How much money do you need to retire?

OR How Little :confused:

A COUPLE in retirement now needs nearly $50,000 a year to maintain a comfortable lifestyle with higher food and petrol prices hitting their budget, new data says.

Inflation for a couple living comfortably in retirement rose 1.1 per cent during the March quarter, new figures released for the Westpac ASFA Retirement Standard show.

They would need to spend $49,502 a year to maintain their lifestyle, up from 0.6 per cent in the December quarter.

A single person would need $37,002 a year for a comfortable lifestyle in retirement.

Couples with a more modest lifestyle need $26,851 a year, a 1.2 per cent rise, up from 0.9 per cent in the December quarter. A single person leading a modest lifestyle would need $19,141 a year.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, together with Westpac, found that to have a comfortable lifestyle, retired singles who live in their own home need to spend $36,607 a year and couples $48,648.
 
I calculated that we need $2.5M (with inflation) to last from when we're 50 - 65 and super kicks in. Still intend having a couple of properties in case Super isn't enough. Plan assumes that the PPOR is paid off.
 
Net or gross?

I'd like to have approx 2K a week passive income (net) coming in. Any additional would be a bonus. I'd probably still be putting some of that away to further invest.

Regards
Marty
 
I'm planning on getting $150k/yr in 2005 dollar terms. $3M in income producing investments (again, 2005 dollars), should do it. Also need PPOR paid off.
 
Can I just ask out of curiosity, those who say they need $2-3K a week net income with no mortgage, how you will be spending that in retirement? I'm not asking this out of sarcasm, I'm genuinely curious. Retirement is a long way off for me, but I am thinking I'd like $50K net (although this is one person) with my PPOR paid off. At the moment I clear almost $70K after tax but with that I'm paying off a mortgage and saving/investing a large sum of that. If I'm no longer paying a mortgage and no longer needing to save, I would have thought that $50K would be comfortable but maybe I'm not taking some things into consideration so am curious as to why people think they need so much?
 
Can I just ask out of curiosity, those who say they need $2-3K a week net income with no mortgage, how you will be spending that in retirement? I'm not asking this out of sarcasm, I'm genuinely curious. Retirement is a long way off for me, but I am thinking I'd like $50K net (although this is one person) with my PPOR paid off. At the moment I clear almost $70K after tax but with that I'm paying off a mortgage and saving/investing a large sum of that. If I'm no longer paying a mortgage and no longer needing to save, I would have thought that $50K would be comfortable but maybe I'm not taking some things into consideration so am curious as to why people think they need so much?

I've thought about this (my goal is $150k/year in 2005 dollar terms). At the moment I have only a rough idea, but it goes something like this.

$25k/year food, groceries, household bills, home maintenance
$25k/year for vehicles, including purchase, maintenance, running, fuel
$30k/year for entertainment, eating out, clothes, toys, and general luxuries
$40k/year for travel, which will likely be 2-3 trips per year
$15k/year for saving as cash at the bank, which will be allowed to grow over time, thus providing a nice buffer over the years against poor investment performace, contingency for emergencies, etc
$15k/year for assistance to others, support of charity and church, other causes, etc.

I realise this represents with I would consider a very comfortable lifestyle. At this stage, I think I have about 12 years to go. I also think I'll have trouble spending it all (especially the general luxuries amount), but I'm willing to give it a try.
 
Thanks for sharing VYBerlinaV8. You are aiming for a far more luxurious lifestyle than me! :D Plus, yours I am guessing is for two people. I want to be able to travel and have spare money etc. just not as much as you, so I think I will continue with my goal of $50K net. Good on you if you're able to achieve that, that's fantastic, but on my income I think I'd have to sacrifice a lot of my life while I'm young in order to accomplish that sort of lifestyle for when I'm old which I'm not prepared to do.
 
Wow.. I can't fathom spending 150K a year as our current budget without the mortgage is less than 2K a month (2 people, 1 car, w/o kids) with a couple of hundreds spare for untoward spending. We don't feel deprived though... although we've yet to buy that big LED TV. :D

I guess in 20 yrs or so (with PPOR paid up, still 1 car, still w/o kids) we just need more or less 4-5K a month to live comfortably? :)
 
those who say they need $2-3K a week net income with no mortgage, how you will be spending that in retirement?
I said I'd like 2K net a week. Probably don't need that much but would like that amount.

To go on; groceries, bills, petrol, travel and further investing.

Regards
Marty
 
50K sounds about right if you have your debts cleared and you don't have 25+yo children dependant on you.

Obviously most people would want more, but this figure would allow for an occassional nice holiday, a decent car and more than a diet of noodles.

My 'ancient' Government super has been calculated by SA Super to provide just under this, so any extra investment income, plus my husbands super, is a huge bonus for us.

Personally, I'd like well in excess of 50K, otherwise I would probably keep working at least part time, past age 60. Mind you I can still see that happening anyway, in one form or another, because we need to keep busy. Renovating cheap dumps, perhaps?
 
Thanks for sharing VYBerlinaV8. You are aiming for a far more luxurious lifestyle than me! :D Plus, yours I am guessing is for two people. I want to be able to travel and have spare money etc. just not as much as you, so I think I will continue with my goal of $50K net. Good on you if you're able to achieve that, that's fantastic, but on my income I think I'd have to sacrifice a lot of my life while I'm young in order to accomplish that sort of lifestyle for when I'm old which I'm not prepared to do.

The numbers are for my wife and I combined, so yes, 2 people.

Also, my wife and I have been fortunate (and worked hard) such that our combined income is several hundred thousand a year from working, and we don't live a high-flying lifestyle now. We have 1 child. My wife and I are both 34, so we still have some time to grow our investments.
 
Using the best software package I have ever seen to determine that question, Wealth Sabotage, we calculated our ideal lifestyle for total financial independence to be $100k per annum (in todays dollars).

Not only does it come up with your ideal lifestyle income requirements but it also tracks where you are going, how far you have come to date and how far you have left to go to attaining it.

I hope this helps.
 
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Me and my partner have always thought around the 2-3k a week would be more than comfortable. That is purely from Property (And maybe some online) interests as we are 22 & 23 now and have no faith in super so not taking that into account at the moment!

After travelling in South and Central America for 6 months that income can go a LONG way in beautiful tropical settings over here for a few months every year :)
 
Retirement

Hiya

And if you are adventurous enough to spend half your retirement overseas (eg. in Asia),you can retire on half (or even a quarter) of that!!!!

I know of a couple who did just that!

For eg. google Malaysia golden passport


good luck!
 
Can I just ask out of curiosity, those who say they need $2-3K a week net income with no mortgage, how you will be spending that in retirement? I'm not asking this out of sarcasm, I'm genuinely curious. Retirement is a long way off for me, but I am thinking I'd like $50K net (although this is one person) with my PPOR paid off. At the moment I clear almost $70K after tax but with that I'm paying off a mortgage and saving/investing a large sum of that. If I'm no longer paying a mortgage and no longer needing to save, I would have thought that $50K would be comfortable but maybe I'm not taking some things into consideration so am curious as to why people think they need so much?

I haven't analysed it too much, but hubby and I combined earn $220K gross or thereabouts a year, so without the mortgage and after tax I figured $100K after tax was about right - added 3% inflation per year (12 years) to reach a figure of $142K in the first year, $147K in the second etc etc. I don't want to 'go without' in retirement.
 
I haven't analysed it too much, but hubby and I combined earn $220K gross or thereabouts a year, so without the mortgage and after tax I figured $100K after tax was about right - added 3% inflation per year (12 years) to reach a figure of $142K in the first year, $147K in the second etc etc. I don't want to 'go without' in retirement.
RedCat,

You need a lot less in retirement than you do when you're working. All those car expenses for the trips to work reduce significantly. You could probably even do away with one car. All those work clothes / suits etc gone. Boozy lunches with work colleagues not expensed, gone. $4 latte's 3 times a day, gone. All those take-away meals as you're both too tired to cook something delicious, gone. Once your residence is owned then that's another third of your expenses accounted for.

I think I calculated around $100K pa gross would do the trick for both of us. Almost $10K a month would be plenty given our reduced expenditure. We just got back from a three week holiday in Phuket and Malaysia and it cost us under $3,000 including flights, accommodation and all expenses. I'm thinking about buying a nice big yacht and trying the cruising lifestyle on for size. I've read that $30K pa net is plenty for cruisers to survive on but I'd want double that... ;) But if the yacht only costs me $100K and it results in another IP being available to rent as I'm not living in it anymore then the income effect is +$40K pa rent -$7K pa interest servicing on the yacht for net +$33K pa income from that change in abode. Malaysia here I come!

Cheers,
Michael
 
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