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Greetings from Germany
- Thread starter MikeK
- Start date
We were fortunate in that we both had a good income and no consumer debt. However, we never expected to be where we are now when we started. You can accomplish a lot in 15 years!
I wish someone had explained "compound interest" in terms I would have appreciated and understood when I was 19. The growth was slow at first, but I never changed my investment rate and resisted the urge to bail when the market stumbled. Each Saturday I updated the spreadsheet I used to track my portfolio, but then it turned into once a month, and later a couple times a year. Now I only look at it when it's time to consider transferring funds to keep the portfolio balanced.
Thanks! We did consider, albeit briefly, reducing the investment rate so we could have more liquid cash, but we couldn't think of anything we needed to buy.
I was stationed in Germany in the mid-70s as a Soldier, and have been here as a DA civilian since 1997. I am truly enjoying the culture, and am happily married into it.
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Willkommen heißen TSPTalk. Viele Grüße vom AZ.
Excuse the excuse to try to remember unused things from long ago. Not to mention use that keyboard icon on my desktop.
You don't say how long you have been in the Republic but I trust you are experiencing the culture. Enjoy. I first went there in the 70s and last in 01. The attitudes of the people changed somewhat in those years.
Not too shabby a balance in those retirement accounts. Best of luck.
PO
Excuse the excuse to try to remember unused things from long ago. Not to mention use that keyboard icon on my desktop.
You don't say how long you have been in the Republic but I trust you are experiencing the culture. Enjoy. I first went there in the 70s and last in 01. The attitudes of the people changed somewhat in those years.
Not too shabby a balance in those retirement accounts. Best of luck.
PO
RealMoneyIssues
Well-known member
Welcome Mike. I hope to be where you are in 10-15 years, but it has been a slow start. I am a very late starter to my retirement (only have 15 years left)...
Congrats on your achievements!!
Congrats on your achievements!!
rcknfrewld
Active member
Guten Tag?...sounds like you will be just fine when you retire...I hope you are paying attention to what's going on with the markets now...make sure you read the market commentary on the home page...Tom has been drawing comparisons with the '87 crash...his charts and analysis provide information you might not think of...we could be in the middle of a major correction right now
I'm a DA civilian stationed in Germany with about nine years to go before retirement, and my wife is five years after me. I think we have a decent and diverse investment portfolio; although, I didn't get serious about planning for retirement until ten years ago. My wife and I both work, have no consumer debt, and have been living well below our means; however, we never seemed to be making any substantial headway in our portfolio.
In 2004, I hired a fee-only CFA to review our situation and make suggestions. Following his advice, I unloaded all of the stocks I held and invested in Vanguard funds and a couple of ETFs. I was already maxing out my TSP contributions, but made some internal transfers to match as close as possible the recommended asset allocation.
Our initial investment goal was to reach a combination of $1M in the TSP and external funds before I retired. Earlier this year, we exceeded the goal, so the new goal is $2M. We are not counting on Social Security in any of our planning, so anything we receive will be icing on the cake.
I read some of the threads from other members who are now retired, and hope to benefit from their lessons learned.
In 2004, I hired a fee-only CFA to review our situation and make suggestions. Following his advice, I unloaded all of the stocks I held and invested in Vanguard funds and a couple of ETFs. I was already maxing out my TSP contributions, but made some internal transfers to match as close as possible the recommended asset allocation.
Our initial investment goal was to reach a combination of $1M in the TSP and external funds before I retired. Earlier this year, we exceeded the goal, so the new goal is $2M. We are not counting on Social Security in any of our planning, so anything we receive will be icing on the cake.
I read some of the threads from other members who are now retired, and hope to benefit from their lessons learned.
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