Retirement

What's everyone's plan for this inevitable time in our lives? Are many of you are taking advantage of the tax benefits of your SEP and setting up your business as an S Corp?

There is a fantastic book out there titled "Get a life: You don't need a million to retire" by Ralph Warner that is a must read for everyone.

In it, you will discover not just how to finance your retirement, but how to retire happy...they are both important. I watched my Father do it all wrong in that he financed it well, but ended up miserable and lost for the last 10 years and now suffers from late stage ALZ (very tough to watch and deal with). I will not allow that to happen to me!

I follow that book's advice strongly in how to accomplish retirement happy and listen to my accountant for the money side. I am invested in a corporate matching 401k and a personal IRA, but I started late and need to find some additional asset vehicles down the road.

The money will come, still have time. The question is how much have you invested in the happiness side? What are you going to do with all your free time? Believe me, saying that you are just going to golf or fish everyday will not get it done....you will end up in front of the tv 15 hours a day until you fall apart and die.

milspec6 wrote: What are you going to do with all your free time?  Believe me, saying that you are just going to golf or fish everyday will not get it done....

What?!? That was my plan. Won't work? I'm devastated.

Until I read that book, my plan was to hang by the beach all day and live on surf 'n turf with a red stripe. I guess that really doesn't work either....well, maybe for a couple of months it might.  

AMZN missed earnings, looks to be in a real Bear Market.
What's that tell you?

just curious when the book was written that says you dont need a million to retire.

They are saying that when my generation is at retirement age the average person will need close to 2 million to retire happily

The problem with the 2 million advice is the source....financial planners. If you look at retirement just from dollar and cents point of view, that would be a common conclusion, but I think wrong.

The premise of this book was that the author sought out the retired that were happy and interviewed them at length. What he discovered is that to be happy in retirement required planning...not just financial planning, but personal life planning.

The author found that those who were truly happy, started by reducing their work hours 10 years before retirement and used that time to explore other interests and to build new networks of friends that would match their new transition.

One of the people interviewed planned on retiring to a life of coaching little league baseball. He worked 35 years as an electrician and he fully funded his retirement, but when he signed up to coach he found out that the kids's approached the game differently than he remembered. He couldn't relate to them and couldn't coach....his retirement plans fell apart.

Now, take that same guy and have him reducing his work hours over the last 5-10 years and attending coaching courses or being an assistant coach. When he was ready to retire, he would have been able to transition happily into his new passion.

It is really a great book and worth the effort to read it. Like I said, I watched my Father make every mistake listed in this book and he ended up miserable in retirement despite being financially secure.

Certainty something to seriously think about and plan for, and honestly neither I do enough of. Thanks for the reminder!

And sounds like a great book to check out, Rob...thanks also!!   

One of the fastest growing investment assests these days are rental properties. Why? Think about it. With our country in such financial stress we have more and more Americans loading homes and forced into rental homes. Mostly due In part to not being able to secure a high cost loan.

I have invested in some vacation rental and have a plan to secure a few more over the next 10 years or so. We also invest in IRA, but we all know that can be a slippery one. Cash is good. Also being able to operate our business from mgmt. That will take some time, but hopfully we will have our business in a turn key, sellable asset in a few years. "Built to Sell" is a good reference book for that plan.

As for my latter years, I hope to invest more of my time in ministry, be it in our local church or in the mission field serving.

Read Rich Dad Poor Dad. They make more money last I looked there not making more land and what I bought 10 yr ago for 4K per acre is now selling for 8-10k per acre.

ya land is a good idea
 
you could buy pretty much anything surrounding seattle right now and it will be going up no matter what.  

doesnt matter what it is,    even 30 miles outside the city

My game plan has been rentals. I have a couple now that should be paid for in 10_15 years. Plus my SEP IRA. Then a personal investment account. Almost all my stuff is in index funds. That I have been mostly happy with. Of course the HUGGERS. Banking on that one .

Diversity is key for me right now. I'm still young. I hope my body lasts me another 20 years of this. My biggest investment is in having an assistant. He takes the load of off me, but I can't plan on an accident. One that permanently puts me out of the field. I do have insurance for that, but it would only just cover bills. I guess I could go get a real job at that point and finish my engineering degree.

Really I was hoping Joe would take me under his wing and make me his handicapped assistant/day trader. Lol

There's few things in life more gratifying than making your living with your hands and hard work.
The sweat on your brow is worth millions of dollars. Be proud of it.
Being self-employed, you don't have to retire until your body makes you; even then you can get employees and follow them around.
It's something most people will never be able to understand or enjoy. Make the most of it.

When I was on my road trip, I met an old guy, a cleaner who used portables 30 floors up, cleaning the Merc and places like that. 95 years old in fact.
I was so amazed I told him that I wanted his picture if he made it to 100. He just laughed and said, "...if you're still around."
You can always tell a carpet cleaner by his huge chest (from all the aerobics) and from his deformed elbow. Be proud of that too.

Trading is not for everybody and I'm not looking for any assistants. I don't teach it for free anymore, anyway; too many aren't really serious. They think it's a turn key operation. It's not. It takes about the same focus & energy as being a cleaner. It's more rewarding monetarily but it's no more noble. The money will change you. I learned it first hand. Had to go back to pushing a lawnmower - what I did to pay my way through college - just to keep my feet on the ground.
My mid-life crisis was to throw it all away and go fishing in Alaska & BC for two solid years. I only made it a year and a half before the urge to work overcame me again.
Now I trade just enough to pay bills and put some away.  My best time is spent working for you guys. Seven days a week is not enough. I'd work eight if there was one.
I'm telling you, there is nothing better than counting some cash at the end of the day and knowing you earned it with hard, physical work.
And if you can do it without hurting yourself or anybody else that's even better.

A younger Joe getting off on that thing called 'work' ...

Joe, you are so correct.

I was approached by an administrator last week looking to earn some cash by helping me for a day.  I've known him for years and he promoted to a corner office where his most strenuous task is using the stapler.

We cleaned all evening and this guy didn't say a word the entire time.  Sprayed his shoes twice with prespray and burned his hand once on the hose.  It looked like he was miserable.

Then on the drive home, he turned to me and said "That was great, we really made that floor look a million ti:mes better...when do you clean again"?

He has already started telling people that "our company" cleans that building.  You just feel good when you work with your hands and see the results.  It beats working at a desk every time.

Another story, from my Dad, an avid Cowboy fan and lifetime Cotton Bowl season ticket holder (I grew up in Dallas)...
My dad came home from a game one night all tuckered out, Cowboys had lost, but he was soooo excited.
Dad told us how he had gotten to shake the hand of his hero Bob Lilly, defensive tackle of the Cowboys, perennial Pro Bowler, Hall of Famer.  
Dad said, "...and I squeezed hell out of it" (that was the custom back then, if you were a real man you squeezed real hard).
Ole Bob pulled back in pain then bent down to whisper in my dad's ear how he had two broken fingers.  He'd played the game with broken bones.
My dad apologized and tried to joke, "Oh shoot, sorry Bob... hope they pay you good?"
Bob looked down at my dad and said "you think I do this for the money?"


Hear what Lilly had to say about Coach Landry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rglXyBfEdew

Go to the 18 minute point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ija1WNk9QCQ

I turned into a slum lord still work part time for Bechtel and British petroleum

When I started in this game some 34 yrs ago the plan was to work hard for 20 to 25 yrs make enough and pack it in. Now financially I am OK. I can pull the pin anytime and as they say go fishing. Now and again I have a day or two off during the week. I can handle that but then I start to imagine what It would be like doing this, day in and day out for the rest of my life. It scares me. Be bored shi.less in no time. So I figured that slowing down was the way to go. Perhaps reduce the commercial jobs and do more domestic ones. This way you get to talk to people and move around a bit. All jobs are different.
At the moment my 22 yr old son is working with me but has not made up his mind on whether he wants to take over from me. If he takes over then I will slowly start to wind down.
Would like to travel some more but I would like to have something to do when home.
By the way carpet cleaning is a bit of a passion with me, so I don,t find it hard getting up in the morning to go to work. I just want to become a slower carpet carpet cleaner.  
Cheers
George