How am I ever gonna retire early? I really want to but I'll be like 35 when I finish paying for college?
Question:
Answer:
Well, of course it has a solution. The answer is "it depends". It depends upon how much you want what when.
College debt, life, and then retirement.
How early do you want to retire and what do want to give up for it?
I suggest that you need a blended solution. You have three priorities to balance -- college debt, life expenses, and retirement savings. One thing you'll have to avoid like the plague is credit card debt.
My standard answer for success in the future is that you need a ruthless dedication to financial discipline (i.e., earn money, save, invest, and keep everything working for you; no lazy money), a good white collar job, a blue collar skill like plumbing, and one or more internet businesses.
Roth IRAs are fantastic. You can accumulate gains tax free.
I think you need to do debt repayment, retirement savings, then allocate whatever is left. You can get extra work and bank the difference. It's about tuning and discipline.
I'd suggest you use Vangard low expense mutual funds or etfs to do you saving in. Don't try to be too fancy. Focus on getting it into the accounts and left he market work over time.
I won't be around to see how you make out, but stay flexible and discipline. Where ever I am (upstairs or down), I'll be rooting for you.
I know exactly what you mean. I'm 29 and trying to save for retirement too but my grad school loans are going to take at least another 10 years to pay off.
I don't have a 401k at my job either. What I try to do is max out my Roth and traditional IRAs and invest about 1/3 to 1/2 of my savings in investments. The rest of the money I put in high interest savings accounts like HSBC and ING, giving you about 5% per year.
I know it's risky and you don't want to take the risk but I think you have to because there's no guarantee that social security will be there to protect us 40 years from now. Also, being younger means you can be more aggressive with your money. It's worth the risk to be in the stock market because, over time, the market has proven to be the best investment choice (better than gold, property, and everything else.)
If you can, move back in with your relatives. That should save you about $1000 a month. I think it's totally worth it if youre serious about saving for the future.
Buy The New Buffettology by Mary Buffett. It will teach you solid skills to being a good long term investor and show you what type of stocks to look for and when to buy them.
Well I joined the Army and then the GI bill paid for my college so I am all graduated and have zero bills to pay and I am only 28. I think that Army then college was the best thing I ever did. When I got out of the Army, I actually had 15k saved up, and it all went to the stock market. After a few years, that 15k was 40k. Hopefully, I will be retired at 52. And my Roth is kicking butt so that is good, too.
The best thing you can do is contribute the max to your 401(k) and put it on cruise control and stop worrying about money.
The best thing for you to do is open up a Roth. If you can't put the max in the Roth every year, then Regular IRA is more beneficial tax-wise.
Good Luck!!
Erik
Actually you can do this if you are focused. First thing you have to do is prioritize. If you have any credit card debt you need to get that paid down. The student loan thing is relative. Considering student loans usually have very low interest rates they are really not issues and are seen as "good" debt if it can be such a thing. I dont agree that you have to be 35 when you pay off your student loans, all you have to do is increase the amount of the payments. If you really want save money in a good savings account kind of thing, I suggest www.emigrant-direct.com for that they give you 5.05 APY which is way more than your bank will give you. Next if you really want to take an aggressive line at retiring early you have to be willing to take on some kind of risk. This means you may have to teach yourself about stocks. I use www.sharebuilder.com, which helped me learn about stocks, and i started using it at 18. You just have to be focused, pay down debt, and aquire assets that appreciate. Come up with a level of risk that you are willing to take on. You have to take some risk. I am always willing to help if this seems to overwhelming, feel free to contact me. Hope this helps.
email me at marcus27596@yahoo.com. and ill explain a little method that can make you up to 3 grand a month minimum. it is so easy and fun, you can travel the country and its legal. Just email me, i look forward to telling you.
More Questions & Answers...