Fellow Mustachiates....lend me your keyboards, as it were.
I am brand new to this forum, after spending a week reading the main sites blogs and comments, and I have a dilemna that hopefully one of you Subblers or Senior Mustachians, can help me with. My financial situation is good, but as people you have talked to before, I have made some VERY BAD mistakes (money wise).
My financial house, is as follows: I am a 43yo male, living in Louisiana, I am single, have no children. I care for no one in my house (except 3 dogs...2 of which I inherited). I have a full time job and am a full time Reservist (a weekend a month, 2 weeks a year). My primary job is also a Govt. job, that I applied for after getting out of Active duty, in 1998. I am about to retire from the Reserves, but will not receive a pension, until I turn 48 (about 2 years after I retire). I have deployed to Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan (1) and have thanked God for letting me come back in one piece. The money earned there (tax free) paid off Car note (in '07) and Truck note (in '12). I will not retire from my Main job, until I turn 55 (about 12 years). I own a home (recently refinanced to 15 years) and owe about $125K. The home was recently appraised for $145K. I have not owned another home, so if I decide to sell, I will keep most of the profits (minue sellers fees). My only other debt is a credit card, with $4500 on it (currently making payments above the norm of $350/month...but am considering using stashed money to pay it off completely, leaving me only my mortgage.
I have 2 vehicles, both of which are paid. One is a '05 Tacoma and the other is a '02 Civic (my daily driver). The truck is for the weekends, or moving items for family, otherwise it stays mostly in the garage (EXCEPT during Hurricane Season, when i have to beat feet out of the state from an approaching storm).
I currently have $16K in a 401K, with employer matching (TSP for government folks, contribute $200/month), $2K (Emergency Fund on hand), some physical Gold/Silver (about $5K), $10K (in a online account, in case we I ever have a Sequestration, as the U.S. had in 10/13), $2900 mutual fund (I contribute $100/month), $2300 in the bank. On my main job, I am to far off to get a 'guesstimation' of what my monthly retirement will be, and Reserves will be about $1K/month (+ or -). I make about $2258/month (after taxes) from both Main job and Reserves. That is about it in a nutshell.
So you may be saying to yourself, "How come this person does not have more money than this socked away", as you scratch your Bearded face? This is where the VERY BAD money mistakes kick in.
When I got back from Afghanistan, a 'Friend' came to me with a prospectus, about a business he wanted to start with me. I had the money, he had the skills/determination. I have always wanted to start a business, as my father did, so after some head scratching/soul searching I was in. I received a second mortgage (Mistake Numero Uno), and we went into business together. The business was Long Haul trucking. For those of you who do not know, there are 2 major types (Long haul and Local). Long haul is just as it sounds, driving across many states, to deliver frieght, and local, is staying (roughly) around your state/city you live in). Long haul (generally) pays more than Local. Long story short, I borrow $40K, we buy a used truck, and start the business, everything is great, until we start to have minor problems. My 'friend', got in an accident, not his fault according to him, with a Toyota Avalon, driven by an old married couple. The vehicle took out the passenger sides Diesel tank, thankfully no one was hurt. Their insurance paid for the damages....eventually. My 'friend' was out of work for 2 months, while our insurance/their insurance went toe to toe to see how much the damage would be repaired for. During this time, our business made no money (Mistake Numbro Dos), but lost ALOT of it (this was during 2010, when the economy was really getting worse). While my 'friend' was at home, he became overweight, through inactivity. When the truck was fixed and ready to work, my 'friend' had to get his truckers license renewed and in the trucking business, before you can be cleared by a physician, you must be physically fit. He was not. He had high blood pressure, 100 pounds overweight, etc., so his license was not cleared to operate a truck. This put him on the sidelines for almost 4 months while he lost the weight. Long story short, he had little money saved, I 'loaned' him, almost $10K in personal loans, and when he finally was able to get back on the road, his wife left him, with their 3 children. While this happened I was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, and was out of country, so I did not hear anything about his divorce, etc. Needing money, he sold the truck (Mistake Numero Tres) since it was in our companies name, while not telling me, or needing my permission to do so (since we were both co-owners of the truck), for $17K (an $18K loss) and within 2 months that money was gone (used for living expenses, child support, food, etc....or just plain wastefulness). Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, I heard through a friend of ours, what was going on, but by this time it was too late. The money was gone, business dissolved, 'friend' not returning calls/emails, and me holding an almost over $50K (with interest). When I refinanced my home, I rolled this second mortgage into it, and drop to a 15 year loan.
I would LOVE to be like the tripled M one (as I'm sure most of us would) and retire soon. I was GOING TO retire when I was 55....but that may not be possible. Apologies if it gets a little....whiney toward the end, but buried feelings rise to the surface, occassionally.
If after reading this story, if you have any ideas/advise, I would be grateful to hear from you.
May your Stubble, become Full Flowing Beards (As Triple M's is)!!!