Saving for the future.

[amalik]

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.

I'm not judging you but, just a thought...

You may have $1 Million by Age 55 and enjoy that, but you'll never know what it's like to pick your kid up when he/she crawls up to your leg, looks up, and gives you a huge smile.

Happened to me 3-4 times with my 9 month old today and I can tell you it's priceless.

And hell, I hope I have a mill too by retirement, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.

 

[AKmoney]

I absolutely respect the decision to have children but raising them right is an enormous responsibility - and expense. I'm 100% certain they're not for me.

Other retirement/savings advice: Become a cop or a fireman, especially in California. CalPERS has a really nice defined benefit pension plan waiting for you.

I should probably quit now before things get too controversial

 

[Victor_inox]

having a kid was/is most wonderful investment of my life so far.
You childless egocentrics wouldn't understand.

 

[1engineer]

My wife of 32 years is retiring next February. She has been a nurse for 38 years taking care of our veterans. During that time she took a leave of absence and was a Captain in the Air Force as a flight nurse during Desert Shield and Storm.

We have been doing the whole "figuring out retirement" thing for the past six months and it's pretty unnerving.

From what I have learned over the past six months, all of you posting in this thread are right... and wrong haha. The truth is there is no one size fits all or only one right way to save for retirement. We basically just started 30 some years ago (when we were dumb kids) putting money in our 401K's and not worrying about it. My wife will now retire and draw the same monthly amount of money for the next 30+ years as she does right now. And yes, that includes estimates COL and inflation. We had no planners. We had no parental help. We just put money in our 401K and in 1984 we didn't even think that Social Security would still even be a program in 2017.

So, the secret?
Put money away. Savings, 401K's, mutual funds, whatever. Just save it somewhere. How much? As much as you can and still live the standard you want to live. Some won't save any. Some will save too much and go through life as a miser. Newsflash: There is only one life and it can end at any time. Ask me about that as in November of last year I almost died from a sudden illness. I am very healthy, exercise a ton and have no really bad habits and... was fine one day (rode 10 miles of trails) and lying in the hospital the next day in incredible pain and looking death in the face. It happens. Enjoy life as you live it because tomorrow is never a certainty.

Next, there is nothing wrong with having a mortgage or some credit card debt. Just don't let it get out of hand. We have had them our whole lives. So what.

Now, about kids. They are expensive. We have raised two. When I was young and dumb I felt the same way as some of you. No kids! Expensive, problematic, have to feed and clothe them, etc, and they might hate you anyway. Well, let me tell you a story:

For 99.9999% of us there is absolutely nothing you will ever do in your entire life that will be more important or rewarding than having children. Unless you derive a cure for cancer, figure out how to counteract gravity or come up with cold fusion then having children is the best you will do. Sure, I have not done any of the things I mentioned in the last sentence.... but my children might do them someday. Most importantly, your children will allow a piece of you to live forever. How? Everything they learn from you, both good and bad, is learned and carried on to the next generation, and the next, and the next. Stop for a minute - where do you think you got the basic thoughts, feelings, genetics, mannerisms and everything else you use every day from? They came from your parents, and grandparents, and great grandparents. For those of you who had shitty parents or were adopted like me they still came from your parents or from the parents of someone else! My point is this: If you take this parenting thing seriously then you can actually make the world a better place eventually and *bonus* bits and pieces of your ideals and many other things will live on!

To close, regardless of how much or how little you save in your working years you will eventually, if you are lucky, make it to retirement age. What you do now will shape those years. I advise everyone to enjoy life though. It's a very short time that we get to be here. Balance and don't sweat the small things, especially politics!

 

[HOJeepster]

Also keep in mind - all credit isn't bad.

With low interest rates, sometimes it makes sense to borrow at cheap rates.

On the flip side to that, there's virtually zero incentive to save money in a savings account given the rates are so low.

 

[ndcent]

having a kid was/is most wonderful investment of my life so far.
You childless egocentrics wouldn't understand.

You could also say having children could be considered egocentric.

Better yet, let's not judge that personal decision.

 

[CXS]

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.

^ This is spot on. My wife & I started contributing the maximum allowed when 401k's became available. If you never have the money in hand it's easy to save.

We didn't have the high home prices that exist today which helped us afford having kids. My kids and you younger guys are paying a much higher percentage of your income to afford a house. My sympathies to you.

 

[MtnT4R]

I have to put this out there because as an independent contractor I don't have this luxury, and didn't use it back in the day when I could have:

If your employer matches contributions to a retirement account of any variety, USE IT. You are doubling your money day 1, and that just doesn't happen anywhere else legally.


I also would consider some of the best investments to be non-monetary. Anything you can buy today that will increase you and your family's independence in the case of an emergency or natural disaster should be high on the list. A lot of us live in high risk areas of one variety or another, and you really do not want to be dependent on FEMA to hand out aid of any kind.

Other than that, does anyone use State Farm? They offer a lot of great investment strategies- one of my favorites are the LifePath funds that diversify your contributions across various markets, but roll that money back into much safer vehicles(bonds, for example) the closer you get to your anticipated year of retirement. I know a lot of people who had to postpone retirement quite a few years after the housing market crashed and the stock market followed, and LifePath funds were designed to avoid those pitfalls in the future.

 

[CXS]

The basic struggle is determining how long you'll live to determine how much you'll need to retire. We all should recognize that's a crapshoot at best and there's no way to know when we'll die. We retired at 55 in a large part because my wife put in 30 years at a Fortune 500 company and held on to the old pension she got at the start. Back then was when companies rewarded longevity so when she hit the magic age & years with the company (55 years old, 30 years of employment) she retired.

Will we go broke? Maybe but it's a gamble we're taking. Financial advisors figure how much one needs to retire by calculating one's lifespan. Everyone we've talked to over the years says we'll live to our 90's which we find absurd. If we end up living on Social Security and the kindness of our kids, so be it. More probable is that our kids will inherit some money unlike ourselves.

A number of years ago I defied the odds and lived when it wasn't expected that I would. On the way to the ER I called my kids, told then that I loved them, etc. But here I am today. As I said, life's a crapshoot. I know too many people that never made it to retirement or died shortly after turning 65 and retiring. We only get one life so enjoy it by not working and dying. Life's about experiences, not stuff.

 

[Thefishguy77]

Bottom line is kids aren't for everyone. Those that don't want them probably shouldn't be parents always. My best friend and his wife never wanted kids. She just got diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer at 37 years old. Now she can probably never have kids. Once the choice had been made for them, they both regret not at least trying to have a child. Both always said we will wait till we can afford it. Both are self employed and work 80 hrs ish a week and both make good money. But it's one of those thing you hear over and over again and it's forgotten about till you hear it again. Nobody ever said on their deathbed "I wish I had spent more time at work"

Family is what's important in the end. No matter if it's you and your wife/husband, kids, grandkids, ect. Make sure you have some good family relationships going in to retirement. They make life worth smiling about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AKmoney]

I'm not judging you but, just a thought...

You may have $1 Million by Age 55 and enjoy that, but you'll never know what it's like to pick your kid up when he/she crawls up to your leg, looks up, and gives you a huge smile.

Happened to me 3-4 times with my 9 month old today and I can tell you it's priceless.

And hell, I hope I have a mill too by retirement, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.

Quite frankly, having $1M at retirement isn't enough.

Using the following assumptions:
- 25 year lifespan at retirement (say, 65-90)
- 3% annual inflation
- 6% annual interest ROI
- $100K Salary during your last year of employment
- Retirement withdrawal rate of 90% of your last year's salary

...my magic spreadsheet says I need about $1.6M saved up to ensure I won't hit rock bottom before I kick the bucket.

The math is kinda sobering. Save as much as you can while you can and don't forget age discrimination - it'll become increasingly difficult to lock down a good paying job as retirement age approaches. The time to save big is *now*.

 

[Hepar]

My retirement/savings plan involves not having kids. They're seriously expensive.

I'm not judging you but, just a thought...

You may have $1 Million by Age 55 and enjoy that, but you'll never know what it's like to pick your kid up when he/she crawls up to your leg, looks up, and gives you a huge smile.

Happened to me 3-4 times with my 9 month old today and I can tell you it's priceless.

And hell, I hope I have a mill too by retirement, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.

having a kid was/is most wonderful investment of my life so far.
You childless egocentrics wouldn't understand.

They definitely are expensive! But above all else, they are a lot of TIME. And for me, that is something that I am just too selfish with to give up. I above money or anything else value personal time. I don't need a lot of money, but will always want the flexibility to do things when I want to do them. This world definitely doesn't need anymore humans on it. So one could make a strong argument that having them is very egocentric.

 

[AKmoney]

Other than that, does anyone use State Farm? They offer a lot of great investment strategies- one of my favorites are the LifePath funds that diversify your contributions across various markets, but roll that money back into much safer vehicles(bonds, for example) the closer you get to your anticipated year of retirement. I know a lot of people who had to postpone retirement quite a few years after the housing market crashed and the stock market followed, and LifePath funds were designed to avoid those pitfalls in the future.

I think most people will be well served by opening an account with someone like Vanguard or perhaps trying an automated/algorithm-driven investment service like Betterment or Wealthfront. Personally I use Betterment; it's convenient and it has a tax-loss harvesting feature that manages to scrape up some losses each year due to typical market oscillations. I have it set up to auto-deposit every two weeks coincident with paydays so I don't have to think about it. This is on top of my company 401k plan. Remember, play the long game.

 

[1engineer]

Quite frankly, having $1M at retirement isn't enough.

Using the following assumptions:
- 25 year lifespan at retirement (say, 65-90)
- 3% annual inflation
- 6% annual interest ROI
- $100K Salary during your last year of employment
- Retirement withdrawal rate of 90% of your last year's salary

...my magic spreadsheet says I need about $1.6M saved up to ensure I won't hit rock bottom before I kick the bucket.

The math is kinda sobering. Save as much as you can while you can and don't forget age discrimination - it'll become increasingly difficult to lock down a good paying job as retirement age approaches. The time to save big is *now*.

We just went through this with my wife. Her parents are 90 and 88 respectively. We didn't use the actual numbers but we (me) analyzed their overall spending habits from age 65 til 90. When they both retired, they immediately spent less and less. Not on purpose, but because the kids were grown, didn't need to buy work dress clothes, didn't buy a new vehicle as often, traveled but liked staying home, etc. In the past 10 years, from 80 til 90, they have spent hardly any money other than utilities, taxes, healthcare and basic living expenses. Maybe $20K/yr. That's less than half what they projected. Now, one crisis could wipe them out but even if you saved $5M USD one crisis could wipe that out too. Bottom line is you need to use linear regression and best guess if you want to find out how much you need. On average, from age 75 on you are not going to spend much money on anything other than meds and healthcare.

 

[AKmoney]

We just went through this with my wife. Her parents are 90 and 88 respectively. We didn't use the actual numbers but we (me) analyzed their overall spending habits from age 65 til 90. When they both retired, they immediately spent less and less. Not on purpose, but because the kids were grown, didn't need to buy work dress clothes, didn't buy a new vehicle as often, traveled but liked staying home, etc. In the past 10 years, from 80 til 90, they have spent hardly any money other than utilities, taxes, healthcare and basic living expenses. Maybe $20K/yr. That's less than half what they projected. Now, one crisis could wipe them out but even if you saved $5M USD one crisis could wipe that out too. Bottom line is you need to use linear regression and best guess if you want to find out how much you need. On average, from age 75 on you are not going to spend much money on anything other than meds and healthcare.

This is great data. Trying to project future spending is a huge mystery and the biggest wild card is the cost of health care. That's the one thing that scares the crap out of me. Maybe I should just move to socialist country like New Zealand when I retire

 

[CXS]

I think most people will be well served by opening an account with someone like Vanguard or perhaps trying an automated/algorithm-driven investment service like Betterment or Wealthfront. Personally I use Betterment; it's convenient and it has a tax-loss harvesting feature that manages to scrape up some losses each year due to typical market oscillations. I have it set up to auto-deposit every two weeks coincident with paydays so I don't have to think about it. This is on top of my company 401k plan. Remember, play the long game.

Agreed, we just switched to Vanguard from a company we used for 10 years. While we'll have to see how our investments do in the long run we're saving thousands/year on management fees.

 

[Morphyne]

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?

I know of someone that is in retirement age and has their housr and vars mortgaged to the hilt. The idea is that they have several fireproof safes hidden throughout their home that when they die. The banks get the house and the cars and the kids walk away with the cash tax free.

Honest? Not really. Legal? Probably not. Smart? Maybe...

 

[Morphyne]

Quite frankly, having $1M at retirement isn't enough.

Using the following assumptions:
- 25 year lifespan at retirement (say, 65-90)
- 3% annual inflation
- 6% annual interest ROI
- $100K Salary during your last year of employment
- Retirement withdrawal rate of 90% of your last year's salary

...my magic spreadsheet says I need about $1.6M saved up to ensure I won't hit rock bottom before I kick the bucket.

The math is kinda sobering. Save as much as you can while you can and don't forget age discrimination - it'll become increasingly difficult to lock down a good paying job as retirement age approaches. The time to save big is *now*.

But if you own your home and vehicles. How much do you really need? Food, utilities and maintenance on your home. At some point you will get too old to drive. So no new car needed.

You really only need a little bit to survive. Everything else is quality of life...

 

[AKmoney]

But if you own your home and vehicles. How much do you really need? Food, utilities and maintenance on your home. At some point you will get too old to drive. So no new car needed.

You really only need a little bit to survive. Everything else is quality of life...

I agree, this is part of the struggle in terms of calculating how much one really needs. Health care costs are the wild card. Under our current system, it doesn't take much to get wiped out. Insurance and pharmaceuticals are expensive.

 

[CXS]

I agree, this is part of the struggle in terms of calculating how much one really needs. Health care costs are the wild card. Under our current system, it doesn't take much to get wiped out. Insurance and pharmaceuticals are expensive.

That's always a concern but Medicare + a "medigap" policy covers lots more than I ever would have thought. Knowing what I do now I should have waited to get some parts fixed until turning 65.

BTW, thanks to all of you for covering my medical expences eep: