Can You Afford to Retire?

S

Stealth1959

New member
I'll turn 50 next month and the wife and I were discussing how long we want to work. She's 48 and wants to work another 20 years. I have no intention to work past 65. We have very little debt (cars, house) and make a decent income. Both of us max out our 401Ks. Kids are grown and gone.

I'm thinking that a person would have to have $750K-$1,000,000 in cash to have a decent lifestyle. My assumptions are based on a 5% rate of return on investments.

I'm padding my retirement with rent houses. I have a knck for getting renters and I like to play with real estate. I am not counting SS into my plan because I think the govt will eventually reduce it or do away with it all together.

What say you?
 
Stealth,
I am 47, and have 15 or 20 years before I think about it. The market has not been kind to my investments, however, I have a supply of cash that I have done some dollar cost averaging with.

I believe that every dark cloud has a silver lining. Property prices, like you are investing in, are down, which allows for some good buys.

I gave up the idea of being a landlord after my first and last entry into that market about 15 years ago!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I am investing in equities, and think that we might have a window of 9 months to a year of getting some good buys at the bottom of the stock market.

I don't really go out on a limb with companies on the edge, just gilt-edged blue chips, GE, Wal-Mart, Johnson and Johnson, and some interesting sectors, like coal companies, for example.

While it does suck for me, I just think about most of the people that are 65 and have seen their savings disappear in the last 5 months or so.

Regards,
Tim
 
Retirement won't be an option for me! However, I do plan to take an early retirement package if it comes my way within the next year or two. I can tell everybody that I 'retired' at 44...but I won't truly ever be able to retire. Unfortunately almost everybody I know is in the same boat as me! I'm pretty much 'riding it out' right now and do plan on finding work that I enjoy a little more after I leave my current employer. I already have my own business, so that's probably what I'll be doing for however long God has planned for me to be here. However, I'm searching and keeping my options open. I'm looking for a job that I can live better and enjoy enough that I don't mind another 20 years or more of work! If things work well, I might be retiring in the classic sense, but as of now it's not gonna happen.
 
IMO It will be 10yrs min before we see a stock market like the one that just crashed if ever again.

Retirement is going to be harder and harder to do for anyone in the middle income brackets

I think Semi Retired might be a possibility if the stock market come back

I'll just plan on working until the day before they plant me

I refuse to worry about instead I will just enjoy my time here while it lasts.
 
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IMO It will be 10yrs min before we see a stock market like the one that just crashed if ever again.

Retirement is going to be harder and harder to do for anyone in the middle income brackets

I think Semi Retired might be a possibility if the stock market come back

I'll just plan on working until the day before they plant me

I refuse to worry about instead I will just enjoy my time here while it lasts.



I like the way you think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I have been in the commercial credit/lending business for 25 years. Collecting rent on late payers is not much of a problem for me. My average house cost me $30-35K and I put $10K in it and either sell it or rent it out. Granted, I buy these little gems in S. Houston and most people won't even drive by one of these houses, but I guess I'm just crazy (and armed). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I just can't see me in Corp America for 20 more years. I will probably change careers in the next 12 months or so.
Luckily for me my bride is a type A personality ball of fire and loves her job so I think she'll want to work until she's 70 or so. She's in the medical field so she's safe for a while.

I've done a little stock investing and got out before I could lose my arse. I ain't smart enough to hang with the guys who make money in the Market. Being a slum lord is easier. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I just re-financed my house with a 5% rate. I think we can pay it off in 10 years at the rate we're going but because of our wonderful property tax system and living too close to the coast, I could pay it off and my taxes and insurance will still run me $750 a month! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
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Looks good for me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif




Schools will always need a janitor............ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
The advent of 401K and the decline of pensions meant that retirement in the trational sense is as dead as coffin nails.

What I want is something that is enjoyable enough to do.
 
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Looks good for me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif




Schools will always need a janitor............ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif


I'll bet you'll make a good one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I had a little different perspective... I "retired" at 49 from law enforcement and got into a few other lines of income. In '91, I was where some of you are now, with the same concerns..

Stealth, since you have your 401ks maxed out and a few years to work on it, you might want to think about saving all you can to buy a "lifetime" annuity... It will take about $400,000.00 or a little more, depending on inflation. With 15 years to go, figuring $2,000 per month, minus what ever you have in your 401ks at the time, it is doable...

My wife and I got one that provides a monthly income and with that added to our Social Security and our pensions, gives us a lifetime income, or in the event something happens to both of us, pays our beneficiaries for a guaranteed total of 20 years..... The longer we live, the less the kids get...

The annuity builds at the rate of 6.5% and as I said, will pay as long as one of us is living...

We considered buying into real estate but in hindsight, are glad we didn't as right now we would be taking a bath. The stock market would have been the same, as we got burned a little during the '90s...There are some good buys out there right now, if they survive the current recession..

I'd be getting in touch with a good financial planner and explore your options and safety nets..
 
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Looks good for me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif So your buddy BO must be taking it from someone and giving it to you the federal bird (white egale) huh. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
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no I actually have been doing quite well even in spite of what Bush did to the economy
If B.O gets us back on track well things will be even better
 
I think you working for a change would be a step in the right direction. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Ask me after four years of Obasms. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 
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no I actually have been doing quite well even in spite of what Bush did to the economy
If B.O gets us back on track well things will be even better



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif Now I can. BO will give me what he was going to give to the eagle, because the eagle is doing so well....thanks federal bird (white egale). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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What advice do you have for us young folks looking towards a dismal future? I'm 29, wife is 25.



Lighten up and take a more positive attitude about the future ... this is just another recession. We've been through them before and we will go through others in the future. On a side note, I would say that the talking heads in the media (especially the more Contarded ones), in their search to top one another / for ratings, have made this recession a lot worse by eroding consumer confidence. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

Meanwhile, just save, avoid credit card debt (one of the #1 personal net worth killers), and invest in your retirement plan. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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What advice do you have for us young folks looking towards a dismal future? I'm 29, wife is 25.



Save save save! Think of it as paying yourself first. You don't have to live on beans and rice, but make a budget and stick to it. If your job has a 401-k program that's a good start.

Avoid credit card debt like the plague. Life will always throw you a curveball so having cash in the bank will take a LOT of stress off you and your bride. Money problems will kill a marriage.

Times are hard for people who have a lot of debt and no savings. People who don't have a lot of debt and some cash, are looking at a very good future. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
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