I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello to everyone. I'm writing a little about myself so everyone can see my situation. I could sure use some advise. I'm married with 1 child who is moved out and on his own. I'll be 45 years old. All critics welcome.
About 5 years ago something struck a nerve. I was 40 years old. We had no savings to speak of and no retirement plan. We had just bought a house two years prior and I realized I would be almost 70 years old when the mortgage was over. Then I thought about how much the taxes would be. How would we ever afford that when we were retired? I could harldy save any money as it was.
So, I decided to get out the only way I knew how. Reduce the time. I asked myself the question. "Whatif" we sold the house and bought something more affordable. So we did. The house we sold had a 30 year note and the taxes were about 5k a year. The one we bought was 3 times cheaper, taxes were 500.00 a year and we got a 10 year note! (I gained 1500 square ft too.) I figure we saved at least 250k on that move.
We have 5 years left to pay on the house. We have 2 years left on a vehicle payment. That's it! We should be totally out of debt in about 3 years. I didn't get involved in my 401k until we made the house swap. I only put in 5% as that was what I thought I could afford. To date, I have about 35k in there. 95% in stock. House in a small quiet town is worth about 40k. We probably have 20k in equity. My wife and I make close to 100k between us. If I liquidated toys we would probably have about 6-8,000 there. Savings is still very small. I'm sure we can dump more into 401k when things are paid for.
I want to enjoy life while I still can. I want to retire when I'm 50-55. Am I crazy? This may be very small potatoes to some of you but it's the world I currently live in. We spend way more than we should on fun. I need advise. Thanks for reading all of this.
Sincerely,
"Whatif"
About 5 years ago something struck a nerve. I was 40 years old. We had no savings to speak of and no retirement plan. We had just bought a house two years prior and I realized I would be almost 70 years old when the mortgage was over. Then I thought about how much the taxes would be. How would we ever afford that when we were retired? I could harldy save any money as it was.
So, I decided to get out the only way I knew how. Reduce the time. I asked myself the question. "Whatif" we sold the house and bought something more affordable. So we did. The house we sold had a 30 year note and the taxes were about 5k a year. The one we bought was 3 times cheaper, taxes were 500.00 a year and we got a 10 year note! (I gained 1500 square ft too.) I figure we saved at least 250k on that move.
We have 5 years left to pay on the house. We have 2 years left on a vehicle payment. That's it! We should be totally out of debt in about 3 years. I didn't get involved in my 401k until we made the house swap. I only put in 5% as that was what I thought I could afford. To date, I have about 35k in there. 95% in stock. House in a small quiet town is worth about 40k. We probably have 20k in equity. My wife and I make close to 100k between us. If I liquidated toys we would probably have about 6-8,000 there. Savings is still very small. I'm sure we can dump more into 401k when things are paid for.
I want to enjoy life while I still can. I want to retire when I'm 50-55. Am I crazy? This may be very small potatoes to some of you but it's the world I currently live in. We spend way more than we should on fun. I need advise. Thanks for reading all of this.
Sincerely,
"Whatif"