Make Up for Lost Time by Saving Now
Transcript:
Katie Nealis:
I am in my early 50s. And I feel that I’m falling behind with my savings for retirement, what are some corrective steps that I can take?
Easan Arulanantham:
So I would say, if you don’t have a financial plan, start with a financial plan, you probably want to take assessment of your situation. You know, you want to know, what do I have? You know, do I have old 401k stuff forgot about? Do I need a rollover, any kind of other kind of trying to consolidate all your assets? So you know, what you have? And then what are your goals? You know, how much money do I need to save to kind of hit these goals is, and from there you kind of concerned to make a plan on Do I need to save a little bit more money? Like, am I maximizing my match, or Chi spindle less money here, maybe not take this extra trip every year, and then put that towards my retirement. So there’s a lot of things you can do. But I started to focus on taking an assessment, you know, figuring out where you are, and trying to start making stuff from there adjustments.
Tom Vaughan:
Yeah, I’ll say Another thing to keep your chin up to a certain degree, a lot of people get kind of really, really worried I’m way behind I’m at, I’m at with a 33 year old couple, that they had a pretty good amount of savings already. And they felt like they were way behind on retirement savings, which is a good attitude, to a large degree, you know, because they’ll probably end up with a lot of money. But on average, if you look at what happens, most people save, you know, a vast majority of their money for retirement really in the last 10 years, 55 to 65. Now, there’s some reasons for that, the motivations high, that’s important, right? So hey, I’m gonna, I’m going to retire. And that’s exciting. And I’m going to need this money. So both fear and you know, the satisfaction that you’re looking forward to drives you. But then also, oftentimes, you know, you’re heading into peak earnings period of your life, and maybe, you know, some of your other costs are falling off, you know, the mortgage isn’t as expensive as it used to be, or maybe you’re able to kind of get it paid off at some point.
Or if you have kids, you know, they’re getting out of college or you know, those type of things. So, yeah, if you’re in your early 50s, you’re still in a really great spot. As long as you stay dedicated. You know, if you get to 65, you don’t have any savings, that’s where it gets really difficult as far as that goes. But, you know, if you really go for it for 10 years, and that’s, that’s where this kind of show, you know, subscribe to the channel, learn, really push all of your knowledge base as far forward as you can, how much can I put into different plans? Should I use a Roth versus a regular, you know, IRA or 401k? You know, what, how should I invest that? How do I get the best rate of return that I can for the risks I’m willing to take? You know, you’re really, in my opinion, that’s what we’re here for. That’s what this show is all about. And talk money with Tom YouTube channel has literally hundreds of videos on there, if you start watching those, you’ll, you’ll you’ll accelerate your possibilities of kind of building that wealth and getting ready for retirement.
Easan Arulanantham:
There’s a great Chinese proverb, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now and so you know, just starting now. You can always, you know, get somewhere, you know, you might not be as well off as he did 20 years ago, but still better than putting it off.
Tom Vaughan:
Yeah, cuz it is a mental game. You know, you don’t want to get all depressed. Oh, you know, I’m so far behind and then kind of throw in the towel. That’s, uh, that that happens sometimes. But, yeah, you just want to know where you are. You’re doing okay, if you’re in your early 50s and you haven’t done much yet, you still got a great chance of doing well. It’s going to take some effort. It’s going to take some concentration, it’s going to take some savings, but you can do it.