Owner Operators Savings & Retirement

Take 5000 a year in IRA pay tax now and won't have to pay any taxes when you retire.

 

Yeah and when the government decides they want to steal IRA's and provide you some kind of security check in return what are you going to do? Pay taxes on that money now and later. Keep it somewhere that you can liquidate it quickly so if push comes to shove you can stick it in a mattress while everyone else gets legally robbed and sold some kind of utopian pipedream that most people will buy hook line and sinker like universal health care, etc, etc. when I started reading news stories about ideas floating around how they could tap into trillions of citizens retirement funds IRA's, 401k's a few years ago I knew the handwriting was on the wall. Same as with e-logs about 12 to 15 years ago when they said only bad players would be required to have them. Now it's everyone.

 

You're supposed to do what?? I take it you are referring to "buy and hold"... Opinions differ on that. It's whatever works for you and I've certainly made the mistake of holding my positions and see them evaporate. Thus, I've changed my tack and work with some very smart people who understand the markets. I'm a great believer in "timing the markets" but it's something that you have to have knowledge of and
recognize when you need to pull out. Unfortunately, and as usual, the mass media and financial pundits will pooh pooh that idea and tell you to buy and hold.
It's interesting to see that the NASDAQ has just reached the same level as it did way back in the 2000 debacle. So its taken it 14+ yrs to get back to level pegging. That's just one example why I have a problem with "buy and hold." I know I had a mutual fund that actually tripled in value in 1999, and I got really lucky. I cashed it out before it blew up.
If you are young enough then a 6-7% return is acceptable. So in theory you $$ will double in value every 10 yrs or so. At 10% money will double every 7.2 yrs plus interest accruing, not bad at all. That's assuming the fund will trend upwards every single year. IMHO Indexing is a great vehicle for your 401K and even better if its a ROTH. I've had some good fortunes with 401Ks and come away with some tidy sums. There is something to be said about dollar cost averaging.
Adding $$$ every payday certainly works especially when markets are on the rise.
I've told a few young guys out there, that are in their 20s that if they are diligent, invest consistently year in year out, there is every possibility that they can be worth at least a $$million, and more, by the time they retire. The tools and knowledge are out there if they grasp it. Much more so than when I was young, when it virtually didn't exist. It was out of reach.
But quite frankly 6-7% is never going to be an acceptable return especially at my age. I know I can do better than that, but like I've said before, it takes knowledge and you have to take on more risk to achieve that.
I prefer to self direct my IRAs with individual stocks and ETFs. You have no choice if you want to achieve better returns. Higher risk comes with that decision. Sometimes, it's not even a good idea to be in the stock market at all! Being on the sidelines is a prudent choice at times. Now, might be that time. You don't have to be fully vested.
It takes patience and guts, but in my case it's all worth it. You have to keep the faith. And equally important, it's FUN to do.
But that's an individual choice. The reality is that the vast majority will NOT retire financially independent for various reasons. The main reason as far as I'm concerned is that you don't find it THAT important at a very young age and investing gets overlooked. That's a great shame.
But good luck.

 

I'm going to pick up a kayfun v4 and a DNA 40 and mess around with temp control