almost 40, no retirement, what to do?

[1NerveWonder]

Hi all, I am a new member here and I need some advice please.
My husband and I are approaching our 40's and we have no savings or retirement.
We have a home on 11.5 acres. We like the area we live in and love the home we built. My husband is self-employed and I work for a small family owned company. We do not make much money, nor do we live a luxurious lifestyle, but we are happy and thankful for what we have. As many people these days money is getting tighter and harder to stretch and my stress is at maximum levels. I suggested selling our home (equity) to buy another home with no mortgage so we could put a savings plan in action. My Husband does not think it is a good idea with today's real estate market to sell and would rather "wait out" the economic slump so we could sell the home for more than what we could currently get. Which I am thinking "and when will that be". I feel like I am gonna unravel and I don't want to. Any suggestions please?

[Petunia 100]

I suggest it is time to get started saving.

A good place to begin is assessing where you are now. Do you have a written budget? Do you know where all of your money is going? Start with that. Then look at places you can cut, so that you have money to divert to savings/investments.

As to whether or not you should sell your home, that is a lifestyle choice which you and your husband will have to make together.

You have 11.5 acres. What can you do with that to bring in income? Can you plant Christmas trees? Board horses? Grow a crop to sell? Store rvs?

If you and dh decide to stay where you are, look at how you can generate some additional income, which could all go towards your savings/investments.

[disneysteve]

My husband and I are approaching our 40's and we have no savings or retirement.

Why not? Why do you have no savings? Where has your money all been going up until now? We'd really need the answer to those questions in order to give worthwhile advice.

I'd suggest listing your income and expenses and let us take a look so we can make suggestions as to where to cut back to free up money for savings.

[97guns]

with 11 acres you can become totally self sustainable, hopefully youve gained equity and your property is your retirement fund. with that much land you still can afford to retire with little savings but your lifestyle has to change. with little or no retirement savings you'll have to farm the land and raise your own livestock.

[maat55]

You clearly need to get out of debt and start saving at least 20% of your incomes. Selling the house is a good jump start. This would allow you to put away much more in the shorterm allowing you greater growth nearing retirement.

Selling the house now is a 0 sum game, current prices are irrelevent. If you sell for less now, you will buy for less now. IMO, housing only has downward to go.

Giving your income and expense will enable us to give more detailed suggestions. Knowing what your assets(cars, boats, etc.) are would help as well.

[1NerveWonder]

sorry double post

[1NerveWonder]

With my DH being self-employed his income varies, as does mine.
He is busier in the summer, so we have to carefully save any extra to make ends meet in the winter.
My part-time job is also seasonal. I am laid off for 6 weeks at the beginning of each new year. I work part-time because I do all of my DH paperwork etc. for his business too. I feel like I am drowning in paperwork wherever I go. I work my part-time job 25-35 hrs a week on average. So of course when I am done with work, then DH paperwork I move on to paying our bills, cleaning, laundry, cooking, dishes, grocery shopping etc. Yes, I have panic attacks. Now ... my monthly income average is $1000. a month and my DH income on average $1000 also (net). Because of the up and down amounts in our income we just go with an overall average for our budget. I will give you a monthly breakdown of our bills. Now with some such as insurances due every six months we break those down to a month average to have an overall amount.

Mortgage: $550.00 Electric: $100.00 average
Home Owners Ins: $85.00 Water: $28.00 average
Property Taxes: $75.00 Mandatory Garbage: $20.00
Whole life Ins: $48.00 Church Tithe 10%: $140-$160 average
* Dish Network: $60.00 Drive 50 mi. RT daily work: $240.00 average gas
phone: $150.00 DH drive to work 24 m. RT: $120.00 average gas
car ins: $55.00 Prescriptions: $127.00
Groceries Etc: Literally the least we can get by on

We have little extra time. With DH self-employment he works on his own vehicles and equipment.
If his parents or sister need their car worked on, he does it and of course no charge, it's family. My DH is the only boy in his family. Then at home there is mowing, weed-eating and bush-hogging to do.
We do not have health insurance so we pay out-of-pocket for all of our medical expenses. We have an awesome PCP that only charges us $28 a visit. Our local hospital will give us a discount and set-up a payment plan because we are self-pay. We still owe $600 on my hospital stay in Oct. last year from MRSA. I have High blood pressure requiring (2) meds daily, panic attacks- (1) med. daily, and most recent blood sugar slightly high (1) med. daily. My DH also has High blood pressure requiring (2) meds. daily and acid reflux (1) med daily.

On to our assets:

3 bedroom, 2 bath cape cod built in 2007 on 11.5 hillside acres with 2 small out building (can't farm this hillside it would wash away, I do have 2 raised garden beds for some home canning though)but the country setting view we have is breath-taking (reminds us of Gatlinburg, TN). Low-End $150,000 we currently owe $85,000 on our mortgage

2003 dodge car - mine ($3000.00) 94 International Truck (DH work) - ($4500.00)
older model chevy truck - DH ($1200.00) 67 Chevy Dump Truck (DH work) - ($1200.00)
DH plastic boat - ($300.00) 18' Equipment trailer - ($1800.00)
DH older model aluminum boat - ($200.00) 1 - female stray cat, great mouser - priceless
DH older model fiberglass boat - ($700.00)

We pay taxes on all these, except the cat LOL. We also have a 19 year old son, but he works and is rarely home, he pays his own bills etc. I think that is everything, I think I need a nerve pill now

[1NerveWonder]

Why not? Why do you have no savings? Where has your money all been going up until now? We'd really need the answer to those questions in order to give worthwhile advice.

I'd suggest listing your income and expenses and let us take a look so we can make suggestions as to where to cut back to free up money for savings.

Our home and DH business. Our only debt is our mortgage. Pay-off is $85,000

[1NerveWonder]

I suggest it is time to get started saving.

A good place to begin is assessing where you are now. Do you have a written budget? Do you know where all of your money is going? Start with that. Then look at places you can cut, so that you have money to divert to savings/investments.

As to whether or not you should sell your home, that is a lifestyle choice which you and your husband will have to make together.

You have 11.5 acres. What can you do with that to bring in income? Can you plant Christmas trees? Board horses? Grow a crop to sell? Store rvs?

If you and dh decide to stay where you are, look at how you can generate some additional income, which could all go towards your savings/investments.

I would love to be able to farm, but our 11.5 is hillside acreage, mostly wooded. I have 2 raised garden beds I plant to do some home canning. And I'm scared of horses LOL.

[disneysteve]

Whole life Ins: $48.00

Go online today and get quotes for 20-year level premium term insurance for you and your husband. Most likely, you will pay the same amount for 10 times as much coverage. Whole life is a huge rip off. Get the term policy and as soon as you do (but not before), cancel the whole life policy.

[1NerveWonder]

Go online today and get quotes for 20-year level premium term insurance for you and your husband. Most likely, you will pay the same amount for 10 times as much coverage. Whole life is a huge rip off. Get the term policy and as soon as you do (but not before), cancel the whole life policy.

Steve maybe it is term, I have a hard time remembering. We pay $48. a month for 30 years, then we will receive our money back.

[disneysteve]

Steve maybe it is term, I have a hard time remembering. We pay $48. a month for 30 years, then we will receive our money back.

That sounds like return of premium term, also a rip off, though not nearly as much so as whole life.

[rigz]

Steve maybe it is term, I have a hard time remembering. We pay $48. a month for 30 years, then we will receive our money back.

sorry i dont mean to hijack your thread, but can someone explain to me why a life insurance company would just give your money back after 30 years? im not saying i dont believe you, i really just dont understand.

[cschin4]

1. He needs to get a full time job. If self employment isn't really bringing in the bacon, no bennies, then it isn't working. He should get a full time job and work his other business on the side.
2. You should get a full time job. That would solve your money issues.

Next, look at how you really want to live. Do you really want to live on and care for 11 acres as you begin moving into the next decades? Are you into farming and gardening? If so, you could sell and find a smaller, more easy to maintain property and you dont' need a lot of room for a garden for 2 people. And, you would have more time to spend working your job which actually brings you in money and less time maintaining and fixing at home. And, keep at boats if you enjoy them as they are probably fun and entertaining.

[maat55]

Years ago, I used to live on the edge. I had constant reflux problems and bleeding ulsers. We had a nice house with a pool, car payments, HEL, a credit card balance and no emergency fund(used our IRA savings on many occasions).

We sold our home during the 02 recession. Paid off all of our debts and kinda started doing a better job, but did not really establish a solid budget. We ended up in 2007 with a truck payment, little money going into IRA's and no emergency fund.

Then I heard of a possible recession. The last one(as small as it was)was enough to rock my boat. This time I quit my golf membership, cable, setup a strict budget, started working more hours and got serious.

First thing we paid off the truck, built an 3 months emergency fund and got used to living on one paycheck while saving the other. Today, we have more than 6 months EF, we have a car fund, a building fund, maxout roths and are sticking to our plan. I no longer have bleeding ulsers or worry about possible emergencies.

Don't be afraid to do the extreme to get where you want to go. Aside from ourselves everything else is just stuff. I would not have a single boat sitting around when I have no EF. If I could not quickly get out of debt, I would sell my house. Good luck.