My meaning was, I have no retirement in sight. I will work until I drop dead delivering packages. That's why I have all my fun now, before I turn into my father, hospital ridden with all systems failing... at age 63.

You may be the pillar of health with a wife and family at 63, but it's your own choice to be prepared or not.

Just about every " Guru " on radio or tv preaches a similar way to do it and they are right. The theory is easy but the road isn't always smooth and sometimes it's just not possible to invest, but the crux of what they say is to" pay yourself first"(dollar cast averaging).  In other words stick to your investment game plan before you purchase things of lesser importance.  The Gurus may differ in investment vehicles but one has to find what they are comfortable with and to understand it.  Nothing better than the 401 k especially if your employer is still matching 1 for 1.

Where I come from, and my ethnic background is irrelevant, we are taught from the cradle to take care of ourselves, but I'm always there for my sister and her family.  My wife will never have to worry and if I die before my mother I've made sure she will be comfortable if needed.

My retirement? Sell my expensive fishing lures that I accumulated as a mis-directed youth?

My meaning was, I have no retirement in sight. I will work until I drop dead delivering packages. That's why I have all my fun now, before I turn into my father, hospital ridden with all systems failing... at age 63.

You may be the pillar of health with a wife and family at 63, but it's your own choice to be prepared or not.

Just about every " Guru " on radio or tv preaches a similar way to do it and they are right. The theory is easy but the road isn't always smooth and sometimes it's just not possible to invest, but the crux of what they say is to" pay yourself first"(dollar cast averaging). In other words stick to your investment game plan before you purchase things of lesser importance. The Gurus may differ in investment vehicles but one has to find what they are comfortable with and to understand it. Nothing better than the 401 k especially if your employer is still matching 1 for 1.

Where I come from, and my ethnic background is irrelevant, we are taught from the cradle to take care of ourselves, but I'm always there for my sister and her family. My wife will never have to worry and if I die before my mother I've made sure she will be comfortable if needed.

Yea the 401 K's really did wonders for a lot of folks, the young rich power brokers made out Okay, not to mention that picture of integrity Madoff, i wouldn't trust any of those suits with my money, The old Italians taught us to take care of each other, as I did both my parents, my dad his and so on. It is an honor to take care of the people who got us where we are, We do not consider this to be a weakness in any way. This goes for my whole family. We all take care of ourselves and each other, i don;t freaking care about what particular group you are from, not everyone could grow up Italian,

BTW; The men in my family all worked until they couldn't, not because they had to they were just built this way. Sure is sad that other folks don't know this sense of family

401 k's did do wonders, for millions of people that had jobs in companies where their employer made that investment program available, not just wealthy people, but people from all walks of life.  I had an Italian buddy of mine back in Detroit, Roger Matrondola and he worked for the Detroit News, wow what a pension plan he had and his dad was a cook in a pizzeria, he came from a very humble background and ended up quite well.

I agree with you about a sense of family.  My dad worked like a dog 2 jobs at a time, his nickname was one shirt Harry as he only owned 1 shirt, finally he was able start his own business, then forced to retire at age 60 when his health got very bad, he departed earlier than he should have.  He owned a fish market and I was cleaning fish along side him at about the time you were born, knew I didn't want to that for a living, no silver spoon here.  Not just Italians have a sense of family and desire to get ahead, I'm sure many forum members have a similar story and I applaud them.

Wow you knew an Italian, impressive

Wow you knew an Italian, impressive

Even ones that used shimanos