49 and need to get the ball rolling

[stephenson]

dobig,

When I was 49 I was dumping as much money as possible into the equities market - I had almost no bond exposure.

Assuming you have income from your retirement and your spouse is working, you should be accumulating. You have time to weather market corrections - LOTS of time.

My circumstances were that I was working and my spouse was not - I overfunded my 401, put everything possible into the NQP, bought cheap real estate when possible, etc.

Just started thinking about bonds ...

 

[dobig]

Update

Have had some ups and dowsn past couple years but this is where we sit now.

Sold our home and renting back from buyer. Paid for next 2 years in advance.

Holding $880,000 total cash which we are putting into money market with APY of 3.75%(3 different accounts for FDIC protection). Waiting for better investment opportunities.

401k - $350,000. Contributing $62,000/year + $9,000 company match.

Wife's company stock - $325,000.

Lent mother $210,000 to purchase home which we will get back at settlement of her estate so don't expect it back anytime soon.


This coming year will start NQDC(deferred comp) and will defer $250,000. Limited investment options but invested in 5 different funds to include small, medium and large cap as well as 10% international. Payout in annual installments over 11 years.

My wife and me each have family members dealing with health issues and we're currently giving around $30,000/year combined to help and want to continue to help for as long as they need.


We're really struggling with how much we need in retirment since we're pretty frugal and our expenses are still around $2,000/month. We have no debt, we rarely travel and do not eat out much. We'd like to buy another property with acreage which gives us something to do but the people who bought our property sound like they might want us to stay here long term.

Any tweaks with our finances or advise going forward would be appreciated.

 

[pacergal]

What lead to your decision to sell your paid off home and re rent it long term?

What does Firecalc say for you?

I understand your desire to help family, however, you are better off making sure you have the funds for yourselves first. You have potentially several decades to fund.

 

[COcheesehead]

I would ladder the cash into bonds. You can get so much better than 3.75%
Renting and prepaying the rent are not something I would do, but that’s me.

 

[Sunset]

You need to have the $210 K loaned to mother documented as an actual loan or percentage of the house value on deed. Otherwise there are many situations where you could lose the money.
Example: she gets sued due to car accident, or she gets sick, gets treated and then the medical bills not covered by insurance put a lien on the house. Or (it happens) she borrows against the house (for same reason she needed loan from you) and loses it to foreclosure due to poor money management, or many other reasons.

Since the markets have fallen a good chunk, I don't see why you are waiting to invest in more stocks in a taxable account. Unless you are attempting a housing arbitrage (sell now, and buy back later at much less cost) which may not work out.

I will no longer buy bond funds, I can simply buy Treasury bonds, TIPs, and bonds at the brokerage as I've been pretty disappointed by the drop in bond fund value. Bonds I buy won't lose value as I'll keep until mature.

 

[dobig]

You need to have the $210 K loaned to mother documented as an actual loan or percentage of the house value on deed. Otherwise there are many situations where you could lose the money.
Example: she gets sued due to car accident, or she gets sick, gets treated and then the medical bills not covered by insurance put a lien on the house. Or (it happens) she borrows against the house (for same reason she needed loan from you) and loses it to foreclosure due to poor money management, or many other reasons.

Since the markets have fallen a good chunk, I don't see why you are waiting to invest in more stocks in a taxable account. Unless you are attempting a housing arbitrage (sell now, and buy back later at much less cost) which may not work out.

I will no longer buy bond funds, I can simply buy Treasury bonds, TIPs, and bonds at the brokerage as I've been pretty disappointed by the drop in bond fund value. Bonds I buy won't lose value as I'll keep until mature.

Yes we have that loan recorded and are first lien holder.


I like the safety of the 3.75% yield on the money market and we have access to our money. Think we might put 1/3 of our cash into the s&p if it gets back down to 3,600. Will put another 1/3 if it drops to 3,300 and the rest if we hit 3,000. I like round arbitrary numbers.

I've tried doing the FireCalc but it's showing outlandish numbers that I just don't believe. My wife and me both grew up poor and the numbers we have now seem like Monopoly money. Just doesn't feel real.

 

[Koolau]

Yes we have that loan recorded and are first lien holder.


I like the safety of the 3.75% yield on the money market and we have access to our money. Think we might put 1/3 of our cash into the s&p if it gets back down to 3,600. Will put another 1/3 if it drops to 3,300 and the rest if we hit 3,000. I like round arbitrary numbers.

I've tried doing the FireCalc but it's showing outlandish numbers that I just don't believe. My wife and me both grew up poor and the numbers we have now seem like Monopoly money. Just doesn't feel real.

If you're having issues with FIRECalc, there is a FIRECalc support forum on the main page. https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f36/

 

[old medic]

I've tried doing the FireCalc but it's showing outlandish numbers that I just don't believe. My wife and me both grew up poor and the numbers we have now seem like Monopoly money. Just doesn't feel real.

We can relate to what your saying. We still seem poor compared to many of the numbers posted on here. Even looking at yours, LOL.
The DW is still working, and we are living higher on the hog than ever. But we still have leftover money to put in savings each month. We feel secure in the fact that we can easily turn the super fugal back on.