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Any Aon pension actuaries who could help my friend understand the hierarchy of titles? Let’s say my friend has 10 years of experience, FSA and EA credentials, was a consistently high performer over his career, what would his expected title be at Aon within the core retirement actuarial business? Thanks in advance.
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Separate out that net worth - what is in retirement accounts vs your cash/ brokerage account? Your retirement account you should not touch and keep it growing until 60. Your cash/ brokerage is what you will need to be living on for 27 years.
Subject Expert
Avoiding using retirement accounts for early retirement makes no sense.
Withdrawing Roth contributions and conversions is a good strategy.
I think 4% rule is a typical retirement length safe withdrawal rate. I’d use something closer to 3% if not lower.
Subject Expert
$3m is probably not quite enough to confidently provide $120k.
That’s a slightly high withdrawal rate, and you would probably pay some taxes.
You probably need to shoot for around $3.5m-$4m, and will need to adjust this up for inflation.
You could also reduce your spending, of course that’s your choice.
Subject Expert
You simply can’t rely on a 10% return after tax.
Definitely not enough for those living choices and timeline. Given your age you need to plan for a lower withdrawal rate around 3 percent as others have said. Given NYC you may need to consider if your expenses are really manageable at $120k. How have you factored in healthcare costs? Depending on location in Asia costs could be wildly higher (e.g., Tokyo, Seoul) or lower. Would you maintain multiple residences? And how much travel would you be doing? Flights to and from Asia can add up quickly. Finally, you will need to factor in taxes on monies you withdraw, particularly if you are going to have to pay capital gains and/or income taxes.
It would behoove you to do some analysis on the expenses and put all of this into a financial planning tool to run some scenarios.
Thanks for the input all! Currently I spend around $62k per year living in nyc by myself (in Manhattan too) which includes rent and I do travel internationally 3 times a year. I don't think I'll be spending $10k per month in the future but better to be safe. Healthcare cost is a headache so I agree that it's safer to go to $4m as a buffer.
I think people on this app don't readily consider a frugal lifestyle in NYC. If you have sustained that spending level a couple of years, you can rely on it. Add $10-15k for healthcare and divide by .6 for tax. $120k is probably about right.
I think the harder question is planning for international markets and economy shifts. We don't know what will happen, but what happens IF USD de-values 30-50% against Chinese/Asian currencies? Then you're exposed. This matters when you look at a 50 year horizon. Also are there more tax efficient ways to "withdraw" and "hold" your money when considering half your time is abroad?