This piece will be an uncompromising look at the future of relationships, marriage, and retirement for both men and women. I don’t know if there has ever been a time where the division between men and women has been so visible.
Sure, we can point to the 1950s and 1960s and say that women didn’t have a voice. So maybe their situations were not being presented for everyone to understand.
Now, women have a voice, and many are choosing to wait to marry. This new timeline has led to a different dating landscape for women in their 30s and 40s.
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I recently finished “Otherhood” by Melanie Notkin, a book about a single and childless career woman into her 40s. She released this book in 2014, but the scenario rings even more true today.
Many women are forgoing marriage to seek a career. Once they hit their 30s, some women then begin to search for a mate. It is much harder for both genders to date (with intention) in their 30s and 40s.
So many people have careers, kids, ex-spouses, emotional baggage, financial issues, etc., that finding a high-quality person may prove difficult. I certainly wouldn’t want to be single and looking at age 40.
Many women are saying that “they don’t need a man” and that they can live life alone. Now, this is where my article comes into play. We need to understand the ramifications of attempting to retire alone, with no assistance. Let’s run the numbers.
How many years do you want to work? First, does anyone want to work from age 20 to 65? That is a helluva long time to be in the workforce. When I turned 40, I wrote the article “No Freakin’ Way I Am Working Another 25 Years.”
I have been in the military for 22+ years and began working three years before this gig. After a certain point in the workforce, you realize you aren’t building anything for yourself. You’re helping your boss get promoted or assisting a nameless corporation shuffle papers back and forth.
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Most of us have to work a job, but our long-term intention should not be to stay in the workforce for 45 years. Not only will you not get rich, but you also won’t be in control of your time, location, or finances.
How much cash flow do you want during retirement? I wish to stress to any single woman reading this that it will be extremely difficult to retire alone. I like to say, “this is not a game.” Running the numbers should prove my point.
Let’s say that you are making triple the average wage of a female employee ($29,000). That would give you $90,000 of income at age 40. That puts you on the easy street, right? Well, maybe not.
Let’s assume that lifestyle and income will remain the same for the next 26 years, and you retire at full social security age, 66. You should want to keep $90,000 in income coming until the end of life.
What Is So Great About Being Independent?
Okay, $90,000 annually would equal $7,500/month in income. Our goal would be to make this passively. Your social security would be $3,000/month, so all you would have to recoup would be $4,500/month in passive income.
Passive income. Since you were working for these years with no support, you probably didn’t have the time or energy to start a business. Trust me, creating an income stream while working full-time can be tricky—no judgments here.
Dividends are your best bet. Dividends would be the best passive income source for a single full-time worker. Yes, 401k is excellent, but you need to have more control to get the results you want.
At a 4% dividend yield, you would need $1.35 million to produce the $4,500/month you require. That’s a lot of money for anyone, even couples. Only 1% of 401ks are over $1 million.
Compounding interest. Let’s run the compound interest numbers to see our savings rate from age 40 to 65 to achieve our $1.35 million.
The Golden Handcuffs of Lifestyle Inflation
Over 25 years, you would need to invest $1,200/month (starting with $50,000) to achieve your required $1.35 million. That’s not too bad, now let’s look over our budget.
Budgeting. Our $7,500/month turns into $5,500/month after taxes. Hopefully, we can do some things to mitigate taxes, but it will prove difficult with earned income (the highest taxed income).
I am sure a hard-working woman would want a lovely apartment, car, clothes, and food to eat. $5,500 minus our investment budget ($1,200) would leave $4,300. You would need to save at least $1,000/month to keep on hand in high yield checking, bonds, or USDC stable coin. This pot would be your emergency fund.
With one income and living alone, major life events can happen. One of these, like car maintenance or home repair, can break the bank. Trust me, I have been a homeowner for 14 years, and crap happens.
Retire Early as a Well-Rounded Millionaire
That leaves you $3,300 for home, car, expenses, and lifestyle. That’s not much at all, especially living in a major state like California. Now you have to make some tough choices, at least if you want to have a great retirement.
Tough choices. I would recommend having 2-3 roommates, at a minimum. Everyone should have roommates (or other passive income) if you don’t have at least $1 million in investments.
Those roommates can put $900 (1), $1800 (2), $2700 (3) back into your book. Heck, they can fund your entire retirement program. However, most people don’t want to exercise this option.
Can You Achieve Work-Life Balance 2
If you don’t want to have roommates, you need to become a Passive Income Hero at night. No more hanging out with friends. There are many options you can exercise to produce passive income from home, such as:
- Write Book Reviews
- Become a Content Creator
- Sell Your Creativity
- Start a Passive eCommerce Business
- Rent Your Car
- Start a Herb Garden
- Start an ATM Business
Whatever you choose will require four to five hours of your time every day. Rain or shine, your income stream takes 10,000 hours to become fruitful.
It takes two. I don’t want to discourage anyone’s lifestyle and make marriage and relationships seem like a business, but “marriage is a business!” It is a commitment to another human to provide, provision, protect, love, and care for each other.
I write in “The Wealth Accumulation Phase: Two is Better than One” that having a partner through this phase of life is terrific. I’ll write another article to get more into the weeds of growing together emotionally, physically, and financially.
Conclusion. I may have to write more in the following article. The point of this piece was just to get the wheels turning about what it means to live alone—for your entire life. No one is coming to save you. You are your only hope.
Retirement is expensive, and it costs a lot of money; even if you are a HENRY (High Earner Not Rich Yet), you still need to have a savings rate over 50% to achieve a comfortable retirement.
A high saving rate requires either financial sacrifice (low expenses) or time (passive income grinding). There are no other options. Please run your numbers and think about the implications of living alone.
Someone is probably running their numbers and thinking they may want to share their life with you. Just saying; life is business in the end.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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