Retirement questions

[Vwcrackerjack]

Hey guys. Just wondering about owning a small business and I like many young stupid men never really put any thought into it. Now approaching 38 years old and I have no idea where to even start as far as something other then putting money into my savings acc. What do you guys do as business owners?

[java]

A tilemans retirement plans? LOL

Oooahhh....good one

Move this to the joke thread....damn that's funny...can't stop laughing....

[tilejoe]

Best time to plant a tree is today.

[Houston Remodeler]

My retirement plan is rental incomes, building my empire as a slumlord. This is a great time to buy real estate as rental prices are high and will remain so for the next decade.

[Vwcrackerjack]

Wish I could afford it. Went through a bad divorce 5 years ago. Lost everything basically. Finally back to even ground and starting over with a bankruptcy on my credit report. Good advice?... Never divorce a lawyer without a good exit strategy.

[Houston Remodeler]

Jamey,

The best advice I was given came from my Uncle Sam (yes that was his name)

"Never divide the pie"

[ob1kanobee]

Guess Uncle Sam never told you the story about putting all/most of you eggs in one basket.

Here's an interesting and simple read for a good way to invest in real estate.
http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/reit/a/aa101404.htm

[Steve C]

Sure you wanna do that? Most of the retired folks I work for, and it's quite a few, mostly go to the doctor and watch t.v.

[Houston Remodeler]

@ Ben, He meant "with another person"

[Davestone]

Been heavily invested in real estate twice,and lost it all twice.I thought it was a sure thing.
The books never told me about the huuuge risk of over leveraging.
Also economies can go south,renters can totally abuse you,buildings can require waaayyy more maintence than expected,govt.can eat into your profits,with taxes,insurance,water and sewer assessments.Trees can fall and the victims can sue you.
My advice?I don't have any

[ob1kanobee]

Yep. I remember when I first met Dave as a very young man. I think Dave was up to a dozen houses and he talked of how he bought one per year and would continue to do so which in a sense is almost like dollar cost averaging with the home prices.

Anyway at the prices he was paying for the homes, the sure way rents were rising, the area was booming along with him being able to fix just about anything, he still managed to lose it all and it wasn't because he lived high on the hog either. Dave seems like a pretty frugal guy to me since I've know him for 20 years now.

I could repeat this same story for a few other folks including my father. All it takes is one good heart attack and a stroke to put you out of commission and watch how quick your real estate empire can come falling down.

My GF works for a guy that owns 7 apartment communities. All total it's several hundred units. He gets a check for something crazy like $100 per week and hasn't taken profits in several years. Everything goes towards maintenance, employees, taxes ect.

[Mr.Miyagi]

Jamey,

The average age of people beginning retirement plans is 40, so I wouldn't fret over your age or past mistakes. What's done is done and at least your thinking about moving forward. At your age, I'd probably advise against traditional investing ie. stocks/bonds/mutual funds as these instruments are going to experience huge downward pressure as the boomer generation starts cashing out and the reality of the younger generations being unable to absorb those shares sets in. With the exception of certain markets, real estate will also go bust once again. The Fed is purchasing 40 billion dollars worth of MBS's a month with no set term, which goes to show you how much crap the banks have kept off the books. Savings accounts are horrible as you're actually losing money due to inflation and monetary policy. My advise? If you're confident in the system then any post tax instrument such as a Roth IRA may work for you, just make sure it's as liquid as possible. If you're not confident then physical precious metals and physical assets are the way to go. Always look at least 10 years out and stay away from financial advisors/planners.

[Brad Denny]

I'm currently just funding an IRA when I can. Haven't maxed it since ' 09 though.

Those I see doing well (staying afloat) with real estate invest in commercial properties, "utility" buildings that could be used for low end logistics or finished out fancy as office/retail space.

The keys to success with any large figure investment seems to be...
1. Trusted group of investors
2. Established relationship with a lender
3. Commercial leasing agent with interest in your venture.

[Bruce H]

Like tile guys, we architects have no retirement plans either. Here's what I did to retire at 62.

I started when I was in my mid-twenties just skrimping and saving (and I mean REALLY skrimping!!) toward my goal of building my own house like my dad did. At the age of 30 I had enough money and built a house, that was a year of every evening, weekend, holiday and vacation. I sold that and bought a couple fixer-uppers; sold them. I then bought a couple duplexes and rented them out.

While I made money on all of these, by far the most profitable were my rental properties. But what a huge PIA they were! It takes a special person to be a landlord. I was very happy to sell my duplexes after about 18 years. In this area, property values on rental properties are somewhat low, but I believe they will be heading up because the rental market is so good.

[Lou_MA]

Start a Roth IRA, contribute regularly, and set up automatic investments in index funds with a low expense ratio.

I know, easier said than done. But with many plans, you can set up automatic investments on a fairly infrequent basis, for a fairly small amount...so the annual outlay is kept relatively small.

And you don't have to start with enough money to invest in a large selection of funds. Start off an S&P index fund, and then as your situation allows, expand into other sectors (small-cap, foreign markets, commodities, bonds).