Based on the above, I am a little worried. I took a kid off of my credit card (with high credit limit), because he just didn’t need it any longer. Then my other son said putting him on my card really improved his credit score. I hope I didn’t cause the first son a big credit ding. They were only on my card because they did out of country trips and I don’t get charged international transaction fees.
You can ask that credit limits be adjusted up or down or transferred to other cards with same issuer.
I have a card with each of my kids and it helped give them my great credit score. They’ve kept their scores great on their own.
I just don’t use most cards much but rarely bother to close them
Regarding traveling with kids, I’m of the “bring them along and pay for many/all expenses” (depending on situation), but my husband is not very interested in having the kids along very often. It’s actually an “issue” for us right now.
We budgeted $20K a year for travel when we retire, but figure we can adjust as necessary each year, depending on what else we’re spending on, stock market returns, etc. We figure we may “save” money by driving many places, where now because of time constraints we typically fly for vacation.
I wish I knew the “magic number” needed to be able to retire “safely.”
Adding an authorized user can raise the credit score of the authorized user as they effectively inherit many of the things that go into the credit score.
My understanding is that ceasing to be an authorized user can have a similar effect in reverse, depending on what their credit score was prior to becoming an authorized user and how long they were on your account.
So your kid might have taken a good-sized ding to their credit score when you removed them… or not. He would have to get his score to know for sure.
Well, we are in a much “poorer” financial place than most postrs I read here.
We both worked consistently the last 40+ years but never earned more than $120T a year combined.
VHCOL suburb. Bought and stayed to raise 2 kids in a modest house with great schools.
Helped fund two college degrees and continue to help fund expenses of disabled adult child.
Congrats to everyone here with more assets, you have more flexibility in retirement. Enjoy.
We are retired, downsized house near kids, and yes, paid off mortgage. Maybe not strictly BEST
decision but for us it is.
No debt, one small SS now, savings allow us to delay larger till later.
Chose lump sum pension which is living with our IRA money.
We cant treat our kids to vacations but they enjoy the nice dinners we include them in.
And the well employed one enjoys treating US to stuff. What a concept
Our needs are satisfied as are most of our wants. Life IS good!
@IxnayBob Interesting snapshot of your credit score history. I’ve closed out cards in the past and haven’t seen a hit and haven’t been below 800 (actually higher) in I don’t know how long. One difference is I do still carry a modicum of a mortgage which I’m just paying down normally given the low interest rate and not paying off.
I do think the whole credit score hit for closing down a card is nonsense.
What does amaze me is how loosely credit is given. My kid who graduated college last year, got a card right around graduation which is paid off monthly per mom’s strict recommendations. 
I think the credit line started around $500-600. It has been increased several times now and is now $2500 (never gotten close to that level). Plus new, pre-approved credit card offers arrive at least once a week. No wonder so many people get tempted into debt.
Additionally, both my kids somehow have credit score not too far from 800 despite only having one credit card, in their own name, each, and no other revolving credit. Good but puzzling.
https://personalfinancedata.com/networth-percentile-calculator/?min_age=60&max_age=70&networth=5000000#results suggests that $5 million for age 60-70 is in the top 4% of net worth, and nearly 23 times the median for that age group.
Given poor savings rates in the USA, who wants to be at the median? Not me.
Yes, the median net worth at age 60-70 is indicative of poor savings and investment habits generally in the US. Most Americans will retire into the dependent class (i.e. dependent on others such as family or the government) rather than into the capitalist class (i.e. able to live on their own savings and investment income and assets).
My D amazed all of us when she was granted a Costco AmEx card on the spot (when she took pity on the poor employee and said she’d answer some questions for him while shopping at Costco with me). She had NO ID on her (though she was with us). She’s never had a full-time job and was still a college student at the time. She has never had debt to this day and always pays her CCards as soon as she gets the statement online. She received a higher credit limit than the Costco employee who was asking her questions, which stunned the poor guy. Yup, I agree that the wrong things are being looked at in extended credit.
Wow! We are doing good more than I’m expecting. 95%. But about 1/3 is real state.
I like treating my kids on vacations, but the big ones are coming to an end, I think. DS1 lives with his GF now. I’d like to do one more big one - to Italy - before he gets married, whenever that might be. Neither of my kids have been to Europe. After that I see us perhaps doing smaller ones within the U.S.
@doschicos
“We do treat our young adult children to occasional trips with us - having them along enhances our experience and they can’t afford it at this stage of their life.”
I feel the same way. Our kids are still young and they have no choice but coming with us everywhere. We have never vacationed without the kids. The idea just doesn’t seem very appealing to me. Hubby is a good company, but what could we possibly talk about for 24/7? Our life without the kids isn’t that interesting lol. Sharing “first time” experience with the kids makes vacations that much more fun.
Our friends and colleagues who have similar education and/or background, they are in the same financial situation or better. We did NOT do anything out of ordinary (i.e won lottery, inheritance, TOP executives, created a start-up, entrepreneur, etc.) and we started from nothing. But hubby and I are very lucky to have great jobs from amazing companies right out of college (thanks to the BS and PhD degrees from Cal). I am in middle management and he is an executive. Sometimes I still feel shocked at our combined salaries, like it doesn’t make sense. I’ve never dreamed of making that much. We should be saving a lot more, but we make a conscious decision to live life and to give back (lots of automatic charity deductions, Cal included). So we don’t save as much as we could have, but that’s okay. Our very close friend who worked for my husband retired at 60 (also a Cal graduate). He and his wife now travel the world 4-5 times a year. They live a comfortable life with 5 mils in their retirement funds, and they don’t support their relatives like we do.
I told my husband that all I wanted when I retire, is that when we travel internationally I want to be able to buy business class tickets without feeling guilty (I can’t sleep sitting up). I don’t care if we stay in crappy hotels, but for him, he thinks it’s a waste of money, but then he is a hotel snob. We can’t win. And he wants to retire around university towns (like Berkeley, LA, Ann Arbor, Boston, etc…) so he can do pure research. So with all those requirements I guess we will have a work a lot more years to be able to retire at this point.
I don’t have much interest in travel, but it would never occur to me to take our grown son anywhere with us. When he was growing up, we made a huge distinction between “vacation” (just me and DH) and “family trip” (with kid). We took exactly four family trips in his lifetime. Not my idea of fun. We love our son and enjoy being with him, but taking care of a (perfectly well-behaved) kid on the road was no vacation. Once he was a teenager, HE was the one who would prefer a sharp stick in the eye to traveling with the 'rents. Instead, we enjoy time together at home, cooking/drinking, talking (he and his dad love a good bourbon and cigar discussing life well into the night), swimming, taking walks, reading/watching movies together, just relaxing. We entertain each other. Part of how we got here, I think, is that DH traveled 100% of the time for his job for 17 years. He’s so done with planes and hotels and looks at home as the best destination in the world. We’ve made it so. The retirement corollary is that we didn’t figure (much) travel into our retirement budget, just the cost of airfare/drives to visit family in various places and to bring our now-launched son to us occasionally.
I’m sure you’re saying this tongue-in-cheek, but this is something all couples (and future retirees) need to think about. It’s so important to keep your marriage the primary relationship because the kids, God love them, WILL leave at some point and the marriage is what endures. Hopefully, it has been nourished to the same or greater degree as parenthood. It would be very sad to finally get to retirement and find that there is more money in the bank than love in the marriage account.
We live in AZ, but Ann Arbor is “home” (DH and I met at U-M), and I grew up in Michigan. We will keep our primary domicile in AZ for the low COL, but we plan to spend time in the summers in university towns away from the heat here . Ann Arbor is top of the agenda. Go Blue! 
I put both kids on our cards at about age 13, or as soon as they were eligible (I think Discover was 15). When my oldest checked her credit for the first time at 18, it was over 800. (But Citi turned her down for a student card. She got one from BoA).
I retired last year at 53. The $5M mentioned above is a good target, realizing that one needs to be very fortunate to achieve it. Start early and invest well. My 18 y.o. asked for a Roth IRA for Christmas, so I guess it rubbed off. I gifted her enough to put her entire year’s earnings into one.
This is our target. I’m planning to retire in 10 years. Based with my projection we can hit this. But there are so many factors involved. We need to maintain our current contribution rate, more than 6% return and wife continue to work about 4 years after I retired (she’s 6 years younger than me). She can also work part time to maintain her health insurance at work, which is really really good. If we decide to work longer, we could. Our work are not that high pressure and stressful. And we actually like what we do.
My H will retire in the next 4 years or so and I will continue to work a couple more years after him until I reach medicare age. We will have nowhere near $5 million (mentioned above as a goal), but our financial planner ( a friend of mine for more than 40 years) says we are on track to be able to do the things we want to do in retirement. We do a lot of traveling now and intend to do even more once retired and have that built into our budget. Our house will be paid for before retiring and if we decide not to stay in Southern California and move to a lower COL area we will have additional retirement money.
Maybe this should be in get it off your chest but here goes
Again, I am surprised by the middle class here. 5 million to save for by retirement? $20,000/year for travel? Asking about bringing your adult children on said trips.
Lol, I’m pretty sure that my H and I are going to have a great retirement with no where near 5 million. I have no idea what our travel budget will be but probably not $20,000.
We will have a pension (which has a defined dollar amount but we will opt for a monthly deposit). We have a nice 401k and retiree health benefits. We are so very very lucky!
And the kids, they are doing very well. Have their own money, they don’t need us and have limited vacation time anyways. We love them, they want to go on their own vacations.
And I have plenty to talk to H about.
I don’t remember that poster indicating “middle class”. I do see the poster expressing appreciation for the salaries she and her husband make.
Let’s leave space here for people at all income levels to talk about their retirement plans and spending. In general, I think this thread has been good about not being judgmental in either direction. If discussions are going to be helpful, they need to be honest. I think there is room for people of different budgets to ask questions and get feedback. Just my 2 cents…
I see folks posting on this thread asking questions they are pondering, whatever their income and savings. I don’t see anyone who is trying to brag or put anyone else down.
Most of us recognize that CC has a wide range of folks participating from the full pay to folks who get generous need-based packages and everything in between.
Many folks are pondering what level of assets and annual income will allow them to have the retirement they envision—of course this can vary widely by individual.
I also see a range of how much financial help folks give to their “kids.” I don’t see anyone placing a value on what is “right,” just different resources and preferences.
Folks are also trying to not be a financial burden on their loved ones, especially when chronic conditions may develop.