Have you ever wondered how someone could actually retire?
The main difference between a strictly unemployed person and a retiree: A retiree has replaced their income somehow. This can be done in a variety of ways including (but not limited to):
- Saving up a lump sum of money and withdrawing from it regularly
- Receiving a pension from the company you worked for or from the government
- Or an annuity you purchased that pays out an amount regularly
For the example below, let’s assume you don’t have a pension from your company nor benefits from the government. In this scenario, your retirement would be 100% dependent on your savings.
The amount you require to successfully retire is dependent on two main factors:
- The annual income you desire during retirement
- The length of retirement
To keep things simple, say you want to retire at 65 years old with the same retirement income per year as your pre-retirement income per year – $50,000. According to the World Bank, the average life expectancy in the US is 79 (as of 2015). Let’s split the difference and call it 80 for our example which means we should plan for income for a minimum of 15 years. (For our purposes here we’re going to disregard the impact of inflation and taxes to keep our math simple.) With that in mind, this would be the minimum amount we would need to be saved up by age 60:
- $50,000 x 15 years = $750,000
There it is: to retire with a $50,000 annual income for 15 years, you’d need to save $750,000. The next challenge is to figure out how to get to that number (if you’re not already there) in the most efficient way you can. The more time you have, the easier it can be to get to that number since you have more time for contributions and account growth.
If this number seems daunting to you, you’re not alone. The mean savings amount for American families with members between 56-61 is $163,577 – nearly half a million dollars off our theoretical retirement number. Using these actual savings numbers, even if you decided to live a thriftier lifestyle of $20,000 or $30,000 per year, that would mean you could retire for 8-9 years max!
All of this info may be hard to hear the first time, but it’s the first real step to preparing for your retirement. Knowing your number gives you an idea about where you want to go. After that, it’s figuring out a path to that destination. If retirement is one of the goals you’d like to pursue, let’s get together and figure out a course to get you there – no math degree required!