chinaco
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,072
Jess - If only I had figured out what you are figuring out at 27. At you age, I was not in debt... But I had not begun preparing for Retirement.
The only advice I would give to you is: If you are not in a high paying job that you can maintain... do what you need to do to get in a fairly high income bracket. For example: If you are not college educated (or some sort of technical school), invest in yourself to earn more and have job stability.
If the education has already been taken care of... it is not uncommon for people to increase in salary as they gain experience (kinda the way it works). However, you will plateau at a point.
A reasonable plan is consistent and steady saving over time, investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds (I would use mutual funds low cost/index funds), and allowing compounding to do its work. I would not take inordinate risks. Stick with a tried and true approach.
IMHO: unless you get a large windfall or have a very high income level (combined with LBYM), it will take at least 20 years to acquire enough assets to ER. And that is if the markets cooperate. If what I stated is true, you should be able to ER around 50 - 55 years of age.
One last note. There are two career paths one can take (once you have settled into a field). This is a source of debate amongst people:
One area where you can still find long-time employers with decent health and retirement benefits is with Large Financial Services Companies (like Insurance Companies). These groups are consolidating (fewer around than 10 or 20 years ago)... but there are still quite a few around the country. This service area also seems to be less prone to layoff than say the manufacturing sector. Another area that seems to be growing in need and salary is health care. Although... I am not sure about benes in that field.
All in all, if you stick with a basic plan and save earnestly... you will be fine. Welcome to the fold!
The only advice I would give to you is: If you are not in a high paying job that you can maintain... do what you need to do to get in a fairly high income bracket. For example: If you are not college educated (or some sort of technical school), invest in yourself to earn more and have job stability.
If the education has already been taken care of... it is not uncommon for people to increase in salary as they gain experience (kinda the way it works). However, you will plateau at a point.
A reasonable plan is consistent and steady saving over time, investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds (I would use mutual funds low cost/index funds), and allowing compounding to do its work. I would not take inordinate risks. Stick with a tried and true approach.
IMHO: unless you get a large windfall or have a very high income level (combined with LBYM), it will take at least 20 years to acquire enough assets to ER. And that is if the markets cooperate. If what I stated is true, you should be able to ER around 50 - 55 years of age.
One last note. There are two career paths one can take (once you have settled into a field). This is a source of debate amongst people:
- Job hop to try to increase salary
- Stick with one employer
One area where you can still find long-time employers with decent health and retirement benefits is with Large Financial Services Companies (like Insurance Companies). These groups are consolidating (fewer around than 10 or 20 years ago)... but there are still quite a few around the country. This service area also seems to be less prone to layoff than say the manufacturing sector. Another area that seems to be growing in need and salary is health care. Although... I am not sure about benes in that field.
All in all, if you stick with a basic plan and save earnestly... you will be fine. Welcome to the fold!