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Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

investmentcalculator.io

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Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#101

Post by toomuchtodo »

loeg wrote: post #97
5555624 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do this when you are young, too. Doing this when you're older, say 50+, can still work, it's just harder. Unless I pay my mortgage off early, before I qualify for Social Security, I'll still be paying it. On the other hand, it's less than $800/month, so I am not too worried.

A mortgage is a sort of reverse bond. Ideally, you pay it off aggressively shortly before you plan to retire. This whole blog series is great, and I'd recommend it, but this particular post is the one responsive to the mortgage and retirement part: https://earlyretirementnow.com/2017/10/11/the-ultimate-guide...

I paid my mortgage off in my late 20s as a hedge against future unemployment.

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#102

Post by sf_rob »

ryandrake wrote: post #96
Veelox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no way I'm going to have saved enough money to live off of It is possible. It will take work and change on your part. The first step is to track your spending. The easiest way to do this is get an account with mint, ynab (you need a budget), or personal capital. You can link all of your accounts with the site and app. You can then categorized your spending. After you do this you can start seeing where you c…

There is no straightforward risk-less formula, unfortunately. You can follow all the textbook advice, have a budget, max your 401k, pay down your debt, buy a house, blah blah blah, and after 20 years still only have 1x or 1.5x your salary in total savings [ask me how I know] due to bad luck, unfortunate market timing, lack of skill in investing, emergencies, etc. I hate all this simplified, incomplete advice. If succ…

I completely agree that these things are oversimplified and people don't discuss luck enough. However, if you're able to isolate your retirement savings from the rest of your life (which is a big if which doesn't apply to many people!), things aren't so bad on a long timeline. Here are two data points that I find quite compelling. The first is about a theoretical person who saves money in cash between market run-ups and only invests at market peaks (spoiler, they end up with much more than they invested). The second just points out that the S&P 500 has never had a nominal 30 year streak with less than ~8% annual growth (which is not to say it couldn't).

http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-... http://www.businessinsider.com/30-year-sp-500-returns-impres...

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#103

Post by xchaotic »

where on earth do you get 9% returns on 'safe' investments? According to historical records, the average annual return for the S&P 500 ('aggresive') since its inception in 1928 through 2014 is approximately 10%, but you may have to partially cash out at a low point.

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#104

Post by Veelox »

gowld wrote: post #87
Veelox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no way I'm going to have saved enough money to live off of It is possible. It will take work and change on your part. The first step is to track your spending. The easiest way to do this is get an account with mint, ynab (you need a budget), or personal capital. You can link all of your accounts with the site and app. You can then categorized your spending. After you do this you can start seeing where you c…

You have no idea what parent poster's income and skills are.

You are right, I don't but since they are commenting on hacker news I give it a >90% that if they are willing to change their lifestyle than they can become less stressed about money.

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#107

Post by makalumhenders »

For those interested in learning the fundamentals behind that calculator, I wrote a book that can be read in an hour, and received praise from Derek Sivers, David Heinemeier Hansson, and many others.

You can read it for free online, or download the PDF (also free).

https://moneyforsomething.org

If you like it, I just ask that you help spread the word. Starting investing when your young is so, so important. And unfortunately the core essentials are often diluted with unnecessary complexities in most of the mainstream books. That's why I wrote this one.

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#108

Post by Veelox »

ryandrake wrote: post #96
Veelox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no way I'm going to have saved enough money to live off of It is possible. It will take work and change on your part. The first step is to track your spending. The easiest way to do this is get an account with mint, ynab (you need a budget), or personal capital. You can link all of your accounts with the site and app. You can then categorized your spending. After you do this you can start seeing where you c…

There is no straightforward risk-less formula, unfortunately. You can follow all the textbook advice, have a budget, max your 401k, pay down your debt, buy a house, blah blah blah, and after 20 years still only have 1x or 1.5x your salary in total savings [ask me how I know] due to bad luck, unfortunate market timing, lack of skill in investing, emergencies, etc. I hate all this simplified, incomplete advice. If succ…

If you start at 25, saving 10% of your salary into a 401k and never get divorced, spend > If successfully saving for retirement was so straightforward and deterministic, there wouldn’t be an entire industry, with consultants and books, built up around trying to help people hopelessly navigate it.

There is a full industry. Saving money (for people with incomes above the median), like losing weight is simple. Yet there are still fat people and broke people.

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#109

Post by Retyrement »

I don't get it. I typed in:

45 years How much do you currently have saved? $500,000 How much do you want to save each month? $0

Result:

Aggressive: Total Investment Savings: $2,446,365 Retirement Income: $12,614 / mo

Conservative: Total Investment Savings: $2,008,469 Retirement Income: $7,531 / mo

What the F? I don't need to save any more to have a decent retirement income?

Re: Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator

#110

Post by enumjorge »

chrisan wrote: post #90
compiler-guy wrote: post #13

Those seeking a much more sophisticated retirement calculator, where you can set nearly every parameter, such as rate of return, amount saved, and nearly everything else, should checkout firecalc. You can select different withdrawl rate strategies, different investment strategies, deferred compensation strategies, different investment mixes, and many, many other things. The interface isn't as pretty, but it is unbeli…

Is there anything on how to figure out what your retirement goal should be? Like how am I supposed to estimate costs I will need in retirement to know how much I need to start with.

The firecalc page has a link to US averages [0]. I haven’t used it myself, so I count vouch for its utility.

[0] https://www.firecalc.com/real-cost-of-living.php

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