What percent of your income do you put away for retirement?

[PandaPancake]

I'm renting some of these properties and putting Arsen's fire bug neighbor in them

[DirtyMagic97]

it's all property investment, which is turning back high yields on rental income, all of which are being set according to a timeline defined by my wife and i finishing grad school, graduating with no debt, and jumping into careers.

 

Same here. Been at it for the last 3 years. Great yields on rental income right now.

[thefuzz]

12% to company 401.

 

Paying down debt with the rest of the income.  Could write a check today and wipe out all of our debt except for the house, but I like holding cash/being able to make a move if needed.

 

To those who are paying debt, then will go heave with investing, you need to re-consider.  Pay yourself first, then the cc/student loans/cars/etc...The power of compound interest is redic.

 

And if you think that SS will be there when we retire....welp....ocean front property, Arizona.....

[Jase]

12% to company 401.

 

Paying down debt with the rest of the income.  Could write a check today and wipe out all of our debt except for the house, but I like holding cash/being able to make a move if needed.

 

To those who are paying debt, then will go heave with investing, you need to re-consider.  Pay yourself first, then the cc/student loans/cars/etc...The power of compound interest is redic.

 

And if you think that SS will be there when we retire....welp....ocean front property, Arizona.....

 

Interest?  What interest?

 

The only interest I can get... is the interest I'm paying to everyone else.

 

Srsly I get 2% at the bank and I think that's pretty good compared to most.

[Cat]

I have been... let's say "undersaving" for several years.  Pay raises over the years had shrunk what was 5% of my income that I was saving down to 3%, so I doubled my contribution up to 6%.  Either way, I've been working for 8 years out of college, and I barely have enough for one year of retirement.

 

I've heard that you should save a minimum of 10% of your income.

I've heard that you should max out the contribution limits.

 

It must be nice to have so much disposable income that you can sock away that much money.

 

What say you?.

 

I save 3% and my husband saves 6% (companies match as well).  We are seriously contemplating down sizing, buying a townhouse which we can just buy with no debt which will allow us to keep everything we make and put a  lot more money in retirement. I love my house but it's bigger than we need and I'd rather spend money on vacations with my family and have fun, then paying off a huge house. 

[Jase]

I save 3% and my husband saves 6% (companies match as well).  We are seriously contemplating down sizing, buying a townhouse which we can just buy with no debt which will allow us to keep everything we make and put a  lot more money in retirement. I love my house but it's bigger than we need and I'd rather spend money on vacations with my family and have fun, then paying off a huge house. 

 

That sounds like a great plan... I have a small mortgage (~$750/month) and I dream of all the things we could do with that kind of money laying around.

 

I could never cram my kids into a smaller house, though... my relatives... they buy them too many toys.

[Towelboy]

10% to company 401k (6% match) and pension if I stay here long enough. I'd like to do more, but on one income, it is the best we can do right now.

[rayzor]

i've got a little bit going towards my retirement fund at work, but not very much.

 

instead, right now i'm working on making sure the property my family has is paid for and self sustaining within the next 10-15 years. the plan is for this year to have  an outdoor wood boiler/furnace that heats the home and water installed using standing dead trees from and around our 40 acres. this year we are also starting the ball rolling on getting a micro hydroelectric generator that is powered by the overflow pipe from our 2.5 acre pond that has only stopped once for a week or two in the past 15 years. we also have another stream that as far as i can remember has never stopped that we can use as a backup.

 

we have a good large garden that produces quite a bit every year and we do a lot of freezing and canning. we have probably 15-20 blueberry bushes, a couple pear trees and plum trees, about 10 apple trees and about 15 peach trees. the blueberry and pear trees are the only heavy producers right now. the apple and peach trees should be in the next year or two.

 

also the pond is stocked with catfish, largemouth bass, and bluegills which we will be restocking either this spring or the next. there is also plenty of deer in the area of which we harvest 3-4 a year. i have friends that have chickens that lay too many eggs who bring over excess, but i will be buying some from them soon so that we can start having our own egg layers. i am also going to be working with one of my cousins who is in the poultry industry to start raising chickens ourselves. we would probably do 2 flocks of about 30-40 a year. i am also looking for a local hog farmer to supply us with one or two hogs a year that we will slaughter and process ourselves and i have a friend that raises rabbits who is going to help me build a couple hutches and setting me up to raise my own.

 

we have 20 acres of lob lolly pines that was harvested and replanted by weyerhauser which will be thinned in about 10 years and then ready to harvest in 30. i plan on purchasing 30-40 more acres of mostly cleared land and planting long leaf pine trees which has needles that will be bailed and sold to landscapers. i have friends that are doing that with 20 acres right now and from one harvest annually clear about $25k without having to do any advertising. they have people driving up from georgia to buy their needles.

 

the goal is to have as little overhead as possible and to provide for ourselves as much as we need to live on and keep our good interdependant relationships with family and friends to help with whatever needs we have and help them with theirs. surplus food and wood will be used to barter for goods and services that will hopefully be provided by people i know. whatever i can't work out with bartering, i will pay using what little retirement i have built up as well as money from other ventures i plan on having as well as doing odds and end jobs.

 

my hope is that at least one of my daughters will settle down with their families here and help take care of whatever i can't or at least some close family member.

 

if that doesn't work out and i just get too tired or unable to take care of things around here, then sell the property and move to sarasota florida and finish off my days with my wife and near my brother and his wife down there.

[PhillyB]

i've got a little bit going towards my retirement fund at work, but not very much.

 

instead, right now i'm working on making sure the property my family has is paid for and self sustaining within the next 10-15 years. the plan is for this year to have  an outdoor wood boiler/furnace that heats the home and water installed using standing dead trees from and around our 40 acres. this year we are also starting the ball rolling on getting a micro hydroelectric generator that is powered by the overflow pipe from our 2.5 acre pond that has only stopped once for a week or two in the past 15 years. we also have another stream that as far as i can remember has never stopped that we can use as a backup.

 

we have a good large garden that produces quite a bit every year and we do a lot of freezing and canning. we have probably 15-20 blueberry bushes, a couple pear trees and plum trees, about 10 apple trees and about 15 peach trees. the blueberry and pear trees are the only heavy producers right now. the apple and peach trees should be in the next year or two.

 

also the pond is stocked with catfish, largemouth bass, and bluegills which we will be restocking either this spring or the next. there is also plenty of deer in the area of which we harvest 3-4 a year. i have friends that have chickens that lay too many eggs who bring over excess, but i will be buying some from them soon so that we can start having our own egg layers. i am also going to be working with one of my cousins who is in the poultry industry to start raising chickens ourselves. we would probably do 2 flocks of about 30-40 a year. i am also looking for a local hog farmer to supply us with one or two hogs a year that we will slaughter and process ourselves and i have a friend that raises rabbits who is going to help me build a couple hutches and setting me up to raise my own.

 

we have 20 acres of lob lolly pines that was harvested and replanted by weyerhauser which will be thinned in about 10 years and then ready to harvest in 30. i plan on purchasing 30-40 more acres of mostly cleared land and planting long leaf pine trees which has needles that will be bailed and sold to landscapers. i have friends that are doing that with 20 acres right now and from one harvest annually clear about $25k without having to do any advertising. they have people driving up from georgia to buy their needles.

 

the goal is to have as little overhead as possible and to provide for ourselves as much as we need to live on and keep our good interdependant relationships with family and friends to help with whatever needs we have and help them with theirs. surplus food and wood will be used to barter for goods and services that will hopefully be provided by people i know. whatever i can't work out with bartering, i will pay using what little retirement i have built up as well as money from other ventures i plan on having as well as doing odds and end jobs.

 

my hope is that at least one of my daughters will settle down with their families here and help take care of whatever i can't or at least some close family member.

 

if that doesn't work out and i just get too tired or unable to take care of things around here, then sell the property and move to sarasota florida and finish off my days with my wife and near my brother and his wife down there.

 

that's fuging legit. what will you do with rabbits though?

[thefuzz]

that's fuging legit. what will you do with rabbits though?

 

nomnomnom

 

They reproduce like crazy, and are delicious.

[TheRumGone]

i've got a little bit going towards my retirement fund at work, but not very much.

instead, right now i'm working on making sure the property my family has is paid for and self sustaining within the next 10-15 years. the plan is for this year to have an outdoor wood boiler/furnace that heats the home and water installed using standing dead trees from and around our 40 acres. this year we are also starting the ball rolling on getting a micro hydroelectric generator that is powered by the overflow pipe from our 2.5 acre pond that has only stopped once for a week or two in the past 15 years. we also have another stream that as far as i can remember has never stopped that we can use as a backup.

we have a good large garden that produces quite a bit every year and we do a lot of freezing and canning. we have probably 15-20 blueberry bushes, a couple pear trees and plum trees, about 10 apple trees and about 15 peach trees. the blueberry and pear trees are the only heavy producers right now. the apple and peach trees should be in the next year or two.

also the pond is stocked with catfish, largemouth bass, and bluegills which we will be restocking either this spring or the next. there is also plenty of deer in the area of which we harvest 3-4 a year. i have friends that have chickens that lay too many eggs who bring over excess, but i will be buying some from them soon so that we can start having our own egg layers. i am also going to be working with one of my cousins who is in the poultry industry to start raising chickens ourselves. we would probably do 2 flocks of about 30-40 a year. i am also looking for a local hog farmer to supply us with one or two hogs a year that we will slaughter and process ourselves and i have a friend that raises rabbits who is going to help me build a couple hutches and setting me up to raise my own.

we have 20 acres of lob lolly pines that was harvested and replanted by weyerhauser which will be thinned in about 10 years and then ready to harvest in 30. i plan on purchasing 30-40 more acres of mostly cleared land and planting long leaf pine trees which has needles that will be bailed and sold to landscapers. i have friends that are doing that with 20 acres right now and from one harvest annually clear about $25k without having to do any advertising. they have people driving up from georgia to buy their needles.

the goal is to have as little overhead as possible and to provide for ourselves as much as we need to live on and keep our good interdependant relationships with family and friends to help with whatever needs we have and help them with theirs. surplus food and wood will be used to barter for goods and services that will hopefully be provided by people i know. whatever i can't work out with bartering, i will pay using what little retirement i have built up as well as money from other ventures i plan on having as well as doing odds and end jobs.

my hope is that at least one of my daughters will settle down with their families here and help take care of whatever i can't or at least some close family member.

if that doesn't work out and i just get too tired or unable to take care of things around here, then sell the property and move to sarasota florida and finish off my days with my wife and near my brother and his wife down there.

Absolutely, 100%, fuging a-mazing

[PhillyB]

i drew a map of my property/commune a few months ago bored at work and it sounds remarkably like rayzor's setup, though mine is mapped out at 30 acres.

 

also mine will have a stone-tower observatory in place of rabbits

 

[pstall]

i drew a map of my property/commune a few months ago bored at work and it sounds remarkably like rayzor's setup, though mine is mapped out at 30 acres.

also mine will have a stone-tower observatory in place of rabbits

Is it me or does your map say Dungeons and Dragons World Championships?

[CamMoon]

Not enough.

I laugh at the Social Security estimate information that comes yearly in the mail. Does anyone expect those benefits to be there?

I'm 21 years old. There is no way in hell social security will still be around in 40 years. I roll my eyes every time I see it taken out of my check.