Couple million , investing it wisely and living only on income , never touching principal , plus SSI, anyone can't live on that is living too high on the hog IMO.
I guess that was my point. How many people actually have a couple million saved up? Of all the old people in my extended family, I guarantee you none of them had that kind of money. I think that's why most really old folks are dang poor and frugal.
I’ll tell you why some people can’t retire. I go home past Guntersville lake every day. What do I see? I see $60k F250s pulling $30k+ boats and probably going to home to a $500k+ home. I appreciate the desire of anyone to have nice things. I’m not saying this to brag or any other reason than to make a point. My wife and I combined make $200k before bonuses she gets from the hospital which makes up a big portion of her salary. The day we got back from a honeymoon we wrote down a budget. I’m at the hunting club every Saturday morning but when I get home we go to the grocery store. We buy enough food for the entire week, planning out every meal and we don’t deviate from that. On Friday or Saturday night we go out to eat and to a movie or whatever else. Sometimes we’ll go to lunch with the family after church on Sunday (wherever we have coupons). I drive a 2006 Silverado I saved up and paid for and she drives a 2010 Honda Accord. My 4 wheeler is a 1993 Honda Fourtrax. Some people, like the ones I see on the lake every day, have spent their income 20 times over in debt they will likely never pay off. Keep in mind, we don’t do without. We have enough to have fun, we just have higher priorities. When we get our bonuses every year it’ll be invested…well, my camper at the hunting club is 40 years old and is in disrepair so I’m about to get a new one. But, it’ll be a $3k-4k used camper I’ll pay cash for. Other than that, we have $30k sitting in the bank for emergencies and for when we have a child. Her disability with her practice doesn’t kick in for 90 days so we won’t be able to file for that. The rest of our savings goes into a home fund and our brokerage account.
Keep in mind in the above example 1) I know everyone doesn’t make a gigantic salary. You can still make good decisions. If you’ve made bad ones up until now, you can start attacking those bad decisions and correcting them. 2) I know every person out on the lake isn’t in debt up to their eyeballs…however, I know the statistics of consumer debt and I know the median income is nowhere near the level as to be able to actually afford a brand new F250 and Triton boat and whatever monstrosity they are going home to. I’ve worked in banking of some form most of my career and I can tell you at least 80% of the people out there with this stuff can’t really afford it. And by “afford” I don’t mean what they can pay for. I mean what they can conceivably pay off in 2 years with very little strain on their bank account. I can’t tell you how many people were in my office with their retirement a mess and I had to tell them to sell the $100k Range Rover. 3) I know people have extenuating circumstances like poor insurance and a huge hospital bill that ate up all your savings. I know all of this. I’m saying for the average person that makes a decent income it is completely possible and even likely to retire with a couple million $ if you invest the money the right way and don’t buy crap you don’t actually need. I’m willing to bet a that boat isn’t a necessity. I’m thinking you can buy a lot cheaper boat that isn’t as flashy but will take you around the lake until your hearts content. I’m also willing to bet that 2017 F250 isn’t a necessity. My 06 pulls anything I need it too with minor upkeep.
Also keep in mind, I have absolutely no problem with someone buying a $1 mil home, a $100k boat, a camper, and anything else. Just because someone will give you grief over it as stupid or being a show boat…I don’t care. Just because others aren’t emotionally capable of understanding someone paying that much for anything doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. I am saying that unless you can easily afford all of those things, you are setting yourself up for failure. My dad and mom are retiring with $5 mil (this was as of 3 years ago went over their investments for them) and she was a stay at home mom and he brought home $80k at the height of his career. They saved, they ate at home, they didn’t buy crap they didn’t need and even when they needed something they bought the cheapest option they could find without sacrificing quality. And, they didn’t go into debt. They bought their first home and paid it off in 10 years. Once it was paid off they saved every dime they could. When they had enough to start building their new house, they started putting money into it and built the thing over 2 years. I know, some people want to argue for deducting mortgage insurance from taxes…I know there is a legitimate argument for that…I also know my parents haven’t paid a dime in interest in 30 some odd years and are retiring multi-millionaires. So, you do what you want there.
Sorry, I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes here. As I said, I know everyone’s circumstances aren’t the same and I’ll gladly let y’all blast me…just know, it’s a fact, not an opinion, that people spend too much money.
Total debt owned by U.S. Consumers:
Credit cards - $764 billion
Mortgages - $8.63 trillion
Auto Loans - $1.17 trillion
Student loans - $1.34 trillion
Now as far as the old folks you mentioned, I don’t know. Most of them grew up in the depression and can stretch a roll of toilet paper out over a month. None of them really need a million dollars to retire. Most of them bought a modest house and kept it up. They also have SS and a lot of them have decent pensions (my grandfathers did anyway). You also have to think they grew up in a time where you didn’t go out to eat…I mean the only time you didn’t eat something you didn’t grow/butcher and cook was when someone died and you went to a pot luck. I didn’t know my grandparents prior to 1983 but, I know my parents said they didn’t really start eating out until I came along and wanted McDonald’s all the time. Heck even when that generation went on vacation the one time in their life, they took their food with them.
