How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?

This afternoon, I was scrolling down on my Facebook feed, and one of the Financial Facebook pages I am following on that social media platform called "Investa" posted something, and it immediately caught my attention. In the post, it asked a question,

"How much money do you need to Retire?"

At first, when I read the question, I didn't bother thinking much about it since I'm still studying in college and retirement is still far from my mind as I'm still so young and I still have a long way to go so I just went to read the comment section.

Most of the users commented and gave a specific amount of money. Some said they can retire if they already have about 5 Million pesos savings (approximately $100,000) and some even gave a huge amount of about $1 Million or 50 Million pesos. And after reading those numbers, I was like, "I'll probably never get to retire and I'll just work until I die."

If not all, I guess most of us also get to think about the future and our retirement and how much money do we exactly need in order for us to retire. Well, it probably depends on how you view and define what "retirement" is to you.

For others, it's about getting to reach a certain age, like 50 to 60 years old, and departing from their long-time job so that they can enjoy the rest of their lives already using their hard-earned money. Nowadays, the younger generations or the so-called Millennials are even aiming for "Financial Independence" to "Retire Early" (FIRE) where they would dedicate 5 to 10 years of their lives hustling and grinding nonstop, having 2-3 jobs and side hustles just to build their Finance and Retirement Fund so that they can escape their 8-5 jobs already and focus on pursuing the things they want to do or they are passionate about. Meanwhile, others don't even think about retiring at all because they just like to work nonstop until their time comes.

In order to come up with an answer for the question above, one must first define what "Retirement" means to them.

As for me, my idea of "retirement" is escaping the usual 8-5 job and not being a corporate slave trying to climb up on the corporate ladder. Retirement for me is not getting to work for others' dreams but working for my own goals and aspirations in life. It's about being in control of my own time so that I get to do the things I like to do anytime, without seeking others' approval. Retirement is having Time and Financial Freedom.

As for the exact amount of money I need to retire, as long as I have already built a house for myself, bought a car, acquired other assets that grow over time and that would give me a passive income that would suffice for my daily expenses, I think securing a 5 Million Pesos Retirement savings ($100,000) is already enough to retire, or more like to slow down in hustling and grinding. If I have all of those already, I don't have to worry so much about work anymore and I can do the things I want to do.

While I think that my idea of "Retirement" is quite impossible to achieve, especially if you are born without a silver spoon and you have to work your way up to achieve it, I still believe that nothing is impossible for those people who are dedicated and work hard to make it come true.