Retirement Savings -- Countup

[Randomsaver]

And here is my update:

Here are the current balances:

TSP: $4,969.00
SEP IRA: $31,618.46
ROTH IRA: $26,154.95
Taxable Brokerage: $6,337.02
Total: $69,079.43

Better than last time I posted.

Also - just wanted to point out that I've been somewhat cash constrained in the last few years - kids will do that -

Yup kids, and in my case, parents, siblings, and exes. Btw, congrats on the count up!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Random I'm always confused how old you are. You should put down in the signature how long until you are 55. Anyway the other question is if you hit $120k before 55 won't you need more?

James great job and ever bit counts.

Four years after refinancing my mortgage and I've saved every month the $720 difference into an account and invested it. $68750 to pay down my mortgage in 8/2028.

It's not theoretically it's real. I saved 0.75% on my arm for 7 years since we had 2.75% 30 years versus 2% so 0.75% interest on a large number and I saved the difference in payment. So I'm pretty sure we are coming out ahead.

The question is where will I end up in 2028? Max I can pay is 7%. But in 2028 it'll be with whatever my investment account could be used to pay down and I'll have saved 0.75% interest on a big number.

[james.hendrickson]

Random I'm always confused how old you are. You should put down in the signature how long until you are 55. Anyway the other question is if you hit $120k before 55 won't you need more?

James great job and ever bit counts.

Four years after refinancing my mortgage and I've saved every month the $720 difference into an account and invested it. $68750 to pay down my mortgage in 8/2028.

It's not theoretically it's real. I saved 0.75% on my arm for 7 years since we had 2.75% 30 years versus 2% so 0.75% interest on a large number and I saved the difference in payment. So I'm pretty sure we are coming out ahead.

The question is where will I end up in 2028? Max I can pay is 7%. But in 2028 it'll be with whatever my investment account could be used to pay down and I'll have saved 0.75% interest on a big number.

Thank you LivingAlmostLarge, I've been doing a few things that help:

1. Putting all extra money into retirement. So this is a few bucks from taking back bottles and cans, or from stuff I sell on Facebook marketplace, or the like.
2. Reinvesting all dividends.
3. Moving money from dead accounts to retirement. I was heavily invested in Prosper.com for a while, but they changed their fee structure and it just wasn't worth it, so I'm moving the money out of that account into my IRAs.
4. I sell my spare bandwidth and browsing history. That's a few bucks a month, so I'm also socking that away.
5. Whenever I get paid, I put between 5% and 15% of my income into retirement. Generally speaking, I save more when I've got fewer expenses.

And good work on refinancing your mortgages, that's good basic personal finance blocking and tackling.

[Randomsaver]

Random I'm always confused how old you are. You should put down in the signature how long until you are 55. Anyway the other question is if you hit $120k before 55 won't you need more?

About 3.5 years before I turn 56. If I hit $120K before 56, yeah I will just continue adding up. That is the best scenario.

[Randomsaver]

About 3 full years to 56 LAL. Yes, I will just be adding to $120K if I hit it earlier than. That will be the best scenario.


Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 56 to be used for Age 56-61
Balance: $ 83K
End-Goal by 56: $120K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $346K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 73K
Total Retirement Savings: $410K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)

My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jan of 2033):
401 : $ 1.47K
IRA : $ 0.30K
SS : $ 1.61K
Tot : $ 3.38K
Goal: $ 4.00K
The mood is to get to 80:20.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Thank you LivingAlmostLarge, I've been doing a few things that help:

1. Putting all extra money into retirement. So this is a few bucks from taking back bottles and cans, or from stuff I sell on Facebook marketplace, or the like.
2. Reinvesting all dividends.
3. Moving money from dead accounts to retirement. I was heavily invested in Prosper.com for a while, but they changed their fee structure and it just wasn't worth it, so I'm moving the money out of that account into my IRAs.
4. I sell my spare bandwidth and browsing history. That's a few bucks a month, so I'm also socking that away.
5. Whenever I get paid, I put between 5% and 15% of my income into retirement. Generally speaking, I save more when I've got fewer expenses.

And good work on refinancing your mortgages, that's good basic personal finance blocking and tackling.

Even if I don't use the money saved to pay down the mortgage, I can look at it and decide. It still might be worth looking at if I come out ahead since the paydown at 2% is so much faster that in 7 years I might have shaved down enough to afford a 15 year mortgage if I wanted.

Random looks to me like you're going to hit $120k in the next year instead of 3 years. Is that what you are projecting at the rate of savings?

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 56 to be used for Age 56-61
Balance: $ 84K
End-Goal by 56: $120K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $351K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 74K
Total Retirement Savings: $425K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)

My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jan of 2033):
401 : $ 1.49K
IRA : $ 0.30K
SS : $ 1.61K
Tot : $ 3.40K
Goal: $ 4.00K
The mood is to maintain 80:20.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$73853 count up towards my mortgage. Refinanced and saved $720 a month since June 2021. $34560 but investment returns have been good. I'm ahead of my 2% ARM which expires 8/2028. Hypothetically using this and continually saving the $720 a month will allow me to pay off my mortgage faster even if i had a higher rate in 2028

[Randomsaver]

^5.1 ARM is a great strategy. I wish I had done it back then. Congrats on your $720/month savings LAL!

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 56 to be used for Age 56-61
Balance: $ 87K
End-Goal by 56: $120K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $355K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 76K
Total Retirement Savings: $431K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)

My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jan of 2033):
401 : $ 1.50K
IRA : $ 0.30K
SS : $ 1.61K
Tot : $ 3.41K
Goal: $ 4.00K
The mood is to maintain 80:20.

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 56 to be used for Age 56-61
Balance: $ 88K
End-Goal by 56: $120K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $358K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 76K
Total Retirement Savings: $434K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)

My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jan of 2033):
401 + SS : $ 3.13K
IRA : $ 0.31K
Tot : $ 3.44K
Goal: $ 4.00K
The mood is to get to 78:22.

[Jluke]

These may or may not work for you randomsaver but I have my eye on possibly tapping my 401k if I meet the requirements to do so without penalty. I am 48 now so still a few years away

Rule of 55 if you leave employer after 55. Penalty free but still owe taxes

or

72(t) - equally substantial payments prior to 59.5

I don’t see myself working much longer - not by choice

[Randomsaver]

Jluke, makes sense. Just 6+ years for you till 55 then Sweet Life. Are you single as well?


Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 56 to be used for Age 56-61
Balance: $ 90K
End-Goal by 56: $120K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $365K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 78K
Total Retirement Savings: $443K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)

My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (withdrawal can only start in Jan of 2033 or 7+ years from now):
401 + SS : $ 3.17K
IRA : $ 0.31K
Tot : $ 3.48K
Goal: $ 4.00K
The mood is to get to 75:25.

[Fishindude77]

Retired guy here, since end of 2017.
Very impressed by the way some of you have put so much thought and planning into this well in advance to the retirement date.
Not many folks do, and that's why the majority are broke.

[disneysteve]

Retired guy here, since end of 2017.
Very impressed by the way some of you have put so much thought and planning into this well in advance to the retirement date.
Not many folks do, and that's why the majority are broke.

So true. I'm very active on the early retirement forum and the people who succeed and are able to retire the earliest are the ones who pay the most attention and plan well from early on. Even the ones, like me, who don't retire terribly early are far better positioned because of attention and planning.