Is NW of 4M as a 50 yo good enough

[Anonymous]

What does “joined as a Fed” mean?

If you don’t split out your houses or list expenses, no one knows.

Best to ask a financial advisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fine. Well more than fine but make sure you have enough to retire based on your current lifestyle and expenses.

And if you don't have any college savings besides the 4M and 3 kids plus counting your primary into your NW, ngl it would be tight for me personally.

Op here Thank you for posting a decent reply. I have seen lot of financial hardship growing up and worry about money and making ends meet. OOS college these days is 100k per year, so I am thinking it would be 1.2 mil for three kids (not considering inflation) even if 1-2 decide to go instate still it would be a dent in NW and retirement, we do want our kids to get good education, and we do have significant mortgage on our primary home. To top it my wife is feeling burned down and wants to quit working in 5 years.

Why isn't your mortgage paid off? If your wife is burnt out, step up, make more money and have her quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fine. Well more than fine but make sure you have enough to retire based on your current lifestyle and expenses.

And if you don't have any college savings besides the 4M and 3 kids plus counting your primary into your NW, ngl it would be tight for me personally.

Op here Thank you for posting a decent reply. I have seen lot of financial hardship growing up and worry about money and making ends meet. OOS college these days is 100k per year, so I am thinking it would be 1.2 mil for three kids (not considering inflation) even if 1-2 decide to go instate still it would be a dent in NW and retirement, we do want our kids to get good education, and we do have significant mortgage on our primary home. To top it my wife is feeling burned down and wants to quit working in 5 years.

NP. It sounds like you are including college savings into your NW. So we are talking more like $3m, including home equity. Can you give us a breakdown:
- $$ in retirement accounts (401(k) or TSP)
- $$ in after tax savings/brokerage accounts
- estimated value of the second home and the mortgage on that second home

Overall, you have more than most Americans. That being said, you may have a hard time maintaining your lifestyle.

300K in college savings, 1.5 in 401 k both me and DW. 1.5 in home equities, rest in misc investments.

With only 300K in college savings, you should not be considering OOS/privates that are 80-100k+/year. You have three kids. Assume $35-40K/year for college (in-state or private with merit). I'd assume 150-200K/kid, so you are looking at having to pay $450-600K for the kids to attend college at a minimum (or you need to chase merit). I certainly would not be paying $400K per kid.

Why not? Op can CF tuition from earnings. Will OP even have a mortgage when kids go off to college?

I’m saving for college but at the same time paying 5k a month in childcare expenses. I also can cash flow college tuition, if necessary.

Some of you are crazy. OP could have $25 million and you’d tell him it’s not enough.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure folks are aware that private colleges cost $90,000 a year. That’s over $1 million in today’s dollars to send three children to private colleges. no, most people can’t cash flow that amount of money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We still have to put 3 kids to college and the NW includes our rental property and primary homes equity and our 401 k. My wife just joined as a fed at 47 yo. How are we doing financially?

It depends.
Do you plan to retire early? Do you have pensions? Do you plan to downsize, lot of NW is in your home..

No pension for me. Which wife retiring with 5 years of service she will not have much pension as well. Also with her retiring early I can’t retire early. We plan to rent our basement or downsize.

Please don’t rent your basement or downsize so you can spend 1.2M on college. State school will be just fine and if they’re driven, it won’t matter. If they’re not driven, you’re wasting your money anyway. You have 3 kids so there will be trade offs. Maybe one can get some sort of scholarship?

THIS. Good God.

[Anonymous]

I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fine. Well more than fine but make sure you have enough to retire based on your current lifestyle and expenses.

And if you don't have any college savings besides the 4M and 3 kids plus counting your primary into your NW, ngl it would be tight for me personally.

Op here Thank you for posting a decent reply. I have seen lot of financial hardship growing up and worry about money and making ends meet. OOS college these days is 100k per year, so I am thinking it would be 1.2 mil for three kids (not considering inflation) even if 1-2 decide to go instate still it would be a dent in NW and retirement, we do want our kids to get good education, and we do have significant mortgage on our primary home. To top it my wife is feeling burned down and wants to quit working in 5 years.

Perhaps your wife could change jobs rather than retiring...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fine. Well more than fine but make sure you have enough to retire based on your current lifestyle and expenses.

And if you don't have any college savings besides the 4M and 3 kids plus counting your primary into your NW, ngl it would be tight for me personally.

Op here Thank you for posting a decent reply. I have seen lot of financial hardship growing up and worry about money and making ends meet. OOS college these days is 100k per year, so I am thinking it would be 1.2 mil for three kids (not considering inflation) even if 1-2 decide to go instate still it would be a dent in NW and retirement, we do want our kids to get good education, and we do have significant mortgage on our primary home. To top it my wife is feeling burned down and wants to quit working in 5 years.

NP. It sounds like you are including college savings into your NW. So we are talking more like $3m, including home equity. Can you give us a breakdown:
- $$ in retirement accounts (401(k) or TSP)
- $$ in after tax savings/brokerage accounts
- estimated value of the second home and the mortgage on that second home

Overall, you have more than most Americans. That being said, you may have a hard time maintaining your lifestyle.

300K in college savings, 1.5 in 401 k both me and DW. 1.5 in home equities, rest in misc investments.

With only 300K in college savings, you should not be considering OOS/privates that are 80-100k+/year. You have three kids. Assume $35-40K/year for college (in-state or private with merit). I'd assume 150-200K/kid, so you are looking at having to pay $450-600K for the kids to attend college at a minimum (or you need to chase merit). I certainly would not be paying $400K per kid.

Why not? Op can CF tuition from earnings. Will OP even have a mortgage when kids go off to college?

I’m saving for college but at the same time paying 5k a month in childcare expenses. I also can cash flow college tuition, if necessary.

Some of you are crazy. OP could have $25 million and you’d tell him it’s not enough.

If you keep saving that $5k/month and don't spend it on lifestyle creep, then sure, you could Cash Flow college for one kid. But fact is most people do NOT save that 5K. That money is likely allocated for kid's activities, vacations, etc. Only way I would "cash flow college" is if I'm well set for retirement and can still continue to fully fund retirement during the process, have no debt other than mortgage (and mortgage should be dwindling by time first kid hits college---not a 30 year that I've been refinances every 2-3 years and addition to the amount so I can renovate, pay for vacations, etc), and am just "redirecting extra money that would have gone to savings. " Otherwise, if you have to stop saving for retirement, it is not worth it to cash flow $80K/year.

Now if you make $1M+ (so 600K after taxes) and normally live off of 400K, then sure you can cash flow college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

[Anonymous]

I would not feel comfortable with that amount if you’re talking about retiring at 55–you can easily have 40 more years to fund including health care costs which in this country is a major wildcard. My parents have some medication that costs $10 a day and they are each on about 10 prescriptions. And don’t forget dental care as all their teeth crack with age. They luckily don’t have to pay for in home care as they have most of their marbles and my siblings help out with bringing them dinner a few times an week and taking out their trash. But old age in this country is crazy expensive. And what if one of your kids has a car accident and needs longer term support?

And the people who are saying oh college is cheap just go to an in state school have not applied to college lately. Not everyone gets into places like U Md—you need really good grades now. If you don’t have top grades you may really need to do an out of state public school or a smaller second or third tier LAC.

The earlier you retire the more uncertainties there are — market returns, your health, your kids’ health, your kids’ education. People that retired early in 2007 were really screwed becuasue they lost such a big chunk of their retirement in the crash, and had no way to replace it. It’s totally different if you have defined benefit pension and guaranteed retiree health — then you can go crazy and retire whenever you vest fully!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

We cash flow private school, which is about the same as many college tuitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

What were you doing with the money before? Clearly not saving it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

We cash flow private school, which is about the same as many college tuitions.

This is the one exception, but only for instate colleges. Private/OOS are way more expensive than private HS.