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I know a 125K household income doesn't go as far as it used to, but your household income is significantly above average, so there's no reason you can't do the above steps.
Not sure how to advise you on your entrepreneurial side. I'll just say more people think they are cut out to be entrepreneurs than actually are.
Our credit card bills, utility bills (including phone), loans, and food and gas combined are literally equal to the amount of income my wife and I make. $125k would have been nice in the apartment we used to live in. We're both looking for higher paying jobs lol. Easier said than done though.
The thing with entrepreneurs is that 95% of all entrepreneurs have two things in common: we're all crazy but we're all super passionate. Some will make revenue and succeed faster than others. All depends on how hard you hustle and how much grit you have. Some people drop out and quit and say "this isn't for me". Others say "quit" is not in my vocabulary. I have no experience in this but I will say that once the business starts to make money, I couldn't imagine how great the feeling is. It's like all the self-doubt and sacrifice was all worth it.
Yes, I still have plenty of fun as a 60+ yr old early retiree. Saving Million's by scrimping for my first ~50 years of work life (I started working at age 12) is paying off big time now.
I just sold my Porsche 911, my wife leaves for a 5-star European Cruise tomorrow w/ our Son & his Fiancee, & we'll never have to worry about $ again.
I have not pulled the trigger on the yacht yet, or the Ferrari, but just knowing I could have either is a very nice feeling.
Totally worth it. My Dad's 89, so I'll likely live another ~30 yrs off our stash...carefree. We make enough on investments to not even have to touch the principal yet. I'm not even od enough to get SS or Medicare yet either. That will be play money, when it starts in a few years.
Save, invest, & don't waste money on stupid stuff.
I can't really talk because I'm 36, but I don't think in 20 years when I am 56 that I would want to be broke. Then 40 years at 76, poor. I mean, I guess you kind of have to find a healthy balance of fun. Have fun, but not so much to where you are not saving anything.
A lot of great tips from everyone....more than I expected so thank you!
Some details about me:
I'm married and have a mortgage on a house and have 2 vehicles with loans on each. I was making $63k annually in my most recent job and have gotten denied in every job application that offered a higher pay. I'm still waiting for that moment where I get offered a job that pays me higher. It's happened once where I was offered a $90k manager job and I denied it because I was loyal to the corporate office job that I had. It was a denial that I now strongly regret. They ended up filling in the position and I don't know if they will ever hire again but they know I am always open if they need another person.
My wife is a teacher and makes a little more than I do.
We both have credit card debt and bills to pay.
My wife has her own investments. I only have one investment: a startup in the Philippines. I was never a "save money" kind of guy. I was traumatized growing up. My dad would always save money and tell me to save money and to invest in mutual and government bonds but when I looked at him, he was always frugal about spending money. Always spent hours finding the best deals and when he did spend a large of money, he didn't look very excited about it. My mom just told me to save money and enjoy life. I told myself I didn't really want to grow old and be so frugal about money or be stressed about spending money. When I finally did start working, I had no real concept of "personal savings". My parents retired in the Philippines and I ended up moving with them because I had no concept of living independently on my own. I started doing freelance jobs because that was the only thing that worked for me. It was actually pretty easy to save money since the cost of living in the Philippines is so low. But again, I didn't know "how" to save money.
Then one day, my life kinda changed and I started to invest my money into something I was passionate about: business. I had zero knowledge on how to run a business, manage people, or make money. All I had was passion. I saw a problem and I wanted to create a solution for it. A lot of people would call me a crazy and delusional entrepreneur. The problem with this business is that it has never made any sales or revenue but the entity has been existent for several years. It has traffic. It has "age" in the eyes of Google. So it is my biggest asset aside from my 401k which I had when I was working in the corporate world. So right now, I am sitting here thinking.....I've spent years having this asset (my startup). I need to figure out how to put it to good use and not waste it.
Meanwhile, I am also thinking if it is worth it to put in small amounts of money into some sort of investment fund.
No offense but a business that makes no money is a hobby. Also it's not an asset, if it costs you money to operate, it's a liability.
Your parents had the right idea of saving/investing and controlling costs and now they get to retire in their home country. People throw around the word trauma. It doesn't sound like trauma when your parents try to teach you life lessons. I'm Filipino too and my parents taught me the same lessons. I took the extra step and learned more about investing and real estate and have compounded my returns. Last year, my investments made more money than my parents combined salaries at their peak earning years. When you invest in the sp500, you're buying into business who are working to make money 24/7.
Quote:
Originally Posted by compwiz02
Our credit card bills, utility bills (including phone), loans, and food and gas combined are literally equal to the amount of income my wife and I make. $125k would have been nice in the apartment we used to live in. We're both looking for higher paying jobs lol. Easier said than done though.
The thing with entrepreneurs is that 95% of all entrepreneurs have two things in common: we're all crazy but we're all super passionate. Some will make revenue and succeed faster than others. All depends on how hard you hustle and how much grit you have. Some people drop out and quit and say "this isn't for me". Others say "quit" is not in my vocabulary. I have no experience in this but I will say that once the business starts to make money, I couldn't imagine how great the feeling is. It's like all the self-doubt and sacrifice was all worth it.
You're in a very precarious position if your income is equal to your monthly liabilities. One illness can send you into a downward spiral that will be real trauma. You may want to consider term and disability insurance to protect yourselves. You should exam your monthly spending to see what you can cut. First thing is to get rid of high interest credit card debt.
Our credit card bills, utility bills (including phone), loans, and food and gas combined are literally equal to the amount of income my wife and I make. $125k would have been nice in the apartment we used to live in. We're both looking for higher paying jobs .....
Pay them off and never pay interest again. Then pay off your house. Never buy another new car. Earning more money will not solve your problem.
Those are the lessons I learned as I worked through the years.
Learn money management. We were both commissioned salesman, so our income varied a lot. Sometimes we 'cleaned house' and made a bunch and other times not so much.
So everything we earned - every bit of it - goes in to a money market fund. ALL of it!
And the money market fund is where we draw our monthly allotment. First day of every month the money we need is transferred to checking.
Man, did that system - which I began in 1976 - ever make a huge difference! I still use it today.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I suggest having fun throughout life! Without breaking the bank at any time. (Stuff happens, bad stuff / debilitating health issues, sometimes much sooner than expected)
There are many affordable (free) ways to have fun, even better, is to have a career and interests that are usually more fun than not.
While living and working in Thailand, I ran into a lot of seniors who were physically in very poor shape, still having fun, not my ideA of fun, but at least they were doing it! As possible.
Money brings choices. Use it as a tool.
Approaching age 70, today (as usual) I will ride back roads and off-road on one of 9 adventure motorcycles, bicycle, swim a mile, work in wood, metal auto shop. Do some welding, visit a favorite museum, booked tickets to a Broadway musical, take. 200 mile road trip, plan a couple international trips, use CAD to design a couple homes, play an instrument, attend choir practice, eat at a favorite tex-mex. Go visit some friends.
It's all fun. Money is not a barrier, because I've always lived well below my meager income. Most years we travel < 50% of the year.
Something that is really fun for me is donating to special needs in the community and world. We set up a family foundation in our 30s, and it's been gifting for nearly 40 yrs . Always purposed to give away more that we spent on ourselves. It's fun and rewarding to see the results.
As a matter of perspective... These events forever calibrated my experience and priorities.
1) friends getting killed in farm / work accidents (grade school)
2) traveling parent (working like a dog every weekend)
3) attending coworkers in their work related deaths
4) parent being disabled at age 49
5) having friends die within a few weeks of their long expected retirement
6) lots of unexpected health crisis.
7) sheriff coming to our home and forcing us to leave (unexpected repossession of ranch due to disabled parent)
8) forced layoff 15 yrs prior to my planned retirement (sole single earner family)
9) no healthcare options for 15 yrs
10) watching medical care mistakes disable friends and family
11) serving a very benevolent employer for 30+ yrs.
Stuff happens, so have plenty of fun, today!
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 04-16-2024 at 07:29 AM..
OP, there's a lot of very conservative financial advice here. Debt can be a great driver of wealth if it's used well. Don't carry credit card debt, and buy vehicles with cash whenever possible (and if you can't, you should get the cheapest vehicle that will meet your needs). But don't pay off a 3% mortgage a day quicker than you have to. Dave Ramsey is full of it on this point.
Good debt makes you money quicker than interest accrues. Bad debt fuels personal consumption without return.
Your business might be an asset, even if it loses money right now. None of us are in a position to know this. Plenty of tech companies lose money at first. But also know that this is a very tough field to make real money in. Look at your business with a skeptical eye. Clicks don't make money on their own. You need a monetization plan, and it often takes a lot more traffic than people think to really make money. IMO, too many people overlook "regular" businesses because they're trying the tech thing. It's far, far easier to make a really good income ($200k+) in old school businesses.
No offense but a business that makes no money is a hobby. Also it's not an asset, if it costs you money to operate, it's a liability.
Your parents had the right idea of saving/investing and controlling costs and now they get to retire in their home country. People throw around the word trauma. It doesn't sound like trauma when your parents try to teach you life lessons. I'm Filipino too and my parents taught me the same lessons. I took the extra step and learned more about investing and real estate and have compounded my returns. Last year, my investments made more money than my parents combined salaries at their peak earning years. When you invest in the sp500, you're buying into business who are working to make money 24/7.
You're in a very precarious position if your income is equal to your monthly liabilities. One illness can send you into a downward spiral that will be real trauma. You may want to consider term and disability insurance to protect yourselves. You should exam your monthly spending to see what you can cut. First thing is to get rid of high interest credit card debt.
I never learned any lessons (my parents would tell you differently). I was raised with the mantra "save money". But where did the money go? What does money do? How does it grow? What is the goal of saving? "save your money" is the thing my parents always told me. The other piece of advice I was told was "invest in mutual and government bonds". I never had a conversation of "Any job you get....take a small chunk of it and put it somewhere where it will grow. here, look at what I did with my money. you can start here and let it compound." The conversations I received was "go to school and get a degree."
I became very passionate about business because it excited me. I liked the idea of solving problems and you don't have to wait 30 years to make a lot of money. You make a lot of money as soon as you figured out how to make sales and grow. It's the "make sales and grow" part that has always been the challenge for me.
Now I'm at the point where yes, I'm still passionate about business but I'm at the age where I'm like....what if I just put in a small amount of money into an account? I've never really done it before. it's something I *should* have done 10 years ago but I'm having a little mid 30s self-reflection moment.
For most of us here, money provides security plus various degrees of freedom. The assets eventually become part of our retirement income when we're older. Yes, investing (in stocks/bonds) in inherently boring to lots of people. Compounding happens slowly but it takes little effort, so you can carry on with your career and your family while your investments quietly grow in the background. In the long run (decades) the odds of being successful with this form of investing are very good.
Building a business is an entirely different beast. It's risky... most small businesses fail. To be honest, it sounds like you only have a business idea. That's fine, but to turn an idea into reality takes a lot of time, and often a lot of money. If you want to pursue a business you need a plan to work on it full time. How are you going to pay your bills when you're starting a business that may not generate a profit for years, or maybe not ever? How are you going to raise money to get your business off the ground? Do you have potential investors, or are you going to fund it yourself?
Finally, life certainly is not over at age 60 or 70. My wife and I are both in our 60s and are still able to do almost all of the things we did in our 30s and 40s. My father-in-law lived independently until his late 80s. He took care of his own yard, did his shopping, and traveled by air without any assistance.
For most of us here, money provides security plus various degrees of freedom. The assets eventually become part of our retirement income when we're older. Yes, investing (in stocks/bonds) in inherently boring to lots of people. Compounding happens slowly but it takes little effort, so you can carry on with your career and your family while your investments quietly grow in the background. In the long run (decades) the odds of being successful with this form of investing are very good.
Building a business is an entirely different beast. It's risky... most small businesses fail. To be honest, it sounds like you only have a business idea. That's fine, but to turn an idea into reality takes a lot of time, and often a lot of money. If you want to pursue a business you need a plan to work on it full time. How are you going to pay your bills when you're starting a business that may not generate profits years, or maybe not ever? How are you going to raise money to get your business off the ground? Do you have potential investors, or are you going to fund it yourself?
Finally, life certainly is not over at age 60 or 70. My wife and I are both in our 60s and are still able to do almost all of the things we did in our 30s and 40s. My father-in-law lived independently until his late 80s. He took care of his own yard, did his shopping, and traveled by air without any assistance.
For the business stuff, I'm a fan of the "low capital, fast revenue" model. Essentially....have a business idea that requires little to no capital and find the quickest way to make money. Example of this: a lemonade stand. It might sound funny but it's true. A 9 year old girl can go on to her sidewalk with her parents, buy $4 worth of lemons and make lemonade all day long for $3 per cup and get 30 customers. That's $90. Turning $4 into $90 in one day. Little capital and earning sales in one day. Boom. The idea of starting a business scares the **** out of most people because of the stigma attached to it. The idea of you need to invest a lot of capital and it will take weeks or even months to make sales frightens people. But in all honesty, it all depends on your business idea and how fast you can find paying customers. $5 to build a website that shows what you can offer. Find a client that will pay you $300 per month for a specific service. Boom....profit in 1 month.
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