401k? Or pension?

And the beauty of it all is when you start pulling money out. At an average of 11% return and taking out 5% of 9 million a year, you will never be broke

 

Or you can have both a pension and 401k. You don't have to live off of 40% of your income with a pension. And you can set aside some money into a 401k in top of that.
Also there are contribution limits to IRAs and 401ks. $5500 annual limit on IRAs and $18500 on 401ks.
And then there's the fees.

 

magic beans!

 

I know what my Roth 401k and Roth IRA are invested in. I chose the investments. I know what kind of average return to expect. I know the track record of the funds. I also know that my 401k won’t be cut or discontinued. At my current investment assuming I started from zero today, I’ll be somewhere around 9-10 million in 32 years when I’m at retirement age. Given everything is paid off, I can afford to live on even less than I do now, which is 50% of what I make per year.

I’d never go with the pension.

 

My God, you make it sound like it is such a struggle to save for retirement. Since your so great at Google go back and see what doing without a pack of smokes a day every day and saving that money will return in 30 years. Hint, it aint chicken scratch. As to fees good advisors and investment councilors are worth their weight in gold. Mine have made me at least a hundred bucks for every dollar I have paid them. By the way there is no limits on how much you can put away. Only what you can put away and avoid taxes.

 

If you have to put 60% of the money you make to be able to retire comfortably, then yes that is a struggle. And that was what I was replying to. Somehow you think every one of my comments are directed to you.
If you have a sound investment...I'm happy for you. I hope you don't out live your money. Because if you do, you will be living off SS and whatever Wal-Mart will pay you greeting customers at 80 years old.

Me personally, I have both, a pension and 401k. I put 9% of my income into my 401k. I should see $3k a month from my pension. And that is adjusted for inflation. I have other means of investments that will yield me money for my retirement. I
With that I plan on retiring around 63 years old.

But, my point is I wouldn't solely depend on a 401k.....Or pension for that matter.
Many things can happen. If the market crashes close to your retirement, you are stuck waiting for the market to bounce back. That can take years.
If you have to retire because you no longer can work and that happens, you're screwed.

This is why I wouldn't depend on just a 401k. A 401k is far from, in my eyes the end all be all of retirement plans. It is far from it.

 

For the record, just over 10% of my retirement comes from 401Ks, none whatsoever from pensions. I am actually not eating at the corpus of the money. A downturn in the market would take some of my income away, but not that much. For the record giving up a pack of smokes a day for 30 years and the money properly invested will yield OVER 50K. Just the interest income alone on a 50K CD is almost $1300 a year. Not a lot of money but would pay for a nice vacation every year after retirement. I retired at 55. I could have retired at 45 if I had desired to. I made a lot of money in the 80s. I also made a lot of strategic investments too. Trust me I will never have to greet at Wally worlds. It should not be a big struggle to put back money for retirement. Social Security is not going to be here in another generation, at least not as we know it today. If you don't make these hard decisions to plan for these later years these kids today will be greeting at Walmarts just to survive. There are 10,950 days in 30 years. Saving 5 bucks a day (just 5 bucks a day) without interest is over 54 thousand bucks. During my productive years (1974 till 2012 ) I managed to put up an average of $125 a week.

The point I AM TRYING TO MAKE is these kids today don't have a choice. If you don't start planning (even if it means you have to go without something) your going to find yourself 60 to 70 years old and broke with nowhere near enough Social Security income coming in to make it. If you can get a pension great. If you can get a 401K that is great too. I bought land and hold metals. I am also invested in several mutual funds that have oil company stocks. I feel reasonably certain my money will continue to grow as I get older. I suspect when I pass away I will be leaving a great inheritance to my niece.

 

Nothing.

The reason I say that is pension plans are underfunded chronically.

401k with the state government was a captured match with a 9% deduction, they matched equally if not a little more to that percentage with one employer. We were able to see it vested from 6 months 40% to vested 100% in two years.

We cash it the third year. IRS took 10% off the top. Early penalty.

Because we closed the account with TIAA CREFT they made it mandatory annuity. Its 7 years pay out a small check at a time. Constantly earning interest on which more taxes paid. It took 8 years to get it all out of there.

The closest we can figure was we put in 4000 from payroll in two years. They matched each paycheck deduction to where the fully vested balance was 7600 at the time we cashed out.

8 years later I think almost a thousand was gone in the tax 10% plus penalty for early withdrawal and the percentage they managed to continue to make on the principale each year was between 5 to 7% interest on which we were taxed some more on each payout check annually as a annuity.

When the smoke cleared I think we managed to turn 4000 dollars into a income of just a hair over 5600 net over 10 years total. Remembering that we worked two years putting in 4K and they spent 8 more years paying out minus additional taxes on interest. Profit was around 1600 dollars in 10 years or roughly 160 a year.

You would do much much much much better working a second job at any pay rate provided you did not accumulate a gross of more than 600 dollars or a total of more than 3000 dollars income for each year in that little disposable second job. It would have paid out 6000 dollars over 10 years more or less rather than a 401K netting 1600 over that same period after vesting 100%.

Some of our stocks we bought and sold, usually in power companies here in America share prices are 6 dollars when we buy and a couple years later we sell at 35 dollar share price. 10% taxes or so on that profit and done. I don't think it took a year that one time we did it and a little more than that the second time we did that. Call it about 15000 dollars checks cut and paid to us when we sold the stocks those two times minus taxes paid.

I don't do paper money or stocks anymore. I am strictly bullion. Where is the bullion? Well it's kept in a vault under my name and can be at my home in 8 days registered mail for a certain amount and possibly two or three days if I have enough needing a armored truck with armed rifles courier the metl to me. Since I dont hold much or sell hardly any there is no taxes capital gained to be paid. Yet. The company I do business with has gone through some changes.

But right now the income goes to medical more than anything. My insurance just finished three total payments since october of roughly 24000 dollars with my share a couple hundred after a few thousand was written off to charity. I am literally waiting for my insurance to simply say enough is enough and drop me from the coverage. Especially when I have two hearing aids planned at 5000 dollars total with my copay less than 800 and vision work totaling about 2000 dollars planned with my copay and frames and lenes addons be less than a few hundred dollars. And dental work planned that will be approaching 7000 dollars. We may just skip that and drop in dentures for 5000 or less when the time comes. And there is about another 30,000 pending as soon I finish visiting my remaining team of doctors this year, cardiologist for one example. My copay will be 20 dollars but the two visits he will require roughly 8000 dollars in total tests. PROVIDED these tests did not detect a worsening conditioning requiring surgery I have a decision to make. Roughly a 130000 dollar one.

Hearing aids? Right this moment I run a experiment with 19 dollar hearing aids using 1970's technology with modern electronic form this month for one, and plan to buy a second a month from now. 40 dollars total for hearing aids with one purpose speaking and hearing people. It is not a prescription product that matches my hearing and induces a mingraine after a hour or two of use. Btu considering my 10 to 13 year old hearing aids no longer working and require either a rebuild or brand new replacement prescriptions, these little 40 dollar hearing aids in the walmart checkout next to the impluse buying products is working out very nicely for what they do. But I do not use them often because they cause more problems as a bad product than anything I have ever had in hearing aids.

That is if I even go see him this year. Ive already disposed of 4000 dollars in medical billion that went into collections while covering the last 3000 due and payable months ago and more piling up on my desk each month.

They say the most people spend the last year to three years of life buried in medical billing. Im already there, It's a question of how long.

The last time I checked the life insurance is more than enough to cover everything and some. Im worth way more dead than alive.

 

Amazing you chose truck driving over Wall Street. Wonder how many traders and brokers on Wall Street gave up their dream of trucking to pick winners and losers.

 

I have often wondered why so many people that should have went into law or become diplomats chose trucking. In my case I done well because my parents taught me to save. Then I got hooked up with a brokerage company that then merged with a bank. On my own I don't have the sense God gave a ####### on investments. However I have benefited from good sound advice, that I followed.