When $10,000 yearly equals $200,000 saved

[FortyandLifeToGo]

If you have a good gig now, don't rock the boat. Having any degree is a great way to help sell one's self.

Tell that to the folks with MBA's working under me.

A degree is no guarantee to prosperity, if you can't beat the person at the interview and/or willing to take a pay decrease. Remember, we're in a deep employers market. There's are 10's of THOUSANDS of college graduates with no skill, high-level degrees, 10's of thousands in loan debt, making under $12/hr. Competition is fierce, and there's more applications than desks. 

I make well above US median, and without 1 penny of student loan debt.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Often I like to consider people who are paper millionaires (millionaires on paper) as many do not realize they are.  

These are the issues to keep you thinking when the call of life on the road living in an RV happens.  Its not easy to walk away from high paying jobs.  If the average dual income family is somewhere north of $50,000 a year; in many opinions that could be a $1,000,000 paper you are walking away from.  Hope you have saved a lot over the years, or that you can sell your house and pull some of that money back.

Opinions?  Sure this can be a trap, and many claim it as a trap.

I don't consider someone with a 50k year job a millionaire on paper.  A millionaire on paper means they already have the million is assets just not in actual cash form, such as house(s), cars, 401k's, jewelry, antiques, art, etc etc.  

A 50k a year job isn't a million dollars until you work long enough to save the million.  Anything can happen in between the day you start the job until the day you hopefully reach a million......such as disability, company goes under, job moves overseas, etc etc.  That's like counting your chickens before the eggs hatch.  Depending on your lifestyle and spending habits 50k a year may not even be enough to ever reach a million.  It's under 40k after taxes right off the bat.

I've had several jobs well over 50k a year and never had a problem walking away.  I figure if I could get one I can get another.  When I want to do something I go do it, I can and never will live my life on a boss's or companies schedule, wants, or needs.  They don't care about me, my success, my health or happiness.  If they did they'd let me take my 3 month trips when I wanted. But they don't and won't and so I make the decision for them.

 

[ArtW]

For 50k to equal a million, you need to make that 50k and live off 15, investing the other 35 wisely
Not many are doing that

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

For 50k to equal a million, you need to make that 50k and live off 15, investing the other 35 wisely
Not many are doing that

50k is only a little over 35k after taxes so you're living off 15 which is almost impossible in a sticks and bricks which leaves 20k.  Need to work about 50 years at that pace to reach a million.

 

[ArtW]

It's not even close to impossible to live off 15k in a sticks n bricks, depending where you live, my family lived off less
rent an efficiency apartment until you save enough to buy a small used house, don't splurge on food or clothes, buy a used econo car cash and keep it for as long as it doesn't nickel and dime you, and of course stay single, because dating / relationship spending eats up money faster than living expenses
In Columbus I could rent a 1 bdrm apt for $450 /month, x 12 = 5400
electricity $50 / month, x 12 = 600
Internet $30 / month x 12 = 360

That's $6360 for the bare essentials, leaving 8640 to live off of, or $720 / month, i spend less than that on living expenses (food, gas) right now
And obviously I was talking about $50k as 'brought home' money, not total income

edit for got car insurance, $28 / month = 336, so $692 / month living expenses, I still beat that every month
it's all in the spending

 

[slynne]

You just never know what will happen to you. My grandparents on one side died without too much of an estate. But most of that was because they didn't want to be a burden on anyone so they chose to live in a very expensive assisted living facility for several years at the end. My other grandparents had a daughter who never left home so at the end of their lives, she was the primary care giver and having someone living in the house turned out to be the thing that saved all of their assets. When my grandmother died, there was nearly 1/2 million dollars in assets which isn't bad for an autoworker. They were so frugal that they lived entirely off of social security and banked the pension checks. Also my grandfather was so loyal to Chrysler that he thought he could help save them when they were looking at bankruptcy in the 80's so he bought a LOT of stock when it was low. He got lucky there and wasn't wiped out. Had things gone done as they did for GM, he would have been wiped out.

My own parents were not savers. They literally did not start saving for retirement until after they were 40. They got lucky though. They bought a house in an area where values are rising. They made some lucky choices on the stock market. They ended up retiring fairly well off. They still aren't savers though and have been having a blast blowing through their money. They've gone on really fancy trips all over the world and are ticking off their bucket lists for sure! I keep telling them that the ultimate travel accessory is to bring along a daughter to carry the luggage but my dad always jokes that if they were to bring a daughter, they would rather bring my sister because she speaks French, Spanish, and German and I only speak English. I guess they have a point

Me? I am more of a saver than they were but my income has been much lower so I have less money. My plan is to move into a van and get my expenses down to around $20k a year so I can bank the rest of my salary. I think if I do that, I will have enough to retire by age 58 and have enough to live off of until I can collect my full SS at 67 (or it might make sense to get the lower amount at 62, I don't know). I won't be able to retire early without health insurance though so I am hoping that as a nation, we can come up with a health care plan that will allow older people to afford good health insurance. This isn't something entirely helped by the ACA fwiw. We really need to divorce health insurance from employment somehow (*cough* single payer *cough*)

If all goes well, my job will let me work remotely at least 3-4 months of the year. I love being in Michigan the rest of the time so going to the office will be no big deal but if I could get that van on the road into the desert or visiting friends in California for the winter months, I will feel retired even if I am not.

 

[ArtW]

I wish, oh how i wish, I had understood the time value of money when I was younger
Not that I had any money to invest then, but there were times I could have lived more cheaply and put some away

 

[BadSaver]

"I wish, oh how i wish, I had understood the time value of money when I was younger
Not that I had any money to invest then, but there were times I could have lived more cheaply and put some away"

I wish I hadn't understood the time value of money. I lost 20-years of savings in the 2008 housing crash. I wish I had lived more, enjoyed the day. I'm definitely not where I had hoped to be by now. My Army retirement probably makes me a half millionaire on paper. I'm thankful to have health care.