Investment showdown -- beyond the Roth, SDP, & TSP

[addict]

Pajaro: 15.5 years to $700K. Maybe 50% of what you've been paid has gone into this stockpile. https://youtu.be/8kZg_ALxEz0?t=4m

As for determining peer status: how many kids?

Edited January 2, 2014 by addict

[Homestar]

This thread is not gonna help our case in Congress fellas....and they read this site apparently...

You know, you're right. "You didn't make that" after all.

[Pajaro]

I can never make the quote function work (yea, sorry for a Cyber guy), but my info here is all answers to some of the earlier questions:

1) Champ, I bought a new Mustang with a loan from Bank of America when I was a 2nd Lt. I had to sell when I moved to Keflavik and lost half the value. Lesson learned. All my other cars have been used and paid for in cash (with the exception of a 0% for 12 months loan that I had to jump on and pay off in full after 11.5 months while I let my cash earn interest in a CD). I've never had any other debt.

1a) When I'm CONUS, I pay for absolutely everything with a credit card for the cash back and for AMEX warranty protection. However, I have always paid off my cards in full every month. I paid for my most recent used car at a dealership completely with a credit card and got $185 cash back. Normally, dealerships won't let you do that, but I was in my hometown for only a couple of days between OCONUS assignments specifically to buy a car and ship it the next day. The dealership wouldn't take a personal check and USAA doesn't have any branches close to my hometown (so no way to get a cashiers check). Anyway, they didn't like it, but it really worked out for me.

1b) I have about a dozen different credit cards that I use depending on what I'm buying to get the best cash back. I use PenFed Visa for all Foreign Transactions because there's no foreign transaction fee. I use my Chase AARP Visa (you don't have to be any specific age to join AARP, but I'm 37 and joined for the credit card) for all travel because I get 3% cash back. By no means are credit card tricks going to make me rich, but it's free money so I take it.

2) Day Man, I agree that I need to diversify more. Other than my TSP 2040 index, I have no small cap or international exposure. Thanks for the push. I'll look into that in the next few days.

3) I got married (for the only time) as a 32-year old Major and we have one child (1 year old).

[DUNBAR]

I think I paid about $9 for mine. My daughter caught a nice catfish with it, so it's pretty lucky, but with straight-line depreciation I'm guessing it's worth about $3.50.

Edited January 2, 2014 by DUNBAR

[Fud]

My net worth is roughly $703,000 broken down into:

Cash: $10,000

I Bonds: $21,000

CDs: $60,000 (PenFed Credit Union now has some nice 5-year CDs at 3.04%)

TSP 2040 Fund: $199,000

My Roth IRA: $95,000 (all in USAA's S&P 500 index)

Wife's Roth IRA: $38,000 (all in USAA's S&P 500 index)

Taxable Index Funds: $282,000 (all in USAA's S&P 500 index)

You're doing very well in regard to your peers. It's good to do this in a forum type of environment, since your neighbors would be jealous and the liberals will want to give it away since it's not fair that you were disciplined for your entire career. All kidding aside, I think you need to look into Vanguard's investment options. Their funds are rated higher than USAA's and most importantly, their expense ratios are lower.

As far as diversification goes, I've never been a fan of index funds or CDs, but I follow Dave Ramsey's investment philosophy, which is somewhat limited. I would take some of that hard earned, and well saved money and talk to a very good CFP and let them know what your goals are. These points are all of my own opinions though, and you will never have a shortage of people telling you how to use and invest your money. Good luck and congrats though.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Fud

[Day Man]

I can never make the quote function work...

To quote multiple posts, click the "multiquote" button on the posts you wish to quote, which should prompt a "Reply to x quoted posts" button below. After clicking that, you should be able to type in between the quoted posts in the "Reply to this topic" section. You can also manipulate the quoted text to address/delete a certain point.

Edited January 2, 2014 by day man

[Spur38]

Pajaro....good job! You're not a pilot I assume....only on wife #1 and you obviously dont drink or gamble :) but as a suggestion and since your child is only 1yrs old. Take some of that mountain of cash and purchase a pre-paid college tuittion for the little nose miner! Sure, you can probabally do somewhat better by investing a set aside monthly amount but at the kids current age the cost for future 120 college credits is well worth it.....most states have pretty good plans (IRS 529 plans) and I know that Nevada's Pre-paid tuittion plan, as an example, can be used at any college up to the value/cost of the University system. My daughter is on her last college semester and my total outlay was about 6K; I signed up when she was seven. Additionally, the plan can be resinded, money back or transfered to any other child if college isn't in the cards for the first one. Another education possibility is transfering your GI Bill education credits. Good program and since I already had all the sheepskins that I need I transfered the 36 months for her graduate level education. Oh yeah!, and get a estate plan going before you cross the street and get hit by a bus with all that money in your wallet!

[JeremiahWeed]

I'll play along too, Pajaro:

I'm guessing you're 39-40. I left active duty at 34 and finished my 20 in the Guard. When I was your age, I think my net worth was a little more than half of yours, so good job (not that I'm some kind of valid benchmark, but still, good job). I'm now 49, on my third airline and thankfully have recovered from what has been a pretty colorful transition to civilian flying. Low 100K income in 2001, 2002 and 2007-2008. Mid to high 100K since 2009.

Married (wife 1.0), 3 kids, 1 at USAFA, no debt other than mortgage (15year 3%, with $207,000 to go). Owned a house since 1995, current one since 2000. Never carried any credit card debt. No family money. All funds came from USAF, Guard and Airline. Did the "DINK" thing with wife (USAF nurse) for first 4 years of marriage - so 2x O-3 pay helped establish a good base. Wife hasn't worked since 1995.

Net worth: about $1,322,000

487, 000 in taxable brokerage account (7 mutual funds - diversified across equities, bonds and cash)

120,000 Roth IRA

132,000 Wife's Roth

216,000 Traditional IRA

21,000 Wife's Traditional IRA

159,500 401K

66,500 (state 529 college savings plan)

10,000 cash

5,000 UAL stock

105,000 equity in house

I max out my IRAs every year (had to start putting back into traditionals because my income level precluded any more contributions to my Roths). Max out 401K each year. Invest about 25-30% of monthly take home pay into my brokerage portfolio. Donate 10% of annual pre-tax income to church/charity.

Edited January 2, 2014 by JeremiahWeed

[Clark Griswold]

I'm in

Home equity: 100K

Cash on hand: 100K ( job instability right now so keeping a large emergency fund )

General investments: 10K

Retirement investments: 200K

529s: 12K

Property: 250K

I put investing (retirement, college, etc..) at idle to help some family members get out of the hole but looking to start investing more heavily this year.

Dave Ramsey is my co-pilot: Live on less than you make, don't buy stuff on credit (home is the 1 exception), save/invest a bit, give a bit to charity... rinse, lather, repeat...

Edited January 2, 2014 by Clark Griswold

[Champ Kind]

Dave Ramsey is my co-pilot: Live on less than you make, don't buy stuff on credit (home is the 1 exception), save/invest a bit, give a bit to charity... rinse, lather, repeat...

I'm with ya buddy, but be careful around here...you'll be labeled a simpleton for quoting Dave Ramsey.

Great thread!

[matmacwc]

Except he is winning.

[theat6bisasham]

Can't do all your living when your old is my motto....

Good luck taking that 1st class ski trip to the swiss alps when your 70, luckily i already went and just banked it on my credit card. The couple bucks interest is simply a future loan from my old self who has volunteered to sit at home and watch more TV since he can't ski anymore anyway.

Lol but none will agree so enjoy!

Edited January 3, 2014 by theat6bisasham

[Clark Griswold]

Your prerogative and no judgement from me but others depend on me for food, shelter and cable tv... all the essentials of life, so you balance things out to live for today, plan for tomorrow and not leave chaos in your wake if you ride one in...

The Baby Steps (Dave's plan) doesn't mean you'll always be on a financial diet but only for a period of time till your debts are gone, you've got two nickels to rub together and have figured out how to control your money... after that, within reason, live your life well...

[Champ Kind]

Let's not forget the security of Dave Ramsey's plan, too.

I could get RIFed tomorrow and my family would be good for six months--without worrying about severance pay, without running up a mess of debt on credit cards to have to clean up later, and without liquidating any of my retirement.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Champ Kind

[Day Man]

Just googled Dave Ramsey, and he seems nothing more than a greasy businessman touting common-sense financial tips. He had to file bankruptcy early, bases some of his lessons/material on "Primerica" (pyramid scheme), and is promoted by one the best financial schemes going (religion).

If you don't know that money earning money > money losing money, you should probably run for Comptroller of Detroit.

[Clark Griswold]

Let's not forget the security of Dave Ramsey's plan, too.

Yep, built in margin for error and Murphy's Law...

Just googled Dave Ramsey, and he seems nothing more than a greasy businessman touting common-sense financial tips. He had to file bankruptcy early, bases some of his lessons/material on "Primerica" (pyramid scheme), and is promoted by one the best financial schemes going (religion).

If you don't know that money earning money > money losing money, you should probably run for Comptroller of Detroit.

Not a fanatic but a fan of Dave so I'll just have to disagree with you... listen to his show and you'll see how uncommon common financial sense is...

We used to encourage savings and taught basic personal finance in this country but somewhere about the time we decided that "greed was good" we said f it as a culture and just went pedal to the metal with credit cards, car loans, lotteries and all the other shit we use to keep at the margins and to a minimum... so, someone has to say the obvious now and teach basic financial skills

In reference to Dave Ramsey and Primerica, he worked for them for 3 months when he was 22 years old and before he began doing and teaching his current financial strategy, he does not recommend them now for financial or insurance products

That's a whole lot of pro-Dave Ramsey pixels but I can see how he may not appeal to everyone, but his method is simple, clear, low risk, appropriate for the average person in that it encourages no leverage or speculation that would require a good deal of financial speculation and sophistication and keeps nutbergers from thinking they are smarter than the casino...

Not that I have a strong opinion or anything...

[Day Man]

That's cool, man. Just remember half the country (and Canada, too) is of below-average intelligence, and some of us don't need "baby steps."

[Clark Griswold]

That's cool, man. Just remember half the country (and Canada, too) is of below-average intelligence, and some of us don't need "baby steps."

Cool, sorry to be preachy about it and I try to keep it in perspective, there are plenty of people who have their shit together but it pisses me off that there is no sense of shame with some people that have an education and should have a shred of decency not to encourage financial stupidity out the sea of mouth breathers, they just take advantage of all the future guests on the Maury Povich Show by getting them to take out pay day loans, roll from one car loan to the next and keep pumping out that bullshit that lotteries are good because they fund eduction.. ok, rant complete...

[Champ Kind]

I get the impression that the majority of the ppl that post on BODN about finances are pretty savvy.

This has most certainly not been the case in a majority of ppl I've encountered on AD. Lots of debt, very little investing/savings, houses that are out of their means, huge car payments, you name it...

[Day Man]

I always shook my head when I saw the newly-minted SSgt pull up in his new BMW/Benz. They drove WAY nicer cars than I did, and I was making over 2x their base pay (not bragging). We do our young guys a disservice by not teaching a basic finance course at BMT/FTAC, even if it might fall on deaf ears.

[Royal]

Dave Ramsey offers solid advice, but if you want to make some real coin, I suggest Wu Tang Financial...Diversify those bonds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_rDtmT246s

[Clark Griswold]

I always shook my head when I saw the newly-minted SSgt pull up in his new BMW/Benz. They drove WAY nicer cars than I did, and I was making over 2x their base pay (not bragging). We do our young guys a disservice by not teaching a basic finance course at BMT/FTAC, even if it might fall on deaf ears.

Yep, saw that and was that at one time (except as an Lt), had car loans, boat loans, all the things I despise now... about 10 years ago I read one of Dave's books and was hooked... what really got me thinking about my own finances was when i was asked by a SrA to sign a car note letter for him his bank and it was for a new Corvette, it was so ridiculous that I started realizing that I was doing the same thing he wanted to do (I wouldn't sign it for him) and that was when I started to plug the holes in the boat and bail the water out...

Edited January 3, 2014 by Clark Griswold

[Champ Kind]

I always shook my head when I saw the newly-minted SSgt pull up in his new BMW/Benz. They drove WAY nicer cars than I did, and I was making over 2x their base pay (not bragging). We do our young guys a disservice by not teaching a basic finance course at BMT/FTAC, even if it might fall on deaf ears.

Plenty of O's, too.

[Jake_65_65]

We do our young guys a disservice by not teaching a basic finance course in high school, even if it might fall on deaf ears.

FIFY

[Fuzz]

He had to file bankruptcy early

Sorry just wanted to point this out, he fully admits he was young and dumb. Frankly I enjoy listening to him and his story about when he was young, because I and many young people can relate. He made all those mistakes that young people today make and it bit him hard. However, he got his shit together and recovered; personally I dont mind taking financial advice from someone that has been there and done that. I'm not a fanatic follower but for people literally drowning in debt his methods are simple and work.