Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaVirus
He’ll need to go the stocks route if he wants any hope of doubling his account twice in the next 15 years, though.
He’ll have to get very lucky but I believe he’d need an average of 10% return per year in order to double your investment in 7 years.
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Agree; the risk is too great (IMO) to achieve that in these skittish times and this crazy market.
We all had out formula, mine was to go all out (putting everything I could into the high risk/high-reward retirement options) until ~45, cool it from 45 to 50, even cooler from 50 to 55. It worked very well for me, I was able to retire a couple months after my younger son graduated high school and now I'm traveling the world every other month before I turned 60, and will do it for as long as I can still dive. I've been blessed with good genes, the Mrs. and I stay and live a pretty healthy life, so life is good.
But you're right, this advise is for our younger readers.
I was blessed to have a pretty financially savvy father and early on after I got out of the military I had a boss who sat me down and talked retirement with me - I was in my mid 20s - and it paid off. Later in my career I did the same for my subordinate staff and encouraged the leadership structure under me to do the same. I'd hold a high level "Think about YOUR financial future", and I encouraged the department heads and supervisors under them to incorporate a "YOUR financial future" segment into annual reviews. Over time they became shorter, but new hires, especially younger hires, need to hear what the employer offers in terms of matching, take advantage of it, and the basics of how retirement works. I'm shocked how many kids fresh out of college have little clue about 401Ks and other investment options.
Anyway, I was blessed to make what I made and was able to largely avoid huge damage during times like 2008, so life is good.