Retired a little over a year ago and due to good stock market conditions worth more now than when working. I suspect most on this forum
if retired after 2009 and well invested, are comfortable for the time being for similar reasons.
I know a number of people that are not able to retire even though they would like to do so. The people this forum are likely to be those with investments and an interest in investing. Worldwide, that is easily the top 1%. I am not sure about US-only but the forum is probably not representative of the overall population.
My wife and I have not faced any real financial hardships but as a saver, it is hard to make the emotional transition from always being a net-saver (living on much less than we made) to being a net spender (beginning to spend down assets). Then again, for the last 9 years or so, the market has probably been overly-kind to all of us.
Recently there was an article (source escapes me right now, but it could have been WSJ, NYT, CNBC or the like) indicating that what we as a society had thought was wrong about the sorry financial condition of baby boomers - apparently the surveys (including census types) did not succeed in teasing out the financial resources of boomers. Those questioned did not report as income all kinds of financial resources available because they did not regard them as income but as savings, like 401(k) or IRA, and this age group also seems to have pensions even though they are gone from the general population.
I'm not sure I understand the question. It really wasn't constant. In our 30's and 40's when the kids were still living at home we spent quite a lot on everything from household expenses, sports clubs, food (both cooking and dining out), vacations, braces and on and on . . . Then, as the kids went to college, moved into apartments, got married and needed bailed out from the "Bank of Dad", the costs continued. While we do not consider ourselves wealthy, we did have a 6 figure income and it took the majority to live during that time. While we have a six figure retirement balance, which has gone up nicely with this great market, we are no where near the top 1% if the above number is accurate.
Now that the kids are on their own (yeah!) and we no longer have most of those expenses noted above, our outflow went down considerably. It was going down as I was looking at retiring, and went down more as soon as I did retire not buying food out, driving as much, etc. as I noted in my prior post.
So, we didn't see large expenses in the initial years and then a drop, so I'm not sure what that would be.
What kind of life do you want to lead when you retire and what expenses do you have? Likely the biggest expense for anyone wanting to retire early is health insurance, it can be expensive so plan for that cost. If your house and cars are paid off and you don't have any other loans then it really comes down to food, taxes, household bills like electricity/water/gas, and any medical expenses that insurance won't pay.
Happy to answer any other questions, but it is all about planning. Pick a date to retire and make a plan to get there!
