honestly without talking to my finanical advisors how much is enough in my 401Ks if i cant pull it out for another 15 years? im 36 now is there some teeter totter area that i should have in cash? but cash doesnt make any money really now a days...

i know on average i should be putting around 700 bucks away a month..is what they seam to say if i want to live off of around 8000 bucks a month when i retire...thats fine but should i be stacking the cash and keeping cash?

i know im at a good point...i live in a crappy house that we are going to tear down in a few years after we build the big garage...but for now everything is paid for...i paid everything off this year...i know im a minority right now but trust me i will have a mortage again in a couple years..but how i look at it right now i want to fish...so i spend my money doing that...when i get older im sure i wont be able to do it as much so i should enjoy our life now...

anyway im rambling but i seam to hear a ton of different things and i know the best answer is to not listen to my mom cause she has never been right about investments hahahah...thanks...c

Really? You came to the Dark Side for financial advice?



But, since YOU asked.....

There are a ton of Financial Calculators out there that will tell you exactly everything you ever wanted to know about your current and future finances/worth.

Only real snag with those calculators is that they take a "best guess using today's data" at future inflation.

<INSERT YOUR FAVORITE DARK SIDE POLITICAL PARTY HERE> and the future results of what that inflation will be will vary greatly.

No one can truly predict our future inflation at the time you decide to retire. That BigMac, at the time of your retirement, might cost $8...or it might cost $80.....

Best universal advice seems to indicate that if one wants to be adequately prepared for their retirement and future as a "get off my lawn" yelling Old Fart, save early and save often then save some more.

i know its really sad...figured i would give it a whirl....i have no idea what to do im so confused???? ahhahahaha

I've sent you a PM with my number. I retired all of my securities licences a few years back to concentrate solely on commercial lending, but I regularly dealt with clients with your questions. Won't try to sell you anything, and all will be confidential.

Simple answer, put as much away as you can and still live comfortably today.

it seams like now is a good time to buy rental properties...the only prob that im worried about is that it would take a ton of fishing time away from us...when tony and i got married we each had a house...i rented mine to my party girl sister and finally sold it this year...that is why everything is now paid off...i invested another 25K in the stocks cause they were down and 10 to our IRAs..just didnt want the cash doing nothing...but the more i think about it the more i worry that really if i keep investing in stocks we cant use it for another 15 years...which is fine...but what if something happens...like i get hurt and cant work?
i bought life insurance for myself this year so tony will be fine without me...but i could care less about cash if i dont have him...i doubt i will want to do anything for a long time if he wasnt around...anyway...i am trying not to ramble but for some reason i cant stop today

So, LTF365, I might have some investment cash for you. When's your next garage sale? I need a couple more coolers.

hahahah...i think we have like 10-15 coolers left hahahaha...im sure ill have a garage sale when it gets nice again...its a love and hate thing doing the garage sales..hahahah

One thing that most retirement calculators have wrong IMHO is that they assume you can live on 80% of what you now make. I find that is simply not true. More time equals more ways to spend money. Whatever you do, plan on having the same amount to spend then as you do now. Damn few folks ever said, “Boy I wish I hadn't saved so much for my retirement."

Andy will tell you this too. DO NOT buy any product that requires you to pay a commission or annual fee of more than 1%. There are lots of quality investment vehicles that do not make a salesman wealthy.

What do I know? I am old and I am living the dream, but only because I saved like a thrifty ant for 40 years, and I invested primarily in high quality, low P/E, dividend paying stocks.

World ends in 2012.

Spend it all now on outrageous fishing trips.

thanks guys...i think im doing the right thing but i second guess myself cause we invested so much this year...

i think we got some decent stocks...i guess i could hope..thats true you dont get many people saying “Boy I wish I hadn't saved so much for my retirement."

i hope i am that person...hahhaha

i think im already the "get off my lawn" yelling Old Fart hahahahahhaha

dogfish...thanks for the advice and the number...i am the worst phone talker in the world...only two people i know can talk with me on the phone...im not a very good listener...unless i read it hahaha...you can say one thing and a next step and a next step and im off in never neverland thinking of the first thing someone said...A.D.D. i think...my dog has it too...hahhahhaa

Everyone age 18 to 65 should have an IRA.

when i first started at fedex 14 years ago on vetrans day...im excited its my aniversary...sad but anyway...three months into it i was like 22 years old one of the guys at work asked me if i started my 401K yet? i was like what is that...all i knew is if i put money into it fedex would match back then i think it was more than it is now...im glad he talked me into it ..all i knew then was that it was free cash hahhahaha

this is my first year doing a IRA...now i understand them a little better...i think its going to be a must every year hahhaha ...i heard somewhere you can do them for your kids also...i dont have kids but sounds good for them if you have the extra cash

Why Fidelity?