Only 7,750 days to go!

[bank5]

It's not exactly my first post but I thought I'd tell a bit more about myself. I've learned a lot from being on this forum for the last couple of months so I also wanted to thank everyone for their honest advice. It's definitely motivated to increase my contributions to my retirement accounts.

My DW and I are both 28. We both are fortunate to have good jobs and plan on contributing $30-45k each year towards retirement. We'll probably have 2 kids, possibly as many as 4 which could delay retirement a bit.

I'm an LBYM type because I don't like to have a lot of stuff. IMO, anything that I don't frequently use or is not sentimental should be given away or thrown out. It's cliche but the best things in life aren't things.

I also like to live life looking through the windshield and not the rear view mirror. Although I don't have any long term goals I sort of subconsciously set short term goals - basically always trying to get better and learn more.

I'd like to retire at 50 and travel a lot, spend a lot of time boating but I also enjoy making money so I'd probably do some self employed work here and there. I'd love to see my nest egg grow during the my retirement years and give some to my family if they need it but give most to charity.

[rescueme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bank5 I'd like to retire at 50 and travel a lot...

Why wait till you retire to travel? Even though I'm retired (and my wife will be within a year) we traveled extensively during our wor*ing years.

With one-two international trips each year, along with at least one within the U.S. we figured that we could never guarantee our health at the time of retirement to pursue our desire.

Not to say that you should travel instead of saving/investing for retirement, but all "desires" should be considered in order to lead a balanced life.

BTW, leaving for three weeks "down under" next week...

[bank5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rescueme Why wait till you retire to travel?

I completely agree. I'm going to Europe for 2 weeks at the end of June. Up to Boston in August, and hopefully the Caribbean in September and Chicago in October. The only problem is I don't have enough vacation time saved up for all of the trips. Hopefully my manager will let me take some unpaid time off or I might have to cancel the last two trips.

Have fun in Australia!! I've always wanted to go there and New Zealand.

[Ultimate Cheapskate]

Welcome aboard. Sounds like you have your schtuff together. Great to see, particularly at such a young age. Me: Too young for Medicare, too old for women to care (per Kinky Friedman, America's greatest living philosopher).

[jambo101]

If you want to fulfill those dreams you had better start with the kids soon.my experience was to leave it a bit late and i was still changing diapers on the youngest when i was 50,now i'm 62 and am somewhat tied down due to the younger one going to school.
Another thing you may have not considered is how much it costs to bring up 3-4 kids,let me say its a lot more than you think.