What is your retirement number...and what do you do when you reach it?

[Captain Save]

But Roth is after-tax, so in order to invest that $5,500 you had to earn (in the 28% ) $7,640.

Yes of course.. but we're talking about the "number" you need in the account to be satisfied.. you have to take into account that the Roth number doesn't need to be as high as the 401k .. so your "number" would be different depending on the account..

now I still rather pay the taxed money in the Roth .. as it gives me a peace of mind .. but that's besides the point..

[corn18]

Another great reason for a Roth is no RMD's. I probably won't need the money in my Roth, so it can grow tax free forever and then get passed on to my heirs tax free. They can do with it what they want, but if everything works out right, it will be a big number because I don't have to withdraw RMDs.

[Outdoorsygal]

Mr Money Mustachers usually think they need 400-500K in order to retire plus a fairly large monthly income.
I wonder what they'd think of this thread

[Nutria]

Another great reason for a Roth is no RMD's. I probably won't need the money in my Roth, so it can grow tax free forever and then get passed on to my heirs tax free. They can do with it what they want, but if everything works out right, it will be a big number because I don't have to withdraw RMDs.

Can't you take your unneeded RMD and invest it somewhere else?

[corn18]

Can't you take your unneeded RMD and invest it somewhere else?

Sure, and I will. Just would be nice to let it stay where it is and not pay any tax on it. First world problem.

[Goldy]

Our goal is 2.4M, currently at 1.25 so only about 5 more years to go thanks to the magic of compounding interest. We might start a family soon so I could easily see a scenario where we have hit our number but one of us keeps working for college saving or general kid costs. That's a problem for future me to figure out, for now I am happy with where we are.

[scfr]

Taxes with respect to when you withdraw, not deposit. If you withdraw $100 from a 401k (not a Roth 401k) you will pay ordinary income tax on the withdrawal. You need to plan for that.

Yup - Taxes are the big difference between tax-deferred and other assets. On my net worth statement I have a sub-category for tax-deferred assets with 2 columns. The first column has the current value of the assets, but in the second column I deduct 15% for what I guesstimated our effective tax rate will be in retirement.

[scfr]

Yes, we have a ballpark number.

Yes, we plan to spend down our financial assets. My plan (I'm the family number cruncher) is that we begin with a 2.5% initial withdrawal rate, and then adjust for inflation. We might hit "the number" in a couple years but we will keep working because of "the big unknowns": health care, assistance to parents, taxes, and the possibility of moving to a high cost of living area.

We have started dialing down our workloads slightly. DH is self-employed and no longer pursues new clients or lines of business. I re-engineered my work so that I no longer have a long commute.

When DH fully retires, his business will cease to exist.
Our investments are already very conservative, and may become even more so in retirement. I don't want a plan that relies on high returns.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

i personally think that being in your 30s and retiring with $400-500k is a little low because the standard 2-4% withdrawal rate might be stretching it. Of course being in your 30s maybe you can easily get another part-time or full time job not high pay to help stretch it.

[AJ444]

$3m probably. Well see when we want to retire then we'll look more closely. I think we're far short of that now but we could retire if we wanted to scale back lifestyle. I think 5 years from now we should be just about right to hit enough and yet be completely satisfied. Wont do it though. DH likes working and wants to make it rain while he can. Then when he's fired or let go we'll discuss.

LOL, what is his occupation?

[GoodSteward]

My retirement number is based on the income I hope to have, and that number will be around 2mil. I'm in my early thirties, but behind due to dumbness. It's a slow process, but we are getting there.

[tripods68]

My pension for life will provide with at least 40k a year at age 55 if I decide to retire. My wife will receive pension with at least 55k a year when she retire at age 55. Combined we are looking $90-100k a year without needing to withdraw retirement accounts at all. We only need to live on $50k a year when we retire once we payoff our current home.

We can let our investment/retirement account continue to grow. Eventually To start moving most deferred comps to ROTH by age 70.

[FLA]

I had a million as a number in my head. At 44, both the financial planner at work and one at Vanguard, said I was on target to retire easily at 62 and that I could actually back off on the 401k and save for college.

Then I got sick. I'm living on 22-24k a year now. I have no mortgage or debt. I have 517k in retirement monies and a small defined benefit pension. I think I could've been ok but per my divorce decree, I am on the hook for half of two State U educations which would take 100k out of my portfolio. I can access it without penalty because I am on SSDI.

I meet with a Vanguard planner on Monday. Likely, I will go to court to see if I can get my share reduced since the only way I can pay is to touch my retirement that now needs to last me into my 80s+ with no additional contributions.

[StormRichards]

Wow. I just noticed that my posted link of "Gazillion" was deleted!

I saw the thread today about rules reminder and even in that post there was a statement about it was okay to have fun as long as it was on topic and not insulting people.

So how is a link to an ON TOPIC commercial a violation of the rules requiring the post be deleted?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

LOL, what is his occupation?

playing video games