Author Topic: Too late to start at age 49?  (Read 4301 times)

tiredMike

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Too late to start at age 49?
« on: May 01, 2013, 08:11:38 AM »
Hi.  I'm a new Mustachian.   I'm 49 and want to retire by age 55.  Is it too late for me to do this? 

I have around 300K in a 401K, but I cant touch that until I'm 65 without penalty.  I have a pension of around 20% of my annual salary coming, but that doesn't kick in until I'm around 65. 

My wife and I have a combined annual salary of around 140K, We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cars.  The only debt we have is our home mortage of around 200K, and a car loan of $300 per month. 

I just looked at our monthly bills, and from what I can see, I can only cut about $500 a month.  We dont want to move to a smaller home because we have a great 15 year mortgage rate,  and dont want to lose it.  Plus, we dont want to move anyway.  Our house is not huge or anything.  Its a 2000 sq. foot colonial, no garage.

We dont go on vacations.  The only stuff we spend our money on is food, gas, and fees for my kids activities.

Any suggestions on what we can do to save more money and invest it to have enough money to retire in 6 years?

Thx!

TiredMike
« Last Edit: May 01, 2013, 08:21:03 AM by tiredMike »

superheropunk

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Re: Too late to start at age 49?
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2013, 08:17:18 AM »
Assuming you already have a nice pile of cash, sure.


Mazzinator

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Re: Too late to start at age 49?
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2013, 08:57:10 AM »
Start putting money into a Roth ira..you can withdraw your contributions tax/fee free..at any time...because your contributions are after tax money. Then consider a taxable account, but with only $500 extra you won't max out 2 Roths..

You may want to crunch the numbers to see if you should put less into your 401k and more into the other accounts mentioned above. Not sure about your tax benefit from lowering your income with the 401k.

Good luck!

Mazzinator

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Re: Too late to start at age 49?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2013, 08:58:17 AM »
Also, you can pay off or sell the car with the payment...$300/month to FI is much better than going to a car!!!

bevathome

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Re: Too late to start at age 49?
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2013, 08:59:52 AM »
It's not impossible but will require a 75-80% savings rate to retire in 6 years, assuming you have nothing saved outside your 401k and won't be touching the any of the 401k money.  (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/)

This blog post is a great place to start to look for ways to become more Mustachian.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/

I'm fairly new to the blog myself and hope some of the more senior folks here will provide you with more specific advice.  Good luck!

GreenGuava

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Re: Too late to start at age 49?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2013, 09:06:23 AM »
Hi.  I'm a new Mustachian.   I'm 49 and want to retire by age 55.  Is it too late for me to do this? 

We'll see.  The good news is, you'll know how long you want your taxable stash to last -- well, we all do, but it's easier to make it last five years than thirty five years.

I have around 300K in a 401K, but I cant touch that until I'm 65 without penalty.  I have a pension of around 20% of my annual salary coming, but that doesn't kick in until I'm around 65. 


Did 401(k) rules change?  When you leave your job, you can roll it over to a (traditional - don't pay taxes on it all at once) IRA, and I believe you can withdraw from those at 59.5.  If not, look up rule 72(t).

My wife and I have a combined annual salary of around 140K, We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cars.  The only debt we have is our home mortage of around 200K, and a car loan of $300 per month. 

You should know the site well enough by now to know how we're going to react to the car loan.  Can you sell the car, retire the note, and use the proceeds for a reasonable own-it-outright car?  Alternately, how much is left on the loan, and at what rate?

I just looked at our monthly bills, and from what I can see, I can only cut about $500 a month.  We dont want to move to a smaller home because we have a great 15 year mortgage rate,  and dont want to lose it.  Plus, we dont want to move anyway.  Our house is not huge or anything.  Its a 2000 sq. foot colonial, no garage.

We dont go on vacations.  The only stuff we spend our money on is food, gas, and fees for my kids activities.

Any suggestions on what we can do to save more money and invest it to have enough money to retire in 6 years?

You should post a budget, or at the very least, an itemized list of monthly expenses (expense and amount).  Categorize everything into needs and wants -- and we'll look for waste in each.

I doubt the only things you're spending money on is food, gas, and fees for your kids' activities.  For example, you have a car loan and a mortgage.

What's your current savings rate?  How much goes into your respective retirement accounts?  How much is left on the mortgage?  What's your current non-401(k) savings?  Do you have an IRA?  Old 401(k)s somewhere?  Taxable investments?  How are your investments allocated?  Are you doing this in a tax- and cost-efficient manner?

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!