What's holding you back?

[Fishindude77]

The responsibility of owning a business and obligation to a bunch of employees and their families has kept my nose to the grindstone for many years and prevented me from ever taking more than a couple weeks off work at any one time. The good news it, that program is just about over with.

Other than not being able to leave for extended periods, I'm pretty content and for the most part we've been able to do pretty much what we want.

[Singuy]

Along the same lines, I'd say parenthood. There are many things that we don't get to do because of our daughter. Some of it is just general parenting stuff. Some of it is unique to her situation and personal challenges that she deals with. We love her implicitly, of course, and do anything we can to support her. It is just frustrating sometimes when I see other kids her age and younger being far more independent. I'm hoping that she gets there eventually because it would be nice to actually be empty nesters some day and be able to come and go freely.

+1 to that

I was just thinking the other day..by the time I am 40, my wife and I will have enough passive income to retire. Then I thought..wait a min..our child will be 10 years old! What are we going to do?...Leave her and go travel the world? So I see no reason to retire...not until she's off to college at least....

[disneysteve]

+1 to that

I was just thinking the other day..by the time I am 40, my wife and I will have enough passive income to retire. Then I thought..wait a min..our child will be 10 years old! What are we going to do?...Leave her and go travel the world? So I see no reason to retire...not until she's off to college at least....

My daughter showed me a story a few months ago of a guy who invented some tech thing then sold the company for $50 million or something like that. They are now traveling the world as a family, "home" schooling the kids, and have a blog where they share their adventures. What an amazing opportunity for all of them. My daughter said I need to invent something quick so we can do the same thing.

[Singuy]

My daughter showed me a story a few months ago of a guy who invented some tech thing then sold the company for $50 million or something like that. They are now traveling the world as a family, "home" schooling the kids, and have a blog where they share their adventures. What an amazing opportunity for all of them. My daughter said I need to invent something quick so we can do the same thing.

That's something I would love to do on paper..but the idea may be too radical for me. What better way to learn world history than to actually visit the sites hands on..or experience the culture! Perhaps we will just have really awesome summer vacations..go one of those 90 day cruises or something..

What is holding us back from retirement TODAY is the not the inability to but the unknown. It's really hard to retire thinking everything will stay at its current state for another 45 years.

[DaveInPgh]

I don't see anything wrong with this statement. People do generally become more financially stable with age. Debts get repaid. Children grow up and become independent. Savings grow over time.

Are there people for whom this isn't true? Sure. There are poor people who will always be poor but for the average working person, even modest savings over time improve their situation as the years pass.

Totally disagree.

I did a search and found numerous studies that suggest over half of the American population will not have enough money to meet their basic needs during retirement.

[Singuy]

Totally disagree.

I did a search and found numerous studies that suggest over half of the American population will not have enough money to meet their basic needs during retirement.

Yes, but can you find a study showing how many Americans can have their basic early retirement needs met at age 35? That answer is most likely 0. So from 0 to less than 1/2 makes Disneysteve's statement kind of true.

[sv2007]

Time is a funny thing; a long time ago, I used to think I don't have enough time. Until someone told me that you'll always have time to do the things you really want to do. Sure enough, since then, I always have more or less enough time. it's a break though for me in time management, and it's helped our my life a lot. So I'll pass it on.

[sv2007]

A successful person should have more money as he/she gets older: earning more income, having more savings = more passive income, while expenses (assuming house mortgage is biggest) remains constant (30 years).

Aim for success.

[DaveInPgh]

Time is a funny thing; a long time ago, I used to think I don't have enough time. Until someone told me that you'll always have time to do the things you really want to do. Sure enough, since then, I always have more or less enough time. it's a break though for me in time management, and it's helped our my life a lot. So I'll pass it on.

That is the words of wisdom you are passing on? Someone told you that you always have time to do the things you want to, so abracadabra you had the time?

Again, that is not realistic for most people.

[DaveInPgh]

A successful person should have more money as he/she gets older: earning more income, having more savings = more passive income, while expenses (assuming house mortgage is biggest) remains constant (30 years).

Aim for success.

I had a post edited yesterday because it expressed exactly what I thought about your post. I will leave that part out of this reply and just again point out how out of touch you are.

My employer laid off well over 100 people last week. I suspect that puts the total over 500 for the year, and probably over 1000 over the past few years.
I am sure all of those people would love to be told "Aim for success."

[Outdoorsygal]

Dave I hope you are not next.

[DaveInPgh]

Dave I hope you are not next.

Thank you. That was very nice of you to say.

[GoodSteward]

I think with age people are usually more stable and better prepared for life in general, but I don't think most of America is prepared for retirement. That's two different things. It is common for me to hear that someone older has a savings, EF, etc, but even more common to hear they have little to no retirement saved. Of the people I talk to who do have some retirement saved, I find out most are extremely behind for what they really need.

Overall, it's a wash for me. I see one in my family that has decent retirement due to teaching, but continue to be low on cash due to credit cards, car payments, etc. I also think we get skewed based on who we hang around. If we are with other people who do well, it gives the impression the average person also does well. If we hang around people who are always broke, we assume the average person is also broke.

The only way we do better with age is if people learn to do better and act on it. I see older people making the same financially idiotic choices as younger people. Between the church I pastor, and knowing a lot of people in general, I hear a lot. It's rare for me to find someone who is wise with money AND is also acting on that wisdom. People know they need to be saving money, but they keep putting it off to have things they want. People on lower incomes usually don't have much room for retirement savings, so they are not as apt to save. I have known of people to have 401ks, and find out after 20 years it's only 80k or 50k. They knew they needed to save, but had no idea how much. They think it's a lot of money, but sadly, it isn't. Also, a lot of people that I've talked to don't think much of retirement until very late in life. By that point, you need to be saving everything you can, but most won't. People seem to want that new car, or better house.

[DaveInPgh]

I think with age people are usually more stable and better prepared for life in general, but I don't think most of America is prepared for retirement. That's two different things.

I agree they are different but there is definitely a strong connection. For most, money is the main factor for not being able to do something they want to do. That and TIME, which I mentioned. And the main reason I don't have enough time, is because I am working to earn the money I need.

[GoodSteward]

I agree they are different but there is definitely a strong connection. For most, money is the main factor for not being able to do something they want to do. That and TIME, which I mentioned. And the main reason I don't have enough time, is because I am working to earn the money I need.

The American Dream. lol Money and Time are definitely the two bigger hindrances I believe. I was only stating as far as sv2007's comment, that for me it's wash as to whether age improves or not. I watched as a couple in their late 70s got a settlement of 100k$ from an auto accident. I tried to help them make sound choices. However, they listened to their broke family instead. They bought a used mobile home for 40k$ that was only worth half that(they had a very old and dilapidated trailer from the 60s). They paid off most fo the debt they had(they had loans and credit cards). They had a car they didn't owe much on, but instead of trading it in they just let it get repo'd and bought another used car that was about the same price. She didn't know you could trade it in, and the car dealer would buy it off you. I tried to tell the lady not to do that, but again she listened to her broke family who also did that and was "fine."

That's why I don't think age has as much to do with it as wisdom. Of the people I talk to young and old, only those with wisdom are doing better. It doesn't matter the age if they don't have wisdom, they are in bad shape. If they do have wisdom, usually they are doing good.