Retirement (Page 3 of 4)
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Originally Posted By Lowdown3: We usually do a modified version of this- buy a new car for either me or the wife once every 5-6 years. This way one car is usually always under 100K miles and newer (in general less problems). Last time however we didn't go this route. I had to buy a new truck and was paying cash, but we always get them to check credit while we are there. Having been out of debt and not adding anything new for over 10 years, FICO score had dropped a good bit (they want you in debt for a "good score.") F and I guy says "it's because you don't have anything going on here, looks like your dead..." So we jumped the shark a bit and about a month later bought the wife a new car also but financed a little bit of it for 2 years to get something "new" on there. With the way they do it basically demanding an autodraft from your account for the payment, it made me forget about it. And that would be the first car loan we have not paid off ahead of time due to that. I miss the old coupon book type setup. Yes I could have called for an early payoff but honestly it was busy and I forgot to do that. They definitely try to penalize the folks that pay cash, don't carry debt and aren't living large. Yes, there's 3 general approaches to vehicles. Most prevalent is accept you will always be making payments. This actually is the most prevalent because it's very geographic influence. For example, big city life, you're lucky to have one car. Then there's his and hers which is typically one paid and one newer under a note. Then there's what I think of as financial suicide, two or more vehicles financed at the same time. Unless you are into collectables like muscle cars, cars in general are on crappy investment. The wife and I both are car nuts. We collect them and have for years now. We've had his and hers Mustangs and his and hers Challengers. We had two muscle car Chargers, 69 and 73. Heck, we're looking at Jeeps now just cause we like them. Hilarious is my wife use to come home, "Look what I bought you a performance intake." LOL I was her mechanic. We have two now, a 80 Vette L82 the one with a decent engine in it they made 3 models that year. We also have a 98' BMW Z3 I6. Man is that little sucker fast and a hoot to drive here in the Smoky Mountains. We're looking at an older Jeep because we have the drive and road from hell in winter and we're too old now for ATVs and dirtbikes for trail running. Everything's different when you retire though. the whole fixed income thing even if it's sticking to your plan. I bring this up because more than one vehicle gives you options on buy timing so you can find the very best deal. My retirement car is a Hemi Challenger, fun car. We traveled 2 hours for the best deal, saved $10K on the deal, traded my work Challenger, and paid cash for the balance. No debt going into retirement, none. Thanks to Sleepy Joe, it's taken quite a long time to figure out our expenses. Thankfully we planned our retirement no cutting back other than debt and $10k/yr for vacations, toys, and Mr. Murphy. That Mr. Murphy was a killer. I think ever appliance in my house went out, wall oven, dishwasher, fridge, new roof. That crap is ongoing even if you retire. Remember fellas a plan is flexible or it's not a plan, it's a decision. You want irony? I've got a 33 year old fridge I can't get shelves for in my garage still running like a top. This new stuff is crap. Cars are like guns. You either see them as a necessity or fun which it can be both. Just like guns whether it's a good investment, it depends on what. Just like guns, cars have breakeven points. The point the resell matches the note and resell vs initial cost. The best retirement period is living the life you want not what you have to so plan accordingly. The number one mistake I see folks make is thinking too small for retirement. Just my humble opinion planning on downsizing at retirement is only a plan to lower your living standard. Yes, biggest is Mr. Keeping up with the Joneses." Too big a house only to retire to find out they can't afford the electricity for 3 heat pumps let alone the taxes and insurance. Then there's "Surprise". Joe Biden takes 1/3 of your buying power in inflation. The Bue Mass Exodus doubles the price of your home in two years. Good when you are 40 but fricken nightmare at 70 and not planning on selling. That's why guys following politics and getting involved is so important. They can screw us all and we ARE their number one target. We are evil because we did everything right, retired, and not on food stamps. Generational wealth is not a bad thing. That' s how the rich got rich. Socialism is the poor getting even with the wealthy for some perceived slight while insuring them and their descendants never do. Tj |
"We prepare so we don't have to go to the Superdome!"
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My take: few things burn thru money faster than trying to impress other people. A LOT of what cars represent is personal image - the fancy car is somehow a display of wealth or success or coolness. As a result, a whole bunch of people get way in over their heads on cars they really can't afford. And if you're taking a big loan, I argue you can't afford it . I don't give a nickle for other people's opinions. The last thing I'm worried about is impressing a stranger. As a result, my cars are simple, reliable, economical, basic. October last year I bought a base model Subaru Crosstrek, and wrote a check for it. This Spring I bought a 2022 used base Tacoma, with 10,555 miles on the odometer. Wrote a check for that too... I will run these cars until the cost of repairs starts to become too large. At which point, I'm seven years down the road, and I have saved enough to write more checks, and I can walk on the lot and buy another pair... Id argue we have a choice: unless we are truly "wealthy", we can either 'look cool' in the huge truck or the luxury car. OR, we can actually have money.. the money option has a side benefit. Instead of working forever to fund payments on the Benz/BMW/ $72,000 truck, we can instead tell our employer "thanks. As of xxxx date, I am retired". I'm 57. Fully retired. I don't have a luxury car, but I DO have time and money. Wife retires at 57 next year. Instead of cool cars, we already have the European River Cruise paid for and planned out. In contrast, friends who make about $100,000 more than we do ( household income) are 64 and 65. No retirement on the horizon. They want to retire, but are hamstrung by truck payments, car payments and a $800 a month payment on a boat that floats three months out of twelve. If you've got the cash to buy a 'nice car', odds are you understand money. If it's a monthly payment, you're spending tomorrow's income to try and look cool today. Odds are high it's costing you more than you think. There are no wrong answers. But every answer comes with rewards and or consequences. The luxury car, bought on a longer term loan, has a lot of consequences many buyers don't fully consider.... Just my two cents. No flames. Just providing a view point. I value time, freedom, security more than image, so my viewpoint is biased... |
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Originally Posted By TomJefferson: I see your point, however what I do is a bit different. Too late for this but I will mention it. First step is buy a cool fun vehicle that never goes out of style. Second is after it's paid for, buy another vehicle. My usual is muscle car or sports car and truck. The issues are tags, taxes, and insurance. Stay on top of it's blue book and when it gets so low an average accident repair, they'll total the vehicle. Drop the collision. The advantage is you divide your miles up between vehicles. That greatly reduces the time to have to buy again. I just buy used cars with 80k in them and drive them until it is the same cost per month of average to add up to a car payment. |
Never make another person a priority when they merely see you as an option...
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
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Originally Posted By XSabers: As a retired Financial Advisor I'll toss in the thought process that changed a lot of my clients thoughts about retirement. Sometimes I found it hard to convince folks that were focused on trying to keep up with their neighbors with high, immediate returns, instead of thinking for the long term. I came up with an exercise that I would do with couples. I'd ask them to close their eyes and envision THEIR retirement. Then I'd give them about a half minute to do that. Then I ask them to open their eyes and each of them tell me what they saw. Better than 90% of the time they had dramatically different visions. They seldom talked to their spouse in detail about it, and they hadn't come up with a joint vision and plan to get there. I even had a couple of arguments break out in my office about it. (Those are interesting) Everyone always thinks of retirement in terms of not having to report to a job every day, and there's a lot more to it than that. Do yourselves a favor and try thinking about retirement not as 20-30 years of vacation, but instead, as 20-30 years of unemployment. That changes the picture a lot, and it might provide some additional motivation. With God's grace, we all have a little old man or little old lady in our futures. Your job, while you're young and working, is to make sure you can take care of them. I certainly had different plans than my ex. Every job I was working i was setting money aside. I was shocked to find at the divorce that she hadn't been saving anything for her own retirement |
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
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Originally Posted By bugs: Thanks for the free advice. I do need a financial advisor as I have assets all over the map; stocks, mutual funds, T-bills, 401k, real estate, left over 529 plan money, and of course cash. Care to share your opinion on Fisher Investments? This firm shows up a lot in my feed. Catching back up on this thread. I really hope nobody uses Fisher, they don’t have a very good reputation, high fees and all that. If you are smart enough to make a lot of money, you are smart enough to educate yourself enough to save on investment advisor fees… |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
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Originally Posted By tc556guy: I certainly had different plans than my ex. Every job I was working i was setting money aside. I was shocked to find at the divorce that she hadn't been saving anything for her own retirement Best bet to keep from paying out half your pension upon a divorce is to make sure your spouse also has a retirement plan, and is actually putting money into it. A govt pension plan preferably! If I had relied upon my wife to manage her state retirement options, she would be siting pretty poorly, only putting in 5% of her earnings into a 403b type of account, plus the 1% a year pension she will get (crummy pension plan). Luckily I caught that early on and made sure it got bumped up to a 15% savings rate, which is what it will take to make up for her plan being the worst ever offered by the state. Sure wish she had been in the 2% plan (with up to 3% cola) that was in place before her, and went back in place after. She got the worst plan, and is locked into it. But at least we are making the best of it. I know some retired LE coworkers who got divorced more than once, talk about getting hosed. Wife #1 gets half of what they have earned in pension payouts up to divorce time. Then wife #2 gets half of what was left to the guy, so he has to keep working to get something built up, or ends up retiring with a pretty crummy payout. Just brutal. One twice divorced guy though did ok, his wife #1 just flaked out and left, so she got nothing, wife #2 was in our same state plan, and actually he got part of her pension in the settlement! Choosing well on whom you marry is kind of a survival skill itself…. |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
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Cars are wealth destroyers. Do yourself a favor and buy a slightly used Toyota or Honda and drive it for 15-20 years. Fancy/expensive cars are something you can afford when lighting the money on fire instead of sinking it into the car would have no impact on your financial well being. If you are interested in learning more about retirement planning and wealth building, I strongly recommend checking out The Money Guy Show on Youtube: https://youtube.com/@moneyguyshow?si=Zdj_Ax8ez6AzjO-e The videos are a wealth of knowledge but they also have a lot of free resources on their website like a Financial Order of Operations, rules for buying a vehicle, rules for buying a house, etc. If you are at a point in life where you have accumulated enough that you need a financial advisor, they also operate a fee based financial planning business out of TN. I have no affiliation with either the channel or their financial planning business. I have just found their videos to be very useful. They are kind of like a more refined version of Dave Ramsey. I mean that in the sense that their process is less about debt crusading and more about doing things in the most mathematically efficient way while also making room for the fact that life happens. Educate yourself and start as early as possible. That's the secret to building wealth. And if you got a late start like most of us, you can still build a comfortable retirement, it just takes a little more effort. |
Talking about cars as wealth destroyers reminded me of this video discussing the 5 purchasing decisions that actually matter: The Financial Advice Everyone Follows… Is Keeping You Broke |
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Originally Posted By R_S: Talking about cars as wealth destroyers reminded me of this video discussing the 5 purchasing decisions that actually matter:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B2g08cTn-AWhen I was buying my first house in 2003-4 at 24 years old I was flabbergasted at the "rule of thumb" realtors and banks and websites were throwing around for what % of gross income someone could afford for a home. Just completely ridiculous numbers. Took me longer to figure out lifestyle creep but glad I did. |
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It’s interesting to read comments by people on this forum who believe everything is “rigged against me”. They believe there is no hope and give up before they have even started. I was talking to a coworker recently about retirement. He was asking me questions about how our various plans work. I was also talking about investing. He told me someone told him that investing is a scam because people make money with your money. Think about the absurdity of that. He wasn’t trying to convince me not to invest but was repeating what someone told him and at that point, he had kind of believed it. I showed him with math how stupid that was. This is a great video to watch on financial mindset. It’s an AI generated video so that’s kind of annoying but the message is on point.  Ray Dalio: Everything Changes After $15,000 (Why Nobody Tells You This) |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: It’s interesting to read comments by people on this forum who believe everything is “rigged against me”. They believe there is no hope and give up before they have even started. I was talking to a coworker recently about retirement. He was asking me questions about how our various plans work. I was also talking about investing. He told me someone told him that investing is a scam because people make money with your money. Think about the absurdity of that. He wasn’t trying to convince me not to invest but was repeating what someone told him and at that point, he had kind of believed it. I showed him with math how stupid that was. This is a great video to watch on financial mindset. It’s an AI generated video so that’s kind of annoying but the message is on point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcS8CArTAqAI posted that same video in another thread. I really like some of Ray's work lately. I think he is in that natural cycle, as he is nearing the end of his life. He is trying to share his experiences and knowledge in hopes he can help others and his life can mean something. I also like that he doesn't partake too much in the "because my life is ending, this whole thing must also be ending" that so many old men fall into.... but he does have a tinge of that so the listener does have to keep that in mind. That's also why I loved listening to Charlie Munger as he was growing old, he never had ANY of that infect his talks, advice, and thought processes. He was one in a million. |
Wisdom acquisition is a moral duty
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Originally Posted By FALARAK: I posted that same video in another thread. I really like some of Ray's work lately. I think he is in that natural cycle, as he is nearing the end of his life. He is trying to share his experiences and knowledge in hopes he can help others and his life can mean something. I also like that he doesn't partake too much in the "because my life is ending, this whole thing must also be ending" that so many old men fall into.... but he does have a tinge of that so the listener does have to keep that in mind. That's also why I loved listening to Charlie Munger as he was growing old, he never had ANY of that infect his talks, advice, and through processes. He was one in a million. I have not read any of Ray Dalio’s books but I probably will now. This channel is an AI generated channel presumably produced from things Ray Dalio has said and/written. AI generated videos largely annoy me as this video is not Ray Dalio speaking. But, the message is 100% spot on so it’s worth the listen. I liked it so much I listened to the whole thing twice. Funny thing is, some morons will watch that video and say how stupid it is because what can you do with $15k today? But they will totally miss the mindset message. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By tac556: Best bet to keep from paying out half your pension upon a divorce is to make sure your spouse also has a retirement plan, and is actually putting money into it. A govt pension plan preferably! If I had relied upon my wife to manage her state retirement options, she would be siting pretty poorly, only putting in 5% of her earnings into a 403b type of account, plus the 1% a year pension she will get (crummy pension plan). Luckily I caught that early on and made sure it got bumped up to a 15% savings rate, which is what it will take to make up for her plan being the worst ever offered by the state. Sure wish she had been in the 2% plan (with up to 3% cola) that was in place before her, and went back in place after. She got the worst plan, and is locked into it. But at least we are making the best of it. I know some retired LE coworkers who got divorced more than once, talk about getting hosed. Wife #1 gets half of what they have earned in pension payouts up to divorce time. Then wife #2 gets half of what was left to the guy, so he has to keep working to get something built up, or ends up retiring with a pretty crummy payout. Just brutal. One twice divorced guy though did ok, his wife #1 just flaked out and left, so she got nothing, wife #2 was in our same state plan, and actually he got part of her pension in the settlement! Choosing well on whom you marry is kind of a survival skill itself…. Somehow I missed your reply until today. My ex did have a retirement account, but I was entirely unaware that she had made no contributions to it over a couple of decades of working for that employer. Her employer had been making small contributions to her account, and I ended up with half of that small amount in the divorce. But she had missed a massive opportunity to be saving money over her decades there. I'd been paying all of the household bills. Other than paying for groceries and the kids tuition at parochial school when they were young, I rarely asked my ex for any help with money issues. She's now worried about having to work until she is 70, as her retirement advisor is telling her that she needs to keep working She's worried about me dying, as it would end the portions of my pensions that she currently receives. We still get along as friends, and in the last year I've been trying to rebuild bridges because the deaths of other family members have had me thinking about the things in life that really matter. But I'll never forget that I juggled multiple jobs saving and planning for the day when we could both step back and enjoy years together but she had other plans. |
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
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Originally Posted By tc556guy: Somehow I missed your reply until today. My ex did have a retirement account, but I was entirely unaware that she had made no contributions to it over a couple of decades of working for that employer. Her employer had been making small contributions to her account, and I ended up with half of that small amount in the divorce. But she had missed a massive opportunity to be saving money over her decades there. I'd been paying all of the household bills. Other than paying for groceries and the kids tuition at parochial school when they were young, I rarely asked my ex for any help with money issues. She's now worried about having to work until she is 70, as her retirement advisor is telling her that she needs to keep working She's worried about me dying, as it would end the portions of my pensions that she currently receives. We still get along as friends, and in the last year I've been trying to rebuild bridges because the deaths of other family members have had me thinking about the things in life that really matter. But I'll never forget that I juggled multiple jobs saving and planning for the day when we could both step back and enjoy years together but she had other plans. Ouch. Good example of how a minor “never getting around to it” decision like doing some actual account contributions will really be painful later. I was no fast learner myself, was halfway thru before I started doing the optional 457b account, but at least I had made the mandatory pension contributions since day 1, along with a HRA veba plan contributions when it came on line. |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: It’s interesting to read comments by people on this forum who believe everything is “rigged against me”. They believe there is no hope and give up before they have even started. I was talking to a coworker recently about retirement. He was asking me questions about how our various plans work. I was also talking about investing. He told me someone told him that investing is a scam because people make money with your money. Think about the absurdity of that. He wasn’t trying to convince me not to invest but was repeating what someone told him and at that point, he had kind of believed it. I showed him with math how stupid that was. This is a great video to watch on financial mindset. It’s an AI generated video so that’s kind of annoying but the message is on point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcS8CArTAqAGreat Video! I like Ray Dalio. I will absolutely disagree that the system isn't rigged against us... the system is substantially rigged...in many ways...as the Epstein files show...but agree with Ray on how to succeed in spite of the system. Sage advice. Johnny Harris may be liberal, but does a fair breakdown of $100M vs 1B vs 100B ... examples of how they get there and what they do to stay there:  What Being a BILLIONAIRE Really Looks Like |
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Originally Posted By R_S: Great Video! I like Ray Dalio. I will absolutely disagree that the system isn't rigged against us... the system is substantially rigged...in many ways...as the Epstein files show...but agree with Ray on how to succeed in spite of the system. Sage advice. Johnnie Harris may be liberal, but does a fair breakdown of $100M vs 1B vs 100B ... examples of how they get there and what they do to stay there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpyPB3BF-hQThe system isn’t really rigged against us. It’s just some people figure out how to work within the system and some fight the system. And those who fight it, lose almost every time. As in all survival situations….learning to adapt to the new normal is critical. For example: In the town I live near, there is a powerful family who owns a lot of the town. Walmart wanted to open a store. The family convinced the city council to limit what Walmart could sell. So, no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. Guess what businesses this family primarily owns. Yes it’s bullshit that this one family gets government protection for their business. But, Walmart knows how to work within the system. They went ahead and opened the store with no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. They figured they can open a smaller store and still make money vs paying lots of money to fight the system and maybe never open a store at all. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. Lots of people forget that. Those who spend all their time complaining about everyone and everything else, aren’t worrying about the things that actually affect them. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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The system has ALWAYS been "rigged". There are those who are willing to understand the system, and exploit it, and those who will sit crying and whining and get no where.. I'm pretty damned sure it was a rigged system in Europe in, say , 1350. Lords owned EVERYTHING. Peasants owned almost nothing. There was ONE path upward: church. If someone was willing to join some branch of the church, and live within its rules and confines, an ambitious individual could move from priest to bishop, monk to abbot. It came at a cost... I'm near the 1000 Islands in NY. Nearby is Heart Island with Boldt Castle. Short story: dude starts as immigrant bellboy at Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC. Works his way up, buys the hotel, builds this... Upward mobility. Wanna bet he was the hardest working goddamn bellboy at that hotel?  1941. Jimmy is 19, and spent the last 15 years looking at the ass end of a horse. He does 5 years fighting the Axis, and gets home . He can go back to the farm, or he can use his GI benefits. Sitting in a classroom for 4 years, from age 24 to 28 sounds terrible. As does 6 years of night school. But he can get a degree and become a teacher, a dentist, apprentice as a plumber. And Jimmy moved from dirt poor farmer to middle class.. I came from a upper working class family. I retired upper middle class. It was simple, but took 30 years: while others made a dollar and spent a dollar and ten cents, I made a dollar, saved twenty cents, and lived on the rest.. my daughter now starts where I ended, because she's a Pharmacist, making great money, with no school debt, because I wrote a LOT of $30,000 checks to give her that start. Abd because she didn't take Gender Studies at school. She tackled the massively hard chem classes no one wanted to do. There is mobility within the system. There are super rare exceptions, the Elon Musks. However, there is the opportunity to move within the system... Sitting and whining " but the little man can't get ahead!" is toxic bullshit that losers use to justify their inability to move up. Usually they are too lazy, too stupid or just unwilling to do what must be done. "But the system is rigged!!" is bullshit excuses usually heard from the leftist hippies out of Portland, trying to explain why they can't get ahead ...it can't possibly be because of personal choices... ( No one wants to hire a stinking transexual hippie with disgusting face piercings, nasty dreadlocks, no social skills, and no personality). It must be the system is rigged. The system IS rigged. It's ALWAYS been rigged. There are two choices: sit and pout and complain. Or understand it's rigged, dust yourself off, and start climbing. This is the USA.. it's a country built on poor people walking thru Ellis Island with nothing, and building a better life |
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There is mobility within the system. There are super rare exceptions, the Elon Musks. However, there is the opportunity to move within the system... Sitting and whining " but the little man can't get ahead!" is toxic bullshit that losers use to justify their inability to move up. Usually they are too lazy, too stupid or just unwilling to do what must be done. "But the system is rigged!!" is bullshit excuses usually heard from the leftist hippies out of Portland, trying to explain why they can't get ahead ...it can't possibly be because of personal choices... ( No one wants to hire a stinking transexual hippie with disgusting face piercings, nasty dreadlocks, no social skills, and no personality). It must be the system is rigged. The system IS rigged. It's ALWAYS been rigged. There are two choices: sit and pout and complain. Or understand it's rigged, dust yourself off, and start climbing. Bra frickin vo!!! Well said. |
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: The system isn’t really rigged against us. It’s just some people figure out how to work within the system and some fight the system. And those who fight it, lose almost every time. As in all survival situations….learning to adapt to the new normal is critical. For example: In the town I live near, there is a powerful family who owns a lot of the town. Walmart wanted to open a store. The family convinced the city council to limit what Walmart could sell. So, no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. Guess what businesses this family primarily owns. Yes it’s bullshit that this one family gets government protection for their business. But, Walmart knows how to work within the system. They went ahead and opened the store with no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. They figured they can open a smaller store and still make money vs paying lots of money to fight the system and maybe never open a store at all. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. Lots of people forget that. Those who spend all their time complaining about everyone and everything else, aren’t worrying about the things that actually affect them. Originally Posted By ColtRifle: Originally Posted By R_S: Great Video! I like Ray Dalio. I will absolutely disagree that the system isn't rigged against us... the system is substantially rigged...in many ways...as the Epstein files show...but agree with Ray on how to succeed in spite of the system. Sage advice. Johnnie Harris may be liberal, but does a fair breakdown of $100M vs 1B vs 100B ... examples of how they get there and what they do to stay there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpyPB3BF-hQThe system isn’t really rigged against us. It’s just some people figure out how to work within the system and some fight the system. And those who fight it, lose almost every time. As in all survival situations….learning to adapt to the new normal is critical. For example: In the town I live near, there is a powerful family who owns a lot of the town. Walmart wanted to open a store. The family convinced the city council to limit what Walmart could sell. So, no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. Guess what businesses this family primarily owns. Yes it’s bullshit that this one family gets government protection for their business. But, Walmart knows how to work within the system. They went ahead and opened the store with no fuel pumps and no tire/service center. They figured they can open a smaller store and still make money vs paying lots of money to fight the system and maybe never open a store at all. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. Lots of people forget that. Those who spend all their time complaining about everyone and everything else, aren’t worrying about the things that actually affect them. Watch that Johnny Harris video. Read the references Johnny quotes and get back to me. You may also want to read up on financialization: Attached File |
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Originally Posted By R_S: Watch that Johnny Harris video. Read the references Johnny quotes and get back to me. You may also want to read up on financialization: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/EpsteinGoyRealWorld_jpg-3722665.JPG I watched the video you linked. Although I already knew most of what he talks about how the wealthy function….he still did a very good job of explaining it. However, it’s commie drivel once you get to the end of the video. Of course very wealthy people end up with lots of influence. Even your locally wealthy people have more local influence than most people do. That’s nothing new. It’s normal. Also, while many wealthy people are despicable in their personal lives, they are highly intelligent and shrewd. That’s how they got there and that’s how they stay there. Don’t believe me? Look at huge lottery winners. Most end up broke and dead within a few years of winning big. They are too stupid to handle/manage large sums of money. Frozenny said it well above. Not necessarily directed at the poster I’m quoting but more broadly…..instead of whining “the system is rigged” get off your ass and learn how the system works. Then learn how to use the rules and regulations in your favor. No you won’t have all the options the super rich have. But you still have plenty of ways to make and preserve and grow wealth. Use them. Most of us will never be the ultra wealthy. I’ll probably never be the wealthy. But, in my late 40s, I have zero debt and lots of toys. We go on nice trips (we do fly coach class  ). We are happy and satisfied. We have everything we need. Would I have a few fancier things if I had more money? Of course. But, we are happy and living a very nice life. We worked very hard and sacrificed early in life to get to where we are now but it’s all paying off. If I had spent my early years complaining about the system being “rigged” against me instead of focusing on work, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am now.
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"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Where There Are Sheep, Wolves Will Always Thrive
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But you still have plenty of ways to make and preserve and grow wealth. Use them. Most of us will never be the ultra wealthy. I’ll probably never be the wealthy. But, in my late 40s, I have zero debt and lots of toys. We go on nice trips (we do fly coach class). .... If I had spent my early years complaining about the system being “rigged” against me instead of focusing on work, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am now. Spot on, and in truth it's even MORE achievable than what you describe. At age 38 in 2008, I had just lost a business (due to military call-ups), owned no real estate, and had a personal net worth of -$38k not counting the business loan for a business that no longer existed. I retired out of the Army National Guard (true part time, not a fulltimer) in 2023. I turned 56 last week, and retire from my final civilian job in just over 3 months. I have almost $2M in cash and investments (not counting the home and property I live in/on), no debt, and a military retirement that kicks in next year for about $4k a month the rest of my life. Like others have said, it's about choices. I have a useful degree and am willing to work- but that's really about it. Not connected financially or politically. Not in a high-paying area nor willing to relocate. It CAN be done! |
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Damn right it can be done. I spent 30 years building wealth. Unlike all the studs in GD, I never made six figures in my life. And I lost most of it in a shitty divorce ... At that point, I spent several months with a sleeping bag on a floor, no furniture, no tv, just paper plates, rice n beans ... I literally cried the first time I ate at a table in that apartment, because I felt human again... Five years later I'm back on my feet. I made choices others would not make. Worked like a dog. I'm now comfortably retired with assets and income that put me at about 90th percentile... The system did not hold me back. But I couldn't sit on the sofa I didn't have, waiting for the system to rain money... My brother blows his income on cigarettes, convenience foods, and addictions. He's always whining about the rigged system. I did the math a few years ago: the $15 a day in cigarettes, at a very modest return, in a mutual fund, over the last 40 years would already exceed $1,000,000 ... There's something about decisions and consequences... A very good buddy started from nothing.. I mean nothing. I've spent a few weeks on his $2.5 million sport yatch. He's got very very few friends left: most get jealous and envy turns them bitter. Of course, none of these jealous types worked the 90 hour weeks for three decades like he did.... The system IS rigged. It's ALWAYS been rigged. It was rigged in Egypt. Rigged in Greece and Rome. Rigged in Medieval France and Victorian England. Rigged in 1940s USA and today here still. It was also rigged in Bolshevik Russia, the USSR, Fidel's Cuba and Maos China. I would argue that the system here, while being rigged, has a LOT more opportunities for upward mobility than any other system on the planet. And I've put my money where my mouth is: I left Canada and immigrated to the USA 30+ years ago because I fully recognized there was more opportunities here in the USA.... The system is rigged. Instead of whining, go study the system. Find out what it takes to crawl up a rung on the ladder. When you've done that, go do it again.... |
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Originally Posted By frozenny: The system has ALWAYS been "rigged". There are those who are willing to understand the system, and exploit it, and those who will sit crying and whining and get no where.. I'm pretty damned sure it was a rigged system in Europe in, say , 1350. Lords owned EVERYTHING. Peasants owned almost nothing. There was ONE path upward: church. If someone was willing to join some branch of the church, and live within its rules and confines, an ambitious individual could move from priest to bishop, monk to abbot. It came at a cost... I'm near the 1000 Islands in NY. Nearby is Heart Island with Boldt Castle. Short story: dude starts as immigrant bellboy at Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC. Works his way up, buys the hotel, builds this... Upward mobility. Wanna bet he was the hardest working goddamn bellboy at that hotel? https://www.boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/bc-2.jpg 1941. Jimmy is 19, and spent the last 15 years looking at the ass end of a horse. He does 5 years fighting the Axis, and gets home . He can go back to the farm, or he can use his GI benefits. Sitting in a classroom for 4 years, from age 24 to 28 sounds terrible. As does 6 years of night school. But he can get a degree and become a teacher, a dentist, apprentice as a plumber. And Jimmy moved from dirt poor farmer to middle class.. I came from a upper working class family. I retired upper middle class. It was simple, but took 30 years: while others made a dollar and spent a dollar and ten cents, I made a dollar, saved twenty cents, and lived on the rest.. my daughter now starts where I ended, because she's a Pharmacist, making great money, with no school debt, because I wrote a LOT of $30,000 checks to give her that start. Abd because she didn't take Gender Studies at school. She tackled the massively hard chem classes no one wanted to do. There is mobility within the system. There are super rare exceptions, the Elon Musks. However, there is the opportunity to move within the system... Sitting and whining " but the little man can't get ahead!" is toxic bullshit that losers use to justify their inability to move up. Usually they are too lazy, too stupid or just unwilling to do what must be done. "But the system is rigged!!" is bullshit excuses usually heard from the leftist hippies out of Portland, trying to explain why they can't get ahead ...it can't possibly be because of personal choices... ( No one wants to hire a stinking transexual hippie with disgusting face piercings, nasty dreadlocks, no social skills, and no personality). It must be the system is rigged. The system IS rigged. It's ALWAYS been rigged. There are two choices: sit and pout and complain. Or understand it's rigged, dust yourself off, and start climbing. This is the USA.. it's a country built on poor people walking thru Ellis Island with nothing, and building a better life The church was often where second sons who wouldn't inherit the family wealth went back in that era As for the GI bill after WW2, my childhood dentist was a WW2 vet and we would often have conversations before during and after my appointments Before the war during the Depression he was literally digging ditches to make money Went off to the war, came back and went through Dental school on the GI bill. |
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
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Originally Posted By TAP: Spot on, and in truth it's even MORE achievable than what you describe. At age 38 in 2008, I had just lost a business (due to military call-ups), owned no real estate, and had a personal net worth of -$38k not counting the business loan for a business that no longer existed. I retired out of the Army National Guard (true part time, not a fulltimer) in 2023. I turned 56 last week, and retire from my final civilian job in just over 3 months. I have almost $2M in cash and investments (not counting the home and property I live in/on), no debt, and a military retirement that kicks in next year for about $4k a month the rest of my life. Like others have said, it's about choices. I have a useful degree and am willing to work- but that's really about it. Not connected financially or politically. Not in a high-paying area nor willing to relocate. It CAN be done! Other generations or my generation CAN do it. But, it might be different HOW you do it vs how my generation did it. That's what many generations can't seem to understand. Things are different today than they were 20 years ago. And, 20 years ago was different than 40 years ago. And, 40 years ago was different than 60 years ago. Stop obsessing how older people did things and figure out how YOUR generation will be doing things. Life isn't always fair. Suck it up. Make YOUR life as good or better than your parents. My siblings and I live better than we did when growing up. Our kids are living better than we did. Learning to work within the system we have (not the system we want), working hard, and living within your means will get you there. It's simple. It's just different from generation to generation. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By AR-180: Compounding interest works both ways. Contribute to some kind of retirement account as early as possible. And for Pete’s sake, get and stay out of debt as soon as you can. It’s nothing but weight around your neck while you are trying to tread water. |
Never make another person a priority when they merely see you as an option...
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
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Originally Posted By TheOtherDave: And for Pete’s sake, get and stay out of debt as soon as you can. It’s nothing but weight around your neck while you are trying to tread water. Originally Posted By TheOtherDave: Originally Posted By AR-180: Compounding interest works both ways. Contribute to some kind of retirement account as early as possible. And for Pete’s sake, get and stay out of debt as soon as you can. It’s nothing but weight around your neck while you are trying to tread water. Nonsense. Retirement is about cash flow. Scared money don't make money. |
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Originally Posted By FALARAK: Nonsense. Retirement is about cash flow. Scared money don't make money. That’s the great thing about this country-we’re free to approach problems from different ways. Some people want as close to a sure thing in retirement as they can get and some people have to continue to gamble with their money, homes etc. to grow wealth. That works as long as the economy doesn’t crash-given that our economy isn’t healthy now, and the fundamental reasons behind the last crash haven’t been mitigated, I’ll go with the most secure option. Nothing wrong with your way of doing it, especially if you have a backup plan. |
Never make another person a priority when they merely see you as an option...
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
"Some People Are Like Slinkies. They're Not Really Good For Anything, But They Bring a Smile To Your Face When Pushed Down The Stairs."
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Got lucky on that one. Instead of takin g my IRA withdrawal twice a year, this year I did it all in January. Now I've got a year before I will need to sell stock again. It's hard to predict a war and luck is better than being caught. |
"We prepare so we don't have to go to the Superdome!"
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Originally Posted By TomJefferson: Got lucky on that one. Instead of takin g my IRA withdrawal twice a year, this year I did it all in January. Now I've got a year before I will need to sell stock again. It's hard to predict a war and luck is better than being caught.  The S&P is only down 2.5% YTD. In a typical retirement asset allocation of 60/40, that would only be a 1.3% hit. That's pretty statistically insignificant, YTD. |
Where There Are Sheep, Wolves Will Always Thrive
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Got lucky on that one. Instead of takin g my IRA withdrawal twice a year, this year I did it all in January. Now I've got a year before I will need to sell stock again. It's hard to predict a war and luck is better than being caught. Luck is good indeed, when it works. I usually have my next 12-months worth of withdrawals in something like SWVXX or a similar bond fund, just to give me somewhere to pull from if my other ones are down at the time. |
 The Savings Amount Where Everything Changes (Most People Miss It By $50K) |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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This is an older thread, but its reappearance is timely. My work can be stressful and has put me in some ugly places. Most days I can laugh about it all, but some days I can’t. Tenant behavior is also going downhill. By itself, that’s not a problem until de-policing became the standard. The local cops are scared to do much of anything because the DA won’t prosecute most crimes and the brass doesn’t want more kicks from politicians and the various civilian oversight councils. My original plan was to pay off all the properties and live off the income. Now I’m looking at selling everything, Starkering into something for a year and a day, selling everything again, and investing that money into a relatively low paying and secure investment that doesn’t call at midnight because it plugged the toilet (again). My greatest fear is the election of a “progressive” government that enacts rent controls while increasing standards. The math behind frozen gross income and skyrocketing expenses … doesn’t math. I also want out of this state. WI is the most evenly divided states politically which leads to all sorts of dysfunction and stupidity. I’m in the second most liberal area. We are the living definition of “Anarcho Tyranny.” So lately I’ve been listening to a lot of retirement videos on YouTube. I’m still pretty confused, but at least a goal is starting to take shape. |
“Don't post anything here or send anything you aren't willing to defend in court.”
-Notcalifornialegal
-Notcalifornialegal
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Originally Posted By prebans: This is an older thread, but its reappearance is timely. My work can be stressful and has put me in some ugly places. Most days I can laugh about it all, but some days I can’t. Tenant behavior is also going downhill. By itself, that’s not a problem until de-policing became the standard. The local cops are scared to do much of anything because the DA won’t prosecute most crimes and the brass doesn’t want more kicks from politicians and the various civilian oversight councils. My original plan was to pay off all the properties and live off the income. Now I’m looking at selling everything, Starkering into something for a year and a day, selling everything again, and investing that money into a relatively low paying and secure investment that doesn’t call at midnight because it plugged the toilet (again). My greatest fear is the election of a “progressive” government that enacts rent controls while increasing standards. The math behind frozen gross income and skyrocketing expenses … doesn’t math. I also want out of this state. WI is the most evenly divided states politically which leads to all sorts of dysfunction and stupidity. I’m in the second most liberal area. We are the living definition of “Anarcho Tyranny.” So lately I’ve been listening to a lot of retirement videos on YouTube. I’m still pretty confused, but at least a goal is starting to take shape. Whatcha confused about? Maybe we can offer some useful (or non useful) suggestions. Not sure of your age but….if you can retire and move somewhere you want to move to….do it! Life is too short to be unhappy! |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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I retired back in 2005. My wife is winding down now with her career. We planned carefully, and lived well, but frugally. The house has been paid off for several years. One new car that we paid cash for. My truck is one of my son's company trucks. I only pay for the diesel fuel I use. Our income in retirement will exceed our working income. We do not anticipate having to touch investments or savings for daily life or medical needs. We are completing a pretty much total house remodel. An addition, new flooring, paint, new kitchen and bathrooms. All paid out of readily available bank deposits, with no home owner loan. I bought my 'toys' when I was working and making good income. Good quality items and I have maintained them. No need to buy more, but when I do it's out of pocket money. Our kids are successful and making far money than we ever did. They don't need anything we have. My wife of 35 years is a good bit younger than I am, and my goal was to make sure she has enough to be able to live well long after I am gone. I have made that goal a reality. |
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Originally Posted By prebans: This is an older thread, but its reappearance is timely. My work can be stressful and has put me in some ugly places. Most days I can laugh about it all, but some days I can’t. Tenant behavior is also going downhill. By itself, that’s not a problem until de-policing became the standard. The local cops are scared to do much of anything because the DA won’t prosecute most crimes and the brass doesn’t want more kicks from politicians and the various civilian oversight councils. My original plan was to pay off all the properties and live off the income. Now I’m looking at selling everything, Starkering into something for a year and a day, selling everything again, and investing that money into a relatively low paying and secure investment that doesn’t call at midnight because it plugged the toilet (again). My greatest fear is the election of a “progressive” government that enacts rent controls while increasing standards. The math behind frozen gross income and skyrocketing expenses … doesn’t math. I also want out of this state. WI is the most evenly divided states politically which leads to all sorts of dysfunction and stupidity. I’m in the second most liberal area. We are the living definition of “Anarcho Tyranny.” So lately I’ve been listening to a lot of retirement videos on YouTube. I’m still pretty confused, but at least a goal is starting to take shape. My family was in the rental business for 45 years. Between the rise of tenants unions and city governments that are even more hostile to landlords I'm glad that my parents got out when they did |
*post contains personal opinion only and should not be considered information released in an official capacity*
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: Whatcha confused about? Maybe we can offer some useful (or non useful) suggestions. Not sure of your age but….if you can retire and move somewhere you want to move to….do it! Life is too short to be unhappy! @coltrifle @tc556guy Most of my confusion is from deciding whether to hold my properties or sell. The plan was to hold and keep what was to become a fine annuity. But given the realities of local “society,” now I must consider selling out and starting over. I really would prefer just to keep things because I don’t want to start over again. But it really isn’t starting over because I’d be beginning with a fine nest egg. It’s more just being forced out of something because people who have no stake in my business are creating enough problems to make it untenable. I’ve decided to hold for at least three more years. This lets a full local, state, midterm, and Presidential election cycle pass. If we’re okay, I hold longer. If a pRoGrEsSiVe junta akin to Mandani in NYC comes into power, I sell. Beyond that, I’m not happy here. Below is something a LGS posted yesterday. No, this is not a joke and yes, it is real. Certain things wear on a person over time. This is one of many and a symptom of why I want out. Age-wise, I’m a baby Xer. 
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“Don't post anything here or send anything you aren't willing to defend in court.”
-Notcalifornialegal
-Notcalifornialegal
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Originally Posted By prebans: @coltrifle @tc556guy Most of my confusion is from deciding whether to hold my properties or sell. The plan was to hold and keep what was to become a fine annuity. But given the realities of local “society,” now I must consider selling out and starting over. I really would prefer just to keep things because I don’t want to start over again. But it really isn’t starting over because I’d be beginning with a fine nest egg. It’s more just being forced out of something because people who have no stake in my business are creating enough problems to make it untenable. I’ve decided to hold for at least three more years. This lets a full local, state, midterm, and Presidential election cycle pass. If we’re okay, I hold longer. If a pRoGrEsSiVe junta akin to Mandani in NYC comes into power, I sell. Beyond that, I’m not happy here. Below is something a LGS posted yesterday. No, this is not a joke and yes, it is real. Certain things wear on a person over time. This is one of many and a symptom of why I want out. Age-wise, I’m a baby Xer. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/2594/IMG_2964-3770253.jpg Life is too short to be unhappy where you are. I’m assuming you plan to move elsewhere once you retire? I’d use the time you have till you sell to research where you would like to move to. Once you narrow that down, go visit and see if you really would like living there. Then, if that’s a go, start looking at what houses might cost and where you might like to live. Sounds like you probably have some time so maybe visit in the summer and winter. Then, if you’ll still need a job, maybe do some job research. In your visits to your future home, you may suddenly decide it’s time to go. I wouldn’t pay too close attention to a lot of politics. Money gets made even under Democratic administrations. I’d try to figure out the best time to sell when your properties are at the highest value. It’s not always possible to predict the future of real estate but I don’t personally think it’s going to go much higher. But, don’t take my word for it. I know a little about real estate but I’m sure you have a much better grasp of values in your area. I’d make decisions based on value, not politics. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: Life is too short to be unhappy where you are. I’m assuming you plan to move elsewhere once you retire? I’d use the time you have till you sell to research where you would like to move to. Once you narrow that down, go visit and see if you really would like living there. Then, if that’s a go, start looking at what houses might cost and where you might like to live. Sounds like you probably have some time so maybe visit in the summer and winter. Then, if you’ll still need a job, maybe do some job research. In your visits to your future home, you may suddenly decide it’s time to go. I wouldn’t pay too close attention to a lot of politics. Money gets made even under Democratic administrations. I’d try to figure out the best time to sell when your properties are at the highest value. It’s not always possible to predict the future of real estate but I don’t personally think it’s going to go much higher. But, don’t take my word for it. I know a little about real estate but I’m sure you have a much better grasp of values in your area. I’d make decisions based on value, not politics. @coltrifle It is too short. A lifetime of anger and loathing absolutely ruined my old man’s health. I don’t want the same. The goal is to return to Arizona. I lived there for five years and never really left, at least mentally. I’m weighing different parts of northern Arizona. The Valley (Phoenix and suburbs) grew to a ridiculous level and reminds me of LA from 20 years ago. I could put up with that (also) 20 years ago. Today I want quieter. I’m also weighing a summer place in Wyoming; probably a 4-plex in AZ and another in WY to keep my costs down. Maybe I’d do 6 months and a day in WY for tax reasons. Money can always be made. The issue is that I’m a landlord. Socialists/communists are an existential threat in my world because I’m a landlord and they absolutely adore us.  So if they make inroads locally, it’s a clear sign for me to pull up stakes.A friend lives in Chicago. He loves it. When I brought up the local democrats tilting farther left, he just shrugged and said he’d just be a communist if they ever came to power. That led to a conversation about China being more capitalist than us and wealth generation in closed societies. I couldn’t do it, but he’s not wrong either. Someone always wins. Money can always be made. If it’s just “normal” Democrats, I’ll just adjust to take on more Section 8 tenants while hiring a manager to insulate myself from the daily foolishness. But my tolerance has been slipping lately too. |
“Don't post anything here or send anything you aren't willing to defend in court.”
-Notcalifornialegal
-Notcalifornialegal
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smartest thing i ever did was start contributing to an IRA when I was 25. had to adjust over the years. sometimes going from 15% down to 5% due to family issues. but OP is right. I had to retire earlier than expected, which was difficult at first, but now I love it. loving the freedom I have now. I was .gov so I actually have a pension. I opted for the 4% withdrawal method from my 401K like OP mentioned, and hopefully it will last me until I croak. I'm only 55 now so fingers crossed. I cant receive SS until I'm 57 so I have to wait for that. I have a young daughter (met a hottie after my divorce that agreed to accept my seed. haha). now I get to hang out with her all the time. love it. If you get the chance to retire. Do it!! I highly recommend it!!! Thanks for the post OP. great info and insight!! |
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”
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Im only 45. ill be eligible for retirement in 3 years with a pension. Should be roughly 6000-6500/mo before taxes/heath insurance/ ect. I dont plan on retiring and will find another gig till the wife is ready to retire. Shes 42 and has probably another 15 years left in her job to get the max for her pension. We both have a decent 457 as well. Anywho, I have always been taught the "save for later" by my parents and older peers. But what surprises me is the number of people who want the instant gratification now. *dont get me wrong, still take that vacation..still get that widget.. ect. But the people I know that are my age who dont have shit for retirement because they "gotta have it now". So ill be curious what it will be like say 20 years from now. Granted I hope our health is fine and between the pensions/457 , I hope we r also financially fine. But how many people are going to be crying about not able to afford XYZ...but not say its cause they spent all their money on crap over the last 40+ years. |
Where There Are Sheep, Wolves Will Always Thrive
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Anywho, I have always been taught the "save for later" by my parents and older peers. But what surprises me is the number of people who want the instant gratification now. There's a balance to be struck though, and I didn't do a very good job of that. I'm retiring in under 2 months at age 56, but would have been out 3 or 4 years ago had I not put TOO MUCH into retirement accounts and instead put more into things I could access without penalty before 59-1/2. I don't recall a single conversation about that earlier in my life- the risk of "locking up" too much of your money. I was taught to save, max everything, etc and did so- which is going to yield a strong retirement. But everything, and I mean everything, comes with tradeoffs and plus/minus factors that should be considered. |
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Originally Posted By azmp5: Im only 45. ill be eligible for retirement in 3 years with a pension. Should be roughly 6000-6500/mo before taxes/heath insurance/ ect. I dont plan on retiring and will find another gig till the wife is ready to retire. Shes 42 and has probably another 15 years left in her job to get the max for her pension. We both have a decent 457 as well. Anywho, I have always been taught the "save for later" by my parents and older peers. But what surprises me is the number of people who want the instant gratification now. *dont get me wrong, still take that vacation..still get that widget.. ect. But the people I know that are my age who dont have shit for retirement because they "gotta have it now". So ill be curious what it will be like say 20 years from now. Granted I hope our health is fine and between the pensions/457 , I hope we r also financially fine. But how many people are going to be crying about not able to afford XYZ...but not say its cause they spent all their money on crap over the last 40+ years. I know lots of people who will not be able to retire before 65 at the earliest. I’ve posted about some of them here in the past. Some discovered they can’t retire at around 55. Crazy thing is….they are still spending like drunken sailors and saving nothing. My magic number is 57. I can go at 55 but I’ll have to make some sacrifices. Just two more years takes me from good retirement to fantastic retirement. In my late 40s now so it’s getting closer. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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I know one thing I did wrong, for the last 20 years or so I've been maxing out my TSP and 401(k) to the max allowed for the year. About 10 years ago I switched my TSP contribution to Roth, but the matching was normal. Sounds great, doesn't it. Eventually, when I turned 75 I'll have massive RMD's. What I would recommend to people starting out now is max out up to the matching contribution. Then take all the extra money you were going to contribute and instead invest that in a brokerage. Why? All the contributions to the TSP and 401(k) will be taxed at income levels which means high percentages for me. If instead, I had put a lot more into the brokerage. It would've been at the capital gain tax rate of 15%. |
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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Originally Posted By 7: I know one thing I did wrong, for the last 20 years or so I've been maxing out my TSP and 401(k) to the max allowed for the year. About 10 years ago I switched my TSP contribution to Roth, but the matching was normal. Sounds great, doesn't it. Eventually, when I turned 75 I'll have massive RMD's. What I would recommend to people starting out now is max out up to the matching contribution. Then take all the extra money you were going to contribute and instead invest that in a brokerage. Why? All the contributions to the TSP and 401(k) will be taxed at income levels which means high percentages for me. If instead, I had put a lot more into the brokerage. It would've been at the capital gain tax rate of 15%. I am not familiar with TSP rules but generally, you can do Roth conversions. It’s not always advantageous to do so as it depends on your particular situation. But if you can do enough Roth conversions, you might be able to eliminate (definitely reduce) your RMD issues. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: I am not familiar with TSP rules but generally, you can do Roth conversions. It's not always advantageous to do so as it depends on your particular situation. But if you can do enough Roth conversions, you might be able to eliminate (definitely reduce) your RMD issues.
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Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Where There Are Sheep, Wolves Will Always Thrive
Joined:
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EE: 100% (38)
VA, USA
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Thing is I'm single with no kids so I'm not sure its in my best interest to do the Roth Conversions. Using Boldin Software it really is a wash in total lifetime taxes. This is the way. You normally want BOTH tax-free and taxable income during your retirement, or else you're leaving money on the table in terms of the standard deduction. Right now, your first $16k or so for a single is tax free- so take the tax break on the front end and then take that income tax free later. You need to do the math to see how it all shakes up, especially if you get a pension or social security later. Keep in mind this is all based on future (and thus unknown) tax rates, income brackets, and standard deductions. If you think tax rates will likely increase, plan accordingly. Means testing and all the other things that might come mean you can only plan and hope- we really aren't in full control of our own fates in most of this. |
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Originally Posted By 7: Yes, I am sort of planning on some Roth conversions over the next several years. Thing is I'm single with no kids so I'm not sure its in my best interest to do the Roth Conversions. Using Boldin Software it really is a wash in total lifetime taxes. Maybe slightly beneficial to do the Roth conversions. Even doing Roth Conversion and maxing out to the top of the 24% bracket, IRA RMD's will be quite a lot. Which brings be back to my original message of wish I didn't do so much tax deferring. I agree having as much post tax money as possible is a good thing. I realized that myself and switched my retirement savings into heavy Roth. This is a good example why one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to investing. Some rules are universal….live below your income, invest for the future, minimize debt (generally speaking) and avoid all high interest debt. But, other investing decisions need to be evaluated on an individual basis. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt