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Nice job! I made some interactive visualizations to calculate something very similar: https://www.workfortime.com/investment-calculator/ https://www.workfortim

Nice job! I made some interactive visualizations to calculate something very similar: https://www.workfortime.com/investment-calculator/ https://www.workfortime.com/investment-calculator/ https://www.workfortime.com/retirement-calculator/ https://www.workfortime.com/retirement-calculator/ I tried to show how age and length of investment really impact how much wealth you can create.

hughperkins 9y ago
Note that looks like you are assuming 4% investments after retirement. Per the passive investment chart, this implies a fairly high level of risk? I'm unclear if you're also assuming we will live forever?
- JoshTriplett 9y ago
  4% returns are a very cautious estimate, one that would have worked even for a period spanning the Great Depression, or any other stock market crash.
  - froindt 9y ago
    I agree, but to add a few more details: * This is typically cited from the Trinity study (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity study). * It is looking at a 30 year time horizon. For longer periods you'd need a but more money, but not double. 3% is incredibly safe, and wouldn't take that much longer to acquire once you're at 4%. * Slight reductions in expenses during down years have a huge effect on the overall success of the portfolio. If you could reduce expenses to 3.5% during severely down years, that would significantly help the success and longevity of your portfolio.
ataturk 9y ago
I like the UI, I really do, but all these calculators are flawed in that they can't predict the future. What do I mean? Well, I have ~$1.5M right now and I'm 45 and I want to retire ~50. Seems doable, no? But it's not because I have no idea what the cost of health insurance will be even 10 years from now, not to mention over the course of my full retirement. Also, I have two kids whom I will likely want to send to college, another outrageous expense whose total cost is completely unknowable. I attempted to retire in 2017. Health insurance via COBRA was a total disaster. I was paying $1400/mo. for my family, so even though I have no mortgage and just the monthly bills, I now did have a mortgage of sorts! It completely fucked my calculations as well as my expectations about retirement. Folks, here is the truth: You need something like $10M these days in order to retire early and not just be a miser ekeing out some cheapo existence. I don't live extravagantly at all, and I read sites like Bogleheads and Mr. Money Mustache, but I have resolved that the best I can do is to retire--as a software engineer, that is, and maybe, MAYBE work part-time in some boring, dispensible, throw-away shit jobs. If anyone knows of how to work part-time in IT please post. I am not only a developer, I'm good at DevOps, databases, hardware. I wouldn't mind configuring laptops or setting up servers, as long as it's only part-time and pays something. I just don't want to work at Target or Home Depot, because that is even more soul-crushing than what I already do every day.

hughperkins 9y ago

Note that looks like you are assuming 4% investments after retirement. Per the passive investment chart, this implies a fairly high level of risk? I'm unclear if you're also assuming we will live forever?

JoshTriplett 9y ago
4% returns are a very cautious estimate, one that would have worked even for a period spanning the Great Depression, or any other stock market crash.
- froindt 9y ago
  I agree, but to add a few more details: * This is typically cited from the Trinity study (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity study). * It is looking at a 30 year time horizon. For longer periods you'd need a but more money, but not double. 3% is incredibly safe, and wouldn't take that much longer to acquire once you're at 4%. * Slight reductions in expenses during down years have a huge effect on the overall success of the portfolio. If you could reduce expenses to 3.5% during severely down years, that would significantly help the success and longevity of your portfolio.

ataturk 9y ago

I like the UI, I really do, but all these calculators are flawed in that they can't predict the future. What do I mean? Well, I have ~$1.5M right now and I'm 45 and I want to retire ~50. Seems doable, no? But it's not because I have no idea what the cost of health insurance will be even 10 years from now, not to mention over the course of my full retirement. Also, I have two kids whom I will likely want to send to college, another outrageous expense whose total cost is completely unknowable. I attempted to retire in 2017. Health insurance via COBRA was a total disaster. I was paying $1400/mo. for my family, so even though I have no mortgage and just the monthly bills, I now did have a mortgage of sorts! It completely fucked my calculations as well as my expectations about retirement. Folks, here is the truth: You need something like $10M these days in order to retire early and not just be a miser ekeing out some cheapo existence. I don't live extravagantly at all, and I read sites like Bogleheads and Mr. Money Mustache, but I have resolved that the best I can do is to retire--as a software engineer, that is, and maybe, MAYBE work part-time in some boring, dispensible, throw-away shit jobs. If anyone knows of how to work part-time in IT please post. I am not only a developer, I'm good at DevOps, databases, hardware. I wouldn't mind configuring laptops or setting up servers, as long as it's only part-time and pays something. I just don't want to work at Target or Home Depot, because that is even more soul-crushing than what I already do every day.