How old were you when you started preparing for retirement?

[Poundsand]

@nz

Yep. Compounding interest at 7% returns means your initial investment doubles every 7 years. Starting when you’re 23 with barely anything is SIGNIFICANTLY easier than waiting til you’re 30 and have a lot of money.

7% will double in about 10.3 yrs (rule of 72).

[nz]

Right. I think I’ve mixed up average stock market returns including the Great Depression and stock market returns since the 1940s, which I think is closer to 11%

[Joebie]

How much you need to retire anywhere depends on lots of factors and is different for everyone. Examples are…
What age you want to retire?
Life style
Family
Location
Investments

[taiwandude]

The value of a smart investment broker can never be underestimated. Be careful though if you use a friend as such. He or she may be very good at their job, but when things don’t go “your way”, the friendship can suffer/end.

[deepshelter]

Is there a way to even start a retirement saving in USA here? All I could find is if you own a business or started one prior to moving.

[Flakman]

Too depressing reading this…reminds me that if only I had not wasted that money when I was young…

[Brianjones]

@nz

Starting when you’re 23 with barely anything is SIGNIFICANTLY easier than waiting til you’re 30 and have a lot of money.

What if you didn’t have any money when you were 23 or even 30? That’s what happened to a lot of folks who had to try and make a living in Taiwan in the 2000s including me. What was depressing is getting nickeled and dimed by tight fisted shyster Taiwanese employers and getting seven days paid leave if you were lucky.

And even until my mid 30s…When I blew a big part of my savings due to family commitments and unemployment and failed investments . Life often isn’t easy. Fortunately many of us make significantly more money in our 30s and 40s. Taiwan is only a good place to save if you are making multi millions NTDs per year (compared to high tax high expense countries ), otherwise low incomes make it way too hard to get ahead. Now TWD is a lot stronger and that helps too, relatively.

And what about migrant workers or others on low salaries and still expected to support their families . Yep retirement is a luxury at any age.

[Gain]

How much saved qualifies as “preparing”? 10k USD? 30k USD? 100k? 1 million?

[Joebie]

Every dollar you save/invest that you do not plan on touching until retirement qualifies as preparing for retirement imo.

[Gain]

@Poundsand

$10/week will make a big difference at if you start young. For most people, they wouldn’t notice and it’s about making it a habit more than the inability to do so.

$10 a week is like $5000 in 10 years, which would be a big difference in maybe 1970.

[Mithrandir]

I remember maxing out my 401k when I started at my first law firm when I was 30 and telling the other first years that they should do the same. Most of them were just out of law school (24/25) and this was their first real job. The thought never occurred to them to reduce the ridiculous taxes they had to pay and save for retirement rather than have a little more money for that better apartment, the fancy clothes, and the expensive NYC nightlife.

I had saved a little before that, but I didn’t start for real until I was 30-31. One thing I wish I had done was get a good financial guy right away…I waited another 10 years before I did that.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

I don’t even make enough right now to survive, let alone think about retirement.

[Tianmu]

@deepshelter

Is there a way to even start a retirement saving in USA here? All I could find is if you own a business or started one prior to moving.

You have a bank in the US, right? It’s not any harder than that. Just invest from the funds you send back.

[Poundsand]

@Gain

@Poundsand

$10/week will make a big difference at if you start young. For most people, they wouldn’t notice and it’s about making it a habit more than the inability to do so.

$10 a week is like $5000 in 10 years, which would be a big difference in maybe 1970.

We’re talking retirement time-frames… Starting young, to retirement, means more like 40 years or so. $10/week over 40 years at 10% is $230k. Over 45 years it’s $390k. If you’re able to increase your contribution of $10/week by a whopping 10% a year, that becomes $700k and $1.3M

[Poundsand]

@Brianjones

And what about migrant workers or others on low salaries and still expected to support their families .

They probably do a better job saving relative to many westerners…

[Gain]

@Poundsand

$10/week over 40 years at 10% is $230k. Over 45 years it’s $390k. If you’re able to increase you’re contribution of $10/week by a whopping 10% a year, that becomes $700k and $1.3M

You didn’t say anything about 10%.

And what’s the first 10%?

[Poundsand]

@Gain

@Poundsand

$10/week over 40 years at 10% is $230k. Over 45 years it’s $390k. If you’re able to increase you’re contribution of $10/week by a whopping 10% a year, that becomes $700k and $1.3M

You didn’t say anything about 10%.

And what’s the first 10%?

No, because we’re talking in broad generalities, so not every assumption is laid out. And talking retirement, we’re going to assume we’re investing that money, rather than stuffing it under the mattress like your $5k figure. So, even without a minimal 10% increase in contributions, close to $400k is still a big difference, eh? The first 10% is about what the s&p returns long term, when you reinvest dividends.

[Gain]

@Poundsand

And talking retirement, we’re going to assume we’re investing that money, rather than stuffing it under the mattress like your $5k figure.

That’s what I would assume when I read “$10/week”.

Anyway I have some $ in savings and I have no idea how to invest. I feel like it’s such an awkward number. It’s like nothing but for some people they would say it’s a lot.

[Poundsand]

@Gain

That’s what I would assume when I read “$10/week”.

I would think nobody assumes just stuffing the money away under the mattress is what anyone is talking about when talking about retirement savings (other than old Asian grandma’s. Maybe you been in Taiwan too long. ).

@Gain

Anyway I have some $ in savings and I have no idea how to invest. I feel like it’s such an awkward number. It’s like nothing but for some people they would say it’s a lot.

The general advice for people who don’t know what to do with money they want to invest is to stuff it in an index fund. Do not construe that as investment advice.

[nz]

+1 to index funds