Investing And Building Wealth

[AzScorpion]

I'm on SS but didn't realize there was a limit you can earn till you hit 68. The previous year my YouTube earnings blew past the SS limits and last year SS sent me a big bill at the end of the year I had to pay back without any warnings. I think it was one dollar back for every $2 over the limit.
A couple years back I was getting ready to set up a business here in NY with 2 employees plus me. Went to the lawyer and by the time he got done explaining mandates and insurance I just walked away. $22k upfront to hire 1 or more employees in fees and mandates each year. Started a YouTube channel instead and have been having fun since with very little overhead.

Ed I was just watching a video on this a few months ago. After FRA there's no limit but up to it there is. Here's a good video explaining it and he has really good videos on his YouTube channel. What I really like is he doesn't try to sell you anything it's just a very informative channel.

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[Fordup]

Ed I was just watching a video on this a few months ago. After FRA there's no limit but up to it there is. Here's a good video explaining it and he has really good videos on his YouTube channel. What I really like is he doesn't try to sell you anything it's just a very informative channel.

Thanks Dave. I have a habit of jumping on the bus as it veers off the cliff. I thought it kicked in at 65 but was wrong and found out the hard way. I'll check his videos out because it seems like it's time for change before the correction.

 

[OFC Ranger]

When the time comes; Social Security, Municipal Retirement, 457b, and POAB (law enforcement related).

Hoping to build my final home, a modest 1000sqft barndominium type metal building on about 5 acres in the next 2 years. I will live comfortable, but not rich, nor do I have a desire to. Can't take money where we all end up.

I need enough money to keep the lights and air on and food in my stomach, the rest I plan to travel extensively in whatever the equivalent of my truck is now, but at retirement age. Once my bones get to old to put up tent contraptions, I will travel but stay in hotels. Once my bones get to old to travel I'll meander around my 5 acres keeping myself busy and hopefully go lights out in my sleep some time after that. I also hope when my time comes, in a somewhat selfish decision, I go before my significant other does. I don't handle the death of others well. I will still call out of work for a few days when one of my pets die.

But the good news is I turn 42 this year, so I've got a while to go if the old meat sack of my body holds out.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Disclaimer: This is just a fun thread to discuss investing and your own personal experiences and by no means financial advise anyone should take. Investing is very risky and you should seek out a professional advisor for guidance.

So after being on here for 3 years I’ve noticed there are many here who have done a great job at building their wealth. Some have very nice homes, nice vehicles besides their Rangers, nice RV’s and nice motorcycles. So how did you do it? Was it making good investments, owning a business, working hard and saving, selling or flipping real estate, marrying a sugar momma or even a trust fund baby. Lol There’s a lot of younger members here too who might benefit from some good advise from us older ones and even some of us older ones can always learn something new.

For me I've always been “thrifty” and have always lived within my means. That’s not to say I didn’t buy stuff or have any fun but I always put a huge % of my pay away either in savings, investments and buying real estate. I started my business in ’86 (painting contractor) and things went well for years but didn’t get my first really big contract until the late 90’s. It was a 160 unit condo complex which opened the door to so many other contractors and before I knew it I went for 2-3 guys to 7-8, I could’ve used more but hard finding good workers. Before I knew it I was in with 6 different builders from Western MA to Northern CT and a handful of remodelers and one of the largest fire and water restoration companies in all MA. We were going 6-7 days a week for several years and I have to admit I had some really great guys! When I burned out and decided to move out here to AZ I sold the business to one of my employees who was with me for 14 years. I helped him run it from here at first and financed it for him with a 0% loan. He always gave me 110% and I wanted to see him succeed which he has.

Along the way I had built 2 houses back in MA, bought 5 lots down in FL and set up several different investments. They (financial advisors) recommend you have have several “bucket” you can pick from, so make sure you’re diversified! Being self employed for all these years I wanted a consistent check when I retired so I set up 2 different annuities. One which I can start taking at 61 and the other at 65 if I want. The longer I delay taking them the more they’ll pay out. When your young these are great for dumping money into and letting them grow for a guaranteed lifetime payment. Mine also has inflation protection (I pay extra for this) and a death benefit. I also have a REIT (real estate investment trust) which pays out a nice 6% dividend each month along with my Roth IRA and a few other smaller investments plus savings. DO NOT rely on social security, I figure if it’s there it’s a bonus.

Some advise when you’re younger is start saving even if it’s only $25.00/week. Even though it doesn’t seem like much with compounding interest it will grow as you have time on your side. Find yourself a really good financial advisor a fiduciary is better as they’ll have your best interest at heart. Also live within your means!! I can’t stress this enough because life passes by so fast and one day you wake up and you’re 50! Skip the Starbucks and Subways and make your own coffee and bring your lunch to work. Heck I’d see some of my guys spending so much every day on these things for years. One said “it’s only $10” and I said sure but multiply that x's 5 then that x's 52 weeks. Now figure on another 35 years and you’re talking about a good chunk of money that could’ve been invested. That guy was the one who bought my business and is now still working his tail off at 53 playing catch up when I semi retired at 51. It’s not easy doing construction for 40 years as it takes its toll on your body. We did a lot of production back then and just thinking about it makes me tired. Lol I know it’s not easy and life throws you curve balls (kids, medical a wife!) but if you can start while your young you’ll have a much better chance at having a good retirement than starting late.

Hi Dave,

One of my favorite sad stories was when I was a very young Engineer at Ford. The company brought in a Retirement advisor. The advisor started off by having everyone share why they were here. I told the group of about 50 people I was here to learn how to start my career off to a good start financially as I only had $300 in savings. There was a older fellow, a real snot, that said he was into boats, boats and boats...and in retirement he was going to get an even bigger boat. And he was here as he was retiring next year after a length Ford Career and he wanted to learn how to start saving for his retirement. He spent what he made each month with no savings.

The advisor, being a kind man, told this Snot that he might need to be working a bit longer to amass enough to retire. Mr Snot snorted and said We will see.

Concluding the seminar, Mr Snot was so humbled and crushed as he learned that he could not retire and would never have enough to retain his big boat, and no hope of ever getting a bigger boat....

Lesson learned and I started saving, starting the next day by opening up an account with Dearborn Federal Credit Union. I then took advantage of the Ford Stock plan where 10% of your pay put into the plan would result in Ford putting in 60% of what you put into your account.

Then years later, another seminar by Fidelity who was taking over Ford investing indicated that it was foolish to have all your savings invested in the company for which you work. Diversify and I dumped my Ford stock in its entirety. Then when Ford stock crashed into penny stocks, I was sitting pretty in Fidelity Magellan and Fidelity Contra Fund, outstanding track records for both funds...

Best.
Phil

 

[dtech]

Smart move Phil, your story reminds me of the illustrious Joe Nacchio the CEO of QWEST some 25 yrs or so back who reassured employees and investors that things were peachy with QWEST all the while he was dumping his stock as his finance people told him the truth about the company's declining fortunes. Met with QWEST during their rapid growth period they were desperate for certain tech skills set that our company could supply to manage/deliver projects, big meeting with some QWEST higher ups, they give us a green light turn things over to a VP and leave, he closes the door and say ok this is how I work, I get you guys this project and I get 10% kickback , Joe Nacchio set a fine example. A lot of QWEST employees who were heavily invested in company stock lost their savings.

 

[AzScorpion]

Hi Dave,

One of my favorite sad stories was when I was a very young Engineer at Ford. The company brought in a Retirement advisor. The advisor started off by having everyone share why they were here. I told the group of about 50 people I was here to learn how to start my career off to a good start financially as I only had $300 in savings. There was a older fellow, a real snot, that said he was into boats, boats and boats...and in retirement he was going to get an even bigger boat. And he was here as he was retiring next year after a length Ford Career and he wanted to learn how to start saving for his retirement. He spent what he made each month with no savings.

The advisor, being a kind man, told this Snot that he might need to be working a bit longer to amass enough to retire. Mr Snot snorted and said We will see.

Concluding the seminar, Mr Snot was so humbled and crushed as he learned that he could not retire and would never have enough to retain his big boat, and no hope of ever getting a bigger boat....

Lesson learned and I started saving, starting the next day by opening up an account with Dearborn Federal Credit Union. I then took advantage of the Ford Stock plan where 10% of your pay put into the plan would result in Ford putting in 60% of what you put into your account.

Then years later, another seminar by Fidelity who was taking over Ford investing indicated that it was foolish to have all your savings invested in the company for which you work. Diversify and I dumped my Ford stock in its entirety. Then when Ford stock crashed into penny stocks, I was sitting pretty in Fidelity Magellan and Fidelity Contra Fund, outstanding track records for both funds...

Best.
Phil

It's surprising how many don't have a clue how much (or how to start) they'll need for retirement. I see so many in their 50's and 60's who have either saved very little or nothing at all and still think they can retire at 62. I know things in life get int the way (kids and medical being the biggest) but I really believe this should be taught in school so people are aware of this. Then there are those who think they'll be able to live off SS alone. It's a real eye opener when they look at what SS actually pays you especially at the age of 62.

I'll admit I wish I listened to my dad when I was 18 and he said to open up an IRA. Back then I was only worried about 2 things, my car and my girlfriend and putting money away for retirement was the farthest thing on my mind. I didn't really start until my late 20's and went through a few "learning" curves and a few recessions. I've always lived within my means and started saving everything I could from then on. I was lucky to have a great business and great employees to where I could make as much or as little as I wanted to. Funny because I wanted to set all of them up with a retirement plan and not one wanted in on it. As much as I tried to school them on how important it was they could've cared less. Kind of like your snot there they all "thought" they knew better. One came right out and told me F that I live for today and not for the future. I still talk to him from time to time and yup he's still working his butt off trying to play catch up now. But now it's harder because he's older and his body won't allow him to work as long and hard as it did 30 years ago. One thing that's guaranteed is we're all going to get old and it's tough to think of this when you're 18 and think you know everything. lol

 

[ROBERTECOX]

My long term investment plan:
1. play the lottery
2. invest in crypto
3. send money to help out that Nigerian prince

 

[Murphie]

Not that I am on SS, but I think it's a crock that it is taxed.

It's not always taxed. It just depends on how much other income you have. I retired several years ago, and manage to live off of social security combined with other funds (for now - anyway). I've only paid taxes one year, and that was due to some capital gains that I took that year.

 

[AzScorpion]

Inflation is still increasing so expect the Fed to continue raising rates. They might have to step on the gas a little harder again and go back to a .50% rate increase at the next meeting. Don't let the stock market fool you as they're not listening to what Powell is saying and most of these bond traders are playing with other peoples money. Powell has made it clear they're NOT going to stop raising rates until they get inflation under control and back down to 2%-3% and says rates can and will stay higher through 2024.

Some of the Bobbleheads are saying the Fed will start cutting rates by as early as this summer, it's never going to happen! We had 15+ years of free (0% federal funds rate) money and there's no possible way you're going to get inflation under control in a short time. Wall Street just isn't listening and don't be fooled by them. You'll start to see higher interest longer term CD's soon and that money market account at Fidelity I posted about back on post #102 is now up to 4.47% now. So if you have money sitting in a saving account earning 1/10% you can be making some really great interest now. It's a fully liquid account and you can even write (free) checks from it.

Here's the latest from the Fed after todays inflation numbers came out. These are not a sign that things are getting any better. No the sky is not falling but we're in for a long ride but it's great for savers who can now get some good returns on their money without taking any risk. CD's, Treasuries (hit n5% yesterday) and money market accounts are all a great place to park money in right now.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-february-16-2023-122740853.html

Two Federal Reserve officials also made headlines Thursday with comments suggesting the central bank could be in for a long battle with inflation.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she was open to raising interest rates by 0.50%, more than what her peers voted for during the last monetary policy meeting. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he favors additional rate hikes amid sticky inflation at the Fed's March meeting. Bullard said he favored bringing up the federal funds rate to 5.375% as soon as possible, up from a current level of 4.50%-4.75%."

 

[that408guy]

My long term investment plan:
1. play the lottery
2. invest in crypto
3. send money to help out that Nigerian prince

You forgot NFTs!

 

[Synfulz]

You forgot NFTs!

Smoking deal on my ape. Only 100k. ??

 

[AzScorpion]

Just as I thought the Fed isn't going to let their foot off the gas on these rate hikes anytime soon. With inflation still on the rise we could see another .50% rise next month instead of a .25% one. This is definitely not the time to try to be buying a house or a vehicle but maybe we'll start seeing the manufacturers bringing back some low interest rates trying to incentives car buying? But it has been great for those of us who are savers as we're finally able to get decent rates on CD's and MM accounts along with T-Bills that were at 5%.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/fed-economists-central-bank-cause-111000276.html

Fed economists say the central bank will have to cause serious pain to Americans and the economy if it sticks to its current path

In the Fed minutes released this week, the central bank's own economists have started to sound the alarm on a recession. Among other warnings, officials said inflation's not going away anytime soon.

"The staff still viewed the possibility of a recessionsometime this year as a plausible alternative to the baseline," the minutes read.

Jerome Powell, for his part, has insisted that the Fed's 2% inflation target is set in stone. But that dogmatism could cause a lot of pain for Americans and the economy.

For the central bank to reach that inflation goal, it would need to create a deep recession and more than double the unemployment rate, according to a recent paper from the Cleveland Fed.

The authors of the report see inflation hovering at 2.75% by the end of 2025.

 

[Fordup]

We bought our

Just as I thought the Fed isn't going to let their foot off the gas on these rate hikes anytime soon. With inflation still on the rise we could see another .50% rise next month instead of a .25% one. This is definitely not the time to try to be buying a house or a vehicle but maybe we'll start seeing the manufacturers bringing back some low interest rates trying to incentives car buying? But it has been great for those of us who are savers as we're finally able to get decent rates on CD's and MM accounts along with T-Bills that were at 5%.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/fed-economists-central-bank-cause-111000276.html

Fed economists say the central bank will have to cause serious pain to Americans and the economy if it sticks to its current path

We bought our first house in the early 80s. The mortgage rate was 18% at all our local banks. We got lucky the seller held it for 5 years at 14% with a baloon payoff. I think we will see similar pain this cycle. I read an article about how the same scenario as we are in now started in 1925 and didn't have a good ending. Never-ending government spending pushing inflation and the rise of the communist party were the problems. Then it took a world War to bring the economy back in the end. The scary part is the current push for digital currency that may start before the end of this year.

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