I need advice for retirement, I hardly have any at age 46

I guess the 21 year old child disappeared into thin air.

I've always wondered... If I make enough kids, will some be able to take care of me when I get old?

acewarner said:   While I agree with you on how unjust the system is to younger people that are supporting the system whole heartily I think the 58% you are referring to is the unemployment/welfare numbers. This is a link to the 2010 federal budget. Social Security is only around 5%, even combined with medicare its only about 11.5%. Not trolling you just pointing out that the number was a little off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget. Incidentally, the presidential candidate that I support is the only one that believes youg people should have a right to opt out and contribute to a self-directed retirement account. -Ron Paul. RP shout out +... Though the younger aren't truly supporting the system, bc its underfunded, nor do they have choice.. Keep in mind that all these self directed options,soon to include health care ( with or without recent nt'l healthcare, do not put people on better footing long term. If people don't see high deductable health plans as the slippery slope then....

needadvise said:   jerosen said:   What is your husbands salary?? Probably $60k level give or take?


You will qualify for 50% of your husbands social security benefit due to the spousal benefit. If he makes about $60k a year then he'll end up with social security of about $1500 a month (roughly). You could then get 50% of that or $750 a month.

It appears Minnesota general pension plan is 1.7% of pay x years. Therefore if your husband works 30 years he'll get about 51% of his pay in pension.
edit : I don't know if he'd get that pension or some other benefit. Pensions can get convoluted as they keep changing them (cutting benefits) and different employee classes can get different pensions.

Between the pension and the social security checks you'd get nearly 100% of his pay in retirement.

Of course saving more money on the side is a good idea and you never know what will happen in the next 20 years. But right now you aren't in bad shape considering the pension + social security benefits you would be expected to get.

His salary is 53,000. Would I get 50 % if we are still married? And I would get a portion of his tra pension?

Yes you get 50% of his SS benefit minimum if you're married. You don't have to work at all to qualify for that.

Social Security spousal benefits :
http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/yourspouse.htm

If you divorce after 10 years you can also qualify for 50% of his benefits :
http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/yourdivspouse.htm

In either case if you qualify for SS on your own based on your work then you can get your benefit if its higher than 50% of his benefit.

His teachers retirement is just a payment for him, but he can likely chose to get coverage for both of your lives. That way if he dies before you then the pension will still pay you as long as you live. Someone also mentioned that if you're married 10 years or more then you're entitled to a share of his pension if you happen to divorce later.

This is the sad reality, unfortunately. I have been teaching at universities for 10 years and the pay just plain out sucks. No awesome benefit either. I figured with my 22 years of education I should be able to send both my future kids to private colleges if they want to. So that means saving up for at least $800k in the next 20 years plus buying a house and cars. I finally decided that the US society is not appreciating professors as much as it should, so this year I formally quit and plan to go back to school to get a master somewhere to start getting a real job that actually pays like everybody else, in order to support my family and my gambling addiction.

In case you are wondering, I quit a tenure job that pays $36k a year. And yes I am a great teacher. Most of my students love me and took as many classes with me as possible.

jd2010 said:   You missed the stock market boat for the year already.

Some people just aren't going to get to retire these days, sad but true.

A teacher and a stay at home mom with 4 kids and student loan debt with 0 savings at age 45... theres no magic pill here. If you're gonna want to retire some day you're going to need to drum up income.

Look into babysitting/daycare for other people's kids, continue flipping houses if thats low risk and profitable.


College for 4 will cost over 100k/each by then.

Which means you need to be saving about 100k/year for the next 20 years, with an annual return of about 5% to have a shot at getting them to college and retiring by 65, assuming you withdraw 50k/year starting at 65 until you die at 90ish.

ahcool,

The reality is even funding in-state schools is out of reach for most parents. Average cost is around $70k in-state, so you only have to save $350/month (in current-year dollars) from the time they are born till they reach 18 AND find an investment vehicle that matches tuition inflation (good luck with that). That's more than most people are saving for retirement.

Using 7%/year cost of attendance increase, you only need to save $260k for your newborn to attend school in 18 years. Good luck!

edit: also you are making way less than the average:

http://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-barely-budge-2012/...

(1) Get a job. Babysit or tutor other people's kids. Sell stuff on eBay. Don't make any excuses--go get yourself a way to make money. You are a (presumably trustworthy) middle-aged woman with a college degree. There has to be a way to make money from home, and I wouldn't be too picky so long as its safe, legal, and not-so-immoral.
(2) Save every penny. You don't get any more luxuries--you already had five of them. No cable, no cell phones, no tablets, no vacations, no expensive cars, etc. are the new normal for everyone nowadays. Get used to it. Just think about it this way: you still have it better than most people in Africa. Or another way: would you like to go through some struggles now or later?
(3) BUY INSURANCE. Buy health, life, and home insurance. Skimping on insurance is not saving money; it's setting yourself up for a huge fall if the unfortunate happens. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. However, you are rather old for a mother of young children. (No offense.) If your husband passes away, you and your kids will be in dire straights right away. Same thing if someone gets sick, or if there's a fire. Please don't take this the wrong way--just imagine if you something like that happened. Make sure you have enough insurance to prevent catastrophe.
(4) Don't refinance your house. If the poop hits the fan, that means you'll have no place to live. Really, just don't do it.
(5) Suffer. I'm sorry to say this, but this has to get into your head. The next twenty years of your life will probably really suck. You will retire at 65 if at all. You will have to scrimp and save and never keep up with the Jones. Get used to it, and wrap your head around it.
(6) Make sure your kids are smarter than you financially. Get them on the right track when they're old enough so that they can avoid the mistakes you made.

fattywallace said:   darkmeridian said:   (1) Get a job. Babysit or tutor other people's kids. Sell stuff on eBay. Don't make any excuses--go get yourself a way to make money. You are a (presumably trustworthy) middle-aged woman with a college degree. There has to be a way to make money from home, and I wouldn't be too picky so long as its safe, legal, and not-so-immoral.
(2) Save every penny. You don't get any more luxuries--you already had five of them. No cable, no cell phones, no tablets, no vacations, no expensive cars, etc. are the new normal for everyone nowadays. Get used to it. Just think about it this way: you still have it better than most people in Africa. Or another way: would you like to go through some struggles now or later?
(3) BUY INSURANCE. Buy health, life, and home insurance. Skimping on insurance is not saving money; it's setting yourself up for a huge fall if the unfortunate happens. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. However, you are rather old for a mother of young children. (No offense.) If your husband passes away, you and your kids will be in dire straights right away. Same thing if someone gets sick, or if there's a fire. Please don't take this the wrong way--just imagine if you something like that happened. Make sure you have enough insurance to prevent catastrophe.
(4) Don't refinance your house. If the poop hits the fan, that means you'll have no place to live. Really, just don't do it.
(5) Suffer. I'm sorry to say this, but this has to get into your head. The next twenty years of your life will probably really suck. You will retire at 65 if at all. You will have to scrimp and save and never keep up with the Jones. Get used to it, and wrap your head around it.
(6) Make sure your kids are smarter than you financially. Get them on the right track when they're old enough so that they can avoid the mistakes you made.

waooo...talk about Armageddon?

Its called being realistic. Being unrealistic is how the baby boomers have almost single handedly destroyed America over the past 20 years.

needadvise said:   I am not the kind of person that would be satisfied with having the same job for 30 years. It would bore me.

Haven't you been a SAHM for 15 years? Halfway there.