Can I Retire Yet?
"You can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want."
--Williams/Jeppson/Botkin, Money
"Can I retire yet?" Those of us born in the later stages of the baby boom -- usually defined as the years 1946-1964 -- will find this one of the most difficult and important questions of our later years. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, today only about 15 percent of private-sector workers have a pension that guarantees a steady payout during retirement. The disappearance of defined-benefit pensions and the erosion of the Social Security system makes our retirements far less certain than those many of our parents enjoy.
The sums involved when evaluating retirement issues can be shocking. Personal finance writers are riding a reactionary wave with the theme "You don't need a million dollars to retire!" That claim sells books to the hopeful, and can be a healthy antidote to the fear and conservatism sometimes spread by the financial services industry. Banks, brokers, and financial advisers would have you working harder and saving longer for their own purposes -- avoiding liability, collecting fees and commissions as you slave away to grow your pile of assets. If you take their most conservative advice, you'll often find that a sum of several million dollars is required to retire comfortably.
So, do you need millions to retire, or not? What is the truth between the extremes? I've lived on the cusp of this question for years; read every book, newsletter, and blog I could find; crunched the numbers ad nauseam; and recently took the plunge -- left my secure corporate engineering job for a semi-retired lifestyle. I know the answer, as well as it can be known, based on my own personal experience. Unlike many in the financial industry, I don't aim to manage your assets and I have no agenda for you to retire sooner or later. My purpose here is not to hype and sell some book with precise answers.
Truth is, if you're looking for an easy answer, there isn't one. But if you'll stick with me for a few pages, you'll understand the question better, and you'll have a starting point for finding your own answer….