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CXS said:
This idea originated in the "America this week" thread. After seeing a number of likes on my post (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/off-topic/222220-america-week-what-hell-95.html#post2463370) I decided to kick off a new thread.

To start - how ready are you to handle an emergency expense, rainy day fund or retirement?

If you have little to nothing how do you justify your truck, mods, big boy toys, etc?
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I'm certainly not going to set the world on fire with my savings and investments, but I feel like I'm doing an OK job. I also feel like I don't live above my means. Many people think that (or think I have way more money than I do) because I'm always going on trips and buying toys for myself. But the reality is that I'm definitely not. I just prioritize where and what I spend my money on. I have no kids and no plans for any. As well as I feel just fine spending money here or there on my Runner as it's completely paid off, wasn't much to begin with and something I use as my DD.
 
Most people, as they get older, tend to become more fiscally conservative, hoarding every penny for the golden day of retirement. As a penny pincher myself I get so much enjoyment though from big tires, isolated wilderness and rubber on a gravel road. That's more valuable to me than a hefty bank balance.
 
I'm a terrible saver.
I'm not ready to handle an emergency other than possibly selling off parts that I tend to accrue. Those are my emergency savings in my twisted logic.

Running my own small business, about everything I own revolves around it and most of my money other than mortgage goes back into the business. Hoping one day it'll allow me to live a little easier.
My toys are related to work though, and I'm using the new to me 4Runner to prototype some more parts as well. So that's my justification.


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It's not an easy thing to do in today's day and age. I feel with the advent of social media Mybook, spaceface, tweeter, snapping and chatting, tumbling and every other one we are constantly trying to one up someone else.

The fact remains that every year we have a natural disaster or 2 and plants have mass layoffs ect. Then they is the looming dark cloud called a depression. I was always told that you should have 6 months worth of bills socked away in an account you don't touch. Also this 3 days worth of food and water crap we are told to have is crazy. Try 30 days. It's not hard to do at all. Every time you go to the store try and by 2-3 cans of whatever they have on sale don't spend over $4-7 and see how fast it adds up. So if you do fall on hard time you can actually use that to help supplement you food bill and then rebuild it when your back up and running.

Put 5-10% of your paycheck in to a savings account and watch it add up. Do you get bonuses put 50% in. After all it's a bonus and you shouldn't count on it anyways.

Retirement on the other had is vary hard to account for. Used to be that you could get a good job with a pension and after 40 years collect on it.
Now you have to save for retirement save save save. It's never too late to start but the sooner the better. Talk to a retirement planer. Yes it cost a few bucks but you will have a total different outlook on what's required to retire comfortable and not be a greater for Walmart in your golden years. If you start in your 20's it should be very easy to retire in your 50-60's but you have to start. Nobody will do it for you.

Most people, myself included, don't/didn't realize how much it costs to retire. It's not just your bills. Those are fairly easy to guesstimate. It's the rising medical cost as we age, the things we want to do when we retire, the planning for inflation (scary).
Do you take a vacation every year? Skip every other year and out that money towards retirement. You can nickel and dime retirement but you need to start young.

I for one try to not live above my means. I bought my 99 Chevy 1500 with 41k on it. Just rolled 263,000 and plan on keeping it. It would be nice to have a new truck and all. But factor in a $400/month car payment and you now have a lot of money that's going to something "nicer". I am planning on rebuilding the transmission $1800 and in a few years putting a new motor in it $3-4000. Seems like a big hit but when you do the math it's not nearly what a new payment is. I just don't see the need for the more expensive items. My 4Runner build is slower than the 2nd coming because I have a wife, son, and house. All 3 are way above my 4Runner when it comes to money allocation. The motor is rebuild just need to fix a starter problem and I am piecing together an OME lift.

Interested in hearing others retirement ideas, suggestions, ect

Edit:
I was always told by my dad "If you can't save up the cash for it in 3-4 months you need to ask yourself if you really need it."
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It's all about starting as early as possible and diversifying.

Savings, HSA, IRA, mattress money, Gold, Silver, Bullets/guns, food & water, bonds, High Risk/yield investments and low risk/yield investments.

I see all of the above as absolutely necessary. Even if I only contribute a few bucks to each every month, it adds up in the long term.

I'm young enough and not averse to risk, so I buy the dip whenever I can. Has worked well so far.

I keep enough food and water for 6 months for every member of my household, including pets. I rotate it in and out. I started small and just kept building.

A lot of people think that is crazy or unnecessary, but honestly if we see massive inflation or a disruption of the food or water supply, it will literally save my family. It's easy and required minimal investment over a long period of time to build up.

HSA is huge. I used to not have insurance at all and instead invested in HSA accounts- used very little over the years as I stay away from hospitals and clinics unless absolutely necessary. I'm healthy, but as I've gotten older, grown my family (And the .gov requires it now) I have lots of insurance- health, accident, life, etc.

Any company I've worked for that matched- I invested into IRA's, always contributed at least double what they would match.

I invested into gold when it was around $300.00 an ounce in my youth and continued to buy a bit here and there when it was at good prices. Same thing with silver and palladium. I've even gone copper dumpster diving (With permission) at commercial construction sites before they realized how much $$$ they were tossing when copper went up and started salvaging it.

I have never amortized anything other than a home/property purchase. Save up and buy it, or don't buy it at all. Unless it is a real emergency that is.

Budget. How many folks just don't do it? MOST!

With alittle planning and forethought as well as some sacrifice, you can provide for your future in a big way.
 
My advice is to save 10% of every paycheck. Sock it away as if you don't have and don't touch it - ever. Open an IRA, K401, whatever you can to get better than .02% or whatever savings account give these days. Take advantage of anything your employer offers.

Don't try to keep up with your friends or associates. Someday they'll ask how you could retire when they can't and they'll remember the toys they owned while you didn't.

If you think retirement is too far away to think about then at least think about what you'll do when the shit hits the fan (job loss, illness, accident, etc) and you face selling your 4Runner. That should be motivation!
 
My truck is my plan b. If shit hits the fan, I head to the hills and live out of it. :)

For real though, good thread. Always have to think about the future.
 
I have enough currently to live off of in the event of an emergency for at least 2~3 months without having to even consider looking to my credit line for additional funds between checking and savings. I'm trying not to dip into the savings too much as I want to eventually transition into a home in the next couple years and would like to put 5 or more percent down; (I've had my account set up to pull $100 from both pay checks every month since I was young as an automatic function) but whatever is in the checking I'll play with for "wants & needs".

I live my entire life under the basis that I do not spend money I do not have, all credit purchases are only for amounts I have capital to pay off at the end of the month for in full and larger purchases (such as my furniture for my new apartment) that require the use of a loan I keep 100% of the value of the loan in savings; this is so in the event of an emergency I can immediately pay off any "debt" have I floating for credit purposes and not owe anyone money.

I despise owing people money, which is a constant conflict I have with my father who understands the credit system. The two biggest loans I had that I did not have the luxury of having 100% capital to back up in the event of an emergency were the 4Runner (now paid off) and my tools (again paid in full); that was a rather frustrating year or two not being able to pay them off completely should an emergency occur.

I'm not looking forward to having a mortgage...
 
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Anyone subscribe to the belief of dying with the biggest mortgage possible? My father, an economist, did.

How about the statistic that the average American adult has $6,000 of credit card debt?
 
CXS said:
Anyone subscribe to the belief of dying with the biggest mortgage possible? My father, an economist, did.

How about the statistic that the average American adult has $6,000 of credit card debt?
Click to expand...



I love my son too much to do that to him. I want to give him property free and clear with the money to pay the taxes in a perfect world.


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Let me add a bit of real estate to the mix. It's location dependent but in retirement it's wonderful to be the guy who owns vs the guy who rents.
 
GangsterOfLove said:
Let me add a bit of real estate to the mix. It's location dependent but in retirement it's wonderful to be the guy who owns vs the guy who rents.
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Being rent or mortgage free is the fastest way to build wealth. Way more than any magic investment ponzi scheme. But for 9/10 people, it won't be possible until at least their 40's if you're one of the lucky ones.

Do a tally of your friends or family and see how many have a 15 or 30 year mortgage... it should be around 90% with maybe 10% that own.

You either have to have a hand me down or save up at least $300-400k in cash to live somewhere decent.

@CXS, are you retired?
 
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Put at least 20% away of net income in savings. Once a certain fiscal target number is hit for emergencies, then invest it. Look at the janitor who died with $8 million to his name. He invested for the long run and for the most part very wisely.

Get off Facebook.

If one has a hobby in which money can be made, start a business and use such as a tax shelter to some degree.
 
CXS said:
Anyone subscribe to the belief of dying with the biggest mortgage possible? My father, an economist, did.

How about the statistic that the average American adult has $6,000 of credit card debt?
Click to expand...

Economists know everything, just ask my step-dad.

...

I realize we do not have an emoji for the sheer magnitude of my eyeroll when I hear him start with "I'm an Economist so I know (he teaches economy...)"
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Economists know everything, just ask my step-dad.

...

I realize we do not have an emoji for the sheer magnitude of my eyeroll when I hear him start with "I'm an Economist so I know (he teaches economy...)"
Click to expand...

As my father would say: "put three economists in the same room and you'll get three different correct interpretations."
 
Just out of curiosity how much do you guys consider 'enough' for emergencies, like job loss, etc?

At the moment I've got enough that I could probably go a full year without income. I've also got a relatively small RRSP or whatever they call retirement savings accounts now. Starting to think I should be investing my money elsewhere as opposed to just saving.
 
My retirement/savings plan involves not having kids. They're seriously expensive.

My advice is to play the long game. You can't time the market. Stay invested and make regular contributions. If the market tanks, don't panic and withdraw. You can ride out the storms.

I began contributing to a 401k pretty much as soon as I started working in my early 20s and I've rolled it over from one employer to the next ever since. Assuming a reasonably conservative 6% average annual return, it should be worth seven figures by the time I'm 55.

Avoid investing in individual stocks; If you don't know what you're doing (and most people don't, including myself), you can always open an account at one of the new automated investment services such as Betterment or Wealthfront. Very easy to set up a recurring, automated deposit with them.
 
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