Posted on 01/18/2026 8:02:57 AM PST by zeestephen
The analysis is based on the average living costs for retirees 65 or older in each state, drawn from the latest data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From there, GOBankingRates subtracted average Social Security payments and estimated the savings needed to cover the remaining expenses, using an annual 4% withdrawal rate.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Wow, that’s gorgeous. Have you taken long trips? Got traveling buddies?
LOL...they do, indeed. We bought a well-cared for boat from friends and, other than changing the serpentine belt and tensioner pulley, it’s been trouble-free. We barely go through a tank of gas in the entire summer.
We especially like that our daughter and SIL take their friends out in it. They actually have been getting more use out of it than us! They’ve got their first baby, so it’ll be a few years before he gets up on skis.
step 1 is being debt free with paid for house, no rent no mortgage, I have 3 and will sell one in another month
step 2 sell your business for a guaranteed income for life, for me it is $6500 per month plus SS.
retired 4 months now but dealing with tongue cancer for another month, then hopefully all will be good.
The real secret is to stay healthy and active so you don’t end up with a standard of living that is defined by some care facility.
Swell. A little over halfway there. But at age 64, I'm not liking my chances too much.
BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand. If you’re lucky. :)
I guess I will work till Im dead.
Do you own your home? The imputed rent on a home you own could make up a large part of the difference. Also, we all know that living in a big city is more expensive than living in a small town.
By far the most valuable possession in retirement, after your health, is your time. Everything after that has diminishing returns the more expensive it gets. I retired four years ago at 58, and I still have moments where I get a butterfly in the stomach feeling (the good kind) when I think about how free I now am.
My only slight disappointment is that I envisioned having the pleasure of watching my younger neighbors have to trudge off to work through the winter cold and darkness, while I watched them from my warm comfy cocoon, but the advent of work from home and flex schedules has stolen some of that joy from me. I also dreamt about being able to do all kinds of things on weekdays without the weekend crowds, but driving around here in the middle of a weekday is almost like rush hour, and stores and restaurants are as busy as any other time.
It seems like no one works, or everyone’s retired. It’s not fair!
And how!
There’s that old saying about owning a boat...
The happiest day is buying the boat, the next happiest day is selling it!
How so?
I’m screwed I can’t afford retirement unless I open myself a daycare center./
I saw this joke about boaters during the election:
Q: There are all these boat parades for Trump. You know why there are there no boat parades for Harris?
A: there is no government giveaway program for boats.
“”” If your home is paid off, you should be good, even if it means you still need to be careful.””””””
I paid off my house some years ago. With the rise in property tax and insurance it is not so easy as I thought it would be.
Be like my old lady neighbor who switched from growing African violets to pot.
Not joking. She had a couple million in cash when arrested.
FICA is a pre-tax deduction, just like 401K.
4% has been around a long time. It is worshipped far too much.
So let’s look at negative scenarios.
1) A market crash of 65%. That does not come back. How can that be? $40T in debt and 7% interest on it because 8% inflation that doesn’t end . . . because no electric motors because the Chinese cut off neodymium.
2) Soc Sec rules are changed. “No, we will not be cutting your benefits!!” Small print . . . but we won’t be doing full inflation adjustments anymore because we can’t solve $40T debt if we allow anyone to quote 8% inflation in their adjustment.
3) Paid up house? You gotta move into assisted living. There are no buyers. So reverse mortgage.
There. Fear mongering? No more so than sunny skies mongering.
Caribbean 300m from my house. No mortgage/no car. $15K/year and I can buy pretty much anything I want, within reason. But it isn’t for everyone, for sure.
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