I'm 50 years old and earn $50k a year.
I have $150k in super.
I'm debt free in a basic house in a working class suburb.
I have a 14 year old 4wd.
I have a 15 year old son, half the time.
How would you live my life financially?
Would you travel now and retire with less or invest in super and travel later?
i dont think that i would change much other than the car ,But even at that,if the car is fine,keep living life the way u are.
A lot of people spend over 20-25% of their income on rent. Not having to pay rent automatically increases your disposable income so you maybe a bit low on cashflow that may give you the notion of being in a bad situation but have more net worth attached with the house. In my opinion, a lot of people would be comfortable financially but it is definitely not enough.
20-25% of their income on rent
In Sydney it's like double that in some areas.
Your super is slightly low but your own house more than makes up for it. You do not have any financial worries at all.
The take home pay is some $41.5k so after paying the bills I should have $30k a year to spend. You could live comfortably in any way you want but you should think about your relationship with your son. Do you have common interests? I would take him to trips something like a fishing long weekend or interstate visits.
buy a new car
I would purchase a swag and hit the road - for 3 months of the year.
In less than 10 years time your kids will be financially independent (I hope) and you'll no longer need to support them. You'll have more left over from your $50k income. You can choose to save the difference…or not.
As you are…you're doing well.
Go gold digging, there are heaps of lonely divorcees that got a 50% asset settlement who are desperate for a partner.
How are you physically/health-wise? Might as well do a bit of travel now while you're still in tip top shape.
If your health is already in the decline then probably best to smash the super and see if you can retire a bit earlier than 65.
Become a digital nomad.
…let your fingers do the walking…???? :)
Work part-time if possible (to get more leisure time to do things that you like)
Salary sacrifice more $s into your super fund so that by the time you retire you are very comfortable.
Have a few great holidays each year in the meantime.
Don't throw money away on new car/s…as long as you have a reliable one that is fine.
I would continue to work and top that super up as much as you can. It seems pretty low. Grind out for another nest egg whether that be shares or other investments. I probably wouldn't retire until at least another 5 years.
Your son is still financially dependant on you and you might need to upgrade your car soon so these are your major expenses which you need to budget for over the next few years.
I think you should continue working for the next 5 to 10years while you can to build up your retirement funds. An option is to ease into retirement and cut back on your hours slowly.
There's no harm travelling as everyone needs a getaway sometimes to recharge but it'll have to be cheap asian getaways for the timebeing instead of USA or Europe.
Try and salary sacrifice an amount you are comfortable with into super to build up your retirement fund. You should qualify for age pension so do check centrelink's website and have a think how much you'll need for retirement and when you can access age pension. There's also online calculators to calculate you how much you need for retirement.
Lets focus on your last two questions:
How would you live my life financially?
Probably not much different from what you do now. Given you don't have a ton of cashflow capacity for investments and the like to change your living conditions in the next 10-15 years, focus on what you want now because you will not avoid needing the pension no matter how much salary sacrifice you put into super etc.
Would you travel now and retire with less or invest in super and travel later?
In your situation, definitely travel now. It won't get any cheaper to travel overseas, you'll never be fitter both mentally and physically to do it than you are now. Perhaps you might want to wait until your kid is 18 given that is 3 years away, and you'll see them a lot less from then on.
If I was in your situation and I had hobbies that i'd really want to get into, again, do them now while you are still most physically able to. Don't wait until your 65-70 and retired, you just won't have any energy.
Go through the obituaries and apply for loans in their names
Comfortably.
What are the values of the son?