I appreciate your videos so much. Yes, they are scary tbh...lol. But it's needed. I went back and looked at the comments on your last video and it feels like a lot of people want to bury their heads in the sand and think that as long as things are going well for them right now, it'll always be that way. That is not the case. And people who've retired with 500-750K may be doing okay, now, only a year or 2 into retirement but what about 10, 15, 20 years from now? We know prices go up over time, we know social safety nets are being stripped left and right (and it's not like we had many to begin with), and as you said, many countries are becoming fed up with Americans coming in refusing to learn the language, increasing prices etc and they will make adjustments as needed. I think your videos are the wake up call many of us Americans need to demand from our political officials that they need to make changes. Also, I've been traveling for the past 2 years and as such spent time in South Korea and Japan and yes, older SKs and Japanese people are working. In Japan, though, most older people live with their adult children so their basic housing needs are cared for. But, that is not America and many older people in SK are homeless because they just can't afford a place to live even if they are working. And yes, they are in much better shape than the average American in their 60s, 70s or 80s. It's sad to see how much pushback you get for your videos because to me it just seems people do not want to face reality.

Keep up the good work. The truth can be hard to swallow. I normally only watch CFP that keep it real on KZbin. Inflation, heath care, sequence of return risk, increased taxes & insurance, change in SS benefit / SS being taxed, etc - are all real. We need to educate the younger generation in hopes they start investing as soon as they get a job. Hopefully, parents will start opening UTMA for thier kids to help give them a head start. The power of compound intrest can not be understated.

Hi Auntie, Please do a video on a 2 Million Dollar Retirement. And keep up the good work.

I confess that I usually watch financial/retirement info videos on speed 1.25x. Well here that meant you were spitting facts at rapid fire and it made your content that much more compelling. Your opening hooked me. I'm a subscriber. Looking forward to watching more. Thank you !!!

Robin, you’re a needed voice in the finance KZbin game. I’m glad you’re different from people like Drew Blackston that say someone can retire comfortably with $200,000 or $300,000.

I agree that trying to escape high prices by moving overseas is just trading one set of problems for others.

From what you have hinted in your videos I estimate I am 5-9 years older than you and let give you an example of a price increase. When I was a kid in the late 70's early 80's I would go to the store and get my parents cigarettes for .65 cent a pack and a snicker bar or paydar peanut bar was .32 cent and now cigarettes are over 20 dollars a pack and candy bars are around have the size for three times the price. Some of these fire people think two million is enough to retire early on and I think that is a mistake. Portugal ended the golden visa. Countries don't want Americans and other people from wealthy countries inflating prices in their countries. Japan is having this problem right now with rich Chinese trying to flee China

More like Your Gloom and Doom Auntie 😂

Our family of 3 lives off $38k a year in Florida. We are lucky because we got our townhouse before covid. I shop at Wholefoods, no car loans and do fun stuff locally. Budget changes if we take a international vacation, but we are not doing this 3x year. Our emergency is not costing us 10K, washing machine and hot water tank went out and that was 2k. My FI # is $750,000, but aiming for 1miilion to retire at 55. If we pay off our townhouse we are looking at $30k expenses. I grow up in NYC and my parents never made over 60K. A lot of people in NYC do not make over 100K

Finally, the truth. Thank you.

I appreciate the more realistic approach to retirement of this channel. There are a lot of channels telling people they can and should retire early with $500K or less without fully explaining the risks and sacrifices doing so will require. It is possible to do so but I think a lot of people are so tired of working they underestimate how difficult living on that will be. And some channels are more than willing to encourage them. Telling people what they want to hear may get those channels a lot of views but I fear it also encourages people not financially ready to retire anyways. This bull market is not going to last forever.

So, I don't wish to be unkind, but I know KZbin creators track engagement stats so I wanted to comment. I clicked off this video after the first few minutes because it was just so negative. Maybe later in the video it got better, but I wasn't going to wait and find out. Might I suggest instead of just saying "no, no, no" about early retirement with $750k, you could say "I don't think it works for most people, but after I explain why I will give suggestions of how to improve your odds." This is a 25 minute video - I need a reason to stick around. I'm in the Midwest making $60k a year and living on around $25k with very little debt. I'm shooting for early retirement and plan on maintaining a modest lifestyle. I don't think the average person on KZbin looking for financial guidance is the type that will be able to save a million dollars for retirement (how many people actually do that nowadays?!?) I feel like you were just immediately 💩ing on the dreams of many of us who will never be well off and aren't upset about that.

With a paid off house and no debt I did it..

Great video. There’s also FAT FIRE, LEAN FIRE, etc. I think you bring up a good point about 35 years of work for SS. I’d like to hear your thoughts about the “retirement spending smile.” My parents retired at 67 years with two paid off houses and a mid-six figure nest egg. They turn 80 in a couple of weeks, their nest egg is very little now and live only on SS. It’s still doable but not a lot of room for extras.

Nice education info..thx

Retirement has so many factors. $750k isn’t enough for some folks and way more than enough for many. Where do you live? What’s your income needs? What’s your Social Security amount? Do you have a pension? How are you invested? It is so personal a single answer isn’t sufficient.

I think your living in LA, Doomsday scenario, doesn't apply to everyone. A lot of people outside of LA can retire with 56K a year. The reality is some people have no choice and have to make it work.

Important message.

……..uh, the retirement analytics, more terrifying than Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger put together! 750k is still plenty of a nest egg. I’m 48 and plan on retiring by 53 with a pension after 30 years on the job in addition to savings around 750k talked about here. While only having 750k isn’t ideal, you can still make it work and if you run out of money, that’s not the end of the world.

I think you miss much in your analysis. Have you heard paralysis by analysis? You can assume the worst case scenarios which likely will never happen. The stock market averages 10 to 12% every year. Income investors have income from their investments regardless if the market is up or down & don't have to draw down on the principal of their nest egg. There are many great investments now such as REIT's, BDC's, dividend growth ETF's & covered call ETF's offering higher yields while preserving capital. You assume people are living in CA or NY or IL when a person looking to retire early is likely going to live in a low cost state & will also have an already paid for home to avoid a mortgage. Not everyone needs the same healthcare. Healthy people don't need a doctor. I haven't been to a dentist in 25 years. I eat healthy & never eat sugar, ever. I use common sense & take care of my teeth brushing & flossing 3 times a day and have my entire life. I haven't been to a doctor in over 16 years. Again I use common sense. I run 50 miles a week & lift weights & have engaged in this lifestyle since I was a teenager. I eat at home only eating whole natural unprocessed foods & drink nothing but water & black coffee. I am under 50 & basically live off my dividends. I am extremely frugal & discern between wants & needs. The problem with Americans is they constantly buy crap they don't need. You don't need a new car. I have owned 3 cars in my life. My current car is a used 10 year old car & I will drive it until the wheels come off and by the time I need to buy another car I will buy a cheap used car for less than $10K. Despite what you think there are quite a few who have retired on less than $1 million or are not technically retired but living on the dividends from that portfolio. It can be done & requires a different mindset than many Americans have. It's a mindset of living a simple life & putting the most important thing as motivation-FREEDOM. Freedom from working for someone & being miserable. Give up the trappings & shiny objects you don't really need to be truly free & live on less. Still build wealth buy living on a small part of the dividends & re-investing the rest in good quality dividend paying investments that have multi decade long track records. So you're wrong. It can be done. I am an example at 49. You should visit Armchair Income to get a new perspective. You're like those people who have book knowledge but don't have HANDS ON experience. That's more important than any book.

I agree with you 100%. Although I plan on retiring early maybe this year or next year (58 -59 years old) and I only have about $700k in retirement, I'm in a better situation than most. The difference with me is, I will get a little over $2k a month in pension and I already get over $4k in veterans benefits. I also have a rental property that brings in about $500 a month after mortgage, taxes, insurance & HOA fees. So, that's over $6,500, I would get before receiving SS at age 62. At age 62, I will get a little over $2,400 a month. So, at 62, I will have close to $9k a month. Plus, I live in the South (Atlanta) where things are a little less expensive than somewhere like NY or California. HOWEVER, even with the income I would be getting, I am STILL not at ease when thinking about retirement. What if things like SS is cut back? What if have a big medical expense? What if taxes and insurance make my mortgage drastically increase (I still have a $1,600 house payment and many people still have rent or mortgage)? I have long term care insurance, but a lot of people don't and if you live long enough, you are VERY likely to need long term care - which probably 90% of people don't have. What is even sadder is that MOST people near retirement age don't even have a couple hundred thousands dollars saved. Most don't even have $5k saved. What are they going to do - even if they don't retire early - what are they going to do when they can no longer work? I guess they will figure something out. Even if worse came to worse for me, I at least have a trailer down in South GA that is paid for where I can live, if it came to a point where I had only a couple of thousand dollars to live on each month. Do most people have that as a last resort option? NO! So, my whole point is to say, if you don't have a LOT of money saved, GOOD LUCK!

My brother (single) retired at 55, he still worked part-time for about 5 years, I (married with a stay at home mom/spouse) retired the day I turned 60. We are both doing fine. The key is to live within your means, have no debt, and have a paid off home. When we were in our early forties we focused on becoming debt free, the last time we ever borrowed money was when I was 41, from that point forward we never bought anything that we could not pay with cash (or debit card). Retirement is good.

This is ridiculous. Its not about how much $$ you have when you retire, its about your expenses in retirement. If you live in a high cost area and live an extravagant lifestyle, of course 750k is not enough to retire on. Most Amerocans DO NOT live that lifestyle unless they had a high paying career anyways and if thats the case they most likely are retiring with a hell of alot more than 750k. My old man retired last year at 62 with less then $100k saved. Lives on social security and has the 100k as a buffer. He hunts, fishes and plays golf everyday. He lives in northern WI, an avid outdoorsmens heaven, no mortgage, no car payment. Recently bought a camper and is vacationing down south away from the winter, Hes living his retired dream. Im 37 live 40min from the twin cities and my mortgage all in is less than 1k month. My expenses per year all in are less then 27k yr. Single, no kids, car paid off. My point is, live within your means and if the market dips, tighten your belt, maybe get a pary time job when market is down. 750k in investments and i could retire today at 37

I think your view on the state of Social Security and retirement is overly pessimistic. I agree they need to make some changes to SS, but the changes will not be near a drastic as what you a projecting. I believe they will raise or eliminate the income limit that is open to FICA taxes, they will likely increase the 6.2% FICA SS tax rate slightly, possibly to 6.7%, but the major change will be the Federal government will change the law to any shortfall in SS payments will be covered by the general funds of the federal government. They are not going to be cutting benefits or eliminating the spousal benefit. The other area where you are pessimistic is the cost of retiring in the high cost liberal states, people have the option to move out of the high cost locations and will lower their living costs by moving to a more economical location. Also in your example you never increased the SS benefit for COLA, either during their early retirement years or even in their post 67 years.

Exactly why hubby (62) and I (58) will be retiring overseas... you are too financially vulnerable here, even with the $800k we should end up at next year. There's no way we would retire in the USA. I have NO idea how current retirees that are living on SS only are doing it. My mom (88) owns her own house, has no debt, and has a very small pension and SS... and she can't pay her property taxes or oil bill... the family helps her out there so that she can remain in her own home. She was a nurse with a masters. My father was a civil engineer, so middle class. These are people who prepared for a very different world than the past several years. How do older retirees without savings live here? I have tested my plan on FICalc using the most pessimistic yet somewhat realistic scenario I could think of - 5% inflation for decades and with no house and no car we can do it easily. The money in our roths never gets touched and our kids should have an inheritance. Medically, in my plan, we are covered, even for cancer (which we have already faced and beat). We are covered for long term care... you just can't do all that here without having substantially more money (way more than 1 million) or being dependent on the state for long term care - I can't think of much worse. I am extremely cautious and have employed ficalc, boldin, fidelity retirement, as well as my own spreadsheets. We can do this overseas. Not here.

Nice video. What is the amount needed to retire at 55 in this case study?

Hi, I may have missed it, but what do you think is the amout needed for retirement if $750K was not enough? Do you have a video about people with pensions, like retired military or retired federal government workers?

@20:01 I wouldn't blame the coming in admin for wanting to do away with Obama Care / ACA. It was already in the law that all those subsidies that allow people to get a little, some, more, or all of their health insurance premiums paid for will sunset and go away in 2026 anyhow. What ACA did to is remove any ability to have risk pools and the healthy people that do everything they can to live long, healthy lives pay the same premiums as those that eat fast food everyday, are on ten different drugs their doctor put them on, are overweight or obese, and drink 5 nights per week. The only "risk" pools now are tobacco user or not. The wife and I, exercise every day, very healthy BMI (both lean and muscular), eat a very high whole plant diet and little processed garbage and still, on the worst bronze plan our insurance premium is almost what our rent is. Our health insurance costs have gone up over 400% since ACA and that is even with a child getting out on their own along the way. Yes we have also aged but not 400% worth of added risk. Government stuck it to those people that are trying to do things right in order to help those that are born with diseased conditions but the problem is they brought in all those people that are unhealthy and high risk for claims by their lifestyle choice. Your welcome people that don't care for your health or your child's health, assuming they are living at home and you are the one buying the food. The ACA might be the cause of me having to go back to work.

60/40 portfolio is 60% equities (stocks) and 40% bonds, not 60% equities and 40% stocks.

Yikes! You are definitely the Ying to most financial KZbinrs Yang as it relates to retirement advice and a probably needed contrarian voice. You do make a lot of assumptions (all negative), but they are all certainly possible. I would only hire you if I enjoyed being told No 😅, but seriously I think you are an important voice on this critical topic. I hope people listen and think more critically before taking the leap.

This is a very specific situation but totally true for it. Lots of variables and assumptions you have to make when retirement planning. Changing any one just a tiny bit makes a huge difference. Retirement is not a guarantee and early retirement ain't possible for everybody but it never has been. Take care. Steve

I retired on 1/15/25 at 53. Before quitting, i did aquire another passive income stream that replaces my job. Made it a little easier.😉😉

I retired at 57 and a lifelong renter. I am now 62 and doing fine. I haven't worked since retirement and I am single.

You have to be mindful of who you are getting your retirement advice from. Many popular KZbinrs are giving great information, but they are not retired or working closely with people who are. So, they may miss some very important topics. You gave some great things to think about for retirement sequence of returns, Obamacare & social security, and other emergencies.

Ok unless you think like me. Downsized Roomates Stay healthy Learned investing Babymomma Retired 13 years ago at 48 with way less way way less

0:51 The key to retirement is cash flow. If you have 1 million and it is not being replenished with cashflow it will run out. If you have cash flow sources it will never run out. Health care can be solved by not living in a 1st world developed country that does not have healthcare. Looking at you USA.

750k at 55 would be tough to try retiring. I wouldn't attempt it. Now 750k at 65 would be very doable. At least for me. But obviously 10 less years of drawing off a portfolio would make a significant difference.

750k is clearly not enough. What is enough for most people to retire early?

“Few people want to stay out of the U.S. indefinitely”-I moved to the Caribbean to take care of a parent three years ago, they have passed on and I can’t wait to tie up the loose ends and return to the States. Beware of those videos promoting an idyllic, lean fire retirement abroad on an island or another country; it’s not that simple.

Sorry but if you worry about every black swan event you’ll never retire. I get ‘it’ but perspective is key. ‘Assuming’ a 7-8% annual return is reasonable. If it’s less than that assumption adjust accordingly. Not likely it will be but it allows you to retire at a reasonable age with reasonable risk. Most folks would be lucky to be in that situation.

Thanks. I think your retirement expectation calculations are more realistic than other planners.

Great video, but I noticed that people in CA and NY have a hard time understanding that most Americans live on $50k or less. And most don’t live in expensive cities like LA, SF, NYC or MIA. Those people are the exception not the rest of America.

I’ll be lucky if I can retire at 64. 🤷🏽‍♀️

People are taking an extreme risk retiring to early, the inflation risk is to great and potential unforeseen issues such as health. I agree about some of these creators are not retired.

First of the year I looked for dividends and capital gains and did not see any transactions for my 401k investments. Called HR and they said it is bundled in the yearly gain. Now the IRA's I manage the pay outs showed under Activity\ Transaction history and I was able to total them all up for 2024 and was pleased that it rose to $19830.00. Will rollover once I term with employer.

financial literacy needs to be a required subject in school...

Insurance is crazy right now here in northern VA/DC!! Also, we have a car tax here, and if you have a newer, expensive car, that tax is crazy too!! But, even the tax on a 3-5 year old car is expensive too!! Car taxes are one of the main revenue streams for municipalities. Good video!