More data about retirement savings

[Kevin]

I am surprised so many have a mortgage at 65+ years of age.

Off hand I can imagine why. People buying a bigger house than they can afford.

About 6 years ago, this guy my wife worked with got promoted and the very first thing he and his wife did was build a million dollar plus house over in Southlake. I’m sure it was mostly his wife’s idea.

Sure it’s gone up in value but they are still paying for it.

 

[Kevin]

I am surprised so many have a mortgage at 65+ years of age.

Also the fact that people think the equity in their house is like a “savings account.”

I’ve read different theories about this. Some people write home values should not be considered as part of your net worth with thinking about retirement.

 

[jg123]

Off hand I can imagine why. People buying a bigger house than they can afford.

About 6 years ago, this guy my wife worked with got promoted and the very first thing he and his wife did was build a million dollar plus house over in Southlake. I’m sure it was mostly his wife’s idea.

Sure it’s gone up in value but they are still paying for it.

I have a hard time paying for extra space when I'm not using it, but thats me. For some, there is an image thing, I believe.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Off hand I can imagine why. People buying a bigger house than they can afford.

About 6 years ago, this guy my wife worked with got promoted and the very first thing he and his wife did was build a million dollar plus house over in Southlake. I’m sure it was mostly his wife’s idea.

Sure it’s gone up in value but they are still paying for it.

My nearest in age cousin and her husband had a 3700 foot house in Southlake but when their SECOND kid was born they moved to a brand new house likely nearing 5K feet because they"ran out of space". Now both kids are out of the house. Their property tax is got to be $30K per year for a mostly empty apartment building on a corner lot.

 

[Dan in MI]

There’s that beyond your means/needs thing again.

1100 sq feet (plus basement) for 40 years now.

 

[kmoore]

Bottom line, save what you can, invest what you can as soon as you can. Waiting till your 50 to start thinking about your retirement and the need to invest/save and plan should have started in the mid 20s. Time in years lost cannot be made up.
You can make all the excuses you want; I have likely heard them all.
My opinion far too many people don't think about their future regarding finances, budgets, cost of living. Many of us will have financial hardships at some point, but all your adult life. Blame the person in the mirror.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Yeah I am 51 but I won't have a mortgage, car payment, or credit card debt at 52 much less 65+ so who really has it correct?

 

[Dan in MI]

GG, that’s all well and good, but time is your best friend when investing/saving.

 

[GasGuzzler]

My point exactly. Got lambasted for being behind TIME as a 50+ yet am I really? I just did stuff in a different order. I waited to drastically up my PERCENTAGE invested until the years where I make drastically more money but paid off everything else in the mean time. Like Waylon and Willie said: He ain't wrong he's just different. Yes time. Now I put a larger percentage of a larger paycheck in for a shorter time and end up in the same place.

 

[Tensaw]

There are variables. Do you want to travel a lot and see the country and world, or do you want to live basically like you do now only without all the costs of working, like clothes and gas for driving to work and such? Both my wife and I incurred a forced retirement due to company being bought out. Both of us were 61 1/2 at retirement. We had a traditional pension and social security plus our 401K accounts. We wanted to just live like we did before with little traveling. We have been retired 18 and 20 years now. We have lived comfortably but things are getting difficult. The big things getting to us is the cost of supplemental health insurance, property and auto insurance, and property taxes. Our traditional pensions have no provisions for rising cost of living increases and social security has very little. We might get a 1-2 percent increase for social security but then they increase what we have deducted for social security insurance so it's about a wash. The biggest fear for retirees is that one of us will need assisted living or nursing home care which will basically wipe out everything we have, including our home. That is a scary scenario.

Yes. The biggest fear for retirees is that one of us will need assisted living or nursing home care which will basically wipe out everything we have, including our home. That is a scary scenario.

 

[Kevin]

My point exactly. Got lambasted for being behind TIME as a 50+ yet am I really? I just did stuff in a different order. I waited to drastically up my PERCENTAGE invested until the years where I make drastically more money but paid off everything else in the mean time. Like Waylon and Willie said: He ain't wrong he's just different. Yes time. Now I put a larger percentage of a larger paycheck in for a shorter time and end up in the same place.

This is an interesting thought. I’m not an accountant. But it would be interesting to see if investing a larger percentage for a shorter time is better or small increments over a longer time.

One disadvantage I can see without a calculator is if the stock market takes a dip. The short time investors won’t have the time to make up if (or when) the market goes down.

I’m not saying you are wrong at all. And paying off debt is like investing.

But there are a lot of factors. Like the interest rate on the house. If it was low enough, that’s like free money. And paying it off early would not be the smart move.

 

[Richard76]

I re-financed my home 3 times since buying it in 99, once to buy a motorcycle, once to buy a tractor and the last time to buy a 27 acre field on the Connecticut river. each time the interest rate was lower. I'm at 2 7/8 now. I will have it and everything else paid off when I retire in 5 yrs at 67.

 

[Kevin]

I re-financed my home 3 times since buying it in 99, once to buy a motorcycle, once to buy a tractor and the last time to buy a 27 acre field on the Connecticut river. each time the interest rate was lower. I'm at 2 7/8 now. I will have it and everything else paid off when I retire in 5 yrs at 67.

Congratulations!

And see there is the time value of money. I’m up 21% in the stock market this year. If I had used that money to pay off my house I would have lost around 18%

 

[Jim Walsh]

I retired at 57 which was 12 years ago. I made the choice to leave when I was offered an early retirement option after 38 years with a very large aerospace corporation. The financials have to line up but each of us has to determine what they feel comfortable with. I can maintain my current lifestyle indefinitely and I live within my means with zero debt. It was much more important to me to enjoy life than to continue to feather my nest. After my wife passed away it was clear to me that there are no millionaires in the cemetery…

 

[GasGuzzler]

My 401K is averaging 12-14% right now. My mortgage is 6% because I got it in 2005. Didn't make sense to pay cash to refinance it a couple years ago when the rates were so low because I was so far ahead. Supposed to mature in 2035 but it will be paid off this summer. I will soon be contributing double digit percentages to the 401K and if the market takes a dip for 15 whole years, we're all screwed anyway.

 

[kmoore]

Yeah I am 51 but I won't have a mortgage, car payment, or credit card debt at 52 much less 65+ so who really has it correct?

You missed the words I used INVEST was a part of planning ahead. You have and did, the home. My planning for retirement started at 28 which included real state, rentals, stock market and savings. It took me till 64 to get to where you did at 51. I was close at 53, I kept a house payment going till 64.

 

[Boxhead]

Because my loan is at 3% and my Fidelity earnings are at 16%. It ain't rocket science.

 

[Johnnu2]

I'm so glad that everyone here is so wealthy and financially brilliant.
Hopefully we can give this one a rest (?)
MERRY CHRISTMAS (don't forget to GIVE to the less fortunate). No I'm not a
Democrat

J.

 

[Dan in MI]

It won’t get a rest. It is a very important concern for many people. Some have navigated it successfully, some haven’t, all want to.

Everyone has a different situation, so hearing how others are, or have, worked through adds to the individual knowledge base to work with.

 

[Johnnu2]

It won’t get a rest. It is a very important concern for many people. Some have navigated it successfully, some haven’t, all want to.

Everyone has a different situation, so hearing how others are, or have, worked through adds to the individual knowledge base to work with.

I guess you're right Dan..... I never thought of it like that....

MERRY CHRISTMAS,
J.

 

[Dan in MI]

My parents were kids in the depression. Early teens at the depths. On top of that Dad became an orphan in ‘29. They knew nothing about investing and Dad was leery of banks in general.

Generally nobody talks about money so this knowledge stays put. When I got in Ford they offered a self taught investment class. I took that and just kept trying to learn without going broke. I also listened to anyone that was talking about investing to try and pick up ideas. (always research what is said)

I have done well. I have also been accused of bragging here. That is not the case at all. If I wanted to brag there is so much more I could post.

All I want to do is help people see that it isn’t difficult, can be done, and share any tips I can. You just have to put it a little effort and live within your means.

 

[Kevin]

I'm so glad that everyone here is so wealthy and financially brilliant.
Hopefully we can give this one a rest (?)
MERRY CHRISTMAS (don't forget to GIVE to the less fortunate). No I'm not a
Democrat

J.

Merry Christmas! I'm sure nobody is going to admit being stupid with their money. Well, Ok, I will. When I first started investing in the stock market, Clinton was president. The internet stocks were just taking off. I bought some tech stock that sky rocketed. Along with Yahoo, bought it at 25, sold it at 400. Just didn't buy enough.

Then I got greedy and this company I'll never forget the SOB's. It was Buy.com. They had an IPO and I bought it at the absolute highest price it was. Good bye Yahoo earnings....

I did make enough to buy a nice used Toyota Tacoma with cash. So there's that.

These days its much, much different.

Anyway, my point is, I agree with Dan. I love threads like this because I just turned 56 and my wife just turned 50. We are talking about where to retire, how much money we will need etc. It's good to get different view points about how people manage retirement.

I've appreciated all the comments.

 

[GasGuzzler]

It won’t get a rest. It is a very important concern for many people. Some have navigated it successfully, some haven’t, all want to.

Everyone has a different situation, so hearing how others are, or have, worked through adds to the individual knowledge base to work with.

This is very true and way more interesting than yet another caliber debate.

Merry Christmas! I'm sure nobody is going to admit being stupid with their money.

I have been stupid more than once with money and have admitted it. I have also asked questions to get an idea how to be less stupid. Some of the answers make me more stupid but that's part of the process.