Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum How do folks retire?

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.

You'll really love it when you can contribute 60- to 75-percent of it to the "good of society" once the liberals change all the retirement fund rules in another 15 or so years and take almost all your savings.

But, hey, "doing the right thing for the good of everyone" already is being ingrained into society with hunting regulations and limits, allowing immigrants rights only afforded to citizens, trying to give immigrants a free pass to citizenship and other Euro-centric liberal crap. Going after retirement funds to help those who don't have one will just be another chip chip chip knocked away by those wanting everyone to be happy.

I think you're right Clem. No way they'll let those hundreds of thousands or millions sit in those 401Ks un-touched.

Even with 320 acres to play with it won't keep me busy full time.

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.

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It's different generations, too. The frugality was just something ingrained in our great-grandparents and grandparents. You did not throw away ANYthing that could maybe be used again. Tinfoil got washed and folded or saved. Rubber bands. Any old screws, nails, wire, whatever. Coffee cans - saved to put the nails and screws into. Bricks? Saved - might need to line the flower bed or something.

Thats the way I have lived my adult life. Nothing usable gets thrown away until it's worn out. People make fun of my huge scrap piles and buckets of old nails & screws and my trucks with over 200,000 miles. But I'm retired at 49 and my neighbors are always combing through my barn when they need spare parts or tools or an extra widget.

And doing what you want to do, that's awesome! Congrats!

I do not see a problem with being able to retire between 60 and 65. House will be paid for in early fifties, we don't drive expensive vehicles, and I wont be saving for retirement while in retirement. I do plan on making some kind of side money in retirement through woodworking, livestock, etc. Mainly because I do not want to sit around.

I also will not fully fund my kids college tuition or fancy weddings; I paid my own way but will help them with some of it. Kids need to be stakeholders in their own future. All just a matter of opinion, but our household income is $80k per year so it can be done.

Recurve - here is why "people" won't be able to retire:

1960's white collar job starting Salary maybe 7-10k was a good job, car cost $3500 something thereabouts. $40-$80k for a home in the suburbs and in a lot of cases much less.

Since then.... Stock market has gone up and doubled I don't know how many times 10-15 I don't know the number, not taking into consideration all the compounding that creates.

Compare and Contrast that to someone who started working in 2000 when the Dow hit 10k for the first time. By the year 2000 those type starting positions are starting let's say $35k per year or more. 7x increase in pay. Cars $20-35k. Comparable Home $100-200k.

Now 17 years later what do you have?

Stock market has doubled only once. Wages are fairly stagnant. Staring $30 jobs in 2000 roughly the same maybe increased to $50k currently to be generous. That's not even doubled. Comparable Cars cost $40-50, comparable houses cost $200k plus.

Things don't add up economically. This country is in much worse shape than people realize. The economy is in the toilet and everything you see is just smoke and mirrors. For example...Let's take your F-250 you wonder about. The reason you see the brand new F-250 at the boat ramp is they have been allowed lenders to extend the financing terms in order to get the payments down. That's not reasonable and should be against the law but there is no consumer protection, that meaning protection for you and I who know we can't afford one. They should protect us from stupid people who would actually finance one 120 months. There is none so now trucks cost $50k for more. It has made it more expensive for us but we know better so we drive a 10 year old truck and wonder how people at the boat ramp afford a new one.

We both know they can't.

The economy is a freaking bubble. We spent our way out of the last recession I think we are in for something more serious at some point within my lifetime but they will kick the can down the road very far so who knows when that will actually happen. I might be an old man or even dead.

Recurve - here is why "people" won't be able to retire:

1960's white collar job starting Salary maybe 7-10k was a good job, car cost $3500 something thereabouts. $40-$80k for a home in the suburbs and in a lot of cases much less.

Since then.... Stock market has gone up and doubled I don't know how many times 10-15 I don't know the number, not taking into consideration all the compounding that creates.

Compare and Contrast that to someone who started working in 2000 when the Dow hit 10k for the first time. By the year 2000 those type starting positions are starting let's say $35k per year or more. 7x increase in pay. Cars $20-35k. Comparable Home $100-200k.

Now 17 years later what do you have?

Stock market has doubled only once. Wages are fairly stagnant. Staring $30 jobs in 2000 roughly the same maybe increased to $50k currently to be generous. That's not even doubled. Comparable Cars cost $40-50, comparable houses cost $200k plus.

Things don't add up economically. This country is in much worse shape than people realize. The economy is in the toilet and everything you see is just smoke and mirrors. For example...Let's take your F-250 you wonder about. The reason you see the brand new F-250 at the boat ramp is they have been allowed lenders to extend the financing terms in order to get the payments down. That's not reasonable and should be against the law but there is no consumer protection, that meaning protection for you and I who know we can't afford one. They should protect us from stupid people who would actually finance one 120 months. There is none so now trucks cost $50k for more. It has made it more expensive for us but we know better so we drive a 10 year old truck and wonder how people at the boat ramp afford a new one.

We both know they can't.

The economy is a freaking bubble. We spent our way out of the last recession I think we are in for something more serious at some point within my lifetime but they will kick the can down the road very far so who knows when that will actually happen. I might be an old man or even dead.

You'll really love it when you can contribute 60- to 75-percent of it to the "good of society" once the liberals change all the retirement fund rules in another 15 or so years and take almost all your savings.

But, hey, "doing the right thing for the good of everyone" already is being ingrained into society with hunting regulations and limits, allowing immigrants rights only afforded to citizens, trying to give immigrants a free pass to citizenship and other Euro-centric liberal crap. Going after retirement funds to help those who don't have one will just be another chip chip chip knocked away by those wanting everyone to be happy.