Can I live on a 10 million retirement?

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I'd say it depends on exactly HOW you'd like to live.

As to the reality question, one million dollars, invested in dividend paying stocks, can return about $40,000 annually, or about $3000 a month after tax. Add about 17,000 to that from S/S. All without touching the principal.

I can remember when $57,000 was easy to live on, once again it depends on your needs.
 
Too many variables. Single, married, house paid for, location, age at retirement (SS mentioned, but early at 62, full retirement age, or bonus at 70), medicare elegibility, etc.
I think in a lot of cases 1 mil and SS would provide an ample lifestyle, especially if you were single, had medical insurance, no debt, were in decent health and were flexible where you lived.
 
I read an article and almost fell out of my chair that this was even a topic. Of course 99% of people could live well on that.

Now back to reality, do you think 1 million is still enough to live comfortably in retirement when you include SS?
Yeah that is one incredibly uppity and sheltered take. The writer must've been some trust fund baby.

Retiring at what age and how long you honestly expect to live given your current medical state and family age history (known to die younger or older) and with what assets, with what asset ownership costs, how much you want to spend, where you want to live, and this and that. It's difficult to say but with a fortune of 10 million you'd be a fool to mess that up even if you were 20.

If I were to sell my homes and business here in the us and move back to my home in Mexico while putting my money in etf's and selling off as i need to when i need to i could retire at 65 and live to near 90 and be solid without a million or social security. But if i were purely an American without the luxury of being able to readjust in a different country i would at least move to like a very low cost area in the US to still maintain commonality. Brownsville wouldn't be the worst place to retire on a budget if i didn't want to go far and experience the trouble of snow on the roads more than once every 10 years. The Midwest is still pretty cheap to live. But the snow and freezing cold is scary. No crawfish up there either.
 
A sharp, productive person knows their situation. They know what their expenses are and they know what their obligations are. With this in mind, I know that I spend right around $30,000 a year just to exist. This is my taxes, insurances, food, housing, entertainment, etc.

If a person has 1 million dollars and they can invest it in dividend paying stocks then they should not have much trouble earning 3% - 5% realistically. That means that they can draw $30,000 - $50,000 per year on their 1 million dollar investment and never touch the aggregate investment.

In this situation, yes, they can live on a million dollars indefinitely.

The problem is when they start wanting that $100,000 electric pickup truck or they want to buy new carbon-fiber rotors for their helicopter. This eats at your cash. The trick is budgeting and balancing, limiting what you "deserve" from a life well lived, and knowing how much of a tip you want to leave the hearse driver for the trip to the grave.
 
I know a few people that live on SS alone thinking that it was designed to cover their retirement expenses. They don't live comfortably.
But add a million that is well diversified and 60/40, and use the common 4% withdrawal rate, you would have $40,000 plus SS before taxes...

I would be comfortable on that, because after I invest 25% of my current income, I am living on less than 40k right now, so SS would be a bonus.

Someone that is used to living on 150k a year, might not be too comfortable living on SS and drawing off of a million.
 
do you think 1 million is still enough to live comfortably in retirement when you include SS?
You should be able to live off the $40,000+/year interest (currently) alone. That's assuming the house is paid for, medicare covers medical bills and you get some SS. Your expenses would basically be down to food, utilities, taxes, insurance and transportation, and a little something for entertainment.
 
This is a meaningless debate, because there's no frame of reference. Yes? No? Maybe?

Can I retire on $10M? Dunno ... what age of retirement? What life expectation? What standard of living?


Remind you of anything?
- What's the best oil filter? Dunno ... how long are you going to use it? What application? What service factors exist?
- What's the best tire? Dunno ... for what vehicle? What loads? What speeds? What road conditions? What life expectancy? Grip?
- What's the best rifle cartridge? Dunno ... hunting or target shooting? Distance? Costs?

You get the picture.


By the way, there's several articles in this topic:
etc ...
 
I read an article and almost fell out of my chair that this was even a topic. Of course 99% of people could live well on that.

Now back to reality, do you think 1 million is still enough to live comfortably in retirement when you include SS?

Retiring end of Spring this year!

Our financial planner - my wife's actually - He ran a montecarlo analysis given income and predicted expenses accounting for cost of living and the results were yes ( less than 1m in the IRA) There was no erosion of principal.

But we live frugally. I think our combined expenses was about $70K/annum

Even with a worst case senario there wasn't more than a 65% erosion of nestegg in 26 years.

And that's with no working. We may get bored and take part time work who knows?
 
Hand me $10M today and yes I’d be retired, ASAP, not even going back to the office to clean it out. Hand me $1M today and I’d still be working for another 10 years, maybe even more. 10 years from now, hand me $1M and I migh call it done, but probably not—like many have pointed out, there are many variables involved here. Location, other assets, other debts, a laundry list of variables.
 
You should be able to live off the $40,000+/year interest (currently) alone. That's assuming the house is paid for, medicare covers medical bills and you get some SS. Your expenses would basically be down to food, utilities, taxes, insurance and transportation, and a little something for entertainment.
Don' forget taxes We may be paying maybe $2-3K Federal annually IRS tax code considers the middle class "rich" in retirement.
I never anticipated THAT!
 
1 = no
10 = yes
Most of us here are in that exact spectrum. I mean people who had the various savings plans with gusto.

We were doing fine on my tax free monthly income from my muni bonds (~$3500) , my small (tiny) pension ($427) from a buy out, and Amsoil (~1200-$1500). But decided to take SS starting now (~$4500/mo total for us both minus Medicare coming up). And in 2024 my wife will get small state employee pension of around $500

This should stabilize much need to hit the principle in the above mentioned spectrum.

(the above does not count income and such in our various tax protected account which of course are the large bulk of our retirement savings)
 
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