lorne
Senior Member
Retirement is great!
But you have to plan for it!!!!:eam
Here's how I did it.
1. Pay off everything, early if you can. It may mean eating rice and beans for a few years but the payoff is huge.
2. Set up an emergency fund for when Mr Murphy comes to visit. 3 to 6 months of earnings will do it. This is not for new chrome for the bike, but for when the furnace stops working.
3. Pay cash for everything. This is important, you must not go back into debt, EVER.
4. Max out your retirement savings. At the end I was putting 1/2 my paycheck into savings. This will help you get used to living on less.
5. Have a sale. Get rid of anything you don't use and is just taking up space.
If these ideas sound familiar you may be a disciple of Dave Ramsey. It was his teaching and guidance that helped me retire in comfort. The thing is it will be tough right now, especially if you have kids, but it is doable and thousands of us have done it and the benefit is well worth the effort.
Once you retire you will not believe how easy it is to keep busy if you have a little walking around money in your pocket. I can't imagine how I ever got anything done while I was working 50 or 60 hours a week (oh yes any overtime should go into savings).
If you follow this plan and every thing goes well you will be set for life. If things go bad you will be able to handle them without selling all your toys.
thanks...we just did a little revamping of the plans
Retirement is great!
But you have to plan for it!!!!:eam Here's how I did it. .. .. .. .. QUOTE]
I must say Mainah that is some EXCELLENT advice. I know becuase I did all of that and more. In addition to my wife and I maxing all out emplorer matched SEP accounts, we also have a commerical rental property that I planned to rent till I was too old to fool with it and then sell it. We also paid cash for everything we could, bought used vehicles and when we couldn't pay cash we paid double payments on the front end of the loan.
Planned to work until at least 63 to have enough money to last the remaining years while adding to the fund, but was laid off at 59 (61 now). We would have been more comfortable if the economy had not dropped on it's face in 2008. The rental market currently has rental's sitting empty everywhere since business is either broke or moved elsewhere. My tennant is currently 4 months behind and I am having to decide if I will put him out after 15 yrs of previously being a very good tenant. His business has gone to nothing. I feel bad for him, just don't know what to do.
I thought about selling the rental property but it is currently worth less that was paid for it. We have EVERYTHING paid off, but the cost of property taxes, home owners insurance, health insurance and home electric bills are just way more than we envisoned in retirement.
But NORMALLY all of you advice is a sure thing. And my wife and I would probably be currently on the street if I had not followed those items all of our adult life.
Thanks for the post.
well RWB.. wife and i are thinking about heading to Florida...maybe you and i can sell BBQ on the side of the road to pay the fuel for the bikes..lol
The more that I think about retirement the more appealing it is, but I have miles to go before I sleep. I am 59 and a great many of my friends are retired. And if you're lookin' for an apprentice bikini air brush painter, well look no further!
no problem.. i am sure Glider and HDDon don't mind it coming out of their share...
For the last 5-6 years we've been talking about me retiring, i.e., when.
One of my objections was that my wife is 10 years younger than me and thus would continue to work. I didn't want to be spending everyday waiting for her to get home from work, and I'm not the type that would be off on long road trips without her. That's not why I married her.
Well, last February I was laid off. It was totally unexpected and really shocked me. I'm not ashamed to say that I was scared to death of what the future would hold. Our investments have shrunk to less than 1/2 of what they were 7 years ago, thanks to the economy. Fortunately our mortgage was paid off 6 years ago. My bike was paid for 3 years ago (3 years early).
Unfortunately, we had both just bought new cars with the intention of having reliable cars that were paid off prior to me retiring, whenever that would be. So that's a bit of a nut to crack now.
But, the thing that has me concerned is that I don't like being bored. Now that all the big projects are complete and the honey-do list has been emptied, I am actually considering going back to work just to keep busy. At least until next spring. Earning a few bucks would be a good thing as well.
I can use medicare and the VA for health issues, so that's not a huge issue for me. Mostly because I've always been healthy, am currently on no medications and am not under any type medical care.
In general, I like retirement. I just have to adjust it. We are discussing spending a year RV'ing around the country when she retires. But, seeing as that is still at least 8 years away, I may not be around then.
there is always something to do... as far as the honey do list is... i don't have one. wife has someone do it before i get home.. good thing is down here it is cheap to do that.
Thanks Buddy.. Boss told me to take as much time as i need. but since she has such a large caring family down here (who will look after her while i go to work), we decided that i will go back to work on a 3 month hitch and come home for 3 -4 months.
with thanks and all the input from other members i have put stuff on the back burner so i can do this and spend the quality time with my wife over xmas and into march or April
deucedog...i am with you 1/2 gone, but we still need to keep are head up and enjoy! some things are just our of our hands and we know hindsight always messes with us.
the best part of down here is it cost me less than 1$ to fill up my Blazer, property tax is less than 60$ a year and i only have to pay when i sell the house. electricity bill is less than 20$ a month with 5 split A/C units and 2 fridges. i wont talk about how cheap the beer is again