I am afraid of my future

[Grassmechanic]

Originally Posted by causalitist

roth is generally better, however, it depends entirely on your anticipated tax bracket during retirement.

Future tax brackets have NO BEARING ON A Roth IRA!!! The tax has already been paid! See the above example! Do a google on Roths and educate yourself, man!

[lawnworker]

Man all these math scenarios are making me dizzy.It is simple to figure out that the Roth would win out big time over the conventional . You pay tax on the small amount then as it grows big it is tax free.With the conventional you save some tax up front, but when it comes due don't you have to pay tax like any other income?, or if you old enough is it still tax free at old age. If it is tax free at the right age then the conventional would be better.

Some one shed some light on this. Now I am confused

[Grassmechanic]

Originally Posted by lawnworker

Man all these math scenarios are making me dizzy.It is simple to figure out that the Roth would win out big time over the conventional . You pay tax on the small amount then as it grows big it is tax free.With the conventional you save some tax up front, but when it comes due don't you have to pay tax like any other income?, or if you old enough is it still tax free at old age. If it is tax free at the right age then the conventional would be better.

Some one shed some light on this. Now I am confused

You are not confused. The only one that the distributions are tax free is a Roth. The Traditional will be taxed at the bracket you are in at the time of your retirement. The other good point of a Roth is that if you pass it on to your dependents, they get it tax free as well. With a Traditional, it will be taxed as ordinary income $$$$$. The other plus to a Roth is that there is no mandatory age for taking distributions from it. With a Traditional, you have to take a distribution starting at age 70. After all, the gov't wants their share of the pie.

[causalitist]

Originally Posted by GardnerLandscaping

And don't buy a stock just because of some news item or because you like the company. The exception to this is mergers. I made a 20% gain in one day on a bankrupt company, WorldCom, because it was announced that were merging back into the parent company.

it may have worked for you, just like picking up any stock at the right time. and im glad it did work for you, but statistically, that doesnt work. there really is no way to do better than the market averages given a long long time horizon. the odds are way against anyone comming out ahead by picking stocks, which is what you did, and you got lucky, because everything you knew about that company, all the reasons why you bought it, billions of other people knew as well, and they apparently didnt think those reasons were good enough, were talking all the wall street analysts etc not agreeing with you.... so it was luck. and if thats your thing, if you have fun with it, then go ahead.. i just dont want people to think there is any easy money out there. with enough tries under your belt you'll eventually do as well as the stock market averages minus all the commissions. studies have shown that a monkey throwing darts at a news paper will do better than a human actively choosing stocks. they actually did this study. so what is my solution? just buy the stock market averages. buy broadly diversified index funds.

[causalitist]

Originally Posted by Grassmechanic

Future tax brackets have NO BEARING ON A Roth IRA!!! The tax has already been paid! See the above example! Do a google on Roths and educate yourself, man!

i guess you aced econ 217 "principals in microeconomic theory" as well huh?
hahahahahha. your not understanding me. of coarse future tax brackets have no bearing on a roth, since you dont get taxed in the future. HOWEVER, they DO have a bearing on whether or not you should CHOOSE a roth over a traditional to begin with.

Get it?

example: if your anticipated tax bracket in retirement is much lower than your current tax bracket, a traditional might be a better choice.

maybe you could also help me find the double integral of the absolute value of pie squared while your at it. im having trouble on that problem.
relax man, dont be so high strung.

[causalitist]

you gotta admit, your post wasnt very nice. u just didnt realize i was responding to the "which is better" question... and that future tax is relevant to compare traditional to roth.

[topsites]

Originally Posted by guven

I am 32. now, I have been in Lawn care business almost two years, I was wondering do you guys have any plan for the future, how do we get retire. Now I can work harder but when I hit 45 how can I work like this. what is your future plan. how do you see your future.please share your opinions with me. Thanks

I'm 40 and I don't see the problem, other than you get smarter with age so you work less and get paid more. Far as retirement, one more time: Start saving money and reduce your cost of living and don't ever stop doing that.
Today I went out with the 48" Wb and the Walk-behind solid axle aerator. One 3/4 acre lot cut + aerated, another 1/4 acre lot cut + aerated + seeded etc, and another 1/4 acre lot cut...

I got to my first yard at noon, got done with maintenance right around 7pm...
Total gross: $385

I've seen guys in their 50's that would run circles around me while they hardly look like they're moving.
So, I really don't see the problem.
The worst part is the pain, but that's why they make motrin and you get used to it after some time.
So it is good you are afraid, it helps.

[Roger]

Originally Posted by topsites

...., other than you get smarter with age so you work less and get paid more.

Myoptic view! Whew, where did you ever get this idea?

[hotrodsnapper]

A really good source for financial advice is this guy: www.daveramsey.com
He has a couple of books and has a radio show.

The premise is pretty simple, live on less than you make, pay off debt, and save for retirement.

Not to flame, but with all the discussion in this post about which retirement account to use, which account doesn't matter a bit unless you are actually putting money in it. Just make a habit of saving money back regularly and the rest tends to work itself out.

[djsp24]

Ok, here's my 2 cents...... The real security for any self employed individual would be in realestate. And this would be why, realestate doesnt get up and go anywhere, if it burns down home owners insurance pays for it. If owning your own home is the "single greatest investment" then why do people only buy one of them? Because of lack of knowledge, you do NOT need to have a realtors license to buy multiple properties, I own 10 four plexs and rent them out to the government thru Section 8. Very easy process, uncle sam pays me each month for each tenant, his checks are never late and they never bounce, also since I am giving the government what they need )affordable housing) they have grant programs to fix the property for anything energy efficient and safety related. I know this because I have gotten a grant on every property I own. How do i know all of this, because I work for National Grant Conferences and I am sure a ton of you have seen our infomercials. I like working out doors, thus the reason why I am starting a lco, not because of the money, my wife and I make 10k per month from our properties, not to brag, but to enlighten everyone that realestate is a very secure and profitable investment and I would be more then willing to share my experinces and help anyone who wishes to get statred, just send me an email. There are alot of benefits but its hard work like anything else, so if you want a different way to plan for your future, send me a pm or email and I can help you get started! Hope this helps!