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We're new here - 39 & 43 year old married coupe in Palm City, FL
04-26-2011, 04:48 PM
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#1
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Confused about dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Palm City
Posts: 9
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We're new here - 39 & 43 year old married coupe in Palm City, FL
Hi everyone,
I stumbled across this board from JD Roth's blog - Get Rich Slowly. I poked around this morning & decided to join.
I've always been more of the saver, especially for retirement, and long story short, DH has come around in the past year or so. I think it's the hit age 40 thing, and then realize that you only have so many years to start saving & investing.
Anyhow, we will have our 10 year anniversary a week from this Friday, and we do not have any human kids - just 2 of the 4-legged, furry kind that meow. We have 10 months left on our mortgage, and we will own our 2 bedroom townhome outright. My car & student loan will be paid off in January, 2012 and so will our boat & truck. Then we are debt free, baby!
So, then the hard core retirement savings will begin. We have a good base right now with $107,500 in stocks & mutual funds. DH is able to put $500/mo. into his Roth and I can put $100/mo. right now. Once these debts are paid (and the house is paid off) we plan on increasing our contributions significantly.
I have the 'stable' job that provides us with health insurance benefits & DH is self-employed. I would love to be self-employed if only for the flexibility, but due to some pre-existing health conditions, obtaining private health insurance for DH is impossible, unless some type of changes in occur in Washington, but I'm not holding my breath.
I can't tell you exactly our asset allocation. We have a mix of individual stocks (which I hate) and then mutual funds.
My goal is to learn as much as I can from this experienced community, so we can retire before 65. We are planning on 65 but I would like to see us have the ability to do so at 55.
I look forward to meeting everyone & learning from each of you.
Thanks!
Jan
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04-26-2011, 05:05 PM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,433
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Welcome! You two sound like you're off to a great start!
omni
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04-26-2011, 05:06 PM
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#3
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,038
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Welcome, Jan. It sounds like you two are off to a great start. If you haven't already found it, our FAQ subforum has interesting discussions on most of the burning issues here. Early Retirement FAQs - Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community
__________________
Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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04-26-2011, 07:12 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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Welcome and... happy anniversary! 
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04-26-2011, 10:50 PM
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#5
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,774
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Welcome! That nest egg is going to just explode with all your debts paid off! Poke around here for good books and other resources to help you figure out where to put all those dollars that are going to accumulate.
__________________
“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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04-27-2011, 04:36 AM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: midwestern city
Posts: 4,061
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Welcome, jannyf.
__________________
Very conservative with investments. Not ER'd yet, 48 years old. Please do not take anything I write or imply as legal, financial or medical advice directed to you. Contact your own financial advisor, healthcare provider, or attorney for financial, medical and legal advice.
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04-27-2011, 06:11 AM
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#7
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Naples
Posts: 2,179
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Welcome jannyf! I think you will be amazed at the wealth of knowledge on this forum. I'm strictly a CD guy (due to age) but I read with interest all the threads about various investment methods. You'll enjoy it.
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04-27-2011, 07:10 AM
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#8
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Allen Park
Posts: 118
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Welcome Janny. My wife and I are also dinks of age 39 & 43 (although I'll be 44 next month). That's a great accomplishment to pay your house off. Now you guys just need to continue building that nest egg. Keep reading all you can and LBYM. I've only been here a few months and I've already learned a ton.
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04-27-2011, 09:31 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,934
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by jannyf
We have a mix of individual stocks (which I hate)
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Welcome jannyf! You and I will get along just fine. 
__________________
And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know.
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04-27-2011, 04:35 PM
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#10
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 702
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Welcome!
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04-27-2011, 08:13 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 13,566
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Jan, like you, we focused early on the debt payoff, congrats on being so close to getting into high gear accumulation stage! One thing I did notice and suggest you think about, is that without a ever-decreasing $ figure to focus on (as when you are paying off those toys and loans) it is hard not to do just a bit more frittering of money.
This is a constant struggle for us, as we have the money coming out of our paychecks to max out retirement plans, but it is the after-tax savings that we don't always push hard to save all we can. It is just a different (and more distant) type of goal, and even though I know how to do it, I will still backslide every now and again.
Some good suggestions from here and elsewhere are written records of spending, automatic drafts to a far-off brokerage account, separating goals into close/near term/retirement savings, and re-using dryer sheets (j/k).
Welcome and good luck. I'm the 40 year old in my house and DH is the oldster!
__________________
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.”
Gerard Arthur Way
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04-28-2011, 01:13 PM
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#12
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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Welcome & Happy Anniversary ! You are off to a great start !
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04-29-2011, 03:14 AM
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#13
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Confused about dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Palm City
Posts: 9
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Thanks everyone for the welcomes! We're really looking forward to learning all we can & I think this is the site to do it in!
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