This financially-sound post was brought to you by Genworth Insurance as part of an online campaign run by the fiscally frugal females over at Brandfluential. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.
I know a lot of people who’d be ecstatic to win the lottery and retire before they hit the age of 30. Call me crazy, but I don’t think I’d do too well with retirement. Especially at age 30. Heck, I’m 41 now and retirement would still be an epic fail for me.
See, I’m a workaholic. Or rather, I’m an entrepreneur. It’s in my blood and even a transfusion probably wouldn’t help. Whether it’s blogging, writing a book, working on some freelance assignments, starting up a handful of new websites, etc., I always have my fingers in tons of pies. Which is funny, because I’m really not a fan of pie. (Except blueberry. I love anything blueberry.)
No, I think I’ll be doing it the old fashioned way when it comes to retirement. I’ll be waiting till I’m 65 or so before finally packing it in. And even then, I know I’ll find some project or other to work on.
I’m pretty good at saving money too. Not the best, and certainly not the worst. I always pay my credit card bills in full and on time (except for those couple of times I plumb forgot. And yeah, my wife never lets me live those down). I don’t spend frivolously anymore either. No more comic books or even video games. For me, that is. The kids? Well, that’s another story. It’s just hard to say no to the little buggers.
So in terms of day-to-day or month-to-month spending and saving, I think Allie and I have a pretty good rhythm going. Like most people, we’re hoping the income far exceeds the expenses, but that just takes time to get there.
The one thing I do have the foresight to think about in terms of saving, though, is in regards to retirement and my family’s future. I know there are lots of tools out there to help plan for our economic future. We do own a few IRAs. I even have a SEP (Self Employment Plan) from when I was freelancing full time. But I haven’t touched the stuff in years. I could certainly use some help.
Yeah, finances are just over my head in terms of investments. Stocks. Bonds. Mutual Funds. It’s all a bit foreign to me. But this Yahoo Finance article, Guaranteed Income – For Life, does a good job of explaining the different types of annuities available: fixed, indexed and variable. Obviously someone in their 20s is going to invest quite differently than someone in their mid 50s, only a decade or so away from retirement. That much, I can at least understand.
It’s true that you do need money to make money. And in this case, I don’t mind paying someone else to help me make that money. Not having to constantly be watching my portfolio and knowing when to sell, what to sell, how much to sell, what to buy, etc., is a huge load off my mind.
Instead, I can just concentrate on actually living and know that in the end when retirement finally does come a knocking, I’ll be ready for it. Well, at least financially.
My parents waited until later to start planning for retirement and now that it is close for them, I see them trying to pull things together so that they can live the lifestyle they want. It makes me realize that even though my hubby and I are 30, that we are on the right track for retirement. It’s a nice feeling.
Since starting to blog, I’ve started stashing money aside for different things (kids sports, Christmas, emergency fund, etc). Not that we don’t have a savings, but it just makes me feel better to have my own little nest egg going that is separate from our main, joint accounts. I think that has to do with my husband losing his job a couple years ago and us completely depleting our savings just to keep our head above water. So I am having a back up to our back up.
we started saving for retirement when we got our first real jobs. It was only $50 a month but every little bit helps!
I too depend on my husband way too much for retirement. Thanks for the reminder that I need to do more for my own retirement.
Oh yes, I definitely agree that it can be too late if you just sit around and spend those precious dollars away frivolously! It’s good you and Allie have your financial heads on your shoulders 🙂
I depend too much on my husband for retirement. Can’t help it, he’s a banker. I do have an IRA. And I have life insurance. I am kinda grown up, right?
My husband and I own our own businesses too. I have an old IRA left over from when I was working for someone else but that would keep us alive for about 3-4 months. That’s it. It’s hard, when you don’t know where the next paycheck is going to come from, to commit any money to saving, but I easily spend a few extra dollars a week on things I don’t need. I’m going to start saving those dollars!
I like ANYTHING blueberry,too. 🙂
I also need to learn more about investments for retirement. That seems like a long way off…but it’s really not in the whole grand scheme of life.