The fact that she has a pension of 50k per year, this would really make their net worth about 2.5 mil because that is what you would need to spin off 50k a year and also have the extra to get to 10k per month. It is a bit misleading because if she didn't have the pension, there is no way that they could even consider this!

This is another excellent vid from Peak Financial Planning; thanks very much!

Thanks Eric for another very informative video. You did a great job of explaining the options that the couple in this case study have to retire when they want to.

For me, the glaring fact is that from the point their pensions all kick in, they have 90% of expenses covered from that alone. So really, they don’t have any serious ‘money running out’/longevity risk here.

Great comparison. Thanks!

Short answer: Yes, but only for about 11 years.

All these retirement videos love using an example where at least one of the partners has a healthy pension plan. Maybe it's legit in that the current crop of at/near retirees come from a generation where it was more common, but it certainly doesn't apply to this extent anymore. Yet, watching all these videos you'd think just about everyone has a pension.

What is the assumption for how the $1.1 mm will be invested? A 60/40 portfolio? What if there is a downturn and the $1.1 mm became $700k? Without assumptions stated for how the nest egg will be invested, I don't see how anyone can make any predictions for success probabilities.

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to pay off our mortgage early. We were both still working, and took the payment amount that we had been using to pay off our mortgage faster and we put it straight into investments. We were able to retire early because of almost 7 years of putting away what would have been our mortgage payment as well as maxing out our 401K/403B plans. Thankfully we were taught by both of our parents the value of living within our means. Thank you for your advice. I know it will help people. we are interested in investments that could set me up for retirement , I mean I've heard of people that netted hundreds of thousands during these crash, I listened to someone on a podcast who earned over $650K in less than a year, what's the strategy behind such returns?

NFW... The pension helps greatly. But they would need at least $12,000 a month gross and there is not enough money there.

How risk adverse are they? Sometimes the only realistic answer is "No." For example, they could divide 60:40 into SPYI:QQQI for an approximate (RIGHT NOW!) distribution rate over 12.5%. If this is in a pre-tax account, they are almost certain to end up in trouble. In a Roth they could reinvest over 3% and (RIGHT NOW) it looks like that might sustain indefinitely. In a taxable account those funds intend their income to be classified as 60% long-term cap gains and 40% short and they try to tax loss harvest to further increase tax efficiency. I own a small percentage in SPYI and QQQI and there is NO WAY I'd put 100% of my assets in those two funds and plan to spend 75% of the distributions.

The other thing these scenarios can’t take into account is the probability that one of them will die before the other or end up in a long-term care facility. No way to predict real life which makes it almost impossible to tell how long your money will last unless you are actually wealthy.

Stopped the video when the pension was mentioned. Very, very few people, other than government employees, have pensions. Therefore a detailed case study is a waste of time for me.

10k a month with 1.1M? Yes, you can, but it will only last 10-12 years depending on market performance and AA. Wait until 67. Get full SS and then you can pull it off maybe...

No