Click below to listen to Episode 150 – What’s Your Financial Freedom Number
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What’s Your Financial Freedom Number
How much money do you need to retire? It depends on a number of factors including what age you expect to retire and the annual income you want to have available. Even if the number is lower, you’ll probably be surprised at the amount of money that you will need to retire the way you want. This is where your financial freedom number comes into play.
Bob and Shawn show you how to estimate what your financial freedom number might be in order to retire as successfully as possible. Granted, this number can change and there are quite a few factors that go into it. However, having a number to start with allows you to start your journey towards retirement and financial freedom.
HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
CO-HOST: Shawn Peters
Mentioned In This Episode
Christian Financial Advisors
Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Shawn Peters
Bible Verses In This Episode
PROVERBS 21:5 MSG
Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind.
Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Intro:
Welcome to Christian Financial Perspectives, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom, and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life, and finances with a biblical worldview. Here’s your Christian Financial advisor’s host, Bob Barber and his co-host, Shawn Peters.
Shawn:
Welcome to another episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us today, whether you’re watching or listening. This is actually really exciting because it’s episode 150. Not for video. We don’t have 150 videos yet, but it is episode 150 between our original audio for the first about 107, and since then we switched to video and audio for the format. If you are watching this and you like content on financial topics and other educational, financial related, but from a Christian perspective, we’d love you to hit that subscribe button, like this video, share it with others. It helps us, it helps others find this kind of content. As of now, Bob, we still have about 80% of those of you watching are not subscribed. So, if you’re watching this, and you like it, please hit subscribe.
Today we have an interesting topic. “What is Your Financial Freedom Number?” Okay, so Bob, most people probably don’t know, what’s a financial freedom number?
Bob:
Well, financial freedom number is when you have, Shawn, enough money that you’ve saved up and invested. Enough money that it can generate enough money to live on. Does that make sense?
Shawn:
It’s self-sustaining, I guess is the way you use that.
Bob:
I’ve heard what people believe is their financial freedom number for many years. I’ve even had some Shawn that have said, well, I’d like to retire and I have $200,000, and I’d like to retire on a $100,000 a year. I’m like, you are a little confused about rates of return and what that can generate. A $200,000 portfolio in our industry, it’s been happening for, I mean, as long as I have been around. The withdrawal rates should be under 5% if you’re under 65. Once you hit about 65, the withdrawal rate can be about 5% for up to about 75, and then you can go to a 6% withdrawal rate. So you got $200,000 and you’re retiring under 65. Let’s say you’re 60.
You’re not retiring on a hundred thousand a year. That will give you, generate safely and not use all that money before you go on to be with the Lord. 8,000 a year. There is a real huge gigantic confusion about the financial freedom number. By the way, I wanted to mention, I just got right into that. It’s just so exciting that it’s our 150 episode. I cannot even think of the thousands of hours I’ve spent coming up with all of these subject matters when it comes to finance, so I’m excited about that. I just had to mention that.
Shawn:
Seeing all the work that you put into this and then I don’t do as much as far as the writing or the script. Then we’ve got Garrett who helps us behind the scenes on the camera, and my wife and your daughter Jenna. She does a lot of our creative direction, and it’s crazy to see how much work this is. Then I see other YouTube creators and think, okay, I have even more respect for you now.
Bob:
I do, I do.
Shawn:
Having been on this side of it now and realized that’s a lot of work.
Bob:
A 15 minute episode is got seven or eight hours behind it, so it is interesting. Shawn, with this financial freedom number I said come up with the scripture this morning. I said, Shawn, look that scripture up about that the plans of the diligent. I asked you to find that scripture in Proverbs 21:5, and you came up with the scripture out of The Message.
Shawn:
I don’t know, I feel like for this program too, I know the message isn’t as direct translation, but I’ve just always liked how more plain English it seems. Like the original intent I guess.
Bob:
This one really hits good.
Shawn:
“Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind.”
Bob:
We’re going to point that out later; how the hurry and scurry, and how when you wait for you to start saving for your financial freedom number, it’s hard to catch up. I’ve got my, my trustee
Shawn:
Casio calculator.
Bob:
I’m old fashioned. I know it’s got the big numbers on it and everything, but I like these old calculators. Everybody has a different number, Shawn, and that’s depending on the lifestyle and the wants and your needs. I mean, for some people they can live on $50,000 a year. Others want $80,000 and others want a $100,000 a year. What we’re going to do is we’re going to to pick $75,000 a year for this program. Let’s say we want to find what your financial freedom number would be if you wanted the amount of money that could generate 75,000 a year. Then if you’re retired and you’re in those retirement years, you’re 65 or above and you want to add social security to that, or any pension plans. That’s going to compensate for inflation. That’s the way I look at it.
Shawn:
Really we’re picking 75,000 a year is just, eh, it’s a good number. It’s not a huge amount, it’s not a small amount, but it’s a decent average I would feel for a retirement income. In today’s dollars, if you were retiring today and you wanted to retire on 75,000.
Bob:
Get this ready, okay.
Shawn:
Multiply it by at least 25.
That’s right.
Bob:
I just, somebody just fell off their…
Shawn:
Why didn’t we go with a hundred thousand? Now I feel like that’s a little easier math, right?
Bob:
It is. it is. But I made it more difficult. Somebody just fell off their seat, or they’re on their exercise treadmill while they’re watching us like I do. I watch it too. They’re like, “Huh?” You’re telling me if I want to retire on 75,000, we multiply it times 25, I’m going to need…
Shawn:
Well, to be exact, $1,875,000 or just rounded up to say $1.9 million. If you wanted to retire right now on $75,000 a year, you would need at least 1.9 million to be your financial freedom number in this case. Now Bob, why is that? Can you maybe explain a little bit of where that 25 comes from?
Bob:
It comes back from, if you take anything and you multiply 25 and you have a pullout rate of 4%, that’s where that number comes from.
With $2 million, a pullout number or 4%, which is under 65, you shouldn’t pull more than 4% of the portfolio per year. That’s $80,000 a year. That’s right at that $75,000 mark. Like you said, the real number’s, $1,875,000, but we’re just going to use 1.9 million. We’re going to use that number because, now somebody goes, oh, wow. Well, how do I get to that number?
Shawn:
Most of you are probably, most of you watching are probably not necessarily retiring right now. Again, we wanted to paint this picture as well, imagine if you were retiring right now and you wanted to live on $75,000. That gives us 1.9 million. Now let’s figure out, all right, well, depending on how long you have until you’re potentially retiring. You know, what that plan is. What would it take to get to that 1.9 million?
Bob:
I’ve got all these different numbers and we’ll splash these up on the screen while I’m doing this.
Shawn:
The first thing though, Bob, is we set some ground rules for you guys.
Bob:
Yeah, I think that’s good.
Shawn:
We are talking about how to get to a $1.9 million portfolio, and this is assuming it’s a well diversified growth portfolio. It’s earning an average of say, 8.5% per year.
Bob:
I know that may be a little low, but we had a bear market here.
Shawn:
Yeah, exactly.
Bob:
I love Dave Ramsey. He always says, plan for Murphy’s Law. You know me, I’m a Murphy’s Law kind of guy. If I go on a trip, I’m going to make sure I’ve got plenty of water with me. I got a full gas tank. I don’t let it get below a quarter. I’m not one of these people that goes to the edge. By planning on a lower return, and this is a reasonable return for a growth portfolio over a long period of time. To be using these 10%, 11%, and 12% numbers is not realistic.
Shawn:
Because it’s not always consistent.
Bob:
Exactly. That’s correct.
Shawn:
An 8.5% percent annual return, well diversified growth portfolio over 30 years. You would need to invest about $1,200 a month.
Bob:
A lot people will say, well, how is that possible? Well if you have a 401K and you’re investing $600 in it a month, or $150 a week, let’s break this down. You’re getting a match from your employer or of 3% to 5%, or 6%. Which I see all the time in 401k’s. There you go. You’ve put that together, that’s $1,200 a month. Over 30 years that investment will grow.
Shawn:
To put that into context, over 30 years, $1,200 a month, that ends up being about $420,000. Of that $1.9 million, that would mean that you’ve directly saved about $420,000.
Bob:
The rest of it was growth.
Shawn:
The rest of it was growth. Now over 20 years, if you’re starting just 10 years later,
Just 10 years, it goes to about $3,000 a month.
Bob:
Yes, it does. That’s quite a bit more. Not triple, but it’s 2.5 times that amount.
Shawn:
Now here’s the part that I feel like is crazy here.
Bob:
It’s interesting.
Shawn:
You dropped down just five more years to where, let’s say you have about 15 years until you’re going to retire.
Bob:
Let’s say somebodies 50. Let’s say their 50 years old, they want to retire at 65, they haven’t saved up anything now.
Shawn:
They want to hit that magic $1.9 million. You’re going to have to invest $5,200 a month.
Of that $1.9 million, now you’re having to invest a total of $936,000.
Bob:
Because your money’s not growing for you.
Shawn:
It’s not growing there, it doesn’t have as long to grow.
Bob:
So the longer you wait, you realize the more you’re procrastinating with this.
Shawn:
Now, before we get to that Bob.
Bob:
The worse it gets.
Shawn:
The last one, and this is even crazier. We started at 30 years. If you’ve got 30 years, it’s $1,200 a month. Doable. If you only have 10 years, so let’s say you’re at 55 and you’re like, oh, I really need to get on this. If you’re starting now at 55 and you’ve got 10 years of retirement, and you need to be saving about $10,000 a month.
Bob:
Yeah, that’s a lot.
Shawn:
Now you’re at $1.2 million of the 1.9 directly from savings, investment returns. The effect of compounding interest over time is huge. The sooner you start investing, the better. Starting with just 15 years left, costs you more than double what you’d invest if you’d started with 30 years until retirement.
Bob:
This really shows you can take whatever age you are, maybe you’re a 20 year old and you’re listening to this right now where you say…
Shawn:
Hey, even better if you’ve got 40 years, you don’t need to save $1,200. a month.
Bob:
A lot of people want to retire before 65. Maybe they want to retire at 50. This goes to show you, or if you’re 40 and you say, well, I want to retire at 55. Well, you’ve got 15 years, you better really get with it. You’re going to need to put, you think about the 401k and you can’t even put half of that amount in there. You’ll go over the limits. This really hits people, Shawn. It does. They’re like, I’ve never thought of about that. You’re looking at me and you’re thinking, are you crazy? Well, it’s just math again, like we always say, it’s just math.
Nothing else. I believe we’re talking about a $75,000 a year income for retirement. That’s reasonable. We’re not talking $300,000 a year. If they’re going to take 30 years, they need to start investing at least $600 a month if they have a match on the 401k. If they don’t have a anybody matching them, they need to save $1,200 a month Yeah. The number one reason behind financial failure, we’ve said it many times, what’s the number one reason?
Shawn:
Procrastination.
Bob:
It’s procrastination. You cannot procrastinate on these numbers to get to your financial freedom number. We are here to help you with that. We use a financial planning program. We put all these numbers in. We put the inflation factor in there, and we can play around with these different returns, but we also must be realistic on the returns. If you’re wanting to get a growth return, you have to be willing to go through volatility to get that. The higher the growth rate, the more volatility you need to be able to put up with over time.
Shawn:
Bob, even that 8.5%, we were saying that it was a more conservative growth return.
Even that 8.5%, that’s still going to require some volatility. Where you’re going to have years like 2022 where it was not a bull market. Things were down overall. You can’t just expect that every single year is going to be the 8.5%. That’s the average return. If you’re in it for the long haul, I think the main thing is if you didn’t get anything else from this program, remember two things. One, start as soon as possible. Do not wait. Even 5 or 10 years depending on when that is, can make a huge difference. Then the second thing is, make sure you don’t lose your train of thought. Bob, what was I about to say?
Bob:
I don’t know, Shawn. I’m waiting for you.
Shawn:
I’m sorry. The most, more things just don’t delay. That is the most thing. Well, no, I was going to say the other most important thing was that remember the times 25.
Bob:
You’re having a senior moment here Shawn.
Shawn:
I’m having a senior moment. I’m not even 40 yet. I don’t know what’s going on.
Bob:
What was the second one?
Shawn:
The second one was remember the number. It’s that whatever that number is, you’re wanting to retiring now times 25. That gives you a good idea of your end goal.
Bob:
Multiply it times 25.
Shawn:
Start righ away, multiply your number by 25.
Bob:
You got it. We’re here to help you with this at Christian Financial Advisors. Our phone number, you can call it or you can text it. It is (830) 609-6986, or you can find us on the internet at christianfinancialadvisors.com. There’s a lot of good information on the website. I would invite you to spend 15 or 20 minutes there and kind of go around to all the different pages we have.
Shawn:
If you’d like more videos on these financial topics from a Christian perspective, please hit that subscribe button as well as to see the next time that I mess up live on camera.
Bob:
You drink the water and it goes down the wrong way or whatever. It just goes to show you, we’re just two guys here. Father-in-law and son-in-law coming right at you, and I hope you’re enjoying it. 150th episode. Wow.
Shawn:
God bless. Thanks again for joining us for our 150th episode. Till next time.
[CONCLUSION]
That’s all for now.
We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.
[DISCLOSURES]
Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.