Dan Scott said:

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This countries tax code and economic system benefits investors and entrepreneurs. You can't make it big working for somebody. You can have a nice middle class life but that's it.

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Depends on what your definition of middle class life is. Im about to have a million net worth in my mid 30's working for the man. If I maintain my savings/investment rate then I will likely have $5+MM by the time I retire. Not super wealthy, but thats a pretty good retirement. Im actually shooting for $10MM, but will probably land somewhere in the middle of $5MM-10MM. .

A lot of my friends and coworkers are in the same boat as me. Ive had bosses retire with $10-20+MM in the bank.

Its not hard: make a good income, save/invest a high percentage of your income. You should be a millionaire in ten years by doing this. And yes, this is very achievable by working for somebody.

oragator said:

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At,least for me, and probably others on this board. I have a relatively decent net worth because I am a saver, I don't spend a ton, which makes having the money kind of pointless,

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Well said. It's not how much you make, it's how much you save. And to your point, you can't invest until you've saved.

Quote:

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Now it's all fun to me, as weird as that sounds. The game of seeing how much I can save and use to compound my way to real money is enjoyable.

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Oh, I get it! We are in the middle of a home renovation and we still love finding what we want at reduced prices.

AggiEE said:

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One more year syndrome is a dangerous mentality and I've seen it with many older boomer types that can't let go of their expensive toys

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Common complication of "5 foot-itis" for us boat lovers...

AggiEE said:

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ea1060 said:

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Dan Scott said:

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This countries tax code and economic system benefits investors and entrepreneurs. You can't make it big working for somebody. You can have a nice middle class life but that's it.

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Depends on what your definition of middle class life is. Im about to have a million net worth in my mid 30's working for the man. If I maintain my savings/investment rate then I will likely have $5+MM by the time I retire. Not super wealthy, but thats a pretty good retirement. Im actually shooting for $10MM, but will probably land somewhere in the middle of $5MM-10MM. .

A lot of my friends and coworkers are in the same boat as me. Ive had bosses retire with $10-20+MM in the bank.

Its not hard: make a good income, save/invest a high percentage of your income. You should be a millionaire in ten years by doing this. And yes, this is very achievable by working for somebody.

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5-10M seems to unnecessarily extend your career without any real tangible benefit

Learn to manage your expenses and retire on half that amount instead, which is still around $100k/year for you to spend and not need to save another dime.

One more year syndrome is a dangerous mentality and I've seen it with many older boomer types that can't let go of their expensive toys and continually sacrifice years of life for 2,000 more hours in an office each year

But if having some big round number makes you happy feel free to continue the grind if you enjoy it. Some older generation types can't seem to know what to do with themselves if they're not tethered to a desk

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I see what you're saying, but I grew up poor, so for me the more money the better lol. I would like to be able to improve my future family's lives and pass on an inheritance. My job is relatively easy, low stress, WFH, good work/life balance, good money Im going to ride the gravy train as long as I can.

ea1060 said:

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AggiEE said:

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ea1060 said:

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Dan Scott said:

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This countries tax code and economic system benefits investors and entrepreneurs. You can't make it big working for somebody. You can have a nice middle class life but that's it.

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Depends on what your definition of middle class life is. Im about to have a million net worth in my mid 30's working for the man. If I maintain my savings/investment rate then I will likely have $5+MM by the time I retire. Not super wealthy, but thats a pretty good retirement. Im actually shooting for $10MM, but will probably land somewhere in the middle of $5MM-10MM. .

A lot of my friends and coworkers are in the same boat as me. Ive had bosses retire with $10-20+MM in the bank.

Its not hard: make a good income, save/invest a high percentage of your income. You should be a millionaire in ten years by doing this. And yes, this is very achievable by working for somebody.

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5-10M seems to unnecessarily extend your career without any real tangible benefit

Learn to manage your expenses and retire on half that amount instead, which is still around $100k/year for you to spend and not need to save another dime.

One more year syndrome is a dangerous mentality and I've seen it with many older boomer types that can't let go of their expensive toys and continually sacrifice years of life for 2,000 more hours in an office each year

But if having some big round number makes you happy feel free to continue the grind if you enjoy it. Some older generation types can't seem to know what to do with themselves if they're not tethered to a desk

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I see what you're saying, but I grew up poor, so for me the more money the better lol. I would like to be able to improve my future family's lives and pass on an inheritance. My job is relatively easy, low stress, WFH, good work/life balance, good money Im going to ride the gravy train as long as I can.

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What do you do?

As much as jobs can have those factors…they are still jobs

jja79 said:

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Just processed an application from a couple in their 50's, living in one of Houston's desirable, maybe most desirable suburbs. Needing to take $118K in cash out to pay off credit card debt. They might be your neighbors and you think they're doing well.

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Wow, what kind of credit scores do you see with people like this ?

AgOutsideAustin said:

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jja79 said:

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Just processed an application from a couple in their 50's, living in one of Houston's desirable, maybe most desirable suburbs. Needing to take $118K in cash out to pay off credit card debt. They might be your neighbors and you think they're doing well.

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Wow, what kind of credit scores do you see with people like this ?

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As long as you haven't missed a payment and your credit availability isn't completely maxed out, you very well can be in the 700's.

Credit score was fine. Good not great. In addition to the $118K credit card debt they have $65K student loan debt.

jja79 said:

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Credit score was fine. Good not great. In addition to the $118K credit card debt they have $65K student loan debt.

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Wow again, can't imagine walking around every day with those two debts hanging over my head in my fifties.

RockOn said:

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AgOutsideAustin said:

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jja79 said:

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Just processed an application from a couple in their 50's, living in one of Houston's desirable, maybe most desirable suburbs. Needing to take $118K in cash out to pay off credit card debt. They might be your neighbors and you think they're doing well.

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Wow, what kind of credit scores do you see with people like this ?

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As long as you haven't missed a payment and your credit availability isn't completely maxed out, you very well can be in the 700's.

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I get it I guess folks like that have a Costanza wallet full of cards so $118K doesn't screw up their utilization percentage.

I'm able to track my credit score through one of my cards. My score is high (over 800), but when I request the monthly report, it almost always tells me that my score has been docked a few points because my utilization is low.

My monthly charges are usually 10-15% of my total credit line, and only have two cards.

It says that on every credit report.

jja79 said:

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Credit score was fine. Good not great. In addition to the $118K credit card debt they have $65K student loan debt.

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Other assets ?

Sitting on a 7 figure investment account and don't want to take the hit with market down 25% ytd or for tax reasons ?


Whats the current equity situation like in the property ?

I'm assuming they don't have other substantial assets or they wouldn't be taking out that loan for credit card debt. But yeah, if they've got 10 million in other assets that's a little different story.

I was just curious if there were some other circumstances involved or just runaway lifestyle creep. In my line of work I have personally seen some folks finance mid/high 5, low 6 figure remodel/additions on credit cards and then refi it back on the mortgage after completion versus liquidating other assets causing tax liability, or missed opportunity cost or getting a heloc. Saw a case where one did it to speed up the completion of a new house that they tried to cash finance but wanted to speed up the process to get moved in much earlier.

I think that is probably more wishful thinking... For ever person that can responsibly utilize credit cards to leverage debt, there are probably 10+ that are just racking up debt. Of course it can be done (and is done by a lot of people) but as is continually mentioned... most of society is horrible with money.

100k in CC debt in your 50s.

I am guessing this is not your first rodeo in dealing with CC problems.

JP76 said:

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I was just curious if there were some other circumstances involved or just runaway lifestyle creep. In my line of work I have personally seen some folks finance mid/high 5, low 6 figure remodel/additions on credit cards and then refi it back on the mortgage after completion versus liquidating other assets causing tax liability, or missed opportunity cost or getting a heloc. Saw a case where one did it to speed up the completion of a new house that they tried to cash finance but wanted to speed up the process to get moved in much earlier.

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From what I've seen the usual suspects are home remodels on the CC (maybe from overages), extreme vacations like buying a Disney timeshare on the CC, or a failed business venture (like the wife thinking iM aN EnTrEPrenEuR but is just suckered in on an MLM).

Very rarely is just daily trips to chipotle that just happened to add up.

(i used to do mortgages, so this is just from what I've seen)

tommyjohn said:

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100k in CC debt in your 50s.

I am guessing this is not your first rodeo in dealing with CC problems.

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Every other time they did a home refinance to dig their way out. If housing has a prolonged slow down, there could be some real trouble out there.

South Platte said:

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jja79 said:

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Just processed an application from a couple in their 50's, living in one of Houston's desirable, maybe most desirable suburbs. Needing to take $118K in cash out to pay off credit card debt. They might be your neighbors and you think they're doing well.

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I guess they should be commended for waking up and realizing they need to eliminate the CC debt. Not everybody does. Hopefully they never let CC debt accumulate again and are able to recover over the next 10 years.

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I'm going to wager HE woke up when SHE called from the spa unable to pay for her facial.

jja79 said:

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Just processed an application from a couple in their 50's, living in one of Houston's desirable, maybe most desirable suburbs. Needing to take $118K in cash out to pay off credit card debt. They might be your neighbors and you think they're doing well.

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Sorry if I missed it but are you saying they did a cash out refi at 7% interest to pay off CC's?

If I said 7% I don't recall that.