Is 1M enough to retire on at 60?

And, I have seen the opposite. We can throw out anecdotes all day, but the common thought is that shortly after people retire, they seem to age or they die. That's because many people retire due to health concerns...they are toward the end of their lives. Sometimes someone knows they have a few good years left where they can travel, so they retire so they can do that...then they do that and are ready to relax at home. Nothing wrong with that.

My mother retired at age 56, and my Dad retired at age 61. They are now both 78 and 79 and have been all over the world, served as volunteer rangers in a national part for nearly a decade, and they are both going strong. In my Dad's case, he was so ready to retire even in his 40s that he saved his money and prepared to do so as early as he could. They never made a ton of money...they just saved and invested appropriately, and Dad does have a pension...nice, but they would be barely making it if they only had that.

My father-in-law quit a career corporate job at age 53 and went to work for a hospital pushing patients in wheelchairs for 10 years because he hated his corporate job so much. He actually looked younger when he finally retired for good than he did while working his corporate job.

I know another guy who retired at age 52, quit smoking, and started running marathons around the world. He's in his 80s now and doing great.

Not everyone needs or wants the daily grind of a job, and it is for sure not a given that people just fall apart when they retire. I know a lot of former military people who retired in their 40s and either worked very part time or not at all. Most teachers retire by age 57 or so. My brother-in-law is a fire chief, and he is eligible to retire at age 52, and he's thinking of doing that.

Seattle Prattle, Non ROTH retirement funds will be taxed - income tax - to the owner, you or the next generation. The value is the value and the amount distributed is taxed. So ignore the idea that retirement funds have a "new cost basis" since they do not as far as income taxation of benefits is concerned.

BestFootForward wrote:

Seattle Prattle, Non ROTH retirement funds will be taxed - income tax - to the owner, you or the next generation. The value is the value and the amount distributed is taxed. So ignore the idea that retirement funds have a "new cost basis" since they do not as far as income taxation of benefits is concerned.

BestFootForward, my mistake. If someone inherits stock in a cash (non-retirement) account, the new cost basis becomes the value of the stock at the time of the deceased's death. You are absolutely right that this does not apply to non-Roth retirement accounts. Thanks for catching that and pointing it out.

The rest of the story wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Ah, for everyone else three days.

No. Any inherited IRAs prior to 1/1/2020 are subject to the old rules. That’s what ‘grandfathered’ means.

Thanks. Gosh, didn’t know that, and for everyone else two days.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

The rest of the story wrote:

No. Any inherited IRAs prior to 1/1/2020 are subject to the old rules. That’s what ‘grandfathered’ means.

Thanks. Gosh, didn’t know that, and for everyone else two days.

You’re very welcome. I am always happy to help educate.

The number of people here extrapolating their outsized investment returns years into the future need to get a reality check. This was the best year for stocks in ~20yrs, after an already amazing ~10yr run.

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Just some questions from outside USA, so I can understand.

I know that the OP is about 'when to retire?', but is this FRA and SAA benefits only for retirees from work? Or do you also have a govt pension scheme that has a minimum payment irrespective of how much earned in lifetime, or at all?

The rest of the story wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

New law just passed limits the stretch IRA. Inherited IRA must be distributed within 10 years. I think you will see more changes like this necessary to raise revenue.

Takes effect on 1/1/2020. IRAs inherited prior to that are grandfathered under the old rules.

Correct. This pertains to IRAs inherited from someone who dies after December 31, 2019.

Also, it should be noted that this does not apply to everyone. There are exemptions allowing some inherited IRAs to still be stretched over the life of the recipient.

hedge fund manager wrote:

The number of people here extrapolating their outsized investment returns years into the future need to get a reality check. This was the best year for stocks in ~20yrs, after an already amazing ~10yr run.

You are one step away from telling people they shouldn't invest at all. I have heard variations of what you just said since I started investing in 1989. "The 90s won't happen again." "The crash of 2007-2009 means stocks will never recover", "expect 3% a year from now on", and on and on. When people spew doom and gloom with regard to the stock market, it's mostly BS. You should never invest situationally EXCEPT with regard to closeness to retirement. Invest, invest, and invest in good stock markets and bad from the time you leave college to the time you retire. Aggressive until within 5 years of retirement, and then go more conservative if you want.