How much to live on?

[Snattlerake]

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

This is why we pretty much save half of our income. I see ppl here and in everyday life struggle Mai Lu because of poor choices-debt. We do not want that.
It’s extremely hard at time because you ppl on here have so many things for sale that I need(want) but I have to remind myself I’m playing the long game.

Just make sure you have good health and stay active to play the long game.

 

[Dorkus]

It is all relative. I know people who are in the top 1/2% income and asset levels, yet they do stuff to make more. I always wonder when is enough, actually enough? These people literally lose or make my annual salary each day depending on how wild the market is. Yet, they always want just a little bit more.

I am by no means in that category and not sure that I want to be. I am happy being debt free and have an amazing wife that has been by my side the whole ride.

I could make it on $30k a year and probably would prefer the $50-60k range when I retire.

 

[OKRuss]

Too many factors to ask anyone what you need to live on other than yourself/your family. Very first thing to do, if you haven't already, is to make a budget in writing. Write down EVERY expense even if just a Coke or candy bar from a convenience store. You should do this for an entire year in an Excel spreadsheet(just easier to add it all up) and you'll see EXACTLY where every dollar you earn is going. Until you know this, it's just a guess.

I've been doing a monthly expense tracker for years and know what we should spend each month on most items like groceries, gas, booze, dining out and how much each month to set aside for items that come up during the year like haircuts, birthdays, Christmas presents, dog food/treats/shots, etc.... Spoiler alert: It WILL be more than you think!!

After you get this part figured out, then you sit down with the family and agree to what you want your retirement to be and this needs to be kind of specific. "Travel more" isn't gonna cut it. Ex: We will be taking annual trips abroad for approximately 1 month at a time and have several destinations already on our radar. Our budget will be X amount for each trip so know to set aside X amount each month. Aside from that, we'll plan a number of lake trips which costs are TBD - just know we'll be taking a few each year.

Yeah, I'm kinda nerdy about all this stuff but once you see it written down then the light bulb should go off if not explode!

 

[T. MIKE SMITH]

All I know is my folks jamming that depression era down our throats my whole life may have helped- I turned 69 yesterday and we still have a house payment because the interest rate is 2.75% - I have a car payment cause the interest rate on that is 3.5%- my investments are averaging about 12%. I'm just a dumb ole butcher who was able to get another job with a drug co after Humpy Dumpty shut down. I worked for this drug co for 20 years and made ok money. Tried to invest and save my whole life. At age 50 me and the drug co parted ways- I cashed in my company stock and paid off the house I had just built on my family land. I went back into real estate after a 20-year absence in 2005. All I had was utilities and groceries but my then wife got all nervous that we would wind up with nothing, so she divorced me and I had to give her the house. After It all settled out and got my crap together, the rest of my 401K was at Fidelity from my drug co days. They just made it where you could go on-line and move the funds around you were invested in. No research, I just looked for funds paying 15-20% and moved everything into those. I doubled it in less than 2 years. I got nervous and decided to go to a investment friend of mine and get it invested in a more stable way. I have had good results and now draw SS and Grocery worker retirement. We had a little country place that I kept the minerals on and that has paid about 30k the last 10 years. My wife had a fairly good job so her SS is pretty good. I still do BPO work which is like a mini appraisal and sell a house here and there. I still buy cheap looking for sales and good buys on everything. We do ok, but we don't poop much off.

 

[Beautiful Mulberry]

Just make sure you have good health and stay active to play the long game.

Over all I am in good health.
I eat healthy, and exercise…some

 

[Beautiful Mulberry]

@Beautiful Mulberry

You are being smart. We are both retired. We’ve never borrowed one penny in our lives. No payments on anything. We live a very comfortable life. We chose to live debt free because we loved to travel and knew we wanted to save for the future, and travel we did. All of the US except Mass and Rhode Island, all of Canada, Alaska and a lot of Mexico on a Motorcycle, as well as out of Country multiple times. We spent a ton of our money traveling and still do. But we also made our money work for us in Real estate and Investing. We did scrimp and save hard in the beginning and went without while others our age did not and bought toys and new stuff. We bought used with cash.

We try. It’s extremely hard. I always want new toys. Most of the time I sell or trade what I currently have to try and get what I want. If I can’t then I do t get it.
Debt free I learned from Dave Ramsey. Like he says his name is a cuss word in some ppls homes. I have the magic ability to learn from others horror stories plus I don’t want to be like family, Im currently changing my family tree. The past few years has definitely been the hardest with government involvement (covid) within our lives.
Iv had to sell things I didn’t wants to survive because I didn’t want to spend our savings.
Besides they are just stupid toys and I can always get more.
Like you we do Scimp by a lot.
I usually eat 1 meal day, wife 2, kids 3.
We just remind ourselves it’s only for a season.

 

[CHenry]

I see these oilfield pups making stupid good money and buying up every toy or house they can. Over leveraged when they could be setting up a real nice retirement.
They seem to think that cash flow is constant and don't consider, that work isn't something their body can keep up with past maybe age 50, if that.

 

[CHenry]

I dont get why they didn't teach this early in high-school.
Save, invest for your future...but they just taught how to balance a checkbook.

 

[Beautiful Mulberry]

I see these oilfield pups making stupid good money and buying up every toy or house they can. Over leveraged when they could be setting up a real nice retirement.
They seem to think that cash flow is constant and don't consider, that work isn't something their body can keep up with past maybe age 50, if that.

I’m currently in the oilfield, I seen exactly what your saying