Re:Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear
by awkwardtortoise on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @02:51PM
(#14361606)
> Had he kept it in XOM, his $3 million would have been worth $22 million today, with a dividend that would have covered his expenses and that kept pace with inflation.
His house value probably rose at a higher rate than XOM's did.
Also, what's your point? His shares would be worth $22 million today and he'd still be dead.
Re:Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear
by firebones on Thursday May 18, 2017 @09:26PM
(#14372411)
The point is that his surviving wife wouldn't have to scrape by on social security, and that he wouldn't have had to have burned through his entire nest egg even if he was buying a house, cars, and spending $100K/yr + 12 years of medical expenses and long-term care.
But that's moot--the edit I made was because the $22M was based on a chronology problem in the original post. The ten year difference in retirement date from 1988 to 1998 is a much better explanation of the facts, and fits the OP's premise better.
What I was going to post based on your original report of retiring in 1988 with $3M (keeping it for illustrative purposes):
He must have sold the stock when he retired to buy that house and those cars. Had he kept it in XOM, his $3 million would have been worth $22 million today, with a dividend that would have covered his expenses and that kept pace with inflation.
Not that keeping your nest egg in a single stock would have been advisable, but the S&P return for that would have been comparable.