Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

I'm 30 with two kids and a wife. We started kids very young and therefor I dropped out of college and went back this year.

WIth all that said I will probably be in school for the next ten years and will work the rest of my life. We have a hard time finding enough money to put away in the IRA I established a few years back.

 

I agree in the reduction of living expenses post retirement. I also agree that earning 75% of ones working income during retirement is doable. Though if it were my 401k alone, I'm pretty sure I would not be looking forward to the pay cut. My point is I believe people need to save aggressively. To me, saving $17,500 a year is a pretty good chunk of change even pre-tax (I'm not a doctor and don't earn a doctors income). $17,500 is my second largest annual expense...taxes are the only thing i spend more $$$ on. Granted I will have a company funded retirement and social security (if it still resist) and I've made other investments. But, I'd not be honest if I didn't say I was concerned about my own retirement. God forbid I get sick or for some reason am unable to earn a reasonable living. And let's not forget, that $200,000, while excluding any interest earnings, is in 2043 dallors and cents and is then a fixed income...never to increase and eventually goes to zero if I were dipping into the equity amount.

I still say save early & save as much as you can. )

ON EDIT: I still think the guys thinking they'll need/have $20,000,000 (at least in my work group) are insane.

ON EDIT, take 2.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291069.htm

The link above is the bureau of labor statistics and according to our trusted government, the average doctor doesn't make but a fraction of $1,000,000 a year.

 

Probably never.

 

There was a study published not too long ago, but essentially the 4% rule guarantees that you will have your retirement fund outlive you. Even if it doesn't, the government will take care of you in the end. This obviously isn't desirable but a decent savings net, at least.

I agree that the people who want a $20 million account on retirement are insane. You don't need nearly that much.

Because you are doing the smart thing and living within your means now while maxing out your retirement account, you'll do just as good as any doctor in the long run. Of course, they may make more per year, but they also work more (generally, average doctor hours are somewhere between 60 and 70 hours a week), and have much more debt.

When I finish whatever training I decide to do, I will be ~32-35, and be over $500,000 in debt. I won't have any net worth until quite a few years after living like a resident. I have to put in much more per year towards retirement than you do to end up in essentially the same place because I have much less time to take advantage of compounding interest.

I also agree that it is rare for a doctor to make upwards of a million a year, but not impossible. ED doctors are lucky in that they work shifts, so they get paid by the hour (i.e., their billing codes mean squat to them personally) and are in high demand. A rural ED doctor can easily make $300-350 an hour. Factor in 60 hour workweeks rather than the average 36 hour workweek, and you can see that their earnings can be enormous. Granted, most ED doctors will not do this because of burn out and frankly, who wouldn't mind only working 12-14 days a month? However, there are many emergency medicine residents that have their sights set on 60 hour a week night shifts for 5 years and then full on retirement. It's definitely possible. Not so much for other specialties, but as medicine moves more towards shift work rather than salaried pay, I can see this happening across many specialties.

 

I have a few doctors in my family (one a MD & later earned her JD) in addition, due to some less then perfect circumstances I have become good friends with a few that are not part of my family. In my mind, by and large, those in the medical industry & military service have the most honorable careers. Sure, there are rewards but, the sacrifice and (for the most part the results) are great when compared to careers such as mine...

About 10 years ago I was with a group of guys out shooting, two of which were doctors. One an emergency room physician at a small county hospital the other an anesthesiologist practicing at different facilities. The topic of salary came up and I was shocked to learn both there incomes. The emergency doc claimed to be making $86,500 while the anesthesiologist claimed he was in the range of $450,000. I was surprised at what seemed two extremes understanding both have significant impact on patient quality and longevity of life. And on a side note, shortly after our outing the ER doc died of heart failure. Rather or not it contributed or was the cause he had smoked his entire (but very short) adult life.

Okay back on topic and sorry for the rambling book...

 

Never going to retire. I get too bored if I don't have some sort of work to do, and get compensated for it.

 

To be honest not sure why he was making so little, unless he wasn't working all too often. Anesthesiologist making $450,000 now is actually incredibly rare. The golden age for that was about 10-15 years ago and they were making bank, but it's come down a lot. A lot of mid-level creep, so it's called, what with nurses being able to deliver anesthetics now.

By the time I'm a practicing doctor, a salary of $400,000+ will be pretty rare even for specialties such as orthopedics and neurosurgery. Emergency Medicine is an outlier because the demand is so high, but that will come down as well.

To make it back on topic, in general, if you save 10-15% of your income reliably and invest it in funds that are decent (i.e., mutual funds), you will end up alright in the end, I think.

 

I'm hoping to be alright in the end. In reality, I should have retirement coming in from the AF at 40years old of 25-28k a year. I'll have my degree in Project Management and will have a sizable retirement account in MF's and an IRA. The wife has a pretty good sized IRA herself and is an RN. By the time I finally "retire" for the 2nd time I should have a decent 75k a year retirement. But, I will more than likely continue to do some kind of work until the day I die. I'm a busy body.

 

You hit the nail on the head. It was about 10 years ago...

 

Would be interesting for sure to see what he was making now. Medicine is slightly cyclical in who is making the most at any point in time. Right now it's emergency medicine, so a lot of people are getting into that, while anesthesia is on the downswing so people aren't going into it as much. Family practice is going down and now nurse practitioners are taking over, lowering pay for the doctors and making it even less desirable. That's another talk though haha.

 

I'm the same way and I bet I work until I die regardless of my investments barring unforeseen limitations. I'm off 3 days a week now and by the end of day off number 2 I'm finding shit to do.

I've been on a some good vacations where I'm ready to get back to work one for 7 days in Cancun & one 4 days in St. Croix USVI and by the end if those trips I was ready to be doing something other then "whatever".

I'm even that way on work days. Sleep very little and always wired!

 

I have no idea how long it will be. I don't look at my portfolio very often. Once or twice a year but it keeps growing quickly and I'm hardly adding much to it. Might be wise of me to add more to it each month. Either way it's growing those guys at TIAA CREF seem to do alright.

 

I plan on working until I can't. Too many people retire, only to drop dead shortly thereafter. I'd like to stick around as long as possible.

 

I'll be retired....when i'm in the ground.

 

After watching many friends in the area I live have to go back to work at something to keep from drawing the principal down from accounts in retirement that were paying 7 to 12% and dropped to 1% in interest.
I decided at that time to sell 100% of stocks and savings (IRA's and 409b3's) and use money to buy rent houses. This way no matter what a govt or corporation decides to do they can't hurt me as bad in retirement. As inflation hits you can raise your income by raising rent. Something hard to do with just cash in the bank.

 

I can plan for what I think I need financially, but at this point in my life to know when I'll be able to retire is difficult to determine. My retirement date will be heavily influenced by my kids, this and health are always major obstacles. We can do the best we can to take care of ourselves health wise, and we can do the best we can to raise independent and competent children, but you just never know what the future holds. Perhaps when I am a bit closer to retirement and my children are older establishing a date or age won’t be as difficult, but for all I can focus on is just saving.

 

So True! I 've met dozens of people already who came out of retirement after fishing and golfing everyday (for 2-3 years avg). They said they got bored. But, I also have friends who have been retired for several years wondering how they ever got anything done while they worked! lol

 

I'm 64 and I've already "retired" three times: once from a state police agency after a 24 year career, once from the military after a 20 year career (a lot of which was Active Reserve time), and once again from being a Chief of Police for 10 years.

I'm part owner of a consulting firm now, and plan to continue this (full-time) for another 2 years. After that I'll continue to teach, write, and consult part-time until I get tired of it. I don't do "inactivity" very well at all, and am much happier (and easier to live with) when I'm busy.

I guess I never really learned how to "relax" for extended periods of time- for me a vacation that goes longer than a week is too much.

 

Very interesting thread to read through.

I'm 28 now, and I would love to retire at 55. My wife contributes the maximum matchable amount to her 401k, and I max out a Roth for myself every year because we don't have a 401k at my work. That by itself should provide a decent retirement for us if we continue doing that and increasing our savings percentage as our incomes grow, but I also inherited a piece of land that is currently worth ~$100,000 on a street that is exploding with growth. Hopefully there will be more inheritance to follow, but you can't count your eggs until they're in your basket. Going to sit on that for about 5 more years and sell it, and then start rehabbing residential properties, and after a few of those go well (hopefully) I will start rehabbing commercial properties and leasing them out. I've been working in commercial property management for 7 years now, so I would be doing something I know, but doing it for myself instead of my bosses, who have made crazy money doing the same thing, but on an admittedly much bigger scale than I will be able to, at least to start.

If that works out I might be able to retire at 50, but I will probably enjoy what I'm doing so much I will continue to dabble in commercial property, but at a much slower pace.

 

One after my own heart..were I to hit the lottery tomorrow I'd probably do shipping over the road, getting to sightsee would be the fun part. Either way I have to keep doing something.