i'm 22, If I have 10 grand just to invest now, what would be the best option for the long run?

 

Open an IRA...put it in some long term mutual funds.

 

That is correct. Compound interest is a great "discovery", kinda like twin turbos

 

i listen to dave ramsey on the raidio, real common sense stuff. and when you put a pen to it every one should be a millionare when they retire. i will be a millionare before i am 60 pretty easy. and i am just counting my 401k money. it is pretty simple and you don't need to make a ton of money to do it. my wife has not worked in 17 years. i blew all my other retierment money from amy earlier jobs 14 years ago. i have done well in the past 12.5 years and every time i got a raise i would up my 401k precetage till i was paying the max. i only make 40k or so a year and have 3 kids at home also. so i am living proof it can be done. i just wish i had left my other money alone way back wwhen. i would be ready to retire at 42 if i had.
and it is great to here some of you younger guys standing up and planing ahead. i just wish i would have done better.
and i love running the #s on this site
http://mycalculators.com/ca/401kcalcm.html

 

I work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and along with our regular retirement We have a plan simular to a 401k called the TSP ( Thrift Savings Plan) They match you contribution every payday up to 2.5% and then 50 cents to the dollar for the next 2.5% ( I believe that is how it goes ) It is a VERY nice plan and we are fortunate to have something like this. I put 10% of my pay in it every payday ( before taxes) That money is then payed on the market usually with returns simular to the S&P. and it is all tax free.
We are also fortunate enough to be eligible for retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service because of the Law Enforcement Officer status. Or manditory retirement at age 57.
12 more years and I hit the big 50 and I am out of here with my retirement, TSP ( which is usually a large sum of money if you played your funds correctly) and supplemental social security..
I am grateful every single day for the job I have.

www.tsp.gov

 

Texas CTD, good planning. However, unless I missed something, you are going to be spend a LARGE amt of your savings (esp counting what they would have earned) on health insurance, until you reach 62 65 or whatever age you can start medicare. Then you will probably want a supplement to go with that. If you have health insurance at age 52 or 55 covered, disregard aforementioned point. I think it is great you are making plans and are thinking about it. I will have a pension sheck, a sep IRA check, a 457b check, private investments, and possibly social security. ( They will probably decide I don't need mine since I am smart enough to realize it was never meant to be sole income, and therefore give it to someone else. (Wealth redistribution). I used to think I wanted to retire at 55 or so, but now that I am 48 I may just go part time, to buy health insurance and have play money, and not diminish my resources. One thing I have been doing for last several years, is do all the things I want to do when I retire, except I do them now while I am still alive and have the health to do it. As we all know, we aren't promised tomorrow. Should be able to do most all of them except maybe ride a motorcycle to Alaska, and down to bottom of South America ( have to see about political climate whenever that time comes.) Good Luck. Nobody plans to fail, they just fail to plan.

 

You should be able to take money from your 401(k) at 59.5. 70.5 is when you MUST take money (???????????). Might be wrong.

For 401(k) - My employer does not match at all. For those who have no matching, might want to check into a Roth IRA, because I have read that in the case of a no match, Roth IRA > 401(k).

Right now my wife and I are sort of sitting dumb on our savings. It's in HSBC making 5% but could be making a lot more... we just want to be careful, and would like the money available to us in case we decide to use it as a down payment on a house...........

 

I'm 42 and self employed, so my retirement plan is to have my land and all other debt paid off in less than 14 years from now, and not need as much $ to get by on. I don't have a lot of spare money right now to throw at IRAs or anything like that, but not having a mortgage anymore by the time I am 56 will be way ahead of most people. I refinanced last year with a 15 year note, so I just have 13 years and 9 months of mortgage payments left. If I have extra money some months, instead of putting it in a mutual fund or playing the lottery I pay some extra on the mortgage, the credit cards or the boat loan.

Boring, I know, but ya gotta work with what you've got, right?

 

1) Have your home paid for. Robert, that does not mean an RV to travel around in. You need to have a home base and something with a lot of equity in it for when you go to the rest home.
2) MUST have supplemental insuance.
3) MINIMUM of $1 Million in IRA, Mutual Funds, Etc. You have to have enough to last through the Stock Market down times.

All of these and you can live comfortable, but not richey.

 

I'm 56 and I get a disability pension from the VA and free medical care so no worries there. I have NO debt at all and I'm keeping it that way. I have no assets at all that are denominated in dollars. No stocks, CD's, bonds, or savings. Everything is in Silver and gold for inflation proofing. For investment in the next few years look to commodities first and foreign currencies second.

Anything denominated in dollars is a loser. Because of this Social Security will be worth just exactly the paper it's printed on.

Real estate is headed for the toilet so don't be going into debt for that spec house. If you own your home don't be borrowing money and spending the equity. The only play here that migh pay off is to borrow against a house, buy silver with it and then pay it back with inflated dollars. This is a big gamble though so unless you have a lot of nerve stay away. Don't buy stocks on margin either. Don't invest in bonds that pay less than inflation. (There aren't any that pay more BTW) Overall the dollar has lost 95% of it's value since the 1920's, most of that since 1970's. It's headed for hyperinflation when foreigners get tired of financing our consumption which will be real soon now.

Edwin

 

Mike, I agree that is great to see so many younger guys 19-23ish posting on this thread. They have already beaten the odds and they don't even know it. (or maybe they do ).

Thanks for that link!!! That is great. They have a bunch of useful tools on there besides the 401k calculator too. I saved it in my favorites for future (often) reference.

 

I do think that a large amount of my savings/income will go toward health insurance. I will have access (barring future changes unforeseen) to my current employer health plan. But they stick it to the retirees. In today's dollars it is running about 600-800 a month for health coverage as a retiree..IIRC.

When I mention that I am planning for retirement....I am not speaking only of how much money I can save between now and then. Money is a great tool to accomplish goals. But it doesn't BUY you happiness. That is why I am planning on how to make my exit from my job (police officer) and retire in stages.....but still comfortable.

I have pondered the best way to do this and leave. I am paid very well and have a pension plan 2nd to none. If I want to work until im 60ish I can be a millionaire, probably twice over. That is not my goal here. My goal is to get busy enjoying the NEXT phase of my life as soon as possible....without giving up any more than I have to in benefits available to me.

10-12 years from now...my son will be grown (and better be graduating from college ) I just hope I can accomplish what I need to financially by then and leave without shooting myself in the foot...so to speak.

 

You are right in that I could take my 401K money at 59.5. But I have a 457 plan (municipal employees) that I can take at any age when I leave active service. So I am actually funding my 457 plan harder to allow for income in the "in between" years of leaving my job and starting to take my pension. If I allowed my pension to sit and grow, it will be a sizeable sum by age 55 or so. I could then access it then.....and keep the 401k growing in the background to supplement the pension once I reach 70.5.

My 457 plan (in my line of thinking) will be drawn down to zero. If it has a balance lets say of.....$300,000 at that time....then I could live approximately (give or take) 6 years on it if I drew out 50,000 a year to live on....and it would last that much longer if I worked part time doing something on the side on my own terms. During those example 6 years...my pension and 401k would continue to grow and accumulate. By Then I would be about 58-60ish if I had started drawing down the 457 at age 52.

 

Charlie, I am thinking that my home base will be one of my relatives (probably my sister in Missouri). If I am "full timing" it in an RV....I don't want the responsibility of a house, maintenance etc.

I think you are right that it would be good to have the home paid for. But then I could set the money set aside from the sale of it.......to be waiting for me to buy a home in the distant future if I decided to settle down again.

I agree...even with a Mill in the bank.....you can only live comfortable and not Richey. I just have to decide how "comfortable" I want to be before I pull the plug and go get on with that next "phase" of my life.


My theme here in my personal case.....is I feel trapped to some degree. I can't leave my job (yet) due to numerous responsibilities to myself and my son. But on the other hand...I feel fortunate to be in a position to be able to make some of these decisions and plans for the future. We all have to pay our dues somewhere. There are no free rides. I just hope I don't have one foot in the grave before I get to realize some of these retirement dreams. Or even worse, not have the desire to fullfill them when I get there.

 

buy real property... single family rentals are traditionally the most stable and easiest to lease/sell.

you cannot start too early...