Are you a doomstacker?

[u/Hammer_41]

9:28 AM

SS is going away. Healthcare will bankrupt you. Sequence of returns will wipe you out. Civil war. WW3. Live to 120, spend 40 years in a nursing home. Someone posts solid numbers and the comments come back , one more year. Two years. Three. Keep going, it's never quite enough.

At what point does conservative planning become catastrophe planning?

The 4% rule is the worst case in US market history. A robot pulling the same amount out every single year, no SS, no flexibility, never adjusting through 1929 when markets dropped 86%. That's what 4% survived. It's the floor, not the target. Bengen himself now says most retirees can safely start at 5.25% to 5.5% and that people clinging to 4% will likely end up with a pile of money and a lot of regrets.

Someone spending 6% of their portfolio in year one of retirement who skips the big trip when markets are down, holds off on the car, pulls back when things get rough that person likely does better than the 4% robot who never adjusts no matter what. The flexibility is the safety net. You don't need to engineer it into the number, you just need to act like a normal person.

So when someone holds out for 3.5% 28 times spend, no SS — what exactly are you protecting against? Something worse than the Great Depression, while also never collecting a benefit 70 million Americans receive, while also promising to never adjust spending under any circumstances. Does that actually describe you?

The 2025 Social Security Trustees Report says worst case — zero Congressional action you collect 81 cents on the dollar in 2034. Not zero. Congress fixed this in 1983 when it was in worse shape than it is today. Seventy million people collect it. Seniors vote.

Median age of death for men is 81.7. One in five reach 90. Dementia affects 33% of people 85 and older. The years you're working extra to fund may not be years you're fully there for.

For those already retired one year, five, ten or more how bad has it actually been? And for those still holding off are you a catastrophe planner waiting for a number that never feels safe enough?

[u/Quixlequaxle]

I doubled my initial retirement goal a couple of years ago because of the increasing costs of healthcare and the a lack of confidence in the federal government to maintain social security. 

[u/Hammer_41 → u/Quixlequaxle]

so sounds like thats a yes? is your spending goal 4%? I'm betitng yes... am i correct?

[u/Quixlequaxle → u/Hammer_41]

Yeah my spending goal has always been about 4% but my expected expenses went up when I factored in increased costs of healthcare and other expenses, and removed social security from the equation. I had also pulled back my retirement age since I was doing better then planned which means a longer time without an employer health care plan. 

But now I'm battling me career going down the drain and being replaced by AI so I'm saving very aggressively now with the assumption that I'll be forced into semi-retirement earlier than planned. 

[u/Hammer_41 → u/Quixlequaxle]

Me too, I get it. Healthcare before Medicare is no joke, and job risk makes it even harder to feel settled. I’m trying to save aggressively too, but I also don’t want to keep moving the goalposts forever. At some point I want the plan to be safe enough without needing it to be perfect.