First Person: I Had No Savings at 40, but I Retired by 60

By Augustine St. Claire | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Thu, Feb 7, 2013 4:25

I was living in Los Angeles. Had a great job at 40 and was not putting one penny away in savings. I was spending money faster than I was making it, living the single life. I knew every bar and restaurant along Hollywood Boulevard, and bartenders and waitresses knew me by name.

Now I'm living a comfortable retirement. What turned me around?

Reality. I noticed my co-workers and friends moving on with their lives. While I was stuck in a small apartment, they were getting married, buying homes and establishing a life beyond the nightclub. I knew I had to get serious and start saving.
I tore up all of my 13 credit cards
At the time I owed over $30,000 in credit card bills and my interest was over 19% on each card. Each card had a limit of $10,000. I cut them all up and started using a debit card.
I got on a budget
I created a budget. I paid off several cards in two years and reduced my expenses and saved over $900 a month. My income was $40,000 a year I was 40 which was a net of around $2,500 month. However, I charged everything. When I tore up my credit cards I put myself on strict budget: rent $440 per month, car note $275, and credit card $400 a month. I took all the extra cash and paid off my lowest balance credit card first, then second. I also put over 20% of my gross into the 401(k) and profit sharing programs and stock options at work.
I took advantage of my company's profit sharing and 401(k) options
Before I was 40, I never put any money away into our company's saving programs. I started putting the highest percentage allowable of my salary into the company's profit sharing and 401(k) program. Working for ABM (American Building Maintenance) I was also able to purchase stock at an employee discount rate of 20%, so I added that to my nest egg.
I purchased rental property
At 40, I was able to purchase my first rental property in Pennsylvania for $8,000. With my wife we paid cash for the house. As an old Victorian home split into three apartments it grosses over $1,500 a month. Within a few years, I built our rental income to over $85,000 a year including selling a few properties at a profit.
I married well
Before I turned 40 I had never been married, but meeting my wife was my best decision ever. My wife is thrifty and our combined incomes were well over $100,000 a year. With her spendthrift abilities we were able to pay off all of our credit card debts.
Being married to the right person with the same mindset has been my best investment by far.
We hired a financial advisor
We hired an expert to look at our plans for retiring when we were in our mid-fifties. She calculated our money and life goals, living expenses, health plans, and our level of risk. Her advice helped us build our stock and other investment income to prepare for retirement.
We were moderately aggressive investors and with her advice -- along with our international equities and other investments -- were able to build up a very good nest egg.
We downsized
In 2006, we downsized and sold our home in Pasadena, Calif. along with a few of our rental properties and moved to a less expensive area in the Republic of Panama. Between the current market and our pension, dividends, and rental income of about $70,000 per year, we are now retired and living comfortably within our means, with expenses that total only $34,000 per year.
*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

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Missing University of Idaho student found dead under bridge

By Associated PressPublished: Jan 22, 2013 at 7:58 AM PST

Photo via KHQ

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - A University of Idaho student who went missing after leaving a fraternity party Saturday night was found dead Monday afternoon under a bridge five miles from campus.

Moscow Police say the body of 18-year-old Joseph Wiederrick was found by trackers with the Latah County Search and Rescue Team under the Paradise Creek bridge.

KXLY reports he had called his roommate Saturday night to say he was walking home from the party, but he never arrived.

Moscow Police searching for missing University of Idaho student

Moscow Police searching for missing University of Idaho student

             

by KREM.com

KREM.com

Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:10 AM

MOSCOW, Idaho--Police in Moscow are on the lookout for a missing University of Idaho student.
Joseph Wiederrick hasn’t been heard from since early Sunday morning when he got separated from his roommate at a function on campus. Information from his phone indicates he may be in the area of Darby Rd. outside of Moscow.
Wiederrick is 6’0”, 135 lbs, with blonde hair and brown eyes. He was last wearing a blue/white/brown striped hoodie with a bright blue ski jacket, grey “Vans” shoes; grey pants and had a black backpack.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Moscow police.             

Lewiston man arrested for allegedly hitting cab driver

by KREM.com

KREM.com

Posted on January 15, 2013 at 7:16 AM

Updated today at 9:44 AM

NEZ PERCE COUNTY, Idaho -- Idaho State Police arrested a Lewiston man for allegedly assaulting a cab driver.
The driver called police Monday afternoon. The car was stopped on Highway 12.
Troopers say they arrived to find the passenger, 45-year-old Micah Lyon, urinating. They questioned him about his identity, but he originally refused to comply, according to police.
The driver told ISP Lyon struck her in the face.
He was arrested for battery, resisting and obstructing officers and indecent exposure.
He was booked into the Nez Perce Co. Jail.

NRA says Congress will not pass weapons ban

By EILEEN SULLIVAN | Associated Press – 8 hrs ago

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Vice President Joe Biden finalizes a package of recommendations for the president to curb gun violence, the National Rifle Association predicted that Congress is likely to block any new laws that would ban assault weapons.

The NRA has so far prevented passage of another assault weapons ban like the one that expired in 2004. But some lawmakers say the December massacre in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman slaughtered 20 young children and six adults, has transformed the country, and Americans are ready for stricter gun laws.

Still, the NRA says it thinks Congress would likely prevent a new assault weapons ban.

"When a president takes all the power of his office, if he's willing to expend political capital, you don't want to make predictions," NRA president David Keene told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. "You don't want to bet your house on the outcome. But I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress."

Biden is to meet Monday with House members to discuss ways to reduce gun violence. He is expected to give President Barack Obama a comprehensive package of recommendations Tuesday.
Senators plan to introduce a bill that would ban assault weapons and limit the size of ammunition magazines, like the equipment used in the Newton shooting where 20 children were shot multiple times with a high-powered rifle. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has promised to make a renewed push for a ban on assault weapons.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., responded with a flat-out "no" when asked Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether Congress would pass a ban on assault weapons.
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a lifelong member of the NRA, has said everything should be on the table to prevent another tragedy like Newtown. But he assured gun owners he would fight for gun rights at the same time.
"I would tell all of my friends in NRA, I will work extremely hard and I will guarantee you there will not be an encroachment on your Second Amendment rights," Manchin said on ABC's "This Week."
The NRA's deep pockets help bolster allies and punish lawmakers who buck the powerful weapons lobby.
The group spent at least $24 million in the 2012 elections — $16.8 million through its political action committee and nearly $7.5 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action. Separately, the NRA spent some $4.4 million through July 1 to lobby Congress. Keene insists the group represents its members and not just the gun manufacturers, though he said the NRA would like industry to contribute more money to the association.
"We know what works and what doesn't work," Keene said. "And we're not willing to compromise on people's rights when there is no evidence that doing so is going to accomplish the purpose."
The NRA, instead, is pushing for measures that would keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, until a person gets better.
"If they are cured, there ought to be a way out of it," Keene said.

Currently, a person is banned from buying a gun from a licensed dealer if the person is a fugitive, a felon, convicted of substance abuse, convicted of domestic violence, living in the U.S. illegally or someone who "has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution."

States, however, are inconsistent in providing information about mentally ill residents to the federal government for background checks. And, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said some 40 percent of gun sales happen with no background checks, often at gun shows or through private sellers over the Internet or in classified ads.

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Follow Eileen Sullivan on Twitter: http://twitter.com/esullivanap

 

 

Breaking: Two reportedly shot at Calif. high school; suspect in custody

Student opens fire at California high school, wounding one

Dybleford, Yahoo! edia Reporte

By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 1 hr 47 mins ago

At least one person was shot when a gunman opened fire at a high school in California on Thursday morning, authorities there say.

The shooting occurred in the science building at Taft Union High School in Taft, Calif., at approximately 9 a.m. local time, a Kern County Sheriff's official told Yahoo News.

The sheriff's official said the suspected shooter—a student at the school—was taken into custody, and a shotgun was recovered at the scene.

One victim, a fellow student, was airlifted to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Calif., with a shotgun wound to the upper right chest, the official said. The extent of the student's injuries were not known.
A second person, identified by the official as a teacher at the school, was also injured, but declined medical treatment. The injury does not appear to be related to the shooting itself, the official said.
According to the school's website, "two campus supervisors and a Kern County Sheriff monitor the campus before, during, and after school." The sheriff's official did not know whether the officer was on duty at the time of the shooting.
ABC's Kero-Bakersfield affiliate said it received calls from students who were hiding in closets inside the school, located about 120 miles north of Los Angeles.
Students were evacuated while sheriff and fire personnel conducted room-to-room searches. One student told the network that he was in another building participating in an "active shooter drill" when the shooting occurred.
The high school was featured in the 1986 film "The Best of Times" starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell.
The shootings come less than a month after 26 people, including 20 children, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The massacre led to calls for reforms to the country's gun laws.

On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden, appointed to lead a task force to reduce U.S. gun violence, was scheduled to meet with members of the National Rifle Association in Washington to discuss gun control.

At least one person was shot when a gunman opened fire at a high school in California on Thursday morning, authorities there say.

The shooting occurred in the science building at Taft Union High School in Taft, Calif., at approximately 9 a.m. local time, a Kern County Sheriff's official told Yahoo News.

The sheriff's official said the suspected shooter—a student at the school—was taken into custody, and a shotgun was recovered at the scene.

One victim, a fellow student, was airlifted to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Calif., with a shotgun wound to the upper right chest, the official said. The extent of the student's injuries were not known.

A second person, identified by the official as a teacher at the school, was also injured, but declined medical treatment. The injury does not appear to be related to the shooting itself, the official said.

According to the school's website, "two campus supervisors and a Kern County Sheriff monitor the campus before, during, and after school." The sheriff's official did not know whether the officer was on duty at the time of the shooting.

ABC's Kero-Bakersfield affiliate said it received calls from students who were hiding in closets inside the school, located about 120 miles north of Los Angeles.

Students were evacuated while sheriff and fire personnel conducted room-to-room searches. One student told the network that he was in another building participating in an "active shooter drill" when the shooting occurred.
The high school was featured in the 1986 film "The Best of Times" starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell.
The shootings come less than a month after 26 people, including 20 children, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The massacre led to calls for reforms to the country's gun laws.

On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden, appointed to lead a task force to reduce U.S. gun violence, was scheduled to meet with members of the National Rifle Association in Washington to discuss gun control.