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Education, marrying the right person, saving (and investing wisely), and being frugal were all important. Getting an education in the right fields allowed both of us to make solid 6 figure incomes. Marrying someone whose goals, including financial, was also very important. We had a savings plan and stuck to it from an early time in lives. We have maxed out our retirement plans for many years. Our incomes would have allowed us to live a much more extravagant lifestyle, and while we have enjoyed life as we have gone along, we have always lived beneath our means. We are now at a point where we likely have enough money. We will both be retiring in about a year and will fulfill our dream of moving to the western NC mountains.
Wow, this is exactly what we did. For the last 6 and a half years we have been very comfortably (financially and socially), retired in the Western North Carolina Mountains. I married someone with the same values and goals. Stayed in the same home instead of upsizing. Waited until we were financially set to have our son. Kept our cars as along as they ran. Fortunately we were able to do a lot of traveling on my husband’s company’s dime. Not so eager to jump on an airplane currently. Have to say that except for this terrible plague , our lives are pretty wonderful.
I won’t go in to all the nitty gritty but one smart move was selling the big house with the high taxes in the prime neighborhood just as soon as the last went off to college. Moved a few miles away to keep the social life. 15 yrs of saving 20k in property taxes, 10k in home expenses and taking out a chunk of equity to invest before retirement that has grown nicely. We made the move much sooner than most and it added a lot of funds later in the process.
Added bonus- we can age in place.
The story starts to get good when I was down to my last $400 bucks. It was at that moment that I met a woman who stood out from the crowd of bar room bimbos in my immediate purview. She praised, pushed, cajoled, and kicked my butt into high gear.
In 1982, I bought a condo at the Jersey Shore with no money down and a 11% mortgage.
That little love shack doubled in value during the Real Estate Boom, and we were able to put 20% down on a nice home in a good school district.
I jumped on-board the IRA gravy train, mostly for the Tax Reduction, but soon built up a good sized stash.
Same thing with the 401K train, maxing out on AT&T stock. My Division was spun off as Lucent Technologies and my Widows & Orphans stock was instantly transformed into a Wall Street juggernaut. I kept a mental Stop Loss under it and escaped the 2000 Tech Bubble with only a minor haircut.
, I also managed to side-step the steep decline in 2008 when I transferred my Corporate 401K into a self-directed IRA, parking the proceeds in Cash just as the feces hit the fan. I avoided the worst of that Market Meltdown.
We started a home-based business and ran it successfully for 12 years, taking full advantage of all the available tax write-offs.
Now with a considerable amount in Tax Deferred money in the Stock Market, we went into Protection mode, with an Asset Allocation that was comforting during the recent March Madness.
Social Security and Pension cover all our expenses. I start taking RMD's next January,
I claim no special skills in Market Timing or in Real Estate planning....it just played out this way.
except for just investing in a bunch of fidelity funds in my ira /401k 30 years ago , that ended up being over 1.7 million today , i cant say that took any skill or luck .
it was just a typical multi decade out come complete with the lost decade for stocks .
the real estate on the other hand was lots of hands , on , luck and associating with the right people and riding their coat tails which i guess is a skill in its self plus took lots of creative financing since it was a few hundred thousand up front and i needed to borrow towards it in creative ways .
The story starts to get good when I was down to my last $400 bucks. It was at that moment that I met a woman who stood out from the crowd of bar room bimbos in my immediate purview. She praised, pushed, cajoled, and kicked my butt into high gear.
In 1982, I bought a condo at the Jersey Shore with no money down and a 11% mortgage.
That little love shack doubled in value during the Real Estate Boom, and we were able to put 20% down on a nice home in a good school district.
I jumped on-board the IRA gravy train, mostly for the Tax Reduction, but soon built up a good sized stash.
Same thing with the 401K train, maxing out on AT&T stock. My Division was spun off as Lucent Technologies and my Widows & Orphans stock was instantly transformed into a Wall Street juggernaut. I kept a mental Stop Loss under it and escaped the 2000 Tech Bubble with only a minor haircut.
, I also managed to side-step the steep decline in 2008 when I transferred my Corporate 401K into a self-directed IRA, parking the proceeds in Cash just as the feces hit the fan. I avoided the worst of that Market Meltdown.
We started a home-based business and ran it successfully for 12 years, taking full advantage of all the available tax write-offs.
Now with a considerable amount in Tax Deferred money in the Stock Market, we went into Protection mode, with an Asset Allocation that was comforting during the recent March Madness.
Social Security and Pension cover all our expenses. I start taking RMD's next January,
I claim no special skills in Market Timing or in Real Estate planning....it just played out this way.
Smart move on the Lucent stock. I know someone who was employed by the company and didn't wind up with a minor haircut; he got shaved bald!
Looking for some advice from those of you who are successful. Might not be the right place to ask, but didn't want to create a new thread. I hope those who see this won't mind giving an idea or two.
I'm far from being well off. But right now as things stand, I'm OK, life is good. And I do mean that.
But I need expensive dental work. I'm 78 so I wonder, do I want to insist on the cheap way out or spending a lot more than I have. As some of you know, I went bankrupt about 3 years ago and really do not want to go that route again.
The total cost is approximately $6000. (Two dentists have said this amount.) I do have dental insurance that will pay $1200. Maybe $1000 in savings(retirement) account, but don't want to use that. If I use it, that will be "it".
So far, no real discomfort. But won't last forever.
Is getting a loan to cover expense a good idea? Dentist offices usually give you a limited amount of time to pay off their bill. Your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
My youngest did a internship with Lucent while in high school so we bought some stock. Ouch!
I had a client who called up and wanted to buy a thousand shares at around $70. And this was when the stock was on the way down from over $100. He was so sure that it was a great bargain at that price because it had been so much higher. I tried to gently talk him into waiting but no luck. He finally gave up hope when it broke $20.
Looking for some advice from those of you who are successful. Might not be the right place to ask, but didn't want to create a new thread. I hope those who see this won't mind giving an idea or two.
I'm far from being well off. But right now as things stand, I'm OK, life is good. And I do mean that.
But I need expensive dental work. I'm 78 so I wonder, do I want to insist on the cheap way out or spending a lot more than I have. As some of you know, I went bankrupt about 3 years ago and really do not want to go that route again.
The total cost is approximately $6000. (Two dentists have said this amount.) I do have dental insurance that will pay $1200. Maybe $1000 in savings(retirement) account, but don't want to use that. If I use it, that will be "it".
So far, no real discomfort. But won't last forever.
Is getting a loan to cover expense a good idea? Dentist offices usually give you a limited amount of time to pay off their bill. Your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
I've heard of people heading south, mexico or south america, for dental work. Used to have a neighbor who did so. Can't vouch for quality etc. though. You might post in a different forum? Don't know which might be best for dental advice.
Looking for some advice from those of you who are successful. Might not be the right place to ask, but didn't want to create a new thread. I hope those who see this won't mind giving an idea or two.
I'm far from being well off. But right now as things stand, I'm OK, life is good. And I do mean that.
But I need expensive dental work. I'm 78 so I wonder, do I want to insist on the cheap way out or spending a lot more than I have. As some of you know, I went bankrupt about 3 years ago and really do not want to go that route again.
The total cost is approximately $6000. (Two dentists have said this amount.) I do have dental insurance that will pay $1200. Maybe $1000 in savings(retirement) account, but don't want to use that. If I use it, that will be "it".
So far, no real discomfort. But won't last forever.
Is getting a loan to cover expense a good idea? Dentist offices usually give you a limited amount of time to pay off their bill. Your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Perfect place to ask. As I noted you have previously shared your story and any effort that will help is welcomed here. Success breeds success!
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