How much money is enough?

[skyking]

@TXHokie , no regrets indeed.
I am also of the school that leaving anything to the children is wrong, unless they are disabled dependents. It's your money go enjoy it. They can and will get their own, and the more you observe that the better off they will be.
I see many of those who are addicted to the hamster wheel of earning use " but what of the children" as an excuse to keep on working well past sensibility. Give the kids your time, when they can use it and enjoy it.
All that said, we have willed whatever remains to things like nature conservancies, Public Radio, and Planned Parenthood.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The FIRE stars will align for me when I have 1.603 mil put away

Step 1: Get 1.603 Mil.

Easy! lol.

That's the thing with investing, you still need a decent chunk of money to invest in first place to get a good return. People talk about it sometimes like it's an easy thing to do but not if you don't have the extra money in first place. Bills keep going up each year so the amount of money left over at the end of the month is less and less. You also need to know a lot about investing or you will just lose everything.

One thing I do need to work on though is eating less fast food. That costs me close to $100 per month easily. I say this while I'm seriously contemplating ordering a pizza.... lol. Must resist the urge.

 

[rh71]

@TXHokie , no regrets indeed.
I am also of the school that leaving anything to the children is wrong, unless they are disabled dependents. It's your money go enjoy it. They can and will get their own, and the more you observe that the better off they will be.
I see many of those who are addicted to the hamster wheel of earning use " but what of the children" as an excuse to keep on working well past sensibility. Give the kids your time, when they can use it and enjoy it.
All that said, we have willed whatever remains to things like nature conservancies, Public Radio, and Planned Parenthood.

I wouldn't say giving money to your kids is wrong. Helping them get a good headstart on their first house is very beneficial and they can pay it forward too. A bad scenario in my eyes would be the kids having school debt on top of struggling to even make 20% downpayment on a decent home ($450k for a starter around here). We spend a lot of years making sure they're ok, what's one more thing, if we are already comfortable with what we have (AND they're not deadbeats)?

Why this viewpoint? Because I'm paying it forward myself. I can see how our parents' help has pushed us that much further ahead (my wife in her early 40s has already decided to stop working). The ones asking for trouble are the sink-or-swim at 18 parents.

 

[TXHokie]

Step 1: Get 1.603 Mil.

Easy! lol.

That's the thing with investing, you still need a decent chunk of money to invest in first place to get a good return. People talk about it sometimes like it's an easy thing to do but not if you don't have the extra money in first place. Bills keep going up each year so the amount of money left over at the end of the month is less and less. You also need to know a lot about investing or you will just lose everything.

One thing I do need to work on though is eating less fast food. That costs me close to $100 per month easily. I say this while I'm seriously contemplating ordering a pizza.... lol. Must resist the urge.

I never said it would be easy. But it's doable low and slow and I will probably hit 62 before my target saving will get there. But then should be enough to wind down my working career hopefully.

I've told my kids don't expect any big inheritance from me. My gift to them would be that we will be financially independent and not ask for their help - they will only have to worry about helping themselves. I will help them earn a four years college degree on me at a local reputable public college and graduate with no debt but I've also warn them to pick a degree that is marketable. If they want to major in French then I'm not paying.

 

[skyking]

I wouldn't say giving money to your kids is wrong. Helping them get a good headstart on their first house is very beneficial and they can pay it forward too. A bad scenario in my eyes would be the kids having school debt on top of struggling to even make 20% downpayment on a decent home ($450k for a starter around here). We spend a lot of years making sure they're ok, what's one more thing, if we are already comfortable with what we have (AND they're not deadbeats)?

Why this viewpoint? Because I'm paying it forward myself. I can see how our parents' help has pushed us that much further ahead (my wife in her early 40s has already decided to stop working). The ones asking for trouble are the sink-or-swim at 18 parents.

that's not really what I am talking about. I would for sure help my kids in that scenario, but I see people who keep working well past retirement and talk about leaving large sums to the kids as a motivation for burning the midnight oil. A legacy. I just can't see that.

 

[Muse]

...

 

[Muse]

I may do that too. We will look at it in two years.

Social Security. Yeah, it was something like 70. The rules can be tweaked sometimes, it's not written in stone. Check it out when the time comes. I wanted the max check for life, that's what I'm getting. Auto-deposited into my checking account.

 

[Muse]

Step 1: Get 1.603 Mil.

Easy! lol.

That's the thing with investing, you still need a decent chunk of money to invest in first place to get a good return. People talk about it sometimes like it's an easy thing to do but not if you don't have the extra money in first place. Bills keep going up each year so the amount of money left over at the end of the month is less and less. You also need to know a lot about investing or you will just lose everything.

One thing I do need to work on though is eating less fast food. That costs me close to $100 per month easily. I say this while I'm seriously contemplating ordering a pizza.... lol. Must resist the urge.

I have never ordered a pizza in my life! I have a pizza dough in the freezer (that I prepared in my bread machine). It's been there so long the yeast in it has lost it's will to live, and I'll have to add more before preparing my next pizza. The craving for that pizza is at bay. Someday I will want a pizza. I see them on TV, I FF. When people offer me pizza (in their homes) I eat it. I like it. Yeah, it's fast food. Healthy? Eh. Not really. I like it anyway. BTW, I can make some of the world's best pizza! I have home made Italian sauce on my shelves, probably a couple gallons added up. I have all manner of cheeses in the freezer. Vegies. Imagination.