Will I have to live on dog food when I retire?

Question

I am a 44 year old male, divorced, no kids, no alimony. I have around 12 years left on my mortgage(s). I earn around 40k a year. I put my tax refund (2000 to 2400) in a mutual fund. I pretty much live from paycheck to paycheck. Only bills are house, car, utilities, cable, internet. No outstanding credit card bills. I have about 12k in one fund and about 7k in another. I have about 6k in a savings account for a rainy day. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Sounds like your a little behind. However you still have some time. Unfortunately, you really should pray that Social Security is going to be there for you.

1. Add up what your monthly needs are right now. If your living on 40k a year that means you need about 3500 a month in income at retirement. (Ballpark figures here)

2. So, You would need to have $650000 saved to get around that a year. Uh oh! Sounds like a lot.

3. If you don't have a house payment and you get Social Security income, and maybe have a part time job. I imagine you should be ok

4. Sit down with a financial professional who can get into more specifics and show you some more accurate numbers. Make sure they don't charge you to do the meeting.

5. Other tips: don't buy annuities. Don't take touch much risk. Make sure your investments are consistenly hitting good numbers over the long term. Find someone to work with you.

Answer 2

Have you priced dog food lately? I don't know how people with dogs can afford them.

You can start saving some real money by ditching cable. What a waste TV is. Also it will simplify you life. Instead of having a hundred wothless stations to sort through when you surf the channels, you will have only 5 or 6. Much more efficient. Take the savings on your cable and prepay some principle on your mortgage. That should cut your 12 years to about 8 years.

Next try saving a $50 out of each pay check. Start a Ross IRA if you live in the U S and put the $50 in that. All earning from a Ross IRA are tax free. Can not beat that no matter how hard you try.

You will have SS maybe. That should help pay your property taxes anyway.

You did make a couple of good moves maybe. You do manage to have some money stashed away and you did not stick it all in one mutual fund but gave yourself a better chance by picking a couple. Be sure to monitor them at least once a year to make sure they are performing up to your expectations. If they are not do not hesitate to move the funds to another that might prove better. I hope the two funds have different investment philosophies.

Answer 3

If you intend to retire at sixty, you have sixteen years to save, save, save. I did so and can truthfully say that now at aged 65, I have never had it so good. Everything is paid for and I am at peace with the world. I can afford to do exactly what I like, buy anything I want or need, live like a king, eat the best food, holiday where and when I like and I still can save about 20 percent of my retirement income. Why do I still save, it is a habit that I got into thirty years ago. Every increase in salary I got, I put some into a mutual Fund or Assurance Fund which were payable on my 50th, 60th, 65th and 80th birthdays. Life is good.....................

Answer 4

well if you think about it you will have the house paid off.

you will have a paid off car.

you have 17K saved plus 2500*20 more years =17000+50000+ interest= about 75000

you will probably get SS too so that is good

this is not figuring in that you should earn more as you progress in your career so then you can save more for retirement

do you have an employer 401K plan that the employer will match- look into getting some type of 401K

you probably wont live the high life but you will get by. Remember you can sell your house later in life and move somwhere smaller and cheaper!

Look im 23 years old and have a blue collar job in the midwest so at least you should get to retire. without social security - it will run out, and living paycheck to paycheck, i will probably never get to retire so you should be thankful for that

Answer 5

MSN money central has a savings calculator that works great for finding out how much you will have if you put away such and such amount! Figure how much you want to live off each year during retirement... double it and add a zero... that is the simple calculation you can do for the amount of money you need to have invested in an IRA, mutual fund or other, and live off its interest.

Example : if you want $50,000 a year to live off, then double it = $100,000 now add a zero = $1,000,000... you will need this amount to get $50,000 in interest annually with out working.

Paying off your mortgage should be your number 1 priority!! having no mortgage at retirement will be a huge bonus and perhaps living off dog food wont be necessary then.

Check out MSN money central and click on their "savings calculator" it will tell you how much you need to put away each month or annually which ever you prefer... with the number of years you plan on working. Perhaps if the dog food thing scares you, investing in one of the dog food companies would be a good idea about right now... hee hee ! : )

Answer 6

Yes....So start now with taste tests to find out which ones you like the best, so you will be fully prepared. You may also want t consider buying a good tent, a sleeping bag, and a dog, so you won't have to eat alone.

Answer 7

What does your retirement fund look like? Pension?

Answer 8

ONLY TO ENJOY YOU AND TO GIVE BACK ON YOUR FACE THE SMILE:TRY TO MOVE IN CHINA WHERE YOU CAN EAT EVEN THE DOG!!!FORGIVE ME!!!!