What's with that website title, Guy?
$5,000,000 (five million dollars) is the amount of money I feel I will need to have amassed to retire when I'm 50 (for me, in 2033). One of the things I have going for me is that my goal is in terms of 2033 dollars, not present day dollars (which would make my actual goal if I did it the other way an unthinkable 11.x million!) With five million dollars, an easily attainable yearly 5% would effectively generate $250,000 in interest to live on. Adjusting this value to present day numbers, that's roughly 100k a year.
To reach my goal:
- Work until I retire hopefully at the age of 50 in 2033
- Contribute maximums to my Roth 401k yearly, realizing any employer matching into a traditional 401k account
- Contribute maximums to a Roth IRA account yearly until I reach an income level that requires me to only contribute to a traditional
- Living frugally in more areas than not
- Work on building more passive types of income streams
- Fund Prosper (Peer to Peer / P2P lending) with an amount that makes it self perpetuating
- Website ad revenue (thanks for visiting my 'sponsors'!)
- More suggestions welcome!
- Investing in the Stock Market
- Seizing opportunities that come my way
- Sucking up my pride and accepting charitable donations!
There, I've stated my goal and action plan to attain it. Wish me luck!
Speaking of charitable donations...
There are two major reasons to make a charitable contribution: altruism and tax benefits.
I am sure many who read your blog find the information to be helpful and motivational. Contributing to your goal might be their way of showing their appreciation; however, you seem to be doing fairly well on your own AND you do not represent a religious organization (whether or not you believe folks worship you), government body, school, hospital, public recreation facility (keep it clean!), or any other organization listed in Publication 78. http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/
Since we are nearing the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I would like to mention that donating to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Donations can be made by following this link http://cms.komen.org/komen/Donations/index.htm
But, you want to save money, so why should you donate? Here is an example:
After some slight investigation of this site, I see the author is in his mid-twenties and most likely holds a college degree so I will gear my example towards this demographic which is most likely in the 25% tax bracket.
Say you donate $100 cash to Susan G. Komen. You deduct $100 on your tax return and see a tax savings of $25. Your net cost is $75 and the world is $100 closer to curing breast cancer. Not a bad deal in my mind.
Still, it is important to note that you did incur an expense. This post is intended to remind people that they can still reach savings goals AND continue to support a worthy cause. You can also make non-cash donations (property, goods, appreciated stocks (ha!), etc.) and deduct them as well.
When making charitable donations it is important to document, obtain receipts, itemize on your tax return, and know your limits. Publication 526 has all the information you need from the IRS http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf
Think Pink!
Nice play on words and way to add a link. The cause that most moves me to give is the lack of clean drinking water for much of the third world. My last contribution was this week to Living Water International at http://www.water.cc. I think Cancer is terrible, but also a part of life we're always going to be chasing. We're always going to be trying to get people to live longer. I'd rather help people have a chance at living old enough to get cancer first. 4000 kids die a day cause of poor access to drinking water, and that just kills me.