At a very early age, my parents taught me about saving money for the future. I recognize that as one of the most powerful reasons for my financial success. It drove home a few principles that I live my life by:
1) Always established goals for saving a portion of my earnings
2) Always “pay myself first” before spending money on things that I could do without
3) People who have all of the nice “stuff” (sports cars, jet skis, boats, campers, etc.) are not always rich
4) Live within my means. Buy what I can afford
As an adolescent I read the book The Millionaire Next Door, which helped me realize many people in category #3 above were not rich; they just had big bank loans to pay for all of the “stuff.” According to the book’s author, the most popular vehicle amongst millionaires is not a sports car; it is a Ford F150 pickup truck. Most of them do not have a bunch of shiny things because they live conservatively and save their money first – this is how they became millionaires.
An Invitation for Help
This article is not meant to be a free advertisement for a book, or even a lesson about not buying too much “stuff”. I’m encouraging you to save some of your earnings for the time in your life when you choose not to work. Some people call that time in their life “retirement.” For me, “retirement” sounds like something that I should be entitled to. So I like to call it “unemployment” because “unemployment” doesn’t have such a nice ring to it. “Unemployment” helps me to remember that when I get to the point when I no longer choose to work, or I’m too old to work, that I better have set aside enough money for me to live on.
I would like to invite you and your spouse (for those married) to attend our 401k retirement plan meeting. We will have a representative from our plan provider John Hancock present to walk through what the plan is, how it works and what your investment choices will be should you elect to participate. Your attendance determines how often we offer sessions like this in the future.
Be on the look-out for Jennifer Thompson’s announcements on the upcoming 401k meeting and I hope to see you there!