Personal Finance

My wife and I dream of retiring in a few years on a budget of $600k per year - will we have enough?

Christy Bieber

Published: February 16, 2025 10:16 am

A 48-year-old Reddit user has a very ambitious goal for his retirement. He’d like to retire in 10 years and be able to spend $600,000 per year in retirement.

While he is not currently spending anywhere near that amount, he lives in a very high-cost-of-living area and he thinks having $50K a month to spend would make retirement “adventurous and fun.”

So, the big question is, is it realistic for him to plan for a $ 600,000-a-month income in a decade’s time?

Is a $600K retirement income possible?

Having a nest egg that would produce $600,000 a year is a very ambitious goal, so let’s first take a look at just how much money you’d need to save to meet that spending need.

While traditionally experts recommended a 4% withdrawal rate to preserve your funds, this estimate has now been revised to 3.7%. If the Reddit user wants to make sure his money lasts and sticks to that conservative withdrawal rate, he would need a nest egg with around $16.22 million. That’s obviously quite a lot of money to save, so his ability to do that is going to depend on where he’s starting from and how much he has available to invest. 

The Redditor said he has $3.8 million invested in ETFs, another $1.3 million in a Roth account, and $3 million in investment real estate. He also has $3.6 million in personal real estate equity and has investments in private companies that he estimates have a market value of $12.7 million.

His personal real estate, assuming he’s going to keep living in his home, will not provide him with any income in retirement. The equity in private companies is a little more uncertain. If he can sell the equity in the businesses for $12.7 million (or more) when it comes time to retire, then he’d clearly be on track to have $16.22 million and would almost be there already. However, if something happens to the companies and he ends up with far less money from them than expected, then the picture is a little more uncertain. 

Still, the $5.1 million in ETFs and Roths together should turn into around $13.2 million over 10 year’s time assuming he earns a 10% average annual return. So, if the investment properties and business stakes can get him the rest of the way to his $16.22 million goal, then a $600K retirement income is actually a pretty realistic possibility. 

A financial advisor can help to accomplish ambitious goals

While the Reddit user clearly seems to be on track for success here, his financial situation is made more complicated by the fact such a large portion of his money is tied up in private businesses. This could be a situation where he benefits from talking with a financial advisor who can help him figure out how to establish an appropriate asset allocation for a safe retirement — especially given his substantial spending needs.  

An advisor can help the Redditor both now and when the time for retirement comes to ensure that he’s exposed to the right level of risk, has set a realistic spending goal, and is able to maintain a safe withdrawal rate so he can have an exciting retirement that is as financially secure as possible.