Simple...don't wait till your 25 to contribute. Every single eligible worker in America should be contributing as much as possible to a retirement account as early as possible.

Personally I'm 22. I have a Simple-IRA through my employer which I contribute the max $9000 a year while my employer matches 3% of my base yearly salary. In addition to that I contribute the full amount to my Roth IRA each year as have since I was 17.

There is also no way I would ever consider retiring at 45 unless I inherited $100 million or the market ran to 100,000. Your last few working years are when you will see the most appreciation. Compounding interest is a thing of beauty. One extra year at 10% on $500,000 is another $50,000. Wait one more year and take home $55,000. I plan on working as long as possible and not touching my retirement accounts till the law makes me or I absolutely have to.

One thing everyone needs to consider though is inflation. My hypothetical $500,000 now would only be worth near $175,000 adjusting for inflation based on my predicted retirement.

 

I'm 19 and $3K a year towards Roth IRA should net me a decent sum of $$ when the time rolls around.

 

Lots of good advice back there. At the risk of sounding like a geezer I'll throw in my two cents worth:

I'm 49 and could "retire" anytime - have made some nicely timed career moves and investments. Of course I might have to cut back my lifestyle a bit, and who knows how long I'll live these days, might be another 50 years. Plus it could all be gone with some bad luck or poor decisions. Like somebody else says above its still a bit of work to manage your money. Forgetting that, just what is the attraction of being "retired".

My advice is to find a way to have a balanced and satisfying life while working. Whatever you plan on doing when you "retire" its not worth spending 20-30 years doing something that sucks on the hope that "retirement" will be wonderful. Actually unless several of your friends can retire too, or you hang with a lot of geezers, its a bit lonely and boring which is the main reason why I still work.

The best reason for retirement is to pursue projects that might be of great personal value (charity, art, volunteer work, etc.) but simply can't provide a living wage.

There's no formula for wealth but if you max your 401k or IRA you're heading in the right direction. And by all means there's nothing more obvious than buying a house - especially at today's rates.

Finally, although its a bit obvious - whatever it is - don't buy it if you don't really need it - unless you've seriously got the "retirement thing" dialed in.

Within reason I try to find joy in life every day. (Which at times is a lot easier said than done but still more satisfying than any amount of money or security.)

Good Luck to All

 

This is more like what I was thinking of for retirement. (see your quote). I certainly wouldn't want to retire to sit on my couch and watch Jerry Springer, but it would be nice to volenteer more, travel, etc......


I was just throwing the subject out there to see others views. I currently make good $, and if i stay where I am I probably could become part owner of a $80M (in sales) company in the next few years...... but it is very boring to me........with my rental slums I can quit (not retire) whenever i chose once they are paid off.

It does appear that some young guys are right on top of it. at age 17 i was a total idiot (still am)..... I don't think i even made more than $20k a year until I was 25 years old.........

good replies!

 

I'm not really looking to retire any time soon... maybe a shift to more leisure workstyle if that's possible... I'm pretty happy doing what I'm doing now, with my structure of life... maybe it'll become more apparent when I get older... or maybe I just don't really think about it.

 

I plan on working until I die. At least I'm being realistic. Actually, I try to put away 20% of my take home pay a month and for the most part, I succeed at doing so. I don't know what a realistic age for retirement is for my situation, I'd like it to be somewhere around 55. As long as I have a job I enjoy, I don't mind working.

 

25 and 16 properties? Wow, thats pretty amazing Scot. I'm 23 and own two. To me realistically you'll need more than just a 401k to retire. I currently put in about $3000 a year but I'm also invesing in real estate. Think about it, if you own those 16 properties and hold them till retirement and each one appreciates about $200k which isn't too far fetched depending on where you live thats like $3.2million right there. I mean imagine what property values were 25 years ago vs. now. The other avenue I am looking at is entrepreneurship, I don't know too many people that are totally well off from working under someone else, the only dilema I have right now is to go with a franchise or create my own system. Got any tips for a young real estate investor scot?

 

Max the IRA, 401K from work, real estate and growth account that's my plan.

 

Retired in October 1999 on my birthday . I'm in my late thirties now , to be honest working for a living sucked. Negotiated stock options as part of my employment contract as well as for my wife. Were both done and our two little boys are now members of the lucky sperm club .

 

too bad I don't have any stock options! what do you do all day? are ya bored?

I'll be the big IPO boom in 1999-2000 (or so) helped a fair number of people get nice gains from stock options...... some of those (a lot of them) are not even in business any more now.....

[QUOTE]Originally posted by WFO Racer
Retired in October 1999 on my birthday . I'm in my late thirties now , to be honest working for a living sucked. Negotiated stock options as part of my employment contract as well as for my wife. Were both