General Politics XII World • Page 404

Yeah, talking with my mom's financial advisor as she prepared for retirement and looking at all those numbers is super daunting. Makes me glad like 20 years ago I started putting money in retirement accounts that I can't touch.

Most of my friends that make around that or higher have most of their net worth in their homes. College roommate bought a house in a really nice part of town and it's at least doubled in value by now, last I saw on Zillow it was over a million. The first married couple I knew pooled money (gov job + accountant) and bought their home right after the wedding and it's done similar, just skyrocketed in value, and they've just only made more money every year sense.

I lost a lot of time from like 2016-2020 of prime salary years that I'm trying to make up for now to get to a spot where I'll feel good about retirement. I think that's part of why I have very miserly tendencies about saving money.

 

This area is absurd, for sure. I was talking about with my friend and it’s so defeating to look for houses here

 

Are you in your 30s? At that rate ... that will be well into 7 figures if you keep at the same level and assume even a moderate 7% annual return.

 

Really? I guess I don't understand how that works if it took me nearly a decade to save a year of my salary. Ok I feel dumb now haha. Gotta talk to a financial advisor to understand this shit

 

It sucks so bad man because for this side of the State, it's in my opinion the best County to be in. It's not as densely populated as Wayne or Oakland which is partly why it's so expensive but from the school quality (if we ever have kids) to having a world class health system among many other things it's where I would love stay but fuck trying to afford it for a house that does not need a whole shit ton of work. There is some spots you can find stuff but they fly off the market at an absurd rate.

 

Yeah we’re super happy in the township with everything but our current rent and would like to put down long term roots here for sure. Even fixers are way overpriced in the area. Adding in both of us working in cannabis, limiting who we can get loans through it feels impossible for us to own

 

This is reductive as hell, but with 7%

130,000 * (1 + .07)^33

Assuming no additional contributions, at 7% about 1,131,167

Assume you contribute 10k a year.

10,000 * (((1+.07)^33 - 1) / .07) = 1,219,990

Total future value: 1,131,167 + 1,219,990 = ~2.25m

Contribute early and often!

But, yeah, IMO that's a very healthy spot to be in for the 401K if you're in your 30s.

 

Our combined income is over $150k, but with 3 kids, a mortgage, other house expenses, student loans . . . it's still tough to find extra to save for retirement, kids' college, etc.

 

Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Donations to Kamala $3,600
Utility $150

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

 

I feel like all of this just reinforces my idea that kids are too expensive and expensive af?

(And also that student loans are an albatross to economic growth and should be voided.)

 

someone please fucking tell me to stop donating to kamala so i can reply "no" and finish the bit, I don't have all night

 

i think you should keep donating to kamala

 

Haha dang thank you, just took a lot of stress off my plate lol. Just peeked through my benefits and apparently I have a small pension, too.

 

i just got my first 401k a few months ago and i dont really make that much money to begin with so im gonna be working forever

 

lol

 

Having any kind of family money at all also changes your attitude about this. that friend worries way more than me partly because I have a decent amount family money that will end up helping.

 

Kids are definitely expensive, but we're getting to a point right now where they're less expensive for a couple years at least - they're all in public school vs. private daycare/preschool, they're not growing as fast so we're not replacing clothes and shoes constantly, and we're finding all of the activities we can through the public park system we can so those are much less expensive.

But even still, the extra cost of food and the things they need does add up quite quickly.

And yes, agreed on student loans. At the very least, with federal loans, the interest should be capped/non-existent and not allowed to be capitalized and that should be made retroactive.

 

speaking of being very wealthy and living comfortably, I went to a thrift store today looking to buy a winter jacket that is nicer than my $30 Amazon special from a few years ago and I found a really nice one but it was too tight on my shoulders and chest which was very disappointing but also not as bad as if it had been too tight on my stomach

 

My recommendation, before 40, if you don't have a financial planner already, find one to talk to. Some companies 401k programs have people you can talk to and they can walk through scenarios with you. Do all kinds of math with various situations and how it can plan out. Help you see what different things can do (buy a car, refinance home, buy new home, etc.) to your expected retirement. The guy I work with and meet with annually has it down to a %, where at the end of the meeting he'll say based on current trends, contributions, spending, etc., there's a X% chance if you retire at 65 you'll die before running out of money (and has the death at like 112 or something nuts). And it helps with planning and knowing if we're putting enough in, how to do it in a way that helps with taxes, and he was super helpful in helping plan when we moved and knowing how to stay in our budget with our future plans.

A lot of this stuff you can learn to, but I have found it really helpful to have someone I can talk to and ask questions to that does this kinda thing for a living. And especially with my mom getting up in age and her retiring last year and my worries about all of that it's ... at least calming on the anxiety around it for me.

 

is this the new macklemore song?

 

lmfao literal spit take

 

Also if you have any extra cash (many of us don't I get that) throw that in some index funds, ETF's, or mutual funds. I am going to cut in half what I spend on sports gambling every month and start taking the other half and putting it into those. Its's not a whole helluva of a lot monthly but figured that would be a better place to put it.

 

Very true. When my grandma passed a few years back I found out how much each of her three kids got (I may have gotten some of my save! personality traits from my grandfather). And I have worked with my mom on her finances leading to retirement because I'm the executor or whatever, so I have a pretty good idea what she had before that, and now. My mindset has always been to plan as though my family will leave me nothing, and try and live with that mindset, but like you I know in the back of my mind that's probably not true, and it feels like a safety net that I know many many people don't have. I don't know if I would have moved and taken on the new mortgage at the current rates without that in the back of my mind, because deep down I am so risk averse.

 

I should add that we are very lucky in that my wife's grandparents setup a trust for her when she was young that she could take out when she was 18 or leave in trust until she was 40 to use for only very limited things (school, medical expenses, buying a house, or starting a business) and she smartly chose to leave it in trust.

We were able to use that for the down payment on our first house (and avoid PMI) and then sold that house at a relatively high point in the market so made enough to afford the down payment on our second house, do the repairs and improvements we needed and wanted immediately, and put a little extra away (which we have more than spent with additional repairs and improvements).

Our current house has also appreciated significantly since we bought it 3 years ago. So from that perspective we are far from struggling, but it is hard to make our salaries stretch to cover all the things we would want them to cover on their own.