Hello everyone from TX

[SyntheticDivision]

My name is John, currently 28, married and have a 4 month son. I will be receiving my M.S. in Mathematics this May and plan to be teaching college mathematics at a community college by this Fall, or maybe by Summer. I currently work as a Specialist at the same college. Wife is 26 and she is an elementary teacher.

I am no where close to retirement, but all the information that I have been reading on here is priceless to me. It's never too early to plan for your retirement IMO. I want to make sure that when I do retire, I do it the right way. Lots of useful information on this website. Me and my wife each have TRS (teacher retirement) accounts and I also have a ROTH IRA. I have about ~$14K in my TRS account and the wife, well she barely started in January 06, so she has ~$350. My ROTH has about ~$6K and I contribute monthly. Hello everyone

 

[SteveR]

Hi John,

Welcome to the board.

It is never too young to start saving for retirement. If this site or ones similar to it were as available when I was you age as they are today I might have been able to retire years ago.

You are in a position have time work on your side. Save and invest in tax advantaged account and your savings will grow into a very nice nest egg by the time you are ready to retire. Take advantage of every chance to save more while you are young to take off the strain of trying to play catch up when you are older and have few years to do so.

There is a lot here to learn and many folks here have a lot to share...some good...some not so much. Just like in real life.

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Sam]

Welcome John.

28 and already taking care of retirement!  You and your wife will do very well reaching FIRE way before most people.

I wish I was able to save at your age.  Although I graduated at age 24, marriage, kids, and high cost of living (Boston), plus run-away inflation prevented me from saving.  In fact my networth was negative until I hit 31.  Since then, I was able to save significantly.

Again, welcome, and keep doing what you're doing now.
Sam

 

[starry night]

Welcome and kudos for your interest and commitment to personal financial well-being. You will not regret your efforts. Too many people foresake the view of the horizon.

Worthy objectives include (that is, those beyond managing your day-to-day budget and life management needs):

1) Maximum contribution to your and your spouse's qualified retirement plans.

2) Also make an after-tax contribution (again, for yourself and for spouse) to Roth IRA.

3) Establish a private investment account at a no-load, low-fee Mutual Fund Co. (Vanguard is the favrotie around here). This can be opened with initial investment of about $2,000-$3,000 and you can arrange for automatic monthly contribution (usually $50-$100 minimum) for continued growth and dollar-cost averaging.

4) Most importantly, manage to live within your means and commit to trying to save SOMETHING out of anything you recieve.

Remember, it's not how much you make that determines your wealth. It's how much you DON'T SPEND.

Good luck, Voyager!

 

[SyntheticDivision]

Thanks for the warm welcome

 

[JPatrick]

Well you Texas boys get a special welcome 8)
Don't git all teary eyed now...

 

[Rustic23]

I don't know about a forum board, but a house can't have to many john's!

 

[mickeyd]

Hello John,

As usual, you have received some great advice here, but remember is may be worth what you paid for it.

I have about ~$14K in my TRS account

My wife is also in TRS so I have looked at the plan provisions a few times. As you may be aware, the TRS uses a formula of years and age and last 3 years of pay to calculate your retirement pay, so disregard whatever they say is in your account (after 5 years on the job) because it doesn't make any difference what is in your account.  You will get what the formula says you will get and not a penny more. 

Do you have social security withheld? if so, you're in luck (maybe). If not,  I suggest that you get familiar with GPO and WEP provisions of SS that many educators in Texas are just learning about as SS payments will be reduced by 2/3 of TRS money.

You are on the right road if you and your wife are already saving. Just keep it up and stay away from annuities. vanguard seems to be the best vehicle if you do not require a lot of hand holding and "do the math". 

That should be eay for a math guy like yourself.

 

[SyntheticDivision]

mickeyd, SS is being withheld, but not for my wife since I am employed by the state. And a big lol on "maybe" with SS, I agree 100%. The rule of 90 can eat it, I really hope they change that in the future.

I was searching on Vanguard and I do like the idea of low fees. Did a little research on my current mutual funds and they do charge alot on fees. I have cash in my IRA so I am going to look into which mutual funds to invest from Vangaurd, I have 3 that I really like.

What is everyone's opinion on Amerprise Financial? I have not done my financial plan with them yet, or either have I invested into any of "their" funds, but should I be careful?

 

[Nords]

What is everyone's opinion on Amerprise Financial? I have not done my financial plan with them yet, or either have I invested into any of "their" funds, but should I be careful?

Bleagh.

If even American Express can't stand to work with Ameriprise, then the rest of us can do better.

I don't know who's custodian of your IRAs, but you can get similar freebies from Vanguard or Fidelity. Funds will be much lower cost than Ameriprise too. There's many good reasons those names come up so frequently on this board.

 

[Texas Proud]

MickeyD...

From what I understand from my sister, the rules have changed... someone as young as 28 will not have a 3 year average, but a 5 year average... and they will have a major reduction if they retire at 55 now...

According to my sister, the difference between the 'old' and the 'new' formula is about 50% of the payment. Fortunately for her, she was able to buy into the old system and will start getting money in a few years...

One of my other sisters retired a couple of years ago to get her spousal SS. That law change got a lot of teachers to retire... and I doubt it will be changed in the future.

Texas Pround

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Synthetic (may I call you Synthetic?),

I know sweet Fanny Anne about TRS's, but Roths are a gift from God.

Oh, go with Vanguard. Fidelity maybe. Ameriwhat? If you can't think of anything else, consider the Target Retirement 2035 or 2045 funds.

Fair winds,

Ed

 

[mickeyd]

What is everyone's opinion on Amerprise Financial?

They have only been around for about 6 months but were previously American Express (Amex) and before that they were Ivestor's Diversified Services (IDS).

If you enjoy having your pocket picked while being raped, have a go at it. But most sane investors get as far away from these blood suckers as possible.  Of course, you may have better luck than the rest of America.

 

[SamHouston]

They have only been around for about 6 months but were previously American Express (Amex) and before that they were Ivestor's Diversified Services (IDS).

If you enjoy having your pocket picked while being raped, have a go at it. But most sane investors get as far away from these blood suckers as possible. Of course, you may have better luck than the rest of America.

I totally agree. I am in the process of moving investments from Ameriprise (where i was royally screwed over by an "advisor") to Vanguard, and it's been worse than pulling teeth to get them to turn loose of the money. They have managed to screw up the paper work so many times, so many ways, that I refuse to believe that it's accidental.

They are either dragging their feet on purpose or they are a bunch of incompetent idiots...or both.

 

[SyntheticDivision]

I don't know about a forum board, but a house can't have to many john's!

lol, guess what my son's name is? No lie.

I'll skip on being raped thank you very much, luckily I have not done any business with them yet. All I did was move from Edward Jones to Ameriprise.

Sorry to hear that SamHouston, hope everything works out.

Edthegypsy, sure you can.

 

[mickeyd]

SamHouston

They have managed to screw up the paper work so many times, so many ways, that I refuse to believe that it's accidental.

Call them at the 800 number 2-3 times a day also write a letter (Certified RRR) to the CEO of the company (cc to NASD) demanding immediate action on your request.

Squeeky wheel stuff, but if you want your money moved to Vanguard before spring is over, make your self a pain-in-the-ass.

 

[SamHouston]

Mickey,

Called them again today and spent another 30 minutes of my life talking to yet another new person...finally got a supervisor who gave me her name and direct line and promised to call me back by 3:30 this afternoon. That was over two hours ago, and I never heard from her.

I'm going to get a lot "squeakier" tomorrow.

 

[73ss454]

Sam,

I just finished going through the same thing. Don't give up and call as many times as you can.

All my money is at Vanguard now and I feel a lot better.

 

[SamHouston]

I think I finally had a "breakthrough" with them yesterday...when the representative told me that she was recording the phone call for "quality control" purposes, I told her that I was doing the same thing because of all the problems I've had in the last several weeks with the quality of their service. Within 15 minutes the problem was solved, and this morning I saw evidence in my online account that the funds are being moved, in-kind, to Vanguard just as I asked.

Amazing.

 

[73ss454]

Good for you Sam!

 

[mickeyd]

Within 15 minutes the problem was solved, and this morning I saw evidence in my online account that the funds are being moved, in-kind, to Vanguard just as I asked.

SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK

 

[gtmeouttahere]

Do you own a home? If not yet, your first priority above anything else is to get into one IMO.