john1jz[at]yahoo.com (John Pak) writes:

- quote -

That's a rough estimate. It's always been a rough estimate.
These days, with folks living longer and retiring healthier,
if anything, it's probably an _under_estimate.

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It can't be "false". It can be a poor estimate. If anything,
since it's likely to be too low an estimate, your estimate is
likely even worse. Far worse.

- quote -

That's simply dangerous drivel. You need assets relative
to the prices of the goods and services you want, not relative
to your neighbors. That's why when folk estimate how much
one needs in retirement, they usually try to estimate the
rate of inflation, too.

I'm not sure where you're trying to go with your posting,
and have answered honestly, but it could sure be some
trolling. Your ideas are not just wrong, but dangerous
if anyone follows them without learning more.




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In article <52d02f69.0404051153.7a33fcb8[at]posting.google.com> , John Pak
<john1jz[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

You have forgotten to include the impact of inflation. By the
time that you retire, it is going to cost 120% of your current income
to live at the 50% to 60% level of the future.

- quote -

Having a retirement account of $15,000 is not going to feed you
very long. You might be comfortable depending on social security,
but even if it still does exist, it will only maintain one at the
bare poverty level. The average person has food, shelter, medical,
and entertainment needs that far excede what social security will
cover, and when the $15K runs out, you are done. As people live
longer and longer these days, the risk of outliving your money is
very real. And lets not even consider what would happen if something
bad does happen, like needing long term care.

- quote -

I don't think anyone thinks that equity in a home will make you
rich. But it is a very nice basic savings account that will likely
be the biggest single asset that most folks ever own. They kind of
get it for free since they need to pay for shelter anyway. If you
want to pay rent during retirement, that is OK with me, but I'd rather
have no house payment to worry about once my income stream comes to
a stop and I have limited monthly funds to live on.

A paid for home is also a housing insurance policy. If you have a
home that will be paid for when you retire, you know that you will
always have a home to live in, and you cannot get kicked out. But
if you rent, rent can (and will) keep going up and up in price, and
you run the risk of getting priced out of the place that you may
have lived in for years, and maybe even priced out of the market.

-john-

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John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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Some points are simply wrong, yet being repeated again and again:

(1) "You need to save ... (that much of money) so you can live in
retirement in 80% of your current income". But if I am doing so --
i.e. saving that much money -- I would have already been living in 80%
of my income (even) before retirement. Therefore, "80% percent figure"
is false. Basically, 50% to 60% is enough.

(2) "You need to save $1m to retirement ..." That is incorrect. The
reality is, you need to have money more than average people's asset,
that will be sufficient. If average person's asset is $10,000, your
retirement account of $15,000 will get you live comfortably. Likewise,
if everyone has $2m asset, your $1m account will have you live
miserably. It is relativity.

(3) The axiom is that - in any culture and in any era - majority of
people are always poor, relatively. It is impossible to have everyone
rich, or in other word, to live comfortably all together. If most
people have $1m a year to spend, the bread will probably cost $100k
and gasoline $1000/gallon. You are therefore still relatively poor.
- quote -

everyone owns. It will not get you rich in the future. No more.