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Comment by wheaties | Hacker News Reader

Let me get this straight, he thinks 900k is going to be enough to retire on, send a kid to college, and lay for his future medical bills!? That home building business started during the home building boom better be earning more than 50k.

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The safe withdrawal rate -- that is, the rate at which you can withdraw from retirement accounts without too much risk of running out of money eventually -- is generally considered to be around 4%. With $900,000 saved up, that means the OP can spend about $36,000 / year from his nest egg without too much risk. The article states that they live as if they made $35,000 - $40,000 / year. So the income from their retirement combined with their side business should be enough to at least sustain their current lifestyle. I have no idea if their $35,000 - $40,000 estimate covers health insurance, so it's hard to say whether they are at risk of being wiped out by medical expenses.

It sounds like he moved from Canada initially, which implies he is a Canadian citizen who can always move back and get universal health care if his health becomes a concern

He's letting that 900K appreciate, so it should be enough soon for a lifestyle as frugal as theirs.

And I expect that his income will remain good. There's something about being able to say 'no' that puts you in a position to snap up the really juicy work.

yeah, what a moron thinking 900k still appreciating in his 30's plus free rent is enough to support a comfortable lifestyle.

I'm going to refrain from writing something offensive. Suffice to say I find your attitude distasteful.

The median household in the US earns about $1.8M over their working lives; and I suspect that the median household wouldn't describe themselves as having a "comfortable lifestyle".

Now, the fact that they aren't working lowers their costs; but still, the amount of money they have now is significantly less than what a typical couple would earn between now and when they retire.

I don't see anything distasteful in questioning the arithmetic here at all.

$1.8m distributed over ~40 years equates to $3750 a month. I doubt a family could save much with that income.

If you get to this kind of logic, you will lose around $50k from slacking out during lunch through your lifetime (15m a day, $20/h).

Back in 1950 a loaf of bread cost 5 cents. Now? People often forget about this little thing called inflation. You have to plan for 4% inflation and faster medical inflation. You also can't count entitlement p

That's why you put your money in a savings account... anyway, I think we're on the same side.

To put these $1.8m in perspective, that's just a tad less than the amount of savings one in the top 0.5% might have after retirement: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/investment_m...

So you don't think he's going to burn through 900k in 70 years? You don't think that his living expenses will increase when he has kids?

45k a year (5%) + supplemental income from side projects is A LOT of money when you aren't paying a rent or mortgage in most parts of the country. I suspect many HN people have a warped view of living costs living in areas with lots of high tech jobs.

And in ~20 years those mortgages will be paid off, and he'll be making rental income off of the house.

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