Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-13-2009, 06:27 PM   #21
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
mickeyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,668
[QUOTE=FurBall;875151]We never had a plan. In addition to maxing out 401Ks we banked at least all of one person's take-home pay. We didn't think it was for retirement so much as our "take this job and shove it" insurance plan -- a guarantee that we could live on one person's income if one of us quit or lost our job.

[QUOTE/]


Again, you had a plan but did not know about i,t but you worked it and it has worked for you...A Plan.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
mickeyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-13-2009, 06:29 PM   #22
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
mickeyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,668
dup
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
mickeyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 06:55 PM   #23
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,468
There was a time when I thought that a financial plan was something all nice and printed out and bound and given to me, by a financial planner. It was a plan that was written in stone, that I would follow for the rest of my life. Being too cheap to go to an FP, I didn't have one.

I started making my own plan in Excel, a dynamic plan in which I would tweak and change things as I learned more. After a couple of years of that, I realized that I HAVE a financial plan. It just isn't one that I bought - - it's homemade, from scratch, like good bread!

So, maybe a lot of those folks really do have a plan, and it's a matter of definitions.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 07:40 PM   #24
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
People who frequent this forum are head and shoulders above the average person. According to a recent survey, nearly 50% of the population couldn't raise $2000 in a month if their life depends on it. Not just Americans, but people in the UK and Germany fare even worse.

If they do not even have $2000 cash in their name, how can they even think of retirement, early or not?

See News Center | TNS US.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 08:07 PM   #25
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,021
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound View Post
People who frequent this forum are head and shoulders above the average person. According to a recent survey, nearly 50% of the population couldn't raise $2000 in a month if their life depends on it. Not just Americans, but people in the UK and Germany fare even worse.

If they do not even have $2000 cash in their name, how can they even think of retirement, early or not?

See News Center | TNS US.
My 2 sisters and my parents (in the UK) have a plan common to most of my family - live from week to week, pay your taxes and live on very meager SS after age 65. Only advantage they have over their US counterparts is that they will never pay a penny out of pocket for health care including prescriptions, LTC and eye care once they get to 65.

My brother (in Australia) is a lot more savvy and for years has been making extra payments into his pension scheme to ensure a decent private pension on top of SS when he retires.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 08:22 PM   #26
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7,968
1976 - in ancient times, one sheet of K&E Engineering graph paper with upper and lower 8&10% interest lines going out to 2006(aka age 63) - inputed $ invested and marked to market every month or quarter or so gave me two more lines.

All marks made with(drum roll please) a mechanical drawing pencil with No. 2 lead.

Alas I was canned. layed off, made redundant jan 93 but I kept it as a momento til Katrina - interestingly even in ER way early Mr Market in the 90's made the graph look real purty -until 2000.

heh heh heh - that's even though we got regular fancy quarterly updates on our 401k - with projection tables at 8% - my graph was better looking. .

At least where I worked if you were in the 401k - they gave you a retirement plan - including estimated SS and defined pension(we still had one).
unclemick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 08:33 PM   #27
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,021
Quote:
Originally Posted by unclemick View Post
1976 - in ancient times, one sheet of K&E Engineering graph paper with upper and lower 8&10% interest lines going out to 2006(aka age 63) - inputed $ invested and marked to market every month or quarter or so gave me two more lines.

All marks made with(drum roll please) a mechanical drawing pencil with No. 2 lead.
Wow, I didn't know mechanical pencils had been invented then

I remember at age 10 (1965) we were still using nib pens with ink wells at our desks in school - I was "ink monitor" in the class that year and we made up the ink from powder and water.

Other than a good job with a private pension I had no plan until age 38 after I had started on my 4th company and 4th pension plan (they didn't allow credits or rollovers when changing companies). At that point I started with the tried and trusted Excel spreadsheets making simple projections out to the future and also keeping a track now and again on how much we were spending so I had an idea of how much income we'd need.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2009, 11:06 PM   #28
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Pasadena CA
Posts: 3,339
Despite being active on this board since 2003 I have never ran Firecalc and happily retired in March 08(!). Not a big written plan but have a COLAd pension, paid off house and adequate funds (I hope) in an IRA. Generally a LBYM type. But the convincing element was a night in the cardiac ward. Just decided that what we have is enough and now if the time.
__________________
T.S. Eliot:
Old men ought to be explorers
yakers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 01:02 AM   #29
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,170
Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeyd View Post
So you have had a plan, but did not call it a plan or did not realize that it was a plan. But, it was your Plan.
I am not calling it a plan because there really was no plan (at least not a conscious one anyway). I call it LUCK.
tmm99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 07:59 AM   #30
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
donheff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,313
My "plan" was a COLAd pension and as much savings as we could generate. By and large, I think that is good enough for most people. Better would be to learn enough to make sensible decisions about asset allocation and fees at a young age. DW and I didn't do that until we bumped into this board shortly before I retired.

A couple of years before ER I finally developed a real written plan with detailed listings of expenses, assets, income flows etc., and ran it by a financial advisor as a reality check. I have never bothered to update that plan -- now I just watch my allocations. My "plan" is to follow a conservative safe withdrawal strategy which will be my budget. I will LBYM within that amount, hopefully generating a small excess to fund a mad money pool for frivolities.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
donheff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 01:18 PM   #31
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
calmloki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,271
Per John Lennon - life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Our plan was that rentals would care for us in our dotage. That was refined to thinking that we would move from one to another rental selling every couple years and reaping tax free profits - multi-unit rentals and tax code nixed that plan. Then we thought of rolling all the rentals into a big unit with on-site management. Seemed too eggs in one basket-y, so that hasn't happened. Then we thought that we would sell one unit/year, reducing our management duties and taking profit from the sales. That's not happening. Currently we have a trusted person managing the units - mostly - keeping my hand in to be sure that maintenance, tenant affairs, and bills are paid, and all as I wish. Passing on the lore of our old places. Paying him 10% of the rents and feel fine about it. With luck, he'll do this for a few years and decide he wants to buy most of the units from us. That's the current plan - we'll see what life brings.

Not really Unca Mick's agile, mobile, and hostile - more like the river - persistent, flowing around obstacles, delayed but never stopped.
calmloki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 01:43 PM   #32
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
RonBoyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,255
Quote:
Originally Posted by calmloki View Post
Per John Lennon - life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
Or even older:

"To make the Gods laugh, tell them of your plans."
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
RonBoyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 02:12 PM   #33
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
calmloki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,271
Oh those Greeks!
Might almost think that's a lesson we just keep re-learning.
"Man proposes, God disposes."
calmloki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 02:46 PM   #34
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7,968
Quote:
Originally Posted by calmloki View Post
Oh those Greeks!
Might almost think that's a lesson we just keep re-learning.
"Man proposes, God disposes."
More than one way to skin a cat. Remember Wm Nickerson's paperback - How I turned $1000 into a Million in Real Estate - in my spare time. I think in the 1960's??

Sooo whadda do all day eh!

heh heh heh -
unclemick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 05:00 PM   #35
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 155
I think my family is a microcosm of the population:

Self -- I claim I had no plan but as mickeyd points out it really was a plan.
Sister -- "But I need a new car and I shouldn't have to drive a tin can"
Brother 1 -- 'We love our jobs. It's so sad that you people think you need to retire." Live frugally on minimal pay from a non-profit.
Brother 2 -- "Everything I try to save, she spends" Eaten up with worry.
Brother 3 -- "The CPA wont' let me buy a new car" CPA is his wife who confirms she does have a plan and savings.
Brother 4 -- "We'd love to save for retirement but we can't afford to. Besides we deserve to have all the things everyone else has."

That's 33% with a plan and 67% without a plan/clue.
FurBall is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2009, 05:46 PM   #36
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Goonie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: North-Central Illinois
Posts: 3,228
Quote:
Originally Posted by FurBall View Post
.........
Brother 2 -- "Everything I try to save, she spends" Eaten up with worry.......

Brother 4 -- "We'd love to save for retirement but we can't afford to. Besides we deserve to have all the things everyone else has."

That's 33% with a plan and 67% without a plan/clue.
These pretty well exemplify my 2 siblings, however my "Brother 2" sibling isn't eaten up with worry, but that's only 'cause he ain't gotta clue of how it could be. And my "Brother 4" sibling has been so enamored with the 'Joneses' for so many years, that we figured that we would have heard that she changed her last name by now!
Goonie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-15-2009, 08:24 AM   #37
Moderator
Walt34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,290
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound View Post
People who frequent this forum are head and shoulders above the average person. According to a recent survey, nearly 50% of the population couldn't raise $2000 in a month if their life depends on it. Not just Americans, but people in the UK and Germany fare even worse.

If they do not even have $2000 cash in their name, how can they even think of retirement, early or not?
This reminds me of several relatives. One SIL just bought another new car, the third in three years. She's also the same one who told her husband to reduce contributions to his 401k because "it wasn't earning anything". He dumbly complied. And now she's thinking of leaving her job because she was late getting paid (again) because the business is slow.

But they eat out several times a week and take 3 or 4 week-long trips to the shore resort areas.

And when the family learned that FIL was three weeks away from losing his house to a tax sale for nonpayment of taxes, DW and I were the only ones who could come up with $3k on one day's notice.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
Walt34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Safe car part of health plan and/or retirement plan Buckeye Health and Early Retirement 21 07-10-2016 02:58 PM
50 year plan, best way to plan kat FIRECalc support 22 01-01-2009 05:38 AM
Does your employer sponsored 401k plan utilize a third party plan advisor? Disappointed FIRE and Money 13 03-25-2008 03:12 AM
Stock Market Decline-Tests your beliefs - Have a plan and work the plan dex FIRE and Money 21 08-18-2007 01:24 PM
35 buckets plan, starting WR of 7.4% - punch holes in me plan citril FIRE and Money 35 03-10-2007 05:46 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:55 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.