midranger wrote:Villanoeyebrows wrote:One of the suckiest thing about getting older, is you realize how much money you need to retire. So I'm feeling this, personally. I went from being 30 and making more than I ever thought I would make, to being 40 and having four kids, and smarting up financially and realizing how screwed I am, even after 20+ more years of working.
Yup. It's hard to emphasize this enough. Start early, save 20% of income, look for consistent 5-10% returns (as opposed to lambos on the moon), avoid fees, let compounding do the rest.
I converted way too late to this myself. Lifestyle had already inflated. Savings started too late. Debt (most of it necessary) too high.
You young guys, give this some real thought now and your future you will be super happy you didn't buy that new car on credit when you didn't need it and couldn't afford it.
As long as we're sharing old guy financial lessons....
- even though 15% retirement savings rate is suggested, that doesn't mean you cant save more. For the longest time I thought 15 was what I was supposed to be saving. save more than that.
- If you hate your job/career in your 20's it won't get better with more money. I learned this the hard way. I went back to school in my late 30's and took on 70K of debt in order to change careers. Granted I didn't have a family so it was "easier" for me but I REALLY wish I had done it in my 20's.
- Subscribe to Money magazine (or something similar). yes, it's basically the same thing every month and it's pretty basic info but the lessons are solid and it's great to reinforce the things you should already be doing.
- Avoid debt. I did great at this for the bulk of my life until I went back to grad school. In retrospect, I probably only needed half of what I borrowed but I fell into that trap of borrowing enough so that I wouldn't need to work as much while I was in school. The payments aren't bad but just giving away that money every month is really aggravating - particularly when I start crunching retirement numbers (retiring at 62 would be better than 67). So if you are going back to school to be a social worker, don't take on six figures of debt to do so. You will never pay it off.
- I really wish I had my spending habit under control in my 20's. I never splurged on any big ticket items and therefore I thought I was doing fine. But I spent WAY too much on weekends and ate out almost every lunch and probably 80% of my dinners. Then I'd wonder how my credit card bill was $400 - $500 every month.