Retirement Targets

A quick side question- are many of you actively saving for your kids’ college? My wife and I don’t have a dedicated fund. We plan to help them if need be, but haven’t saved for that part. Anybody else doing that or are we missing something...?

I have several reasons:
1. No one paid for my college and it forced me to be more cautious in my college choices and taking on debt.
2. College isn’t the end all. Many people make 6 figures without college.
3. I want my kids invested in their education, not just going because it’s paid for.
4. It’s hard to value things that are free.
I have struggled with these questions as well. I joined the nuclear navy and spent 6 years on a submarine. I then got a job as an operator at a nuclear power plant. I earned my reactor operator then senior reactor operator license. College was never needed.
I invest $300-400 a month into an investment account outside of retirement. This money is for my kids. They have no knowledge of the money and no promises that college is paid for when the time comes. I have saved $25,000 so far in different assets ( stocks, silver, sports cards, etc)
 
I have struggled with these questions as well. I joined the nuclear navy and spent 6 years on a submarine. I then got a job as an operator at a nuclear power plant. I earned my reactor operator then senior reactor operator license. College was never needed.
I invest $300-400 a month into an investment account outside of retirement. This money is for my kids. They have no knowledge of the money and no promises that college is paid for when the time comes. I have saved $25,000 so far in different assets ( stocks, silver, sports cards, etc)

I was just saying to my wife a couple of days ago about people who work on submarines and what kind of person it takes to endure that. I applaud you. I could not do it unless at gun point forced on the submarine. Would feel like I was in a closet with no air.
 
I have struggled with these questions as well. I joined the nuclear navy and spent 6 years on a submarine. I then got a job as an operator at a nuclear power plant. I earned my reactor operator then senior reactor operator license. College was never needed.
I invest $300-400 a month into an investment account outside of retirement. This money is for my kids. They have no knowledge of the money and no promises that college is paid for when the time comes. I have saved $25,000 so far in different assets ( stocks, silver, sports cards, etc)

I currently have 500+ shares of YOLO and hope to have around 2500 by the time my kid gets to college age. Then I can say Cannabis paid for his college.
 
Ya dogg, I’m not going back in time 20 years and driving a Honda Civic again.
I’ve driven a Honda Civic for 16 years now. I will drive my current civic for another 5 -7 years. I will then hopefully buy a self driving car.
 
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Right now everything I’ve read says you should have 3x your salary at age 40. I’m right there. I think I’ll need 6x by 50.

If I stay at my current job I’ll get a small pension of maybe $1000 per month.
Retirement finances have been one of my hobbies for 30 years so I have a trove of information, spreadsheets, etc. Here is a table I created for amounts at different ages and attached is an article on same subject. The columns in yellow are what is pertinent. The other values are just an example from numbers in my spreadsheet.

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A quick side question- are many of you actively saving for your kids’ college? My wife and I don’t have a dedicated fund. We plan to help them if need be, but haven’t saved for that part. Anybody else doing that or are we missing something...?

I have several reasons:
1. No one paid for my college and it forced me to be more cautious in my college choices and taking on debt.
2. College isn’t the end all. Many people make 6 figures without college.
3. I want my kids invested in their education, not just going because it’s paid for.
4. It’s hard to value things that are free.
College savings Iowa 529. Worked great for our kids. Between schollys, 529 and part time work, they graduated debt free with money left over for grad studies or pass on to their kids (eventually).
 
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How does she/both of you like the Camry Hybrid and would please share the mileage. My sister bought a Ford hybrid and it's been getting low 40's until the cold snap and it's still in the upper 30's. Way better than my 2011 Cruze that gets 30 on a good day.
We love the Camry Hybrid. Had a 2009 Camry Hybrid which got 36-38 in warm temps, down to 33-34 in the winter. The 2019 Camry Hybrid gets 50-52 in the warm weather and down to 45-47 in the winter so far, so about a 10% drop in the cold.
 
Actually IPERS is one of the best funding public retirement plans in the nation. This is from the link you posted, but forgot to add from 2018.

IPERS' funded ratio — which measures actuarial assets to actuarial liabilities — is 82.4 percent, up from 81.4 percent a year earlier. The unfunded actuarial liability totals $6.815 billion, a decrease of $153 million — about 2 percent — compared to the previous fiscal year.
Compare that to Illinois pensions which are at 35% funded . . . .
 
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Or HSA's. Man if you can afford to save in those, they will work out great over time.
My work switched to a high deductible low premium option under ACA. My wife and I were skeptical at first. We made the switch. We max out the HSA every year. I have it invested in a couple mutual funds. We pay all medical costs out of pocket. There is no timetable to reimburse yourself for medical bills. Our HSA has nearly $50,000 in it now. This was something the government got right and more people need to take advantage of when they are young
 
Retirement finances have been one of my hobbies for 30 years so I have a trove of information, spreadsheets, etc. Here is a table I created for amounts at different ages and attached is an article on same subject. The columns in yellow are what is pertinent. The other values are just an example from numbers in my spreadsheet.

View attachment 81895
How do people factor in pensions? If someone has a pension how do you adjust what you should be saving. Obviously you don't ignore the pension as then you would way over save, but how do you adjust for it? Do you just take the replacement value of the pension and adjust your wages and act normally based on that adjusted wage?
 
What about opening up a Roth IRA under my child's name, instead of a 529. I'm pretty sure you can pull earnings from a Roth early if its for college expenses. Then if they end up not going to college, it will grow until they retire.

Sorry if this was already discussed
I believe Roth can only be opened for someone with taxable income, thus you can't open them for teenagers without "real" income, etc.
 
How about a VW Rabbit or a Chevy Chevette?
My second car was a two tone 1984 Chevy Chevette diesel with an Isuzu 4 cylinder engine. Got over 50 mpg but took 30 seconds to get across an intersection from a full stop. I had that at ISU . . . quite the lady magnet as you can imagine.
 
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How do people factor in pensions? If someone has a pension how do you adjust what you should be saving. Obviously you don't ignore the pension as then you would way over save, but how do you adjust for it? Do you just take the replacement value of the pension and adjust your wages and act normally based on that adjusted wage?

i have a small IPERS account that will pay me like $300/month and does not adjust for inflation. I'm ignoring that. What a ****** plan that doesn't account for inflation.
 
I was just saying to my wife a couple of days ago about people who work on submarines and what kind of person it takes to endure that. I applaud you. I could not do it unless at gun point forced on the submarine. Would feel like I was in a closet with no air.
My advisor at ISU was on a submarine during WWII and was depth charged several times. Obviously never sank but he was all but deaf from the noise inside the sub while depth charges are going off outside.