What age to be a millionaire?

[Flatrock]

@F250
When it comes to the economy and inflation, Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve are dramatically more important than the POTUS. It isn't even close. You won't hear that on your favorite propaganda news channel but that's the truth.

 

[D_Walt]

At least tomorrow years old…didn’t happen for me today; tomorrow not looking great either but who knows.

 

[cgasner1]

Bitcoin

 

[Bulldog0156]

Am I the only one that has no idea if any of my family members, friends or coworkers are worth a million dollars?

Do you guys just casually ask people that?

How else do you start a conversation?

Shit, when I was single, my first question was "Does your family have money or land?"

 

[BuzzH]

I'm surprised that there are currently only eight people that have checked an age over 50yo in the poll. Obviously, I don't know the true age breakdown of participants (a necessary bit of information, I realize) but I expected more people would reach the $1MM milestone from many decades of saving and retirement contributions. That doesn't appear so much to be the case. Or maybe there just aren't enough participants in that age group to level the stats?

I was recently helping a friend and his wife set up some IRAs and was teaching them the time-value of money (something that is woefully under taught in school) and it basically came out to them contributing $600/mo to reach the retirement goal they had set for themselves using historic predictions for growth and inflation.

That amount seemed insurmountable to them as newlyweds trying to make ends meet in today's financial world. I don't know what they make, because I specifically asked them to not tell me their personal finances, but I ascertain that's a sizeable percentage of their income.

It seems so hard, but without pensions or the certainty of Social Security, they're trying to pull it off on their own. I'm worried about the people in their 20s right now who are catching high home prices, high inflation, and low wages. It's a vicious trifecta.

That conversation was the true nexus for my poll question. Again, I apologize if it was insensitive or offensive. I certainly didn't intend it that way.

That's because you gave them bad advice in my opinion.

$600 a month now may make it seem impossible. Best advice is to just make sure they're paying themselves something, even if it's $300 a month now. As their earnings increase over time, they can start increasing the amount. Down the road $2000 a month may not be a problem.

Goals that have to make you miserable the whole way there, aren't worth achieving.

It would suck to wake up at 60 having not enjoyed your life to reach a financial goal.

There has to be balance or it's not worth it.

 

[grizzly_]

That's because you gave them bad advice in my opinion.

$600 a month now may make it seem impossible. Best advice is to just make sure they're paying themselves something, even if it's $300 a month now. As their earnings increase over time, they can start increasing the amount. Down the road $2000 a month may not be a problem.

Goals that have to make you miserable the whole way there, aren't worth achieving.

It would suck to wake up at 60 having not enjoyed your life to reach a financial goal.

There has to be balance or it's not worth it.

That's like your opinion, man . Being that they both have 401ks available at work, they're on the right track if they'll use them.

I don't know what they're getting right now from their employer, but say it's $200/mo each, then they only need to contribute $200/mo extra to hit their goal.

Inflation and increased wages will lighten that burden over time and they'll be happy they started when they did, imo.

PS. As I showed them with the time-value example, if they start saving in 10 years they'll have to put away over $1500/mo to reach the same amount at 65.

If they would have started 5 years ago, it would be only $375/mo.

You're welcome to your opinion. Mine is that starting early is paramount because the time is the key function and you can't get that back.

If our conversation inspires them to start an IRA, even if they can't put an amount away to equal $600/mo in total retirement contribution, I believe they'll be better off for removing the fear and mystique of an IRA and for starting earlier than later.

 

[Khunter]

You guys suck, we get 2 weeks and they will only let us roll over 32 hours

Get a better job. period.

 

[BuzzH]

That's like your opinion, man . Being that they both have 401ks available at work, they're on the right track if they'll use them.

I don't know what they're getting right now from their employer, but say it's $200/mo each, then they only need to contribute $200/mo extra to hit their goal.

Inflation and increased wages will lighten that burden over time and they'll be happy they started when they did, imo.

PS. As I showed them with the time-value example, if they start saving in 10 years they'll have to put away over $1500/mo to reach the same amount at 65.

If they would have started 5 years ago, it would be only $375/mo.

You're welcome to your opinion. Mine is that starting early is paramount because the time is the key function and you can't get that back.

If our conversation inspires them to start an IRA, even if they can't put an amount away to equal $600/mo in total retirement contribution, I believe they'll be better off for removing the fear and mystique of an IRA and for starting earlier than later.

Starting early is important, didn't say otherwise.

Having to forego turning the heat on wrapped in a quilt eating cold oatmeal so you can hit your $600 a month goal of retirement savings is horsechit.

I'm not going to stay home and give up hunting elk because my $58 resident elk tag, a sack of groceries, and a couple tanks of fuel means I can't hit my $600 a month goal, that's a mile past horsechit.

"Hunt while you can, many people wait until they retire, by then, it's too late for all kinds of reasons"

-Jack Atcheson Sr.

Balance...all about balance.

Trust me, you can get there without being miserable.

 

[grizzly_]

Having to forego turning the heat on wrapped in a quilt eating cold oatmeal so you can hit your $600 a month goal of retirement savings is horsechit.

I'm not going to stay home and give up hunting elk because my $58 resident elk tag, a sack of groceries, and a couple tanks of fuel means I can't hit my $600 a month goal, that's a mile past horsechit.

"Hunt while you can, many people wait until they retire, by then, it's too late for all kinds of reasons"

-Jack Atcheson Sr.

Balance...all about balance.

Trust me, you can get there without being miserable.

Hahaha. Who said anything about any of the garbage hypotheticals you just assigned to them? They just booked their second All-Inclusive Caribbean vacation of this winter. And you're assigning them being miserable without heat

The fact that they live to the fullest extent of their means is a mistake, imo.

You keep your advice and I'll stick with mine... any day of the week and twice on Tuesday.

 

[Nick87]

Balance...all about balance.

You never know when you're number is up. Goes both ways, all in moderation.

 

[Mallardsx2]

You never know when you're number is up. Goes both ways, all in moderation.

Very true.

My wife and I save a lot and I have saved a lot since my early 20's. We still get out hunting. If all goes to plan, and we don't knock off early, we should achieve financial freedom by 2039.

There are a lot of sacrifices along the way to get there but we still enjoy life. I gave up drinking a case of beer a week and buying a can of dip a day. That saves me $3,500 a year. I do miss dipping, but I want financial freedom and early retirement so that's where that cash went.

Doesn't stop me from complaining about the price of that Wyoming special tag though....lol


Best of luck to all. Because you just never know^^^...

 

[RobG]

Hahaha. Who said anything about any of the garbage hypotheticals you just assigned to them? They just booked their second All-Inclusive Caribbean vacation of this winter.

and yet they can’t afford $600/month.

 

[seeth07]

600 a month is not a crazy amount to start with in your 20s.

40k/year is not a hard salary to find these days. Heck the Smuckers plant right by me is now hiring bottlers for 18/hrs which is 38k.

A lot of places have 401k matches. Let's say it's on the lower end they are only matching 3%. 6% total invested per year of that 40k is 200/month.

Wife has same job. You are already at 400/month without even trying or sacrificing anything

 

[Nick87]

. I gave up drinking a case of beer a week and buying a can of dip a day. That saves me $3,500 a year

First off- light weight.

Secondly- I did the same thing this year as I came up with the exact same $ amount you did. Certainly puts things into perspective. In my line of work you only get so many weeks of work per year weather pending. I looked at it like working two weeks with no pay to trade for booze and dip. #*^@#* that.

Ps- I'm not back to work yet for the spring so my boss hasn't pissed me off yet to test the whole no alchohol tobacco thing lol.

 

[Lilhowie83]

Yah to my knowledge none of the trades have that at least in this immediate area. Other than trades and public I don't know if there are too many places that offer a true pension anymore?

I work for a state entity, they no longer participate in the state pension system, they stopped in 2015, now they just give you an additional 14.2% of your wage to go in a 403B of your choosing.

 

[Nick87]

I work for a state entity, they no longer participate in the state pension system, they stopped in 2015, now they just give you an additional 14.2% of your wage to go in a 403B of your choosing.

You like that better?

 

[Lilhowie83]

You like that better?

Yes, I do. It gives me a lot more freedom to choose what it's invested in, how aggressive I can be and do forth. Also with this option, I'm fully vested at day 1. If I leave, which I'm working on doing, by starting my own excavation business, I take it all with me and can roll it into something else. With the pension I have to put in at least 30 years to get the most out of it.

 

[cgasner1]

That’s a pretty good percentage really

 

[cgasner1]

Yes, I do. It gives me a lot more freedom to choose what it's invested in, how aggressive I can be and do forth. Also with this option, I'm fully vested at day 1. If I leave, which I'm working on doing, by starting my own excavation business, I take it all with me and can roll it into something else. With the pension I have to put in at least 30 years to get the most out of it.

Also some day someone in your family will get it when you pass on instead of being gone like a pension

 

[Nick87]

Yes, I do. It gives me a lot more freedom to choose what it's invested in, how aggressive I can be and do forth. Also with this option, I'm fully vested at day 1. If I leave, which I'm working on doing, by starting my own excavation business, I take it all with me and can roll it into something else. With the pension I have to put in at least 30 years to get the most out of it.

Nice, good luck on the start up. When is my start date?