What’s your number?

[disneysteve]

As of right now, I spend from 5-10 hours a week on all of the above.

I have no idea how you manage and maintain multiple rental properties, manage other people's properties, and run several franchise locations in so little time. You must have a truly impressive staff doing all of the day to day work so that you don't have to. Good for you. I know plenty of people who own one or two vacation homes and spend more time per week dealing with them than you do for everything you are involved with.

[TexasHusker]

I have no idea how you manage and maintain multiple rental properties, manage other people's properties, and run several franchise locations in so little time. You must have a truly impressive staff doing all of the day to day work so that you don't have to. Good for you. I know plenty of people who own one or two vacation homes and spend more time per week dealing with them than you do for everything you are involved with.

Well, I own a property management company so it manages my properties. I suppose I manage the manager, but mostly I just stay out of the way.

My franchises are managed by managers, who are then managed by a General Manager. I just manage her I suppose.

I have spent more time on previous metals trading strategies than anything else lately.

I am a little different duck than most, I would assume. Finding ways to turn a profit is kind of my passion. My hobby. I know some people would never want to hire a yard keeper, as it would rob the satisfaction of tending their own yard. I am that same way with investments.

[disneysteve]

Well, I own a property management company so it manages my properties. I suppose I manage the manager, but mostly I just stay out of the way.

My franchises are managed by managers, who are then managed by a General Manager. I just manage her I suppose.

I have spent more time on previous metals trading strategies than anything else lately.

That's great. Having good people under you obviously makes a huge difference in allowing you to be the mostly hands-off owner behind the scenes.

[~bs]

it's actually hard for me to come up with a single number because of the nature of my assets. The investment assets are the easiest, just look at the the portfolio values

Pension, business, and real estate (personal and investment property) is harder to pin an exact dollar. Do you use anticipated continued cash flow stream or liquidation value, or a mix of the two?

I'd like to be able to stop working if I choose by the time I'm 40, but realistically, I will work much longer than that. way too much uncertainty to retire before 50ish unless if your asset base is in multi millions.

[alliecat79]

As of now, I have a public pension guaranteed by my state of residence. I will hit full retirement at 59, so at that time, I need to have a plan for insurance for myself. Most people in my position pick up consulting work to supplement cost of insurance. I hope to do the same. I can work for up to 120 days so little interim positions are perfect for that. I will receive 75% of the average of my 4 most lucrative years within my last ten years of working. That is unless something changes our state's constitution which currently guarantees my retirement benefits. I will not receive social security as I pay into a public pension system.

I recently opened up a 403b as I am deeply worried about our state's current financial situation and the possibility of a referendum ever changing our constitution. Efforts to reform the pension system have been repeatedly ruled by the courts as unconstitutional. I refuse to bank on that. If I end up not having reduced pension benefits, I can enjoy the 403b as additional income.

[james.hendrickson]

As of right now, I spend from 5-10 hours a week on all of the above. And I am often bored out of my mind. I’ve chosen to keep doing more not because of the desire for more income as much as I’m bored. I can’t imagine a day where I do absolutely nothing and still get a check - just shoot me in the head on that day.

I suppose if I ever wanted to spend zero time doing anything whatsoever, I would just sell the businesses, real estate, and gold coins, and buy an annuity.

Dave Ramsey’s model is built on 1) passive investing (mutual funds) and 2) the idea of one day doing absolutely nothing. So I don’t take his advice because 1) I am active investor - meaning I am mostly hands-on, and 2) one day doing absolutely nothing doesn’t appeal to me.

The returns in passive investing are going to be substantially lower - 8, 10, possibly 12 percent if you find a unicorn mutual fund.

The returns in active investing can be double or triple or even higher. But if the investment falters due to your laziness, incompetence, or ineptitude , it isn’t the Fed’s fault, nor the economy’s, nor the Republicans’ nor Democrats, nor the crappy mutual fund manager’s. The buck stops with you.

Best post of the day.

[disneysteve]

The returns in active investing can be double or triple or even higher. But if the investment falters due to your laziness, incompetence, or ineptitude , it isn’t the Fed’s fault, nor the economy’s, nor the Republicans’ nor Democrats, nor the crappy mutual fund manager’s. The buck stops with you.

That's not entirely true. You own luxury vacation rental properties and a hair-cutting business. Doesn't the state of the economy affect the performance of those? If people are hitting hard times financially due to the economy going downhill, they are less likely to take costly vacations. And maybe instead of getting a haircut every 4 weeks they'll stretch it to every 6 or 7. Or the guys especially may even decide to start cutting their own hair like I do (and some of the ladies too - my wife cut her own hair for years because she didn't want to spend the money for someone else to do it). Most service businesses are at least somewhat dependent on the economy.

[disneysteve]

I know some people would never want to hire a yard keeper, as it would rob the satisfaction of tending their own yard. I am that same way with investments.

Me too. I can't imagine ever hiring a CFP or other adviser type of person to manage our portfolio. I've always done it myself.

[Thrif-t]

I don't know.

I've really been starting to dial into it all since my DH said he'll "probably" be offered a buyout in 2 years time.

We've always been savers and I have a 401k and he has a deferred comp in addition to his pension(and I have a small pension).

Healthcare is a big problem for us and I won't have it when he retires and after watching a webinar he needs to wait till 60 to get healthcare even though he can retire with a full pension at 58. AND it would be better/cheaper/almost free if he waited till 65 to sign up for healthcare because they'd subsidize more of the cost for him in the form of rebates.

So thinking about the ACA and trying to stay under the limit so we qualify for subsidies, I'm wondering (will have to call) can he retire and not take his pension at that time. I know he can, my concern is he needs to sign up for the option that will be less so I would keep collecting his pension should he die first. I'm thinking if he retires at 58 and doesn't sign any papers and would die the next day then I won't get that lifetime pension. I'll get whatever money he paid into the pension, which would only last until the money ran out. So now I have a new monkey wrench I gotta research.

I was thinking we could live off our 401k and his deferred comp until we'd start collecting the pension. But I really feel like all this is just to hard to nail down on a single number. We don't have the types of jobs that will generate millions in savings. We live a simple life in a fairly low cost of living area, but we do have 3 kids that we're helping with college. At this point, we just have to keep chugging along saving as much as we can.

If we could collect the pension and have healthcare we could retire today and be fine. It's that dang healthcare that screws everything up.

[greenskeeper]

whats your amount you think you’ll need to retire? Curious to see everyone’s answers.

Nobody really knows. Put yourself into the best position possible financially. Too many variables (majority health related) to come up with an exact number

[disneysteve]

Nobody really knows. Put yourself into the best position possible financially. Too many variables (majority health related) to come up with an exact number

If you don’t have a destination, how will you know when you’ve arrived?

[TexasHusker]

That's not entirely true. You own luxury vacation rental properties and a hair-cutting business. Doesn't the state of the economy affect the performance of those? If people are hitting hard times financially due to the economy going downhill, they are less likely to take costly vacations. And maybe instead of getting a haircut every 4 weeks they'll stretch it to every 6 or 7. Or the guys especially may even decide to start cutting their own hair like I do (and some of the ladies too - my wife cut her own hair for years because she didn't want to spend the money for someone else to do it). Most service businesses are at least somewhat dependent on the economy.

When business owners blame the economy for their sufferings, they are just being lazy. Your business has to adjust to the conditions and move on.

In the vacation rental business, in recessionary times, we simply market our portfolio to folks that live within an 8-hour drive of the properties. Folks that are feeling the pinch might not fly to Florida, but instead they might drive to a National Park closer to them. We've been in business since 2011 and have found that recessions and booms don't have any measurable effect on our business.

In the haircut business, we might actually do better when the economy turns south, as folks might be a lot more interested in a $14 haircut than they were last year. Again, we haven't found that recessions and booms have any measurable effect on business.

Poor business owners love to find an excuse or a way to blame someone or some thing for their fortunes. The economy, the weather, the location, the election. A sort of victim mentality.

[Scallywag]

We plan to work as long as we can to amass a fortune for our disabled son. The figure I have in mind is 3 million + paid off home. I hope we make it because my son will need that kind of inheritance to live a comfortable life after our time.

[srblanco7]

Goal is $5M at age 55. And 55 is only 5 years from now for me. Stock market performance over the next half decade will weigh heavily on whether that's achievable (my modeling is based on 7% portfolio rate of return with gains and dividends reinvested).

[corn18]

Goal is $5M at age 55. And 55 is only 5 years from now for me. Stock market performance over the next half decade will weigh heavily on whether that's achievable (my modeling is based on 7% portfolio rate of return with gains and dividends reinvested).

7% nominal or real (after inflation)? And is that for your entire retirement period?

If I plug in 7% real in my model, I can retire in June. I plan for 2% real return (~5% nominal).