Retirement? What retirement? Send up the Bat signal!
Sylvia Flores ??????
I've been a whirling dervish, work-a-holic, embodiment of business since I came flying out of the womb in the 70s (as Nixon was exiting stage left). Unapologetically creative raconteur and people champion. #muse ??
Millions of Americans aren’t saving, or at least, aren’t saving enough. Here are three simple reasons why.
1. We don’t know how and education is widely to blame. As in, there is none.
2. Retirement savings tools are not available to us in the work place. In fact, 1 in 3 workers aren’t saving anything at all. Dude.
3. We feel we can’t afford to save. When living paycheck to paycheck, how can you spare another dime for the future?
Let’s go through these one by one.
Education. Our industry makes it hard, by keeping people at arms length; “don’t worry about the details, we know what’s best, just hand over your money, and by the way, don’t read the fine fee related print.”
Access. Here’s the thing: if you're an employer, it’s a legal tax shelter. Isn’t that something that every business - hell - every person, needs?
Now let’s tackle the “can’t afford to save” issue. I thought the same thing, BTW. It took me some time to take the leap onto the bandwagon, and when I did, here’s what I discovered:
I started contributing 4% of my paycheck, because my company had a 4% match, and I like free money.
Here’s what happened with that 4%. I didn’t see any impact to my paycheck, as in nada. So, that made me want to increase my contribution. I first went to 5%. Again, no real noticeable impact. Then I took the leap to 10%. Then to 15%.
Want to know what the impact was?
It was MORE cash in my pocket because the 15% comes out pre-tax. So my taxable income was lower. I was saving more for my retirement. And I was taking home a bigger paycheck. WTF? I mean, I can't math but that is super great.
Holy fat retirement account, Batperson (you know, to be gender neutral)! It looks like I won’t have to work until I’m dead after all! And neither do you! (But I will. Because, work-a-holic, guys)
We don’t live in a world of the three-legged stool any longer - it's more of a pogo stick. Pensions are no longer widely accessible, and if you’ve been watching the news, you know that even if you’ve got one, you may not see a dime of it. As for Social Security, it’s outlook is just a sad sack of small change that politicians don't want to touch with a 10-foot cattle prod.
So guess what? We are now in the age of personal responsibility. And you owe it to YOU to take a hard look at how you’re going to take control. Instead of thinking of retiring at 65 or 70 for that matter, why not be thinking about how the heck to get out sooner? Deep thoughts.
Stay classy, America.