It's finally time to call it a career, and you're walking into the next stage of your life with $1 million set aside for retirement.
That's more than enough to enjoy during your golden years, right?
That depends.
How long — not to mention how comfortable — you'll be able to live off that money during retirement is contingent on several variables, including where you live.
According to a study released by finance technology company SmartAsset, $1 million will last an estimated 27.3 years in the Bradenton-Sarasota region when you factor in expenses such as food, health care and housing.
That ranked ninth among 10 Florida regions, with housing being the area's biggest annual expenditure, and below the national average of 30.09 years, according to AJ Smith, the vice president of financial education at SmartAsset.
Just up the road in Tampa, that same $1 million will last approximately 32 years.
The study looked at data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the average annual expenditures of seniors across the country. It applied cost-of-living data to adjust those national average spending levels based on the costs of each expense category (food, health care, housing, transportation and utilities) in each city.
The best bang for your buck, according to SmartAsset. That's McAllen, Texas, about 10 miles from the Mexico border, where $1 million will last an estimated 42.20 years.
"(We hope) that this study gets people thinking about, planning for and saving for retirement. One important consideration is whether you want to stay put or relocate," Smith said.
In Bradenton-Sarasota, SmartAsset estimates annual expenses at $6,790 for food, $6,941 for health care, $8,801 for housing, $5,962 for transportation and $3,647 for utilities.
Here's how Florida cities ranked in the findings:
1. Palm Coast (32.5 years);
2. Tampa (32);
3. Orlando (31.7);
4. Jacksonville (30.9);
5. Daytona Beach (30.7);
6. Vero Beach (29.9);
7. Cape Coral (29.8);
8. Gainesville (29.4);
9. Bradenton-Sarasota (27.3);
10. Miami (25.9).
Not surprisingly, New York had the fewest years at 12.5, with Honolulu (14.8), San Francisco (15.9), Seattle (18.7) and Boston (18.7) rounding out the bottom five.
The study assumed a conservative 2 percent rate of return (interest, minus inflation) but did not factor in other income sources such as Social Security, pensions or inheritance.
The study results can be found here.
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