What are you doing to guarantee your future and retirement?

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Blastyourass said:
I'm not a big believer in MBA' and formal education though. When you make more then 90% of the MBA grads and your a high school drop out, that says something about the worth of an MBA. Especially when thay are coming to me for a job and will take $15 an hour????????
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The fact that you equate the value of an education to the amount of money it can help you make you shows that you are uneducated. On top of that, bragging about it shows your ignorance. Sure, you figured out how to make money but thats not what schools for. School gives you general knowledge (in any field you choose) which you can then apply to any passions you may have. If your passion ends up being wealth, so be it. But there are many other paths that people choose in life, and an education gives you solid footing for whichever one you may choose.

Another thing...education gives you long term stability...money alone doesn't. If you had $100,000 grand sitting in your account for 50 years, it will be worth much less at the end of those 50 years (inflation). But a degree will be worth the same after 50 years. You can walk into any organization and a degree will get you the same respect year after year and you can't lose that. But what if you make a bad investment and lose your money?...you have to start from scratch all over again.
 


Im majoring in Computer Engineering as, when I was young I had a blast installing modchips into my Xbox. Seriously.

Im getting an MBA because my major teaches me nothing about business.

Im combining my hobby (major) with my future interest (MBA) to hopefully open up a business one day. That is, if I dont make millions from this ebook I bought before then...
 
anyone know about idn domains? I bought lion.com in chinese, i havent bothered to check yet if the price of those went up
 
Raize said:
The fact that you equate the value of an education to the amount of money it can help you make you shows that you are uneducated. On top of that, bragging about it shows your ignorance. Sure, you figured out how to make money but thats not what schools for.
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I think what he was implying was that a MBA is not required to have a good future (which is what the OP is asking about). Especially if someone is at a crossroad in their life and trying to decide what to do - it should come into play that *formal* education (and there's a huge distinction there - I bet people like Moe spend far more time genuinely learning every day than a lot of MBA students) means a lot less than it used to.

If you haven't figured out yet that ACHIEVEMENTS in real world business speak volumes more than DEGREES, you will eventually. If you find a company that is more impressed by the paper, turn and run, don't walk.

I can snob it up with the snobbiest of education snobs, but you have a pretty weak argument there. ;)
 
I save about 20% of my current salary for retirement, and then put another 10% into my business. Any money my online efforts make me for now I also throw back into the business for now.

My savings are well diversified in the stock market - anyone on here who advices against opening up an IRA, contributing to your 401k, etc. will probably be saying the same thing 30 years from now while they chase crackpot ideas and end up broke as hell- while you will have a nice cushy retirement. Think of investing in the market as a just another way to diversify your holdings - putting all your eggs in one basket is just gambling.

An MBA may or may not be needed for you. Personally I think education is always a good bet, but an MBA may not be a worthwhile investment if you aren't going to ever need it. Right now I am applying for mine as I work in a hedge fund where our clients pretty much demand that all investment professionals have an MBA- they focus on that so much that it is a requirement for us. Also, if you are serious about starting a venture that will require a lot of start up capital, VCs like to see those type of credentials...
 
Well thanks for all the answers guys & gals. I am gonna go for my MBA, just because it's a personal thing that I want to prove to myself.

Thanks for the advice on not doing the online degree for an mba, I guess I can finish my bachelors online and then get into a good MBA program either at Saint Mary's College or HAAS school of business at UC Berkeley.

I am starting a ROTH IRA just because I don't want to be taxed when I pull out the cash when I retire.
I have heard you can roll real-estate into an IRA? and then when the property sells, the profits from equity can go into your IRA, is this true or not? This seems like a good way to move around the yearly limits you can put into an IRA.

And I am going to start reading into where to invest in terms of stocks/funds etc, I'm not versed in that at all and it's about time I start learning.

I will keep you guys updated on my choices and what kind of information I get in my quest to start my retirement accounts and investments.
 
Miguel said:
And I am going to start reading into where to invest in terms of stocks/funds etc, I'm not versed in that at all and it's about time I start learning.

I will keep you guys updated on my choices and what kind of information I get in my quest to start my retirement accounts and investments.
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Best thing to do if you aren't into researchin that stuff is to use Troweprice or Vanguard target retirement funds (2045 for you I'd guess). Automatically adjusts allocation of assets as you age (gets more conservative as the years go on) and you don't have to touch a thing. Also, it is invested in Vanguard or Troweprice funds - pretty solid performing companies that you can't really go wrong with.

Good luck!
 
Miguel said:
I am starting a ROTH IRA just because I don't want to be taxed when I pull out the cash when I retire.
I have heard you can roll real-estate into an IRA? and then when the property sells, the profits from equity can go into your IRA, is this true or not? This seems like a good way to move around the yearly limits you can put into an IRA.
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Using your IRA to invest in real-estate was what I alluded to in my post. Look into "Self-directed IRAs". Those are the IRA's that you can use to invest in real estate with.

A Roth is always a good idea, and if you can max it out each year then do so. You'll thank yourself in 20 years. The hope is that you won't need that money, or that 2M in 30 years won't mean that much to you because you'll have far more - but in case things don't work out that way, it's always nice to have a nice retirement nest egg.
 
Raize said:
The fact that you equate the value of an education to the amount of money it can help you make you shows that you are uneducated. On top of that, bragging about it shows your ignorance. Sure, you figured out how to make money but thats not what schools for. School gives you general knowledge (in any field you choose) which you can then apply to any passions you may have. If your passion ends up being wealth, so be it. But there are many other paths that people choose in life, and an education gives you solid footing for whichever one you may choose.

Another thing...education gives you long term stability...money alone doesn't. If you had $100,000 grand sitting in your account for 50 years, it will be worth much less at the end of those 50 years (inflation). But a degree will be worth the same after 50 years. You can walk into any organization and a degree will get you the same respect year after year and you can't lose that. But what if you make a bad investment and lose your money?...you have to start from scratch all over again.
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First off, Raize, don't believe what your professors tell you about the value of education, they are selling a product and hoping that you buy into it like they did years ago. They have dead end jobs and they know it.

It's just like that old adage that everyone says they believe but they don't, money can't buy happiness. How wrong, money can and does buy happiness. Happiness is situational and money can and does modify your situations.

I don't know about any of y'all but I ain't a masochist, I want to be happy and money buys happiness. (It doesn't buy joy but that's another story.)
 
I started my IRA when I was 22, maxed it out every year, until I hit the income level where I couldn't do it. Then I opened a SEP account, where last year you could max it out at $44k, and this year $45k. Pretty good chunk if you can swing it, and also a tax shelter.

I think they are going to allow to combine your ROTH and SEP by 2010, which would be cool so you could have all of your funds in one place, but I'm sure there are downsides.

I'm a believer in putting away any money that you can. I have friends my age that live hand to mouth, and make $60k-$75k year. I was putting money away when I was making $25k/year.

I also started dabbling in real estate, doing my first rehab right now, which I bought in foreclosure. If you find the right property, there is profit to be made, even in a down market. I'm now looking into SPACS and other investments. The less time I have to spend in the industry, the better, rather be traveling :)
 
che1959 said:
First off, Raize, don't believe what your professors tell you about the value of education, they are selling a product and hoping that you buy into it like they did years ago. They have dead end jobs and they know it.
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Most university programs are cheap as hell for what you get and the professors usually want their students to be happy in life, not follow them.

I dont think being a professor is a dead end job, it is a destination job. Not lots of upward mobility except to Dean, but many Business professors go back and forth between schools, private sector jobs, and on the board of directors of big, big, companies.

Professors are professors often because they love school life, research and paper writing and not having to be part of the rat race. Lots of professors start at 70,000 to 80,000 a year. Not bad at all , and easy to have a good life on that. Not a huge increase after that but who cares.
 
che1959 said:
...money can't buy happiness. How wrong, money can and does buy happiness
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happiness is a minimum requirement in life...there is much more to live for. if happiness is all your aiming for, sure money will get you there...but is someone with $500,000 in the bank happier than a guy with $300,000 in the bank?
 
Nice choice going to go get your MBA.
I am still young and I am going to be starting "school" in three weeks. I am going off to the University of Binghamton. I am going to be going there for five years becasue they have an accelerated program where in five years I will get my MBA and my BA in Computer Sience. I think that it is going to be a lot of work but the amount of time and money I am going to save from doing it all at once is going to make it all worth it. I plan to work online for all five years that I am there and then when I graduate at the age of 22 we will have to see what I do from there, right now I am dreaming that it is going to be big things.
 
Raize said:
happiness is a minimum requirement in life...there is much more to live for. if happiness is all your aiming for, sure money will get you there...but is someone with $500,000 in the bank happier than a guy with $300,000 in the bank?
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You bet your ass they are happier. The #1 reason for divorce today is the money issue. Couples are much more likely to fight about money when there's not much of it
 
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