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Retirement thread

Happy and successful are two different topics. People getting welfare might be happy, but they are not successful because they can't support their family. In my mind happy is just that Happy, but successful means that I have what I need and don't have to wake up worrying about money, if I decide to go out and buy something I can swipe a debit card and walk away without worrying about what I'm going to have to do without this week.Also that you've set some goals in life that were going to be hard to reach and attained those goals. John being able to retire at his young age is just that. I would think he would fit both topics.
 
I have 401k now with company matched money that is vested and steadily building, but I am also curious about IRA's. I've read all of the info on this page to familiarize myself with it, but the comment:

"Keep in mind that Congress can change these rules at any time. So while these are the rules today, they may be very different when you retire."

....is somewhat frightening. At my age of 27, there's a loooong period providing great potential for some political idiots to fawk up what sounds so good about a Roth IRA now. I guess my question is, do you think it would really be worth opening one alongside my 401k account? If congress does so in "changing the rules" or anything else, they still could never touch my existing contributions could they? I mean if something happened to the excess earnings of it and I was left with merely what I've put into it over the years, I'd feel more confident in opening one. I don't know the ins and outs of this sort of thing.

Good read, explaning the differences in Traditional IRA's and Roth IRA's, here.

http://www.rothira.com/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira
 
This thread I will be watching. I know alot of people says to me.....No kids no wife you got all the money in the world. Truth is like probably 90% of the rest of us I struggle to make it to all the races and have the buggy ready to go with big breakdowns. But like what was said this is about retirement.


I invest into my 401k. I am ashamed to say that once I started racing I had to reduce my 401k contributions to be able to afford this and be comfortable. I am not ashamed to say that 3 years ago when I started this I was putting 25% in to my 401k plus the 4% company matches. Yes it is quite a bit of money but this is how I got there. I started a new job back in 2003. When I started the job I was at $12/hr and for my profession that is chump change. We all knew that figure would have to come up greatly. Well lets just say between the next 3 years we ended up with over $10/hr in raises. Everytime I got a raise instead of putting it in my pocket I would up my contribution to 401k until I reached the company max of 25%. My thoughts was if anything ever happen I could reduce this and "give myself a raise" if I ever needed the money. Our retirement is with Vanguard services and I do pay them to manage my account.

I am not stupid I know 401k is not guaranteed, look back to 2008 I lost almost $80k in my account. I feel like I have a pretty good hold on retirement (might be kidding myself) but I am in the reduce debt stage now. Just a few of my thoughts about how i am planning to reach retirement myself.
 
JohnG said:
So, folks especially those that are young, you are in complete control.

In the words of Winston Churchill: "He who fails to plan is planning to fail".
Click to expand...

This is dead on. I was taught at an early age to start saving money and how important it was. I understand life happens and you can't control everything but you can make it easier with the right choices.
Set goals and do your best to stick to them and plan for things you think you might want in the future.

For example, I knew one day that I would want kids, and I started financial planning for that several years ago.
 
To the Stevo. For you to get to where you wanna go, you are going to have to become your own boss. In your career field, you will have to get lucky to secure the right job and probably relocate, or strike out on your own. It is definitely a risk reward venture.

With all that said, location, location, location will be your next three words to focus on. At your age, you might not fully retire by the time you had originally planned on, but a partial retirement/checking in on employees will be very reasonable. I just strongly feel that if you want to stay in your career field, YOU will have to go out on your own.
 
BUG-E J said:
Car buisness sucks! :****: I figure I just blow my paycheck everyweek and have fun while I can. Wont be long we wont be allowed by the government to spend money how we see fit anywayz
Click to expand...

Car business is great as long as ur good at what u do but that's not what this thread is about. I was taught a long time ago by my to always have least 6 months worth of bills saved just in case I lose my job and I just build from there.
 
Ok let me lay this down. I live in a Po dunk town called cropwell alabama. I have many diverse skills. I am an auto tech. No certificates. I am kind of stuck here. My wife's carrier to me is more important than mine. I will never own the shop I am currently at. My wife and I would love to make it back to au. We own a house there. We left her house and came here because we could not expand her house financially. But could afford to relocate here on her family property. Kids, space , and her job and mother (heath) dictated the move. I am stuck and limited living here. I love living here. I love the country and don't mind making less. Yet know this is it living here. I have no problem saying that I'm scared for my family's future cause I am daily. I'm supposed to be the provider and feel unacomplished. Now just rambling.
 
My turn. Retirement, if you are looking that foreword to retirement, you don't like your job and need to possibility think about a change anyway. I am 62 and don't even want to think of retiring. I am a contractor , my wife is also a contractor. I enjoy working and enjoy playing. We make money and can buy what we want, but are sensible about the toys we buy. We work hard and play hard. We can go where we want and pay as we go. I can run my company ( if I stay healthy) for many years. If I don't stay healthy I have enough equity to sell. I know many people who have retired early and the only ones happy are the ones that didn't like there Job. Retirement is not for everybody, defenitly not for me. Ifi keep going like I am now. I know when I need to work and when I don't, I play. Johns plan for retirement sound like a good one and has worked for him and with commitment will work for others. I enjoy my business and not looking foreward to not being able to do it any more. Before the economy took a crap I could have quit but would probably be crazy by now. As long as I am able to play, I will keep working. Good luck everybody with your dream, I have mine.
 
So far my best investments have been in real estate, and in municipal bonds. I currently have 3 rental properties, two of which are paid for. I net about $1800/mo from them after renters ins, property taxes, and the mortgage on the one are paid. The municipal bonds are all 15 yr bonds. They are structured so that every 5yrs the amount of interest paid increases 2.5% (They started out at 2.5, this fall they jump to 5). They are 100% liquid after the first month, so if something goes wrong, I can pull my money quick. The only downside to them is the municipality can buy out the bond at any time, then you are stuck shopping for another. Most likely when I finish college I will be cashing them all out and buying more rentals since I get a greater return for my investment.

I never stop looking for ways to make money. I roll all my investment money and a percentage of my income back into my investment portfolio. I pay for my hobbies and new truck by flipping parts, auto's and lately, jetski's. I'm not sure the return on the time I put into it is worth it, but it keeps me having lots of toys and the wife off my ass because the money doesn't come from the household acct.
 
At this point in time, I have pulled all my retirement. I invested my money and make my money work for me. Long term, it is a great time to invest if you can afford it. Short term, the market will drive you crazy.

Steve needs to own his own shop and diversify a bit. I could see a fab shop/oil and lube type place in the AU. Maybe promoting the GAP on the weekends.
 
My understanding of an ira is it will be a better choice if you plan to retire and be in a higher tax bracket than you currently invest under.
My opinion is that I dont need or want to be in a higher bracket at retirement. ..guess it depends on how the market goes and how you want it to pay out at retirement.

I could be wrong, but it seems that traditional 401k is better
 
Im going to chime in on the Roth IRA v 401k topic of discussion. The way I was taught, you ALWAYS match the max deferment that your company will allow thus maxing out the benefit of the FREE money from your respective employer. Any more money you would like to defer, invest in a Roth IRA. This is how I am currently doing it and it seems to be beneficial. Not putting any faith in Social Security. I am 31 at this time and financially comfortable. Working on the debt free lifestyle, maybe in 5-10 years. After that, I plan on buying up rental properties as I can maintain anything.
 
My wife & I follow the Dave Ramsey plan.
#1: Pay off all debt other than your house ASAP.
#2: Save a 6-12 month emergency fund, we have about 9 months now are going to save to get 12 months. Enough money that if we are both out of work for a year we could continue our current standard of living for 12 months
#3: Put 15% of our income in retirement accounts. Both our company's match 8% so we put 8% in company 401K & the rest goes into a Roth IRA
#4: Put 10% of our income split into college funds for our 2 kids
#5: Once emergency find is completed pay as much as we can on our house until its paid off

To make this happen we sit down together at the first of every month and make a written budget. Every dollar of income is allocated to go somewhere BEFORE the month starts.

To expedite our debt pat off we stopped contributing to our retirement. We started this less than 4 years ago & are now in steps 2-4.

We started like most young couples I know: student loan debt, car loans, credit cards, etc. All totaled over $100K of debt.

During this time we had 2 kids & we went riding as much as we could. I have a jeep on 1 tons, a DD truck, a tow ring, & wife has her DD. Our junk isn't the newest or nicest stuff around but we own it out right and it gets the job done.

This plan is not for everyone but has worked wonders for us financially and made our marriage stronger. When there is no stress over money everything just seems to run smoothly.

Jeremy
 
halcat said:
My turn. Retirement, if you are looking that foreword to retirement, you don't like your job and need to possibility think about a change anyway. I am 62 and don't even want to think of retiring. I am a contractor , my wife is also a contractor. I enjoy working and enjoy playing. We make money and can buy what we want, but are sensible about the toys we buy. We work hard and play hard. We can go where we want and pay as we go. I can run my company ( if I stay healthy) for many years. If I don't stay healthy I have enough equity to sell. I know many people who have retired early and the only ones happy are the ones that didn't like there Job. Retirement is not for everybody, defenitly not for me. Ifi keep going like I am now. I know when I need to work and when I don't, I play. Johns plan for retirement sound like a good one and has worked for him and with commitment will work for others. I enjoy my business and not looking foreward to not being able to do it any more. Before the economy took a crap I could have quit but would probably be crazy by now. As long as I am able to play, I will keep working. Good luck everybody with your dream, I have mine.
Click to expand...

IMO planning for retirement does not mean you don't like your job. I love my job & like you never really see myself fully retiring. But to me planning for retirement is more than just planning on not working, its planning for the future & as much as we like to think we have everything under control nobody knows what tomorrow holds.

Jeremy
 
bobo said:
My wife & I follow the Dave Ramsey plan.
#1: Pay off all debt other than your house ASAP.
#2: Save a 6-12 month emergency fund, we have about 9 months now are going to save to get 12 months. Enough money that if we are both out of work for a year we could continue our current standard of living for 12 months
#3: Put 15% of our income in retirement accounts. Both our company's match 8% so we put 8% in company 401K & the rest goes into a Roth IRA
#4: Put 10% of our income split into college funds for our 2 kids
#5: Once emergency find is completed pay as much as we can on our house until its paid off

To make this happen we sit down together at the first of every month and make a written budget. Every dollar of income is allocated to go somewhere BEFORE the month starts.

To expedite our debt pat off we stopped contributing to our retirement. We started this less than 4 years ago & are now in steps 2-4.

We started like most young couples I know: student loan debt, car loans, credit cards, etc. All totaled over $100K of debt.

During this time we had 2 kids & we went riding as much as we could. I have a jeep on 1 tons, a DD truck, a tow ring, & wife has her DD. Our junk isn't the newest or nicest stuff around but we own it out right and it gets the job done.

This plan is not for everyone but has worked wonders for us financially and made our marriage stronger. When there is no stress over money everything just seems to run smoothly.

Jeremy
Click to expand...
That's what I'm talking about I need to seriously consider this! :****:
 
TheViking said:
That's what I'm talking about I need to seriously consider this! :****:
Click to expand...

When my wife and i got married we started with Dave Ramsey principles. We never had a credit card or any debt.... but now we are in the process of buying our first house and cant qualify for a decent interest rate because of our minimal credit history.... sucks that someone who pays cash for everything trys to get a loan for a house and has to jump through hoops to get a decent interest rate.
 

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