Hello,
I was able to land a good job fresh out of college at 22 and have done a decent job of saving for retirement. I just turned 28, I'm single and have no kids, make around $135k/year, and have great benefits. I have accrued about $220k in retirement funds including pension, plus around $10k in retirement health funds. Additionally, I have saved about $70k cash and I have around $40k in home equity and no other debts. I feel like that is a decent start for my age although I wish I had done better (At age 24 I owned $10k worth of stock that would be worth about $600k at today's market price. Unfortunately, I sold it after a nominal gain to use as the down payment on my house.)
My big wonder is this: With the recession, you could have jumped into numerous stocks and had unprecedented gains if you had the cash on hand. For those who didn't, why not pick a winner, obtain a job with them, and rollover your current 401k into their retirement plan and invest very heavily into their company stock? I would have loved to sell clothes for Dillard's for $10/hr when their stock was at $4. With a stock price at $80 now, you could have retired in a couple years if you had much at all to roll over. That is only one example of many. Working for a large corporation, I don't get to reap the benefits of a volatile stock (which most people see as a benefit.) I am consumed by this idea that I can get rich by going backward. I must be crazy to want to leave the kind of job that I have for something much less sought after. If an opportunity arises with a company that I feel has a significant amount of potential growth and longevity at a time when they are significantly undervalued, why not jump ship and cash in? I will always have a job with my current employer if I want to come back and I understand the tax implications for someone who's 401k is heavily invested in company stock, which mine is not. I'm just curious what everyone else's thoughts are...
I was able to land a good job fresh out of college at 22 and have done a decent job of saving for retirement. I just turned 28, I'm single and have no kids, make around $135k/year, and have great benefits. I have accrued about $220k in retirement funds including pension, plus around $10k in retirement health funds. Additionally, I have saved about $70k cash and I have around $40k in home equity and no other debts. I feel like that is a decent start for my age although I wish I had done better (At age 24 I owned $10k worth of stock that would be worth about $600k at today's market price. Unfortunately, I sold it after a nominal gain to use as the down payment on my house.)
My big wonder is this: With the recession, you could have jumped into numerous stocks and had unprecedented gains if you had the cash on hand. For those who didn't, why not pick a winner, obtain a job with them, and rollover your current 401k into their retirement plan and invest very heavily into their company stock? I would have loved to sell clothes for Dillard's for $10/hr when their stock was at $4. With a stock price at $80 now, you could have retired in a couple years if you had much at all to roll over. That is only one example of many. Working for a large corporation, I don't get to reap the benefits of a volatile stock (which most people see as a benefit.) I am consumed by this idea that I can get rich by going backward. I must be crazy to want to leave the kind of job that I have for something much less sought after. If an opportunity arises with a company that I feel has a significant amount of potential growth and longevity at a time when they are significantly undervalued, why not jump ship and cash in? I will always have a job with my current employer if I want to come back and I understand the tax implications for someone who's 401k is heavily invested in company stock, which mine is not. I'm just curious what everyone else's thoughts are...