Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-18-2008, 09:56 PM
 
4,135 posts, read 10,791,410 times
Reputation: 2698

Advertisements

My husband and I were public workers.....We rented until we could afford a small house at a low price, even though it was far from work. We still live there 35 years later and it was paid off long ago. We would pay as much as we could extra on principal ONLY monthly. Even $25 dollars paid to principal a month helped pay it down fast//We used to have used cars, but decided to buy one new and we wait until it is 0% financing to get a new one; we keep them about 5 years ( we have 1 car)// We had multiple credit cards and paid all off and got 1 MC and use it an pay it off monthly, no interest is ever on it// When we were young, we had 3 mos.gross salary as a backup in the bank.. // Shop at sales. Food sale, clothes sales.... make your clothes if you can sew. It adds up// Get on balanced billing for utilities. Makes your budgetr easier// Pay your student loan asap unless you can get a work situation that pays it for you ( my husband had one loan he got 10% off a year for at his job). You won't have it hang over your head and it will look better on your credit if paid off// As soon as you can, put anything you can, no matter how small, into an IRA and (probably, if you are a public employee) your 403(b) [same as a 401K]// MOST IMPORTANT of ALL: Know your CONTRACT!!!!!!! Read it, digest it, then read it over and over and know everything in it and all the info you can get related to retirement. When you do get to 45 or so and they start offing retirement workshops, and you have saved and have no big debts, start going to the workshops..... you never know if there is going to be a buyout and you can take it. Both of us hit a buyout on our year to retire. If we hadn't been paying attention, we'd have worked longer.

Last edited by BuffaloTransplant; 02-18-2008 at 10:12 PM.. Reason: change
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-19-2008, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Tampa, FL
27,798 posts, read 32,330,602 times
Reputation: 14611
In today's society where people jump from job to job, city to city, I'm not sure if I agree that one should buy a house. Doesn't it make sense to rent unless you're absolutely sure that you're going to be in the house for over 4-5 yrs?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-19-2008, 11:54 AM
 
Location: UP of Michigan
1,767 posts, read 2,394,639 times
Reputation: 5720
Rental property can still work well. Live in the least expensive unit and you can still have positive or close cash flow. Location -L-L becomes even more important as you want quality of life while make some sacrifice. If mobility is in your future you can use a manager to care for the property.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-19-2008, 03:48 PM
 
Location: Marietta, GA
857 posts, read 4,873,359 times
Reputation: 845
This is what I did to accumulate some money. Buy a house. If you are handy, get a fixer-upper. If you aren't, get a book and learn to be handy. Fix it up. Decorate it in an appealing way that the general public would like. Sell it after 2 years. Buy another one. Repeat process.
I used to move every 2 years when I was younger. I learned more and more with each house. On the first one I was doing mostly paint and wallpaper and flooring. By the third I was taking walls down. By the fifth I was building additions. And when I say "I" I mean "I". I learned how to do it all myself, and when I came home from work I would start working on the house. And I was a single mother, so I had other responsibilities too.
The beauty of it is that you can make a lot of money in RE, and if it is your primary residence and you live in it for 2 years you don't have to pay ANY TAXES on the gains!!! I bought a house 25 years ago for $100,000 and sold it 2 years later for $205,000. Bought the next one for $245000 and sold it in 2 years for $360000, and so on. And the best part is that if the market goes south (like it is now) you don't have to sell, you just live there until its a better time to sell.
It is a lot of work but if you like doing it, like I do, its the best way to make money. I miss doing it but I don't have time now because I now own a construction company. Do it while you are young and you will be in a position to retire at an early age.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-19-2008, 06:20 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
739 posts, read 827,482 times
Reputation: 279
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerjack88 View Post
I would like to get some advice/suggestions from retirees (recent and not) on how one could retire early. What I would like to know is: what one did in order to retire early (before retirement age 62)? I am a single 28 year old female and will begin working in government (county-sector) and would like to know what to do in order to retire in 15, 20,25 years. I don't plan on having children---any time soon anyway, nor a husband . I have a couple of suze orman books and a david bach book...Any advice and stories are helpful. Thank you
You know what? You read too much. Enjoy your career, your life and one day, your husband. Save everything you can, but also enjoy the fruits of your labors. Don't get into debt other than your mortgage and, if your employer offers one, max out your retirement fund contributions.

Remember, Life is Good!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-23-2008, 07:39 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,675,147 times
Reputation: 18304
A good general rule is that you must save 14% of your gross income for 30 years.. Then you have to adjust for shorter term. That will come as close to living at your current level as any other estimate.That's based on a average return from a IRA of like 10% pre year ;of course.While you are single and no children it might be wise to put in more because later things will make saving a tighter proposition.The Federal retirement is a pretty good system.Don't buildup any debt that you can avoid is my advise. If you want to buy a hoiuse anytime in the future ;satr saving for a down payment for example.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-23-2008, 07:58 PM
 
26 posts, read 86,132 times
Reputation: 12
Wink replies...

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions. I managed to check the responses periodically and began a target date retirement acct 2040 back in Oct. 07 and have been putting 50 bucks per paycheck in my 457(b). I found out that I have a pension ( 55, 60,62 or 66---different amounts I would receive depending on when I retire). I am looking at houses currently and found out that my credit score is 818, which is nice. But the downside is that I would have to do 100% financing through the bank, which i am told is a big no-no--i should have a down payment. This will be my first house--btw I had found my starter home for 169900--perfect, i could definitely afford it --great location the works....then I found out it was a SHORT SALE and thus I am house hunting again. the seller's agent failed to notify/ advertise that on the real estate website
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-23-2008, 09:51 PM
 
4,135 posts, read 10,791,410 times
Reputation: 2698
Do you have a credit union at work or elsewhere to join? Many public employee ones have mortgages....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-29-2008, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Oxygen Ln. AZ
9,319 posts, read 18,716,205 times
Reputation: 5764
Choose your future spouse very wisely. Make sure he wants to be rich and not just look rich. You sound like you are on the right road. Best of luck.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2008, 08:42 PM
 
2 posts, read 3,985 times
Reputation: 10
Listen to Dave Ramsey for some good advise.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:04 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top