Yeah they are blowing money out their butts..Not very smart, but you're right it's a free country and they can spend their money the way they want to(just don't complain to me about lack of money....)
When will you be able to retire?
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Yeah they are blowing money out their butts..Not very smart, but you're right it's a free country and they can spend their money the way they want to(just don't complain to me about lack of money....)
Agreed. We paid all that debt off without ever going to the "beans and rice" approach he advocates. We also contributed to retirement accounts during that time. But we lived on a budget, kept extra expenses (eating out, fun stuff, vacations, etc) to a minimum. We also put every extra dollar we had into paying off debt. That became part of our budget and we lived with that as part of life. Honestly, it didn't feel like a huge sacrifice to us; it was just a life decision we committed to.
If you just start with a budget, you'll make better decisions. It's not that you can't have fun or buy nice things ever, it's that you think about the cost first.
Although a lot of his callers absolutely need the "beans and rice" approach! haha
I will work as long as I’m married. It’s my biggest expense.
When I get tired of working, could be today could be 6 years from now.
And in my case marriage will save me the expense of health care for a number of years.
Wife has worked at a major defense contractor for 30 years, she can retire in 2, with pension and health benefits.
And in my case marriage will save me the expense of health care for a number of years.
Wife has worked at a major defense contractor for 30 years, she can retire in 2, with pension and health benefits.
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Some like to get out and literally see the world while they still can physically do it.
I had a job change a bout 1.5 years ago that was a cut financially, but also general frequency of cash flow. Wasn't exactly going to Vegas every weekend but was definitely comfortable enough to buy toys like a kayak, travel, etc.
Had to figure out a way to budget and the best thing I've come up with is to kick it old school and take out a weekly amount of cash per week. It's amazing how much less crap I buy that really can add up when you're blindly using debit/credit.
I've also focused on my diet the last three years and have come to the conclusion that eating out is overpriced and an overrated experience in general vs. taking 20 minutes to cook something with two ingredients.
I increasingly wonder if the "buy used" for cars is becoming outdated. I was car shopping late last year and the price difference between a new car and a car with 50,000 miles on it was often only a couple grand. You had to start looking at 100k+ miles and over 10 years old before prices really started dropping. And at that point you're buying a car with a much shorter shelf life and higher maintenance costs so aren't really saving anything.
I was someone who never, ever wanted to buy new but we did with our last car. The price difference wasn't great enough imo, to offset the mileage and unknown type of usage I guess you would say. And new had some pretty nice warranties.
Not a lot of input for OP but I think whoever pointed out what the actual yearly increase in retirement the MO job represents had a good point. Is $2k a year worth a new job if you love your current one?
Not sure when I'd retire. Ideally be able to go PT in my 50's. The big thing would be whether we get on board with the rest of the first world by then and change our healthcare system. Think that's a big bottleneck right now keeping older people in the workforce and preventing upward mobility of younger workers. So if that's not a big concern for me in 35 years then hopefully I could peace out and travel. I saw somewhere you should have a goal of having your salary in retirement by 30 and we did that. Fortunate that I started saving for retirement at 22 - even more fortunate that spouse had no student loans and I had minimal. Absolutely massive step up in life for us and is why we've got a 529 started for our infant.
Not sure when I'd retire. Ideally be able to go PT in my 50's. The big thing would be whether we get on board with the rest of the first world by then and change our healthcare system. Think that's a big bottleneck right now keeping older people in the workforce and preventing upward mobility of younger workers. So if that's not a big concern for me in 35 years then hopefully I could peace out and travel. I saw somewhere you should have a goal of having your salary in retirement by 30 and we did that. Fortunate that I started saving for retirement at 22 - even more fortunate that spouse had no student loans and I had minimal. Absolutely massive step up in life for us and is why we've got a 529 started for our infant.
This is something that doesn’t get talked about enough. If you pick a good field, an Associates degree is a great way to have a solid job and make a decent living.
At every engineering firm I’ve worked for we’ve always had a need for drafting or construction technicians. Plenty of demand there, and that’s just one example
I feel for you, but...
How did you lose your retirement? Unless you were invested in something highly speculative, the stock market losses should only be on paper and recovered by now?
And your wife got some horrible advice. When you're young is the MOST IMPORTANT time to save because that money has more time to grow.
Ok, don’t want cave or anything crazy, but at 47, I’m not understanding this unaffordable health care yet. Does it rocket up once you hit 50-55 and I’m not seeing the cliff? It’s me and 3 kids on a plan and while it’s a decent amount of coin, it not something that would knock me over especially with kids dropping off soon.
That’s where I see value in a CC. Skilled labor that doesn’t need a bachelors. Honestly I’ve always said the well rounded stuff they reason for a bachelors is bunk. To prove part of my point, why is my major still well rounded with 8 less credits than I had to get in my day? Are today’s students not as good as me because I needed almost another semester?
would depend what the credits were. Things that are irrelevant today like dinosaur diet formulation and the science of sundials?
Did they combine some things together in one class or make swaps that were lower credit values? Drop a lab? Now I'm curious to see if my degree's credits have changed much. And I'll debate all day with you that part of a university education vs. CC or trade school is to make well-rounded citizens, not just workers. So giving them that taste of philosophy, humanities, etc. has value to me. I will say I took a class that I thought was absolute crap at the time and was just filling one of those diversity slots for me but the concepts it presented have stayed with me and now I'm really glad I took it. Even though I kinda half-assed the assignments.
I suspect it's that if you retire before 65, you'd be pre-Medicare and off employer-sponsored plans. And then even at 65 I think there's still some decent costs associated with Medicare.
I graduated high school with 28 credits. So many schools offer dual credit courses anymore in partnership with a CC. It just requires planning... before you take a course know what it transfers as and does it fit in to your plan. I traded off heavy class schedules in college in exchange for me not having a PT job. Its not for everyone but it can be done.
Medicare costs not that bad for me. Deere gives us $ credits to use for Medicare and supplemental premiums. I’ve given up no coverage, decreased my deductibles and have lowered my out of picket healthcare costs.
