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'Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement'

October 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 pm

I am reading the above mentioned book, written by Henry K. "Bud" Hebeler, and I am already scared.

10-15% a year, which is what we were paying into our retirement, does not seem to be cutting it as a long-term strategy.

I'd share what I learned with my peers, but you good folk have the author and the title of the book now, so you can go borrow it from the library as I did, and I'm afeared of mentioning what I learned to my friends because the ones who care about this stuff have already retired, and I don't need to hear "oh that doesn't apply to me because I have a trust fund" nor the sobs of people I like when they reflect on their situations and regard them as hopeless.

I'm not out to make you cry -- like I mentioned, you're probably already retired or on track; or if you're only doing 15% in the 401(k) and maxing out the Roth IRA like me, you're just a few clicks away from learning how to change your consumption patterns so you can save more. I'm just saying I was complacent without good reason, and I'm now scared into making better decisions or cutting back further.

Right after I blow $678.11 on R-38 insulation for my attic.
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frequently I wonder if I'm the one in my peer group who's behind, and how I can catch up. I wish I had more friends I could discuss this openly with.

Posted in | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “'Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement'”

  1. db1974 Says:
    October 23rd, 2007 at 10:35 pm 1193178940
    1193178940

    Tackling retirement is our first goal after we pay off the credit card debt. Thanks for the info about the book, I'll look into it.

  2. fern Says:
    October 24th, 2007 at 03:06 pm 1193238402
    1193238402

    seems like an awful lot of money for insulation, but as long as you didn't overpay for it or were putting it in where none existed before, i think that's a good investment, so don't worry about that.

  3. Livingalmostlarge Says:
    October 25th, 2007 at 08:35 pm 1193344532
    1193344532

    Insulation will save money for you long term. Good idea. I did it on our place and yes it can be expensive. But would you rather have your pipes freeze and flood? That happened to me too and we installed a $4k gas fireplace insert because of the need to heat our house more efficiently.

    Depends on your age. I'm not sure how old you are but if you are doing 15% and Roth it's probably enough if you are in yours 20s. Right now all we can do is max out DH's 401k and our 2 Roth IRAs and we're in our late 20s. We started late because of grad school. So we're trying to catch up, but I think we're making headway fast. In 2 years we have almost $70k saved.

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