<p>That would be almost enough to entice me to stay in CA for retirement, but then, it is my hope in retirement to remain in a high tax bracket, so back to checking out no state income tax states with no inheritance tax as well… that are nice to live in.</p>
<p>“Doct, I believed you. Very depressing article. What state is your daughter going to live in?”</p>
<p>She was living for a time in Boston because she thought Ct is boring which it is. I guess over time things changed and she is living in the Hartford area with her boyfriend.</p>
<p>1203southview, don 't scare me . :)</p>
<p>Busdriver11, the inflation numbers are on there. That is why you can 't use zero as inflation. That is why you are using 2.75. The calculator shows how much you need per year on the bottom. I like the numbers you used for return and taxes .</p>
<p>Leave the estate number blank or type a zero in there. </p>
<p>Just so we know you are good. :)</p>
<p>Deborah T. Thanks. I am going to check out those links. I appreciate it .</p>
<p>A lot of states have raised their estate tax exemptions to match the federal amount, or gotten rid of them completely. Of course, they could always reinstate them… the fed amount could always be lowered too. “Always in motion is the future.”</p>
<p><a href=“State Tax Chart: Income, Sales, Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes”>http://wills.about.com/od/stateestatetaxes/a/state-tax-chart.htm</a>
<a href=“http://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state”>http://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state</a></p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about lower exemptions on the federal level. The people who make the decisions want low estate taxes. </p>
<p>“That retirement calculator is a little wonky - it asks for a tax rate on your retirement income, then asks for post-retirement income net of taxes. This doesn’t give me confidence in their calculations.”</p>
<p>I don’t like this either. A little confusing. </p>
<p>I always put in after tax numbers everywhere so I enter zero on the tax rate.</p>
<p>However, Busdriver11, did you enter the full pension amount or did you deduct 25 percent for taxes?</p>
<p>Doct, wow. Back in Conn. Is that where she is a resident? </p>
<p>Over 20 or 30 years, which is the time frame most of us are looking at for estate tax purposes, a lot can change. But I am not worrying about it. </p>
<p>Notrichenough, good. :)</p>
<p>Deborah T, I love those links.</p>
<p>Yes, dstark, I did enter the full pension amount, without deductions. I figured they were deducting for the taxes, when I put in 25%.</p>
<p>I was being silly about using zero for inflation, I know that won’t happen. But when I put in 2% inflation, it said I didn’t need to save any additional to what I am already, so hopefully inflation will stay low. No, you don’t have to worry about me, our pension plus SS is fine. I just figured, who knows what will happen in life, better to be more careful than not. I’m probably better off not even looking at these calculators.</p>
<p>Busdriver11, good. </p>
<p>I wasn’t worried about you until I saw this. </p>
<p>“I don’t like that retirement calculator. I put in the inflation number of 2.75%, and it said I needed to save an extra 36K a MONTH until retirement to reach my goal. Or maybe I screwed something up, but I don’t think I’ll be able to save an extra $432K/yr until retirement.”</p>
<p>I thought I was going to have to erase all our conversations for the last several years after I read the above. Although, I did remember your retirement numbers from the rich thread. :)</p>
<p>Plus, I am known in real life for being a good listener by people who listen for a living. People who have made careers out of listening. (A reference to the feminist thread 
). </p>
<p>I am getting older but I did not think I was losing it that much. ;)</p>
<p>Ok. Back to not worrying about you busdriver11. :)</p>
<p>I was just kind of shocked when I got that first input. What is interesting is how much difference the inflation number makes, just going from 2.75% to 2% made so much difference. My goal numbers are probably higher than necessary, but as you know (since you’ve been listening, as you say) I feel that all bases must be covered, and generally assume that everything could be lost. In fact, my numbers could be completely out of whack if my company manages to negotiate a change to our retirement plan. They are trying to freeze it, with an additional amount to our 401K contribution. And raise the age to get full retirement. If our union gets suckered into that (which would be crazy, but anything’s possible), I might just retire really early, under the old plan. It seems that any plans that people make for their retirement could be out the door in an instant, due to circumstances completely out of their control. So all this detailed planning people do may very well be for nothing!</p>
<p>@SOSConcern, very good news.</p>
<p>@dstark, I don’t have to worry about the $10K. And, it should be covered by insurance (after for what is a pretty large deductible]. We have been fortunately financially. So for me the question with respect to the car repair is hypothetical. But, relative to the $50K annual budget described in the earlier email,a $10K surprise expense would be a big problem.</p>
<p>But, what I was trying to get at was that I don’t want to be in a position with a budget that an unexpected expense for health care or house repair would be a significant problem. For me, avoiding painful surprises makes my number bigger than the ones you are describing.</p>
<p>Busdriver11, I understand your post. There are no guarantees. </p>
<p>Inflation makes a very big difference. Prices double in 24 years with 3 percent inflation. With 2 percent inflation, prices double in 36 years. Takes 12 years longer for prices to double. If I knew inflation was going to be 2 percent a year for the next 36 years, I would not need a retirement calculator. But, I don’t know the future.</p>
<p>After reading your posts, I entered a very high estate number at death. I got back that I needed to save infinity every month for the rest of my life. I don’t think these calculators can handle the higher numbers. :)</p>
<p>One thing. We have to enjoy ourselves. Have fun. Life is pretty good. I read that people who are optimists live longer and have more fulfilling lives. </p>
<p>My daughter with a 62 IQ… Loves life. She has a very good life. She does. </p>
<p>I think my problem was that I entered a way higher number than we probably would need, annually. Trying to have about 2/3 of income before taxes, as before retirement. But of course, I should take into account not having to pay for college, less taxes (theoretically), not putting money into savings. I didn’t put in too high of an estate number at death, and I also put in a far lower return than we have been getting. But you never know.</p>
<p>You’re right, life is good. Most of us on cc have been very fortunate, for the most part. Your daughter is very lucky to have her parents looking out for her.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, I wasn’t writing that number for you. :)</p>
<p>Everybody has their own number. You know that ad where a bunch of people stand in a circle, grab a ribbon and walk away from the center of the circle? The length of their ribbon represents how much a person needs. Some people have short ribbons. Others have longer ribbons. A few people here would have ribbons that are so long the camera could not capture the length of the ribbons. :)</p>
<p>I know you don’t have to worry about the $10,000. ;)</p>
<h2>I may have to ask you for a loan someday.</h2>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>I am kidding. </p>
<p>SOSC, mazel tov! Delighted to hear the good news. If your back keeps bothering you, though, go back the dr.</p>
<p>That is a good calculator, dstark. We seem to be on a good pace even without my earnings. </p>
<p>dstark - The retirement calculator assumes we don’t pay rent during retirement, right? Where do we put the value of the property?</p>
<p>Just for the fun of it, I played with the retirement calculator after inputting some unrealistic numbers, eg., starting from a larger than expected retirement account, annual living expense $60000, inflation 0%, super conservative investment return 0.5%, tax rate 15%, receive SS income much earlier than 65 yo but still without much reduction in SS income, etc.) I got the following. (Hope it can cut and paste well on my smartphone.) Of course, this is not my “real” assets/income.</p>
<p>The result: I have enough. It is fun to play with this calculator - even though it is not very realistic for my situation because they are all faked numbers.</p>
<p>Year Age Year
Begin
Balance Contri-
butions Interest
Earnings Inflated
Need Need
Redu-
ctions
(Inc-
ome) Adjusted
Need Pre-tax
Need Net
Present
Value Year
End
Balance
2014 60 680,000 0 3,400 60,000 683,400
2015 61 683,400 0 3,417 60,000 12,000 48,000 56,471 56,190 630,346
2016 62 630,346 0 3,152 60,000 12,000 48,000 56,471 55,910 577,028
2017 63 577,028 0 2,885 60,000 12,000 48,000 56,471 55,632 523,442
2018 64 523,442 0 2,617 60,000 45,716 14,284 16,805 16,473 509,254
2019 65 509,254 0 2,546 60,000 46,053 13,947 16,409 16,004 495,392
2020 66 495,392 0 2,477 60,000 46,393 13,607 16,008 15,536 481,861
2021 67 481,861 0 2,409 60,000 46,737 13,263 15,603 15,068 468,667
2022 68 468,667 0 2,343 60,000 47,085 12,915 15,195 14,600 455,816
2023 69 455,816 0 2,279 60,000 47,435 12,565 14,782 14,133 443,313
2024 70 443,313 0 2,217 60,000 47,790 12,210 14,365 13,666 431,164
2025 71 431,164 0 2,156 60,000 48,148 11,852 13,944 13,200 419,376
2026 72 419,376 0 2,097 60,000 48,509 11,491 13,519 12,733 407,954
2027 73 407,954 0 2,040 60,000 48,874 11,126 13,089 12,267 396,905
2028 74 396,905 0 1,985 60,000 49,243 10,757 12,655 11,802 386,234
2029 75 386,234 0 1,931 60,000 49,615 10,385 12,217 11,337 375,948
2030 76 375,948 0 1,880 60,000 49,992 10,008 11,775 10,872 366,053
2031 77 366,053 0 1,830 60,000 50,371 9,629 11,328 10,407 356,556
2032 78 356,556 0 1,783 60,000 50,755 9,245 10,876 9,942 347,462
2033 79 347,462 0 1,737 60,000 51,143 8,857 10,420 9,478 338,779
2034 80 338,779 0 1,694 60,000 51,534 8,466 9,960 9,014 330,513
2035 81 330,513 0 1,653 60,000 51,929 8,071 9,495 8,551 322,671
2036 82 322,671 0 1,613 60,000 52,329 7,671 9,025 8,087 315,260
2037 83 315,260 0 1,576 60,000 52,732 7,268 8,550 7,624 308,286
2038 84 308,286 0 1,541 60,000 53,139 6,861 8,071 7,161 301,756
2039 85 301,756 0 1,509 60,000 53,551 6,449 7,587 6,698 295,677
2040 86 295,677</p>
<p>If you pay rent, that is part of your living expenses. You should include the rent or any housing costs in the desired income box. I think it is the 4th box from the top. </p>
<p>If you own your house, you have to decide if you want to include the value of the house under retirement assets. I have to live somewhere so I do not include my place in the calculations. I do know that my daughter will probably inherit my place. If I was going to downside, I might include some percentage of the place I own under my retirement assets. </p>
<p>The calculator is a guide. It is not definitive. Nobody knows the future. You can also do multiple calculations using different scenarios. </p>
<p>IxnayBob uses a calculator that uses Monte Carlo simulations. You get results under many circumstances based on the past That is also good but I am to cheap to pay for the calculator. :)</p>
<p>This calculator I linked does the job for me. I do enter different possibilites of inflation, rates of return etc. </p>
<p>You can use the calculator including your house under retirement assets and then use the calculator without the house. </p>
<p>Ok. I answered more than you asked. :)</p>