IRA is always a good idea. Especially a Roth IRA if you don't exceed the income limits. You need to assess your risk tolerance and then move forward. If you choose to use a financial adviser, I would look for a fee only adviser, and also stay away from any investment proposition that is tied any type of life insurance policy.

Why not trust a professional to help teach you?. Someone with the heart of a teacher.

Studies show people who invest with a professional have better outcomes.

Just like hiring a certified mechanic. Find someone you trust.

I agree with you on the CPA. On the CFP...............not so much !!

What do you guys think about creating a living trust? My folks had one even though they didn't have a lot. It was very easy to settle their estate. No court costs, just closing bank accounts about 6 months after my dad's death and any outstanding bill had been turned in. My estate in on track to be substantially more, setting up a trust earlier than my folks might be a good idea.

It’s kinda funny....people spend money on all kinds of professionals. But when it comes to their finances, they themselves are self proclaimed experts. The thought of paying for any kind of assistance is in their mind, a total waste of money.

Many just look at putting some monies some place without really setting down and establishing a plan with goals, expectations, do you want or need to consume all of your assets, will you pass some or a lot through etc. etc.
Most couples spend roughly 70-80% of what the made in their later working years and raising families, weddings, education etc. So if you were making 90-100K or roughly 8K per week to live somewhat similar to you did in your 50s and early 60-s you will need about 6 to 7 k per month. Have you put together a plan for that to take place? If SS will be say 3 K per month you will need that much or more per month or lower ones living standards accordingly. If you want money to be passed through even more then.

Bryce

IRA is a good idea. Max it out every year and diversify inside of it plus buy land and have a few other things. I found a good successful local company that is family owned and gives good advice and I went with them. They are helping me reach my goal to retire in 5 years. The numbers work if things stay the same or get better. Last year was huge so I can retire quicker.

Rules to get ahead financially:

#1. Educate yourself. I will never pay $0.01 to someone for financial advice. The Internet makes it easy to teach yourself.
#2. I like tax deferred accounts. I would never consider a ROTH. Why pay taxes you do not need to pay? Most of us will be at a lower tax rate after we stop working. Consider a working income of $200,000 per year (use what ever number you want) after retirement that number will probably drop maybe even 50%. IMO, tax later on a $100,000 income will probably be less than tax now on $200,000.
#3. Always save some of your income. Tax deferred accounts will save income tax and lessen the bite of missing the income. Think long term a little now can equal a lot later,
#4. I would never pay someone to do something I could do myself. From financial to a brake job to a new roof. I taught myself to do it. Now, I'm to lazy to do the new roof or the brake job so I pay an expert I'm not to lazy to study and do the financial stuff.
#5. Don't borrow money. I do have mortgage payments, but I recommend not borrowing for anything else. Years past I did borrow to buy new vehicles, but I ran them many many miles after the payments stopped..

Almost forgot, vote Republican. Democrats will take from the workers and give it to the non-workers.

These three rules... Save as much as you can, save as early as you can, and leave it there as long as you can.

I am seriously considering at age 72 taking out a loan for 30 K to buy several items and do some remodeling. I can get this money for 4.56% or maybe a tad less. I will pay it off in $1,000 monthly payments so I can pay it off in 36 months or less. I can run this loan through my Schedule C and thus my actual rate I pay will be 3.46% so over the life of the loan my actual interest cost will be about $1600. Even my conservative fun investments are averaging more than 3.25%. So my 30K invested will earn more than the interests I pay. I will be paying off the loan with cash or income I have not yet received. Also if I were to take even 10K out of deferred earnings per year for 3 years in my marginal tax bracket weighted for federal or state it would cost me $7,200 over three years to use monies that can earn income. If I used non deferred I would still pay taxes etc. on capital gains etc. and even the lower rates are 10%. I can also do a whole host of things in a short period of time and maybe save some total costs. If I don't use all of the 30K I can pay down early as well. Banks become worth trillions using other people's monies as do financial investment firms so I am of the feeling that on a very limited scale it can work for me too. When one does not need to borrow money is a really good time to benefit from using borrowed funds if you manage well. As to owing monies if a die, that is covered in a whole host of ways.

Bryce

Ira...

High growth mutual funds and put in as much as you can PER month.

Dave ramsey advice is what i go with.

Very good advice.

Another thing to consider is automatically depositing a portion of your paycheck each month into your investment accounts. If you never see it in your checking account, you won't miss it.

x3

Yes by all means do an IRA if you can better yet a Roth IRA. The difference is you can deduct the IRA money from your income so you do not pay taxes on the money for now. The Roth IRA you can put $6500.00 in an never ever pay taxes on the gain as you already paid for taxes on the money you put into the Roth, So the Roth Ira is never taxed again and you do not need to ever take the money out unless you need it. NEW Rule at the end of 2019 on IRA's. Old rule you needed to start taking out by age 701/2 RMD, required min distribution. Just call your investment company and they will tell you how much you need to take for the year. If you do not then uncle sam will charge you a extra tax. New Rule in Dec of 2019. If you turn 701/2 after the 2019 year end then you can wait till you are age 72 before you need to take out money. This is if it was a regular IRA. Check with your tax person. Just my two cent's worth. Thank You

Bird an, I may be wrong but I think if you put in $65,000 after tax money and it grew to $100,000 you,d pay tax on the $35,000? That’s for a Roth

I too like Charles Schwab. I have my few employees set up with them, I add some each pay and my employees can add. I am too small for 401k. Schwab is very easy and once they reached $5000 they can have Schwab invest for them thru their smart choice portfolio.

My simple rules for investing:

1. Never lose principal
2. Invest with a reputable firm
3. Never invest in anything you don’t fully know or understand.
4. Never forget rule #1

Wrong! You do not pay tax on any of it....unless you pull it out early like a 401k

I didn't read all the advice so this may be redundant, but if I was you and young again I would definitely first get out of debt on everything except a mortgage assuming the mortgage interest is less than the gain you can get on your investments. (I did this part)

Then I would do a Roth IRA each year and invest the remainder in real estate. Over time, real estate has always shown gains. It may go up and down some but over the long haul it's hard to beat. Plus you can use it while it's growing in value and often you can rent it, farm it, etc. to gain value from it while it grows. Small improvements to it can also help it gain a lot of value.