I need to sweeten my retirement planFollow

Got this email today:



Therefore I will be cancelling my premium membership. Hey, that $36 a year might put me up to my goal! Of course, this is assuming I don't take that money and use it for a subscription to another site. That has ****. And is more expensive.

Dammit.





I know, I'm foolin no one. I'm such a procrastinator if I did decide to cancel premium I wouldn't get around to it till next year, and there goes my retirement fund.

The best way to sweeten your retirement plan is to make sure it earns more interest.

I started late on mine, so I'm sort of keen on playing catchup as well. The best advice I can offer anyone young is to start a 401K/IRA ASAP.

The difference between 10% return and 15% return on mine between now and retirement is about $6 mill if I never contribute a dime more than I do atm. I regularly review the different funds I'm allowed to select with my 401K plan and make sure I'm getting the best return available to me there. I'm no financial genius, but I did get a 26% return last year. This year I'm looking much worse, only around 9%, but my money is giving the highest returns available so worrying about it is fairly useless. With the company kick-in, even if I were to lose 25%, I'm coming out ahead, so 401K is still a winner.

under currrent rules, you can put as much as 14,000 a year into a 401k or ira tax deffered. the down side is paying taxes on anything you withdraw, adn usually a penalty for withdrawing before age 65, or a hand full of years before you DIE.

you can, however, roll it over to an anuity without penalty before age 65.

the problam is, 14,000 a year is about half of what over 60 percent of americans earn for a living.

rule of thumb, donate atleast 10 percent of your paycheck into a 401k or ira, reguardless of what you make, and do it EARLY. 16 and get your first job? do it now and get used to it as early as possible.

DO NOT take that money out for ANYTHING short of a life saving emergancy.

here is the simple truth in this market. your retirement it totally in YOUR hands. the days of putting in 25 or 30 years in a company and getting a company retirement are GONE. for example, united airlines just filled for bankrupcy and shed their retirement pension plan to the government insurance program. what that means is, some pilot, or executive that put in his time and retired will STOP GETTING CHECKS. people close to retirement? TOO BAD. its SS for you or NOTHING. thousands of people banking on a company pension plan are suddenly going to get the measely 900 to 1400 dollars a month from SS and NOTHING ELSE. no insurance, no benifits, no paid off house, NOTHING.

so start early, or plan on working till you drop dead.

good thing we still have SS isnt it? or all these people would be wards of the state. something for you Bush supporters to think about. its YOUR safety net they want to do away with for another tax cut. you can pay for them through the SS system, or you can pay for them with an increase in state taxes for subsidized housing and medicade. either way, you WILL pay for them.

the baby boomers grew up in the "company will take care of you" mentality. there are a lot of people in for a rude wake up call in the next 5 ot 10 years.

do it YOURSELF, or it WONT GET DONE. if you are close to retirement age, and havent started yet, count on working till you drop in some company that doesnt offer benifits, because any company that DOES offer benifits will drop you like a rock when their insurance company tells them to, or their shareholders start getting nervous about the underfunded pension plan they have been robbing for years.

for those of youmaking 20 to 30 grand a year, its a tough call, but you have to do it. if you dont, you WILL get screwed by big bussinesses. why? because thats how they stay in the green, by making sure YOU dont retire on THEIR dime. and there is no law that stops them from firing you as long as they do it for CAUSE, like the one time you show up 3 minutes late because of traffic a year before you are supposed to retire.

yes, they will. if you dont think so, you are an idiot, and probably a republican supporter. those of you that KNOW better, understand how important not underminning our ss system is to this country, and are probably NOT a republican suporter.