC, tapping into that home equity can offer the “insurance” or at least provide some of the funding.
I always surprises me that dual income couples with $200K annual total income, admittedly later in their careers only have $1mil in their 401K accounts. My spouse was a stay at home mom, my income followed a similar trajectory to the primary earner, and I didn’t get serious (15%) about my 401K until age 30. My 401K is over $1mil. Seems like their 401K balance should at a minimum be $1.5-2.0 mil.
It shouldn’t really surprise you. I used to work as a financial planner and saw the most egregious behaviour from the high earners and the most diligent behaviour from regular Joes. The latter drove cheap cars and lived in a modest house while the former drove expensive imports and lived in a neighbourhood where anything less would have made them look “poor”. As I tell my kids, “wealth is what you don’t see”. Not that accruing financial wealth is the only important thing in life, but being stressed because the Audi needs $2900 of new tires or the cheque for the marina bounced is not a great way to live, IMO.
@@davidhughes6048 so true. The word “surprise” might be diplomatic. There’s even an excellent book about that understated living - “The Millionaire Next Door”. The word “Surprise” applies to many of our friends, some of them two income families living in 3,500 sq ft homes, when they learn we were comfortably set up for retirement back in our mid-fifties and they are now still fighting to get there.
I retired at 58 because my employer went down the tubes for being stupid. So 16 years later, I have a little more than $500K, but still live comfortably and simply. I'm satisfied with my life style and don't expect to run out of money, and there are important things to be concerned about. Without being especially astute financially, or working, my net wealth seems to be increasing about $35K/year without consideration for my home's appreciation. I have Roth, 401K, and cash brokerage accounts. I'm a vet in good health with the VA taking care of monitoring my health.
Of the many many plans I’ve seen walked through, this was of the cleaner, more concise, without getting too caught in the weeds, plan walk throughs I’ve seen. Regarding long term care, too many plans focus on your retirement funds and ignore the often very significant equity you have in your home. While long term care can be extremely expensive, not all retirees need it. Don’t we all hope to die peacefully of natural causes, after all long happy life, in our own bed? In the cases where we need LTC, tapping into that home equity can offer the “insurance” or at least provide some of the funding.
Great video, thanks!
I always surprises me that dual income couples with $200K annual total income, admittedly later in their careers only have $1mil in their 401K accounts. My spouse was a stay at home mom, my income followed a similar trajectory to the primary earner, and I didn’t get serious (15%) about my 401K until age 30. My 401K is over $1mil. Seems like their 401K balance should at a minimum be $1.5-2.0 mil.
It shouldn’t really surprise you. I used to work as a financial planner and saw the most egregious behaviour from the high earners and the most diligent behaviour from regular Joes. The latter drove cheap cars and lived in a modest house while the former drove expensive imports and lived in a neighbourhood where anything less would have made them look “poor”. As I tell my kids, “wealth is what you don’t see”. Not that accruing financial wealth is the only important thing in life, but being stressed because the Audi needs $2900 of new tires or the cheque for the marina bounced is not a great way to live, IMO.
@@davidhughes6048 so true. The word “surprise” might be diplomatic. There’s even an excellent book about that understated living - “The Millionaire Next Door”. The word “Surprise” applies to many of our friends, some of them two income families living in 3,500 sq ft homes, when they learn we were comfortably set up for retirement back in our mid-fifties and they are now still fighting to get there.
Over $200K annual income; $350K in 401K here. Total net worth over $2.5M. S&P 5 (no typo) at insane valuation is not the only way to make money.