Author Topic: any other older folks reading this blog?  (Read 17985 times)

Beridian

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 140
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #50 on: February 07, 2014, 01:48:51 PM »
I have been following MMM for about a month, I am 54.   I have been using MMM principles for quite some time, but I admit to being sloppy and stupid at times, I can and will do better.   I look around my house sometimes at all the junk I have accumulated and it makes me want to weep when I think of where all those dollars might have been better placed.   Despite suffering a huge financial setback due to divorce (long story) I have managed to hold on to a bit of a nest egg.  I have about 200K in retirement accounts plus I have 28 years with a large company and I am expecting a modest pension, the company retirement should also help with health care worries since that is part of the package.

MMM has motivated me.  I have a 5-year plan, by the time I am 59 I want to increase my savings to 500K (or more) and pay my mortgage down to under 50K (currently at 90K).  It may seem ambitious but I think I can pretty easily max out my 401K and Roth IRA each year (around 30K annually), and once the alimony is paid off (2 years) I can double up or even triple my mortgage payments (I have a 15 year loan).  With a little help from a favorable stock market and all the great advice I get from MMM I think I can reach this goal.  Not counting the alimony, I am keeping my monthly expenses down to $2500, so I think the 500K and the pension will be enough for me to consider myself financially independent.

And that is what I really really really crave…financial independence.   I may or may not want to retire at 59, but I want the choice to be mine.   I currently work in telecom and live under the constant very real threat of being downsized.   Consequently I jump through a lot of hoops and kiss a lot of butt at work in the name of keeping my job.   I don’t love my job, but I don’t hate it either, it is a good working situation and the money is great, I don’t think I could do better elsewhere.  Sometimes I feel like the guy who performs by spinning plates on sticks.  I look forward to the day when I can ignore the plates and let them crash to the ground and be my own master.   

My financial plan is set, now all I have to do is wait, watch, and hope.   What I do need to improve on is learning to be happy right here and right now.   Life really is this present moment.   I tend to focus too much on how happy I think I will be at some future date.  Maybe some of you have some advice.

If you are interested you can read my rant about divorce and alimony here (sorry if I sound a bit angry, but I am):

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/things-you-wish-that-you-knew-when-you-were-40/msg214712/#new

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22319
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #51 on: February 08, 2014, 10:53:15 PM »
Define older....I fear I might qualify. :)

I have grey hair...Does that count? (I did start going grey at 15 though!)

I hear you, 121! I got a tiny patch of grey hair when I was 12. It was the same summer I grew six inches, which is pretty unusual for a girl. It took so long to acquire any more that I called them "Defenders". I'm now 55 and the Defenders are starting to lose the battle. They are sadly and slowly on their way to becoming the majority. I used to jokingly list my lack of grey hair as another benefit of not having kids. My younger sibs with kids all have w-a-a-a-y more grey hair. I considered coloring it for about two seconds, but it would be so anti-mustachian. Not going to happen.

Great response, rebel100!

Sofa King

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 381
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #52 on: February 09, 2014, 06:40:28 PM »
I am 50 and hope to be FI by 54!!!  That is if I have no long breaks in employment between now and then. Been with same company for 5 years ( after losing a GREAT job I had for 10 years when the company closed down)  but have never felt like I could count on the job being there. It sucks feeling like this way about my job but I guess it keeps me on my toes and in 3-4 years I will have much more control of how I want to do things in my life. I don't want to wish the next bunch of years away because life is short and I want to enjoy my life now but it seems to be taking forever to get where I want to be.  I am sooooooooo eager to get there.

Cassie

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7946
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #53 on: February 09, 2014, 06:48:55 PM »
As my Mom always said the older you get the faster time goes. Unfortunately, she was right. You will be there soon!

Sofa King

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 381
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #54 on: February 09, 2014, 06:51:07 PM »
I know. Time def speeds up. It's just I HATE my job and it is sucking my soul from me more each day!

Cassie

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7946
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #55 on: February 09, 2014, 07:11:32 PM »
Living in that type of situation is very hard. I have been there & am very sorry that you are experiencing that. Hang in there.

cmk

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 44
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #56 on: February 09, 2014, 09:58:27 PM »
 Hubby and I are 57, married 25 years. We're frugal.  Neither of us likes debt, so we have none. Although we're both savers, we didn't invest.  In our early adulthood, you could get a decent return just by putting your money in the bank.  We paid off our first home early because the interest rate was 9.5%, and that was a good rate then!
 We didn't have our children until our late thirties, so we'll be helping with college tuition for 5 more years.  I guess that eliminates the possibility of ER for us! 
  We will do fine in retirement, but it could be so much better if we had done the research and invested in the market instead of leaving our retirement savings in money market cd's.

MinimalistMoustache

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 83
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #57 on: February 09, 2014, 10:58:09 PM »
Hi All,

Fifty-seven years young here :-) Love reading MMM now --- but it's taken over a year for me to get onboard. No debt, some savings -- not enough yet for comfortable FI.  First discovered voluntary simplicity/minimalism/ about 30 years ago via Duane Elgin. Divorced soon after and was a single parent who couldn't keep the wallet closed. Throughout the years, I gave aways LOTS of green employees to family members and various charitable causes. Worked and functioned despite debilitating Depression, and fortunately NOW realize the impact it also had on decision-making.

Employed the past (almost) 3 years, after a layoff resulting in 2 years unemployment and a cross-county move to PNW. I don't love my job or hate it. For years, I took care of the needs of all around me,  I now take better care of myself. While I'm more a saver then spender, I need to learn more about investing STAT. Looking back, it feels like I've lived more than a few lifetimes in the last 5 decades. I'm very happy for second chances and to be where I am right now.

happy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 9286
  • Location: NSW Australia
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #58 on: February 10, 2014, 05:53:19 AM »
I'm 55. Found MMM from ERE (as Jacob handed on the torch) just over 2 years ago due to a chance mention on a simple living forum. Downshifted for 2 decades, intermittently flirted with frugality. I had lots of pieces of the jigsaw previously but hadn't put them altogether. I had been puzzling on how to provide  a modest income without working, so I could do the simple living thing. So initially it was a means to an end, but now its become part of the journey.

Semi-retired now, planning to Retire Earlier @60.

NeverWasACornflakeGirl

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 229
    • Mommy Won't Work
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #59 on: February 10, 2014, 06:31:46 AM »
I'm 43 and so close to RE I can taste it.  My job has recently become almost unbearable, but I can't walk away from the money.  I feel like a fool because, even though we live way below our means, it seems like we've gotten sucked into earning as much as we do.  I make $90k and SO just got bumped up from $55k to $82k in the last 6 months.  We live in a low COL area and have no debt.  Even our house is almost paid off (only $3,500 left to pay on it).  Our only expense is the pricey private school we send our 8 year old daughter to.  We have over $500k in our retirement plans, another $45k in cash, and our house is worth about $120k.

I just wish I could quit my job tomorrow.  My SO loves her job and doesn't want to quit.  I don't even know why we need all the money.  Honestly when I look at what we spend it on I just feel puzzled.  Like, how does it add up to that much?  Like I said, we live way below our means and save 30% already, and, now that's she's gotten another bump up, I am planning to improve that to 40%, but it just never seems like enough. 

UPDATE:  After a bit of self-reflection, I realize that this pity party sounds a bit like, "Oh, help, I'm drowning in a sea of money and I can't get out!"  LOL  Yes, it's pathetic.  I've had a rough month at work, having lots of inter-personal drama, and that really gets to me.  I'm gonna put on my big-girl panties and figure it out.  Thanks for listening to me whine!
« Last Edit: February 10, 2014, 06:57:33 AM by Trina »

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: any other older folks reading this blog?
« Reply #60 on: February 10, 2014, 07:34:01 AM »
Im 49 and my wife is 45. Were debt free and have done pretty well with all our investments and stuff despite some really stupid decision over the years and am working on getting every dime working for us. I feel we have a vacation home were selling we own out right as well so between that and the toys that will fetch us another 350k to put into retirment. My business is a shell of what it use to be so I have been basically ER for about 2 years and my wife goes in 25-30 hours a week to do the accounting needs and run companing 401k etc. The business still makes a nice living and with our health insurance so expensive and 4 kids 2 in HS and 2 younger we have decided to take advantage of working till i am 52, 55 max the business will dictate this. I can then take advantage of the accelerated 401k for turning 50 for a few years and put a little more stache away in the case of unknowns with the 4 kids expenses etc. When the older 2 are out we will halve the size of our house and that will give us more monies from house costs differences as well.  This forum is getting me better in line to be always thinking about how to spend a dollar and save a dollar so I am so glad I have stumbled upon it.