DALLAS - Rafael Flores has until the end of this month to decide whether he wants to retire from a 26-year career with the federal government.
Retirement may have to be put on hold if Flores, an officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is called to help process Haitian refugees coming to the United States.
Whenever he decides to pull the trigger, the 60-year-old Richardson, Texas, resident will be entering retirement with a strong financial foundation, certified financial planner Tara Scottino said.
Scottino, senior vice president at Carter Advisory Services in Dallas, gave Flores and his wife, Marielena, 66, a Money Makeover sponsored by The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas-Fort Worth Financial Planning Association.
She said the pair are in good shape financially, primarily because “they did a phenomenal job of managing their debt.”
“They have no (credit card) debt,” Scottino said. “That’s huge.”
Flores has some straightforward advice about debt: “Avoid it like the plague.”
“People get their wants and needs crossed,” he said. “Do you really need that big house? Do you really need another car?”
But a mortgage is different. Flores borrowed $2,000 in 1972 for a down payment on his first home. He and his wife, who works as a teacher’s aide, still owe $41,000 on their mortgage.
“To me, that was good debt because I was going to get a house,” Flores said. “I knew the house would appreciate. I instilled that into my son when he graduated from college and got his first job.”
Flores learned about the value of a dollar in his childhood, when he, his father and five siblings painted a church’s large recreation hall in exchange for a tuition-free year at the church’s school in Detroit.
He saw his dad struggle financially, but “somehow he managed to put us through private schooling for quite a few years,” Flores said.
When he was young, he would walk the alleyways and collect soft drink bottles to cash in. He collected enough to pay for a movie, which cost a quarter then.
All of that has taught him to be frugal. Now, it’s time for him to enjoy the fruits of his financial prudence.
“I’ve …
Read the original article at Philly
