How much money would you need to retire right now??

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You people are crazy. First of all, getting a 5% return on investments year in and year out is not an easy thing to do. That is not retiring. You can expect about a 1% return on average, and that's not including taxes.

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Huh? I agree 5% is a little high if you are concentrating on "safe" investments, but 1% is definately too low. Hell, even for a savings account that is low.

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I'm saying on average over the next years including taxes. Don't forget that all interest and money made on investments is still very taxable. This is being "retired." Like I said before, if you are working at 5% return year in and year out, it's very possible, but you are not retired.

Have you looked at the weak bank interest rates right now? And low yeild stock options aren't going to be doing so hot either.

[TheMainEvent]

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You people are crazy. First of all, getting a 5% return on investments year in and year out is not an easy thing to do. That is not retiring. You can expect about a 1% return on average, and that's not including taxes.

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Huh? I agree 5% is a little high if you are concentrating on "safe" investments, but 1% is definately too low. Hell, even for a savings account that is low.

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I'm saying on average over the next years including taxes. Don't forget that all interest and money made on investments is still very taxable. This is being "retired." Like I said before, if you are working at 5% return year in and year out, it's very possible, but you are not retired.

Have you looked at the weak bank interest rates right now? And low yeild stock options aren't going to be doing so hot either.

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Sorry, forget what I'm typing sometimes. Damn pot and technology.

[bobbyi]

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A married couple both working as public school teachers probably make an amount similar to this. Do you think most teachers live a very expensive lifesyle?

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Wtf? That is an insane comparison. How can you compare a situation where you are have regular jobs and need to be saving up a large portion of your money for the future to a situation where you have millions in the bank and whatever you "pay yourself" is 100% disposable? This isn't like having a $100k salary. This means that you are literally spending $100k a year. That's about $275 a day. You don't think you can by spending an average of less than $275 per day on food, insurance, entertainment, etc.? That's a huge amount.

[david050173]

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A married couple both working as public school teachers probably make an amount similar to this. Do you think most teachers live a very expensive lifesyle?

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Wtf? That is an insane comparison. How can you compare a situation where you are have regular jobs and need to be saving up a large portion of your money for the future to a situation where you have millions in the bank and whatever you "pay yourself" is 100% disposable? This isn't like having a $100k salary. This means that you are literally spending $100k a year. That's about $275 a day. You don't think you can by spending an average of less than $275 per day on food, insurance, entertainment, etc.? That's a huge amount.

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Your comparision is flawed in that most of your money isn't disposable income. You still have to grow your princple to prevent inflation from eroding your buying power. You still have to pay taxes on that growth. You still have to buy health insurance(look the prices for 50-60 year olds with a family). I am sure you don't better than a salary man but not by much.

As you get older, staying healthy becomes VERY expensive. So do nursing homes the last few years of your life.

[elmo]

taxes and inflation suck

[celiboy]

For me it would have to be $2 Mil. This would be 80K per year at 4% so after taxes you'd be looking at 60K. My expenses are about $1500 a month - excluding mortgage which will be gone in one year at 31 - so that is about 20K after tax so 80K pretax would be more than enough for trips, a new car every 10 years, etc. Personally I'm not working past 45 since working for "the man" is Bullshit.

[david050173]

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For me it would have to be $2 Mil. This would be 80K per year at 4% so after taxes you'd be looking at 60K. My expenses are about $1500 a month - excluding mortgage which will be gone in one year at 31 - so that is about 20K after tax so 80K pretax would be more than enough for trips, a new car every 10 years, etc. Personally I'm not working past 45 since working for "the man" is Bullshit.

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Using your numbers, you start with 80k a year. You pay 20k in taxes. You then need to invest 40k a year to order to grow your princple. Then you need 1500 a month to live. That leaves you 2k a year to go on trips. And I am guessing your 1500 a month doesn't include health care that your company is paying. And if you think that 40k princple growth is bullshit, take a look at what inflation does over periods of 20 years

Reality isn't quite as grim as the above numbers suggest. You should be able to get 6-8% with a conservative investment strategy and you can probably lower your tax burden a bit more. And you can also eat into your princple eventually. On the other hand if you have a family (a majority of people end up with one even if that isn't thier plan at 21), your 1500 a month is probably a absurdly low
for most people.

And finally note that early retirement (less than 45)is much different than retiring at 65. Social Security, medicare, and the fact that you have 20 less years to worry about really change the equations.

Why does everyone think it is so easy to make this much on average investing without it being full time work? Inflation and taxes are the rake, you have a very small edge with low risk low yeilding investments and will not always get the same amount.