How prepared are you for retirement?

[KC Jones]

So seeing oldandslow has made it to his retirement and having seen a few early retirements at work recently, I'm curious how many planeteers are on track for this? I'd really like to retire a little early or plan for a sabbatical before I fully retire. Not sure I'm on plan for that though...

What about you?

(poll questions coming, and if you've already retired pick the options that most closely follows your retirement planning)

[Dunit35]

I can retire at 46 years old, each year after adds to my pension. But, many leave my profession 4-5 years after starting.

I would like to retire at 46 and work full time in the HVAC business.

[scho63]

I have been a horrible saver my whole life. As a single guy who's never had the responsibility of a wife and kids, I have lived the high life. I will pay a price if I live past 65...

[prhom]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Yea this is all new for me and I could really use some basic education on what is available to me. Any good resources you would recommend besides the one you listed?

If you only read one Kiyosaki book, read "Cashflow Quadrants", then if you like it "Guide to Investing" I think it's called. His most popular on is "Rich dad, poor dad", but I thought it was too repetitive and anecdotal.

I also like Jim Cramer, again a controversial figure. I haven't read his books yet, but intend to. I watch Mad Money sometimes and like his attitude. I also like the way he breaks down stocks and does a comparative analysis between two similar stocks to show why he feels one is superior to the other. He advocates focusing on a few investments and doing lots of research. If you can't spend the time to know what your money is invested in you probably shouldn't invest it in anything other than money market accounts or mutual funds.

I'm almost completely out of stocks in my retirement funds because I'm really not sure where things are going in the short term, but I think there will be a large correction in the markets before I "miss" anything. I also don't have a lot of time at the moment to put into research.

Personally, I don't like using investment advisors either. As Dane alluded to earlier, you don't get really qualified people to advise you unless you have $500k. Even then they tend to just follow a set of "rules" that everyone goes by. They aren't really offering much insight into what constitutes a good investment, they really only talk about categories of investments. I prefer to go my own route and learn along the way.

[Demonpenz]

If you are thinking about it you are doing pretty good, then comes the action. I know lots of people that can't even pay for the shit they have now let alone put any away.

[ClevelandBronco]

I pray that I will never have so little to do that I could be classified as retired. I don't think I'd enjoy it in the least anyway.

[alnorth]

I'm aiming very high. Right now I save 20%, invested very aggressively (I'll dial it back in a couple decades when I'm closer to retirement), and I hope I can hit the max that you can put into a 401k per year either next year or the year after.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

At 43 I'd say no I'm not close to ready for retirement, through social security or savings. Luckily I have more than 20 years left before it might happen.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by prhom

If you only read one Kiyosaki book, read "Cashflow Quadrants", then if you like it "Guide to Investing" I think it's called. His most popular on is "Rich dad, poor dad", but I thought it was too repetitive and anecdotal.

I also like Jim Cramer, again a controversial figure. I haven't read his books yet, but intend to. I watch Mad Money sometimes and like his attitude. I also like the way he breaks down stocks and does a comparative analysis between two similar stocks to show why he feels one is superior to the other. He advocates focusing on a few investments and doing lots of research. If you can't spend the time to know what your money is invested in you probably shouldn't invest it in anything other than money market accounts or mutual funds.

I'm almost completely out of stocks in my retirement funds because I'm really not sure where things are going in the short term, but I think there will be a large correction in the markets before I "miss" anything. I also don't have a lot of time at the moment to put into research.

Personally, I don't like using investment advisors either. As Dane alluded to earlier, you don't get really qualified people to advise you unless you have $500k. Even then they tend to just follow a set of "rules" that everyone goes by. They aren't really offering much insight into what constitutes a good investment, they really only talk about categories of investments. I prefer to go my own route and learn along the way.

I'm..... not a fan of Kiyosaki. At all. I like his attitude about encouraging entrepreneurship, but some of his tax and investment advice in the past has been horrid. Not sure what he's been saying lately.

I prefer Ray Lucia.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I'm aiming very high. Right now I save 20%, invested very aggressively (I'll dial it back in a couple decades when I'm closer to retirement), and I hope I can hit the max that you can put into a 401k per year either next year or the year after.

If you do that nd the market crashes again, you'll be lucky to ever see half of that money, ever again.

Take it for what it's worth but I if were you, I'd invest it conservatively outside of an uncontrollable company IRA.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

If you do that nd the market crashes again, you'll be lucky to ever see half of that money, ever again.

Take it for what it's worth but I if were you, I'd invest it conservatively outside of an uncontrollable company IRA.

A lot of people had that attitude and sold at the absolute bottom 3 years ago, completely missing the rebound, and again last year at another low.

I do not believe in market timing AT ALL. People who try to get cute with timing buy high because they read the news about how awesome the market is now and they want to get in on that, and sell low because they are depressed and think the dow is going to zero, and they lose money.

Since the great depression, the market (including dividends) has never lost money over any 10-year time span. Since the depression, the market has never made less than inflation in any 15-year time span.

I have roughly 30 years. I'll think about pulling back when I've got less than 10 years left. Buy and hold, diversify, mutual funds, rebalance every once in a while, and laugh at bad news. When the market crashed a few years ago, I doubled my contribution.

[prhom]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I'm..... not a fan of Kiyosaki. At all. I like his attitude about encouraging entrepreneurship, but some of his tax and investment advice in the past has been horrid. Not sure what he's been saying lately.

I prefer Ray Lucia.

I get that, and what I like most is the way he categorizes people's investment attitudes. He did well in real estate and good for him. Not everyone will or can. I think he's completely right that you'll never get rich by saving or retail investing though. The numbers just don't add up.

Never heard of Ray Lucia, but will check him out. Hopefully the other young investors will too. I'm not an expert so I hope they take everyone's advice and decide for themselves what they want to do.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by alnorth

A lot of people had that attitude and sold at the absolute bottom 3 years ago, completely missing the rebound, and again last year at another low.

I do not believe in market timing AT ALL. People who try to get cute with timing buy high because they read the news about how awesome the market is now and they want to get in on that, and sell low because they are depressed and think the dow is going to zero, and they lose money.

Since the great depression, the market (including dividends) has never lost money over any 10-year time span. Since the depression, the market has never made less than inflation in any 15-year time span.

I have roughly 30 years. I'll think about pulling back when I've got less than 10 years left. Buy and hold, diversify, mutual funds, rebalance every once in a while, and laugh at bad news. When the market crashed a few years ago, I doubled my contribution.

Good luck. I will never, ever, ever contribute another dime into a company sponsored retirement account again, nor will I contribute to an account through my personal business.

I've been ****ed hard enough this past year and learned my lesson.

[boogblaster]

got injured at 46 .. its been a long frickin haul .. save save save people SS doesnt pay that well .....

[prhom]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Good luck. I will never, ever, ever contribute another dime into a company sponsored retirement account again, nor will I contribute to an account through my personal business.

I've been ****ed hard enough this past year and learned my lesson.

Couldn't you at least contribute through your business into an account that only invested in MM funds? Get the pre-tax benefits that way, but not the market exposure. Totally agree that not having a choice in which funds you get is a bad way to go.

[alnorth]

apparently my old "stocks never lost money over 10 years, ever ever ever" mantra is now out of date. There is one, and only one, time period where this is no longer true: 2000 - 2010. The starting date must be 2000 (or a few dates in late 1999)