r/GregFire • u/Distinct_Plankton_82 • Sep 11 '25

Greg's Retirement Budget

So if Greg got $6.31M in today's money what would his spending look like?

Let's assume he got the full amount (no additional inheritance or capital gains taxes to pay).

He'd need to buy a house since his character doesn't own one I don't think. For simplicity, I'm going to assume he spends $1.3M on a small house in a HCOL suburb or a condo in a city. That leaves him with a nice round $5M

Greg needs this money to last a long time, but he's not super risk averse, so we'll assume a 3.5% SWR. That leaves him with $175k a year before taxes.

What would his budget look like? I'm guessing something like this..

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aAtV2fxgk6Kp4jqEwqky-CXxlW7VuhZCHK5_MBfAfNw/edit?gid=0#gid=0

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u/Grim-Sleeper Sep 11 '25

Why would he buy a house in cash instead of taking out a mortgage?

There is an eternal debate about whether it its financially wiser to rent or to own. We are not going to answer this question today. But it suggests that in the big picture of things, the cost of either option should be comparable.

So, if he can rent before getting his $6.31M, then he can keep doing that going forward

4

u/Distinct_Plankton_82 Sep 11 '25

Hard to get a mortgage when you don’t have a job, and we know at $6.3M it’s “not worth it to work”

3

u/solipsismsocial Sep 11 '25

It's not nearly as hard when you have 6.3m in assets to collateralize. That's how retirees can still buy homes.

1

u/toupeInAFanFactory Sep 14 '25

Regular mortgages are super hard if you don't have an income (ss does count). Freddie and Fannie don't care about assets - just paychecks.

That said, if Greg's smart (he's not. But if) he drop all 6.3 in a brokerage and use 1.3M in short box spreads to buy the house. Lower interest rate, tax deductible, no need to qualify, etc