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Currently, about 42% of plans allow after tax contributions. If your 401k allows additional contributions the maximum you can contribute including your pretax contributions, your after-tax contributions and your employers match is $53,000 (again a 2015 level). - Dec 3, 2015
wow - I would kill for a job where my employer added this much into my pretax buckets. I get absolutely killed with taxes so you are definitely in the best of both worlds!!!!! If you don't mind me asking what do you do for a living and who is the company?
You sir have hit the lottery. Congratulations.I work for one of the Dept of Energy national laboratories. We lost our pension program 10 years ago. Now that was a good deal. But you're right, I'm not complaining.$20k in pre-tax contributions from employers.
Personally, a lot of my overfunding of my retirement is focused more on what if scenarios. I lead a pretty simple life and I enjoy that simplicity. I can't see myself deviating too much from it after following that way of life for almost 30 years by time I retire. I think I'd need at most $45k in todays dollars after income taxes. But the what if scenarios revolve more around my kids and potential grand kids and having some funds to do some cool and probably costlier stuff with them or to help them out if needed. So in the end, it comes down to just having options. So I've thrown on another $20k for those scenarios and if I never use it, I never use it.
Being that I speak with people about their finances in general on a daily basis and see what they have in terms of assets.... most will have no choice but to work as long as they can.
Note these strategies depend on individual 401k rules. Mine doesn't allow this at all.
I’m reducing my 403b pre-tax contributions this year, too. Getting the match, of course, plus I’ll chip in another 5% maybe. But I can use a few extra disposable dollars now, plus I’ll take advantage of a lower tax bracket while I can.
This reminded me to go ahead and decrease our retirement savings a bit and increase money towards a cabin. Our retirement will be fine with two pensions but we can put some money towards near term goals.
Easy - I strive for a time when I don't wake up at 3am and send myself emails about the next day's panic, where I choose what hotel I'm staying in (most) every week, and where I see daylight from outside and not from my office window. I'm stepping on the gas as hard as I can.
rascal said:
So technically we aren't feds. The labs are government-owned, contractor-operated, so we're contractors. Before, we were managed by the University of California, so we were considered UC employees, and their retirement plan was primo. Many of the national labs have gone semi-private and for-profit, and in doing so, got rid of pension programs and offered 401k programs instead. That's where my lab is at. My wife, on the other hand, is at another lab where the pension is still available. She contributes 7%, mind you, which is pretty hefty.
Well, they certainly shouldn't have commingled the accounts. They should have generated two accounts for this. I'd see about unwinding that, or at least properly separating them. That said I wish I had a portal like this.
#### yeah.I listen to a lot of financial podcasts. Edelman, Ramsey, Planet Money, Vanguard, Stacking Benjamins, etc.
I like to be objective but i think that in general, debt is bad. Although in disagree with Dave Ramsey's approach to debt, he does have a point with paying off the smallest debt first. It has been proven that this approach actually works, primarily because it is a mindset that follows the logic that eliminating one of X number of commitments, is an accomplishment.
Student loans and car loans seem like the theme of most podcasts. Trusts, retirement, emergency funds, and college savings are secondary considerations. They have to be in the world where half of Americans have $500 in savings, unable to respond to the most basic of emergency.
Cars are a huge issue. As much as I want a new car, I realize that I have two fairly new paid off vehicles (2010 and 2013) and should pay cash for my next ride. Temptation is in the interest rates for car loans, especially of you can get something at close to 0%. But a five or six year commitment on a car is something I've never done, when I've financed I always do it for <4 years or up to the expiration of the factory warranty.
i shop new and gently used cars all the time, so I'm ready when the time comes. But I'm just not willing to shell out $40k+ for what I want unless I have the ability to pay it down within a reasonable amount of time. Unlike a mortgage, a car loan is like an anvil IMO, simply because it isn't something you need to have. Ramsey says buy a car for $1k, drive for 4 months, save, buy a car for $2k, drive for 8 months and put money aside along the way. Upgrade as you save along the line until you have something you desire, but don't ever be car rich and life poor.
I want an F-150 Limited with leather, heated seats, max horsepower, super cab, and a package that supports fat chicks and adjusts the towing capacity accordingly. Can I afford to finance that now? Yes. Will I? No, I'll drive my paid-off Honda Fit 33 miles one-way because I don't want a $500 a month car nut. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that I don't want to afford it.
Yep.I listen to a lot of financial podcasts. Edelman, Ramsey, Planet Money, Vanguard, Stacking Benjamins, etc.
I like to be objective but i think that in general, debt is bad. Although I disagree with Dave Ramsey's approach to debt, he does have a point with paying off the smallest debt first. It has been proven that this approach actually works, primarily because it is a mindset that follows the logic that eliminating one of X number of commitments, is an accomplishment.
Student loans and car loans seem like the theme of most podcasts. Trusts, retirement, emergency funds, and college savings are secondary considerations. They have to be in the world where half of Americans have $500 in savings, unable to respond to the most basic of emergency.
Cars are a huge issue. As much as I want a new car, I realize that I have two fairly new paid off vehicles (2010 and 2013) and should pay cash for my next ride. Temptation is in the interest rates for car loans, especially if you can get something at close to 0%. But a five or six year commitment on a car is something I've never done, when I've financed I always do it for <4 years or up to the expiration of the factory warranty.
i shop new and gently used cars all the time, so I'm ready when the time comes. But I'm just not willing to shell out $40k+ for what I want unless I have the ability to pay it down within a reasonable amount of time. Unlike a mortgage, a car loan is like an anvil IMO, simply because it isn't something you need to have. Ramsey says buy a car for $1k, drive for 4 months, save, buy a car for $2k, drive for 8 months and put money aside along the way. Upgrade as you save along the line until you have something you desire, but don't ever be car rich and life poor.
I want an F-150 Limited with leather, heated seats, max horsepower, super cab, and a package that supports fat chicks and adjusts the towing capacity accordingly. Can I afford to finance that now? Yes. Will I? No, I'll drive my paid-off Honda Fit 33 miles one-way because I don't want a $500 a month car nut. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that I don't want to afford it.
Nothing like a drunken 1am finance rant!!!!!!Doctor Detroit said:I listen to a lot of financial podcasts. Edelman, Ramsey, Planet Money, Vanguard, Stacking Benjamins, etc.
I like to be objective but i think that in general, debt is bad. Although I disagree with Dave Ramsey's approach to debt, he does have a point with paying off the smallest debt first. It has been proven that this approach actually works, primarily because it is a mindset that follows the logic that eliminating one of X number of commitments, is an accomplishment.
Student loans and car loans seem like the theme of most podcasts. Trusts, retirement, emergency funds, and college savings are secondary considerations. They have to be in the world where half of Americans have $500 in savings, unable to respond to the most basic of emergency.
Cars are a huge issue. As much as I want a new car, I realize that I have two fairly new paid off vehicles (2010 and 2013) and should pay cash for my next ride. Temptation is in the interest rates for car loans, especially if you can get something at close to 0%. But a five or six year commitment on a car is something I've never done, when I've financed I always do it for <4 years or up to the expiration of the factory warranty.
i shop new and gently used cars all the time, so I'm ready when the time comes. But I'm just not willing to shell out $40k+ for what I want unless I have the ability to pay it down within a reasonable amount of time. Unlike a mortgage, a car loan is like an anvil IMO, simply because it isn't something you need to have. Ramsey says buy a car for $1k, drive for 4 months, save, buy a car for $2k, drive for 8 months and put money aside along the way. Upgrade as you save along the line until you have something you desire, but don't ever be car rich and life poor.
I want an F-150 Limited with leather, heated seats, max horsepower, super cab, and a package that supports fat chicks and adjusts the towing capacity accordingly. Can I afford to finance that now? Yes. Will I? No, I'll drive my paid-off Honda Fit 33 miles one-way because I don't want a $500 a month car nut. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that I don't want to afford it.
This is our lineup.-OZ- said:
Since we are talking about retirement in here, be very careful with cars for the kids. If they are under 18 and get in a wreck, it is just like you did it liability wise. If they are over 18 but still a dependent (and that is very broadly defined), you can also be liable. My daughter is 19 and was in a pretty serious wreck that was her fault. Luckily I listened to my lawyer and had the max insurance ($250k/$500k) and a $3M umbrella, because the damage is going to be around $750k. If I didn’t have that insurance, I would most likely be sued for the difference.
Thanks for this info. Not sure how the courts would define dependent? My daughter is 21. Will be finishing her BS in May. We are no longer able to claim her on our taxes. Both of my sons are 20. One is in the Marines in NC. The other is just starting welding school. I would assume he is the one that poses the most risk over the next couple of years.
You may want to talk to a lawyer, but the way mine put it was - you have money and they don’t, so expect to be sued if they have a bad accident. It almost doesn’t matter the official legal definition of dependent.
It's like a second line of defense to cover liability that auto or homeowner's doesn't. It serves as an "umbrella" over your other policies to provide protection if your liability exceeds the policy limit. It may also protect against other liabilities like liable or slander.
I'll see what their response is. Looking a little more closely I :think: when I transfer funds back it will have them marked as what they were when they transferred into the Schawb account. Have no idea how gains are handled.Sand said:
When I ended up with a rental property this year I got a policy to help cover for that. It gives some peace of mind (and it's a legitimate expense against the rental).
This is the one that bothers me. If the average price of an auto on the road is $50k, why should I be on the hook for your above average auto. You should carry your own insurance to cover a car that expensive. The masses have to protest against the one offs.
I'd like to believe this trend will last for years but I doubt it.
in Finance, I really have no excuse for this. Twenty somethings who chose a nice ride over retirement, I can empathize. 40 somethings, don't do it.
Fixed. Accord owner here. Will drive it for work till the engine dies and then I might just buy a new engineWelcome to the Honda owner's world.
Not trying to turn this into a car thread, but cheap cars are a crucial part of funding retirement accounts IMHO. Toyota, Honda, Oldsmobile Aurora, etc.
Or just being really "lucky". Wife's Ford focus, what a piece of crap, died and we got a used Acura TL that we got for 9k cash (used all of our car savings). 9 months later and find out she is pregnant (already had one kid). Think we are ok when we find out a bit later that it's twins. Mother ####er.As far as insurance goes, umbrella insurance is the biggest no-brainer evah.
For the first time in five years, and for only the second time since 2005, I do not have a car payment.
I will however start putting money aside for a down payment on my next vehicle. That way I feel less guilty about it, and maybe...just maybe, I can pay cash for my next ride. I don't think I've ever intentionality paid for a vehicle at the expense of retirement funds, but young Dr D probably wasn't as financially astute as middle aged Dr D. I think this is fairly normal. Having a BS/
Talked to a buddy of mine last week, he’s probably 30 with a modest paying job and a daughter. Told me he bought a new Durango over the holidays, traded in his Jeep and his monthly payments are staying about the same. I figure he’s dumping about $400 per month into cars for a solid eight years here, maybe more, maybe in perpetuity. Prior to this discussion I had a similar experience with another Millennial (buying some enormous Jeep to accommodate her and her Golden) and tried to explain the actual cost of keeping new cars and the time value of money. Crickets. So I just congratulated my buddy and told him to enjoy it.
That's kind of the discussion the wife and I are having now. I'm starting to think I want a slightly nicer used car, like a Maxima instead of an Altima. Not a BMW or Lexus. But our retirement is in good shape.
for most people cars are your most expensive declining asset. You're usually better off buying the nicer home and driving junkers. But you'll see the opposite much more often.
