With the rising cost of living, how much money will we need when our time comes? Will the retirement plans that we have now be enough in twenty or thirty years?

I put 10% into my 401k, plus a side savings. I want to retire at 50.

I should be able to retire by the time I'm 45.

I could retire now, but it is all about standard of living. I really don't want to have to be so frugal, but is nice to know I can .

It depends on many, many factors. Given stagnating wages and a shrinking margin between ROI and inflation, then you will either retire with a lower standard of living or retire later than expected.

The key is to look at asset prices and returns. Now is still a good time to pile into "more" housing. But you always have to look at potential returns of equity and fixed income relative to housing and other assets. Diversification tends to be a safe and effective approach. The economics of renting still look fantastic now - low interest rates, reasonable prices and high rents (the long play is maintenance revenues to realize asset appreciation).

Beyond that, it depends on your goals. You can currently buy nice condos in Florida for $120k a year (though the HOA fees are far from trivial).

To make a long story short, max out your 401k contribution every year. That's ultimately all you can control. Even when it hurts, make that contribution.

I'm good..... Between military retirement disability and social security (starting next year) will equal around $45,000.00 per year tax free..... Mofo

no loans, no credit card bills, no mortgage.... Wife retirement , social security, 401 and our saving accounts not included.
plus I'm going to still work but get paid .... In a creative method..mofo

Belly35;1619420 wrote:I'm good..... Between military retirement disability and social security (starting next year) will equal around $45,000.00 per year tax free..... Mofo

no loans, no credit card bills, no mortgage.... Wife retirement , social security, 401 and our saving accounts not included.
plus I'm going to still work but get paid .... In a creative method..mofo

Living off the government huh

Belly35;1619420 wrote:I'm good..... Between military retirement disability and social security (starting next year) will equal around $45,000.00 per year tax free..... Mofo

no loans, no credit card bills, no mortgage.... Wife retirement , social security, 401 and our saving accounts not included.
plus I'm going to still work but get paid .... In a creative method..mofo

Must be nice having all of that Obama money

Belly35;1619420 wrote:I'm good..... Between military retirement disability and social security (starting next year) will equal around $45,000.00 per year tax free

fucking democrats

I think I'll have 1.2 to 1.5 in 25 years, wife should have about half that.
No need to retire early, great job benefits and non much stress.

Lady D'Friskies and I have fully funded our retirement saving in the last year. In fairness, my Dad's passing a couple of years ago put up over the top in our mid-fifties instead of our mid-sixties. We should be able generate investment income that, with social security that will give us the same amount of income we have now for life without touching the investments themselves. The secret was starting to save right out of college - we saved 10% of our income, then 7% plus employer matches when 401K's came along. We also socked away 10% of any "bonus" income (gifts, employer profit-sharing, etc.) in an IRA.

Not really sure what we want to do - my job is portable, so I can literally work anywhere in the country I wish on any given day, and I doubt that I'll retire until my late sixties if we're both healthy. Wife might leave her job in a year or two and go to work part-time - we'll just see what comes up as we go along. If our kids remain here in Ohio and Indiana, we'll probably stay here, but spend 3-4 months a year living on the Pacific Northwest coast.

I'm 35 and I will be able to retire in 2 years. Between military retirement and investing wisely, I'll never have to work again, but I will (because I'll get bored).

brutus161;1619619 wrote:I'm 35 and I will be able to retire in 2 years. Between military retirement and investing wisely, I'll never have to work again, but I will (because I'll get bored).

Damn it. One of my college room mates joined the national guard out of high school and the paid for his education. (He also served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq so there were some definite trade offs.) After college he got a job as a state patrolman. I thought that was kind of dumb, but now he's almost got enough time in to retire. I wish I would have been that smart at that age.

I put as much into my 401k as I can manage. At least enough to get the company match. I have no real clue how much I'll need to retire or when I'll be able to quit working.

dlazz;1619433 wrote:Must be nice having all of that Obama money

i paid into the program, I was a responsible citizen and created jobs, added to the tax base, I serviced my country paid a life long, disabling and disfiguring price. Never was obama money it the American people funds

I'm pondering on starting to throw money in a Roth IRA with S+P 500...

Other than that, I have 4% of my salary (with employer match) going into my 401k.

OSH;1619777 wrote:I'm pondering on starting to throw money in a Roth IRA with S+P 500...

That's not a no-brainer decision. If you're going to just buy the S&P and forget about it, then there's no advantage to the Roth vs. just investing your personnel income. Basically for the loss of flexibility/savings you avoid capital gains tax (which is basically nothing with a buy & hold S&P500 strategy).

Otherwise what's better between a Roth and 401k depends on your tax rate in retirement vs. currently. Most people will be in a lower bracket in retirement, probably even if bracket rates rise a little, which makes the 401k superior. So my advice would be to max your 401k contribution ($17,500), and the additional catch-up option if available for people over 50 ($5500). Then if you still have excess savings, then take a look at contributing to the Roth.

gut;1619786 wrote:That's not a no-brainer decision. If you're going to just buy the S&P and forget about it, then there's no advantage to the Roth vs. just investing your personnel income. Basically for the loss of flexibility/savings you avoid capital gains tax (which is basically nothing with a buy & hold S&P500 strategy).

Otherwise what's better between a Roth and 401k depends on your tax rate in retirement vs. currently. Most people will be in a lower bracket in retirement, probably even if bracket rates rise a little, which makes the 401k superior. So my advice would be to max your 401k contribution ($17,500), and the additional catch-up option if available for people over 50 ($5500). Then if you still have excess savings, then take a look at contributing to the Roth.

Thanks. I have been talking to a friend of mine who works with Edward Jones. He's informed me of what you just said.

I won't be just forgetting about it, I will be active in it. The biggest positive for me with the Roth IRA is the ability to take it out tax-free in 30 years. I have plenty of time ahead of me (probably) where I don't need it right now and will use it then. So, I could throw more into the 401k, but my employer only matches up to 4%. I just want to diversify some more and throw some elsewhere.

OSH;1619787 wrote: I won't be just forgetting about it, I will be active in it.

Well there's advantage to avoiding capital gains when you change investment allocations, and far more options available in most 401k's. But something else to consider is when you change companies, you can roll that 401k over into an account at Scottrade, E*Trade or whatever and get the same benefits.

My advice would be to max-out the 401k contribution. As you get closer to retirement, you'll have a better sense if you're tax rate will go up and then contributions to a Roth might make more sense. Or at least look at your marginal tax rate - pretty big deal to increase your contribution to get your marginal rate down from say 25% to 20%.

^^^some good advice there.

Also, If there is one piece of advice I could add...Start now and be constant with your contributions no matter the market fluctuations,... Dollar cost averaging really does work.
I said earlier in the thread that I could retire now, but lifestyle considerations keeps me working....If I had started my 401(K) contributions just 5 years earlier, that issue would not even be a concern.

Belly35;1619741 wrote:i paid into the program, I was a responsible citizen and created jobs, added to the tax base, I serviced my country paid a life long, disabling and disfiguring price. Never was obama money it the American people funds

You serviced the whole country? Slut.

I plan on never retiring fully however I still save money in a retirement account(401k) should I become unable to work I'll have a nice nest egg to live on.

I should have enough money to live comfortably in the next 10 years and then I think I'm going to start a consulting business part time and work from home.

For a few people (tweeners between well-off and "rich"), there will be an ideal balance/combination of 401k and Roth savings in retirement. One would take taxable 401k distribution up to some threshold where their marginal rate increases (say up to $74k where above the rate increases for married couples to 25% from 15%). Above that amount, you would then take tax-free distributions from your Roth....anyway, by my relatively conservative math a couple retiring 30 years from now at 55 would want @$2.5M in a 401k for annual incomes of approx. $75k (in today's dollars).

I was going to offer a few caveats, but then I thought there are so many other options to manage tax liability in retirement (managing your portfolio to avoid ordinary rates in favor of capital gains, tax-exempt bonds, etc...). Max out your 401k and then kick-in the $5500 extra to a Roth if you are eligible.