What are your long term financial goals?

[mlkgls]

My #1 goal is to retire comfortably, preferably prior to my full retirement age, and be able to cover elder/memory care. DS is an only and I don’t want him to have to worry about the financial aspect of having older parents. 

I am on track to be able to downshift to part-time in my early 60s, and while I wish it were earlier, it just isn’t realistic. I've saved since graduating, but I made a pretty modest salary most of my career and married late. If only hospital pensions were the norm; I’ve been at mine for well over 20 years!

#2: Enjoy life with my little family, whether it be taking short day trips or bucket list trips. I used to want to save at all costs, but the last few years have taught me how short and fragile life can be. 

#3: Cover as much as possible of DS’s college costs. 

[sandandsea]

Pay for the kids college

Pay off the house

Figure out how to get into investment incomes for cash flow post retirement

Both Retire at 55

Be able to travel/move/live as we want based on where life takes us and our kids go after school and such.

[fortnightlily]

Similar to what others have said.

Pay off house before/around the time DS goes to college, and give him a head start in life without too much debt.

Enable ourselves to enjoy life/hobbies/travel and reduce stress from work before we're too old to appreciate and enjoy it. Maybe that's retiring early, maybe that's going part-time or just downgrading to roles that leave more mental energy or allow for lots of flexibility.

Contribute more (through time or money) to causes we support.

[themoneytree]

1: Keep our low interest mortgage, but save enough in a higher interest bearing account to be able to pay it down/ off whenever wanted.

2: Pay for (unplanned) private school for kid 2 through graduation. We mostly have this funded, but it’s taken away significantly from goal 1.

3: Pay for 70% of 2 kid’s college expenses. We’re starting year 2 for kid 1 soon. We mostly have this funded already.

4: Have H be in a position to retire at 55 (although he may choose not to for a couple of extra years).

5: Spend a significant amount of time traveling per year. We may need to downsize our primary residence to do this which is fine.

6: Live almost exclusively off passive income without touching too much capital per year.

[heygrey]

H and I both started out so poor that we've exceeded the only goal we had of basic financial stability. Neither of us thought we could dream bigger than that. As we move past the poverty mindset our biggest goals are to launch DS into adulthood debt free and to set ourselves up well for retirement.

We will continue saving for university/whatever DS does postsecondary, help him access scholarships and bursaries, and guide him towards wise financial decisions.

H and I are both considering career moves that would increase our income, so we can pay off our mortgage early and continue socking away money for retirement. We have good pensions, but we want our own well-funded savings, too.

[noodleoo]

I should really write these down and talk about them with H. He is a live in the present kind of guy, so all long term planning falls to me, which is a lot sometimes. Quick brainstorming:

1. Save enough for a comfortable retirement. We are on track for this, but still saving aggressively. I have a goal to find a FA next year to start actual planning.

2. Pay off our house by the time DD1 goes to college. We refi-ed into a 15 year in 2020 so we are on track for this as well.

3. Pay for as much of kids college as we can. We started monthly contributions to 529s for them a few years ago when DD1 went to Kinder, planned to up it when DD2 goes to Kinder this fall but I should talk to a FA first.  Having our current mortgage paid off, we may be able to cash flow some of it.

4. I'd really love a bigger house, specifically with a 2 car garage and a guest room/offices (we both WFH). However, real estate prices in our area are out of control so I'm not sure it will ever be feasible. We are on track with goals 1-3 based on our current home/mortgage, attempting to get 4 would mess that all up. But it is on my mind and we will keep our options open.

I really need to talk to H about/start thinking about when we actually want to retire. We've been in saving mode for so long without really discussing what we are saving for. I've been working part time since we had kids and thought I'd go back to full time when DD2 went to school, but that's coming up this fall and I may not actually *need* to. So maybe I'll consider myself half retired and coast into retirement? I have no idea when H would like to retire, but I think it would be nice to do it when we're young.

I also wish we had some other goals. Travel? Vacation home? Where we want to live in retirement? We never really think/talk about this stuff. These boards are so helpful for starting these kinds of conversations.

[aprilsails]

I want to be in a position to fully retire at age 65. My kids will be past 30 at that age and if they haven't left already they will be jettisoned. I intend to sell our current house and move to waterfront somewhere within a 2 hour radius of our city. Hopefully one or less. I might adjust this plan based on grandchildren, but I'm not counting chickens before they've hatched at this point.

We are saving at a good rate and we have benefitted from absurd growth in the price of our home. We are saving enough to pay for our kids university of they stay at one of the 3 local schools. We could probably swing housing elsewhere too.

I would like DH to retire early, but I don't know that he will. He's a bit of a dragon and enjoys saving his money. His parents have had poor health in retirement, which I'm hoping doesn't repeat.

[aspentosh]

Recently attained goal: Get electric truck for H. We lived as a one (paid off) car household for awhile and squirreled away $50k for down payment. Financed the remainder with plans to pay off within two years of taking ownership.

-We want to get as close to fully funding DD's college education as possible. We're saving in a 529 but plan/hope to cash flow anything above that when the time comes.

-I'm already "retired" and have been for 10 years. H would like to retire by 60 (so 18 years). We've been maxing all retirement vehicles available to us (401k and Roth IRA for him, Roth IRA for me) for 10+ years. Our mortgage will be paid off in a little over 10 years, so that will help with cash flow. 

-Travel like hell. We save almost $1k a month for travel (family of 3). Honestly I have more issue with H's time off than travel budget these days. We stretch that budget by doing a lot of driving and cheaper vacations. Staying with family at a lake. Camping. Driving to a National Park so minimal expenses outside of food and lodging. 

-Ultimate goal is have a vacation home. We are *very* lucky in that we can use family homes in FL and Upstate NY that is on a lake, but we want our own. No idea how we're working towards this (we aren't), but it's a truly long term goal- for after DD is out of college and if she wants a family so we can have a place for her to come hang out. If we ever move out of our area, we'd stand to make a boat load of money on the sale of our house, so that may help fund it.

We've been really lucky with our investments, SLs (H paid his off over 10 years ago, I had none), real estate timing, etc. I stand to inherit a 6-figure sum when my mom passes away unless she needs it for an assisted living home and lives way past her projections (MY PREFERENCE, lol). 

[shaynaatl]

Right now we are on track to retire when DH is 62 and I am 57. We may be able to do 60/55 if there are favorable conditions. We plan on saving extra due to the medical insurance coverage gap. No specific plans after retirement, except travel. I'm especially excited to travel with friends and family that will also be hopefully retired around the same time.

We would like to fund both kids' undergrads and weddings also.

[wanderlustmom]

We just hit a big one this week, DH retired at 50. He's been planning this since he was 23 and told me about it on our second date.  Proud of us for getting to that dream.  I'll keep working PT another five years and then consider if I want to retire or keep working.  Have a feeling I'll go until at least 60. 

We also saved enough to fund two kids in state college for undergrad, dorm and most living expenses. Wanted to be clear our budget can't cover out of state. Our state has a great lottery program so we really lucked out with that.  We aren't going to pay for advanced degrees if they decide to go for those. 

Also want to be able to pay for the kids to go on an international vacation with us once a year and bring significant others. Would also like to pay some money toward a wedding if they get married. 

Want to take a yearly longer trip with my DH (rent an airbnb in a different country) and our dog who I hope will be okay with a long flight.  She is little. 

That's it, pretty simple goals. We want enough money to enjoy travel with our family and friends and not rely on our kids for money ever.  

[chpmnk1015]

Reture by 60/65
Own a lake house and/or beach house in that order
Help my kids w college
Help my kids w houses/weddings
Travel

[SusanBAnthony]

1. Be able to say FU and quit my job whenever I want to. Have achieved this but with consequences (ie I would need to find another job within a year or so to achieve other financial goals).

2. Pay for much of kids college. Our rough plan/goal is to cover everything except the federal student loan amount.

3. Have enough to comfortavly retire by 55. No clear plan on how to bridge to 65 and Medicare though. On track for this other than the insurance piece.

4. Be able to treat my kids/grandkids to various things like family vacations, etc. I dont really know that the etc even is, but I don't want to be a penny pincher as I age if I can afford to treat my family.

5. Be financially able to move wherever pur kids live and and support them if they have kids, as well as take care of our own selves as we age. Basically I want to be able to help them when they need help. I felt it very keenly that my parents were still working full time and couldn't help me when I needed it and want to be able to help my kids (note that I do not blame my parents at all)

[konapoppy]

I am so impressed with everyone’s goals.

Sadly, I really worry my husband won’t live until retirement due to medical issues. He always thought he would work until retirement anyway. So I try to spend more and go in the vacations now. I just can’t think more than 5 years out.

Sorry for being the downer in the thread.

[RockNVoll]

Congratulations, wanderlustmom and Mr.Wanderlustmom! That's huge and so exciting. I'm working towards the same goal over the next several months. Have a lot of work to do to figure out spending strategies and whatnot, but it's exciting to see a lot of us with retirement in sight!

konapoppy, I wish I could give you a hug. That's a tough spot to be in but you seem to be handling it as well as possible. Hoping you and your partner have many years to enjoy yourselves and make great memories.

[wanderlustmom]

Jul 24, 2024 9:17:09 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Congratulations, wanderlustmom and Mr.Wanderlustmom! That's huge and so exciting. I'm working towards the same goal over the next several months. Have a lot of work to do to figure out spending strategies and whatnot, but it's exciting to see a lot of us with retirement in sight!

Thank you! Excited for you as well.  Reach out with any questions.  I love all the people who are early retiring 

[farmvillelover]

Jun 24, 2024 15:19:25 GMT -5 niq said:

Jun 24, 2024 10:48:21 GMT -5 Susie said:

I am a minority owner of my firm now, and at least the plan is that by then I would own more.  So it would be feasible.  The financial piece, professional piece, and fitness piece would have to come together.

How are you managing workouts between having kids and getting older?

I ask bb/c I'm finding it hard to make time for exercise consistently. And then there's the thing where I get random owies and have to go to PT, and I'm never sure when I should shut down all exercise because something hurts.

V is going into middle school, which starts at 8:55 instead of 7:55, and I think I am just going to become an Early Morning Workout person, then get him to school. Otherwise it's just too hard to juggle the exercise schedule with work and kid activities.

Just embrace middle age like me and workout at 6am haha. But really, if I had to fit it in after work, it wouldn’t happen at all.

[farmvillelover]

Jun 25, 2024 6:44:53 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

niq, if it's helpful, my DH has found short workouts in o

FWIW - I'm not an exercise enthusiast, but I've found a power hot yoga class that keeps me fit and I only go once/week. It's intense in every way and it knocks out the stretching, strength, cardio, isometric stuff in one sitting

I was literally going to comment that heated yoga (esp if with weights) is almost the perfect workout and gentle on the body but still strength building. I do heated warrior sculpt 2-3x a week in addition to Orangetheory and it’s been life changing

[cjcouple]

Buy a home
Pay my kids college loans (minus their direct fed loans)
Have enough in retirement so I don't have to work until I die.
A savings account of 10k

How I plan to reach them? Who knows.

DH & I each work 2 jobs, and are barely getting by. We just keep hoping things will change and one day we will have some extra money to start making these things reachable.

[niq]

Aug 15, 2024 20:35:45 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Jun 24, 2024 15:19:25 GMT -5 niq said:

How are you managing workouts between having kids and getting older?

I ask bb/c I'm finding it hard to make time for exercise consistently. And then there's the thing where I get random owies and have to go to PT, and I'm never sure when I should shut down all exercise because something hurts.

V is going into middle school, which starts at 8:55 instead of 7:55, and I think I am just going to become an Early Morning Workout person, then get him to school. Otherwise it's just too hard to juggle the exercise schedule with work and kid activities.

Just embrace middle age like me and workout at 6am haha. But really, if I had to fit it in after work, it wouldn’t happen at all.

I woke up at 5:30 four times this week. The school year will basically be the same. At least I'm working out, but I am a zombie by like 8:30pm.

PT has gotten to the point where things "feel funny" rather than hurting and I guess that's life.

[krystee]

Our mortgage is due to be paid off in 12 years, but I’d like to pay it in nine so we can use the freed-up cash to cash flow any college we haven’t saved for.

We have not saved as aggressively as we should have, so I think 62 is the earliest we can retire. My fear is layoffs in our 50s so I want to ramp up nonretirement savings, which we have very little of (outside of emergency fund and save to spend funds like travel, etc.).

And as much travel as we can afford!

[lust2hart]

We are on track to pay off our mortgage in less than a year. After that, we'll re-evaluate our retirement savings and contribute more if needed (I'd like to retire by 55-60), and then divide the rest of the former mortgage payment between travel and giving.

Specific giving goals include:
* church members who are involved with college student ministries
* scholarship for non-traditional students at DH's alma mater
* public library
* food bank
* helping pay for my brother's kids' college (oldest started today!)
* "rainy day" fund for things that pop up, like if a friend has a major car repair, or MIL needs something fixed in her house, etc.

[midwestmama]

lust2hart, once my parents were empty-nesters, they started to lead a youth group for college students at their church. They love it and I think the college students enjoy having them lead it, as it is a bit like having a grandma/grandpa leading the group. My mom brings snacks like grapes and brownies, and they even "adopted" one of the students - he lived with them for 1 or 2 years of college and they didn't charge him rent (his mom was widowed and so it helped her/her son financially).