Posts

Planning for Retirement - It's a Sacrifice when You are Young

avatar of @jluvs2fly
25
@jluvs2fly
·
0 views
·
3 min read

When I was a young woman and still married, my husband insisted that we put money aside for retirement. I still remember at 22 years old, when I was funding a retirement account. I didn't really want to do it, but I did it anyway to "keep the peace." As a family, we also set a goal to retire at age 50 so that we could travel and see the world. We set financial goals to that effect so that it could become a reality.

By the time that I was 50 years old, I was divorced but still believed in my goal of wanting to retire and travel to see the world. I traveled while I worked, but not to the extent that I wanted to. I was gainfully employed as an educator whose talents and skills were still in high demand. I retired anyway, (sort of) so that I could do things when I wanted to do them and not on someone else's schedule. I became an educational consultant with control over the jobs that I took and when I worked. If the weather was cold and wet outside, then I could choose not to work that day. It was such a blessing to call the shots and be the master of my own fate (to some extent).

I thought about that this morning when I woke up and it was cold and damp outside. I was able to fix myself some breakfast, drink a cup of coffee and decide not to leave my house today if I didn't want to go anywhere. I could choose to work on some of my hobbies, arts and crafts, or finish reading my good book.

This is possible because I made preparations when I was young and still working full time with a regular salary coming in every two weeks. When you are younger, you feel that you will live forever and that there is always time to plan for the future. The years pass by so quickly, that before you know it, you are middle aged with children. When you turn around again, you are thinking about how you will finance your children's education. Turn around again, and you are wondering about retirement or downsizing.

Life has a way of slipping up on us when we least expect it. Our plans don't always turn out the way that we expected, but setting a financial goal is always important because goals can be changed to fit your current reality. I am grateful that I was able to set some financial goals that I kept.

What are you doing to prepare for the future? If investing and saving cryptocurrency is part of your financial goals, do you have a backup plan? Are you diversified enough in your financial portfolio that you will still be able to make it, even if your cryptocurrency portfolio takes a hugh loss at the wrong time?

Give it some thought. I know too many people who are still working in their seventies, not because they want to, but because they have to do it. I am not a stranger to work and I started working for pay when I was thirteen years old. I was also saving part of my money when I was in high school working a part time job. My savings account actually saved one of my older siblings who had not prepared for the future. I was able to loan her money (with interest of course) to help her and her fiancee out of a financial hardship.

Set some goals, stick with them and reap the benefits down the road. You'll be grateful that you did on a cold, winter morning when you don't want to go to work.

(All pictures are original and were taken by me with my Canon 80 D in and around the Las Vegas, Nevada area on one of my trips this year.)

Enjoy your day. I'm enjoying mine.