Saving Money For Retirement – Treat Your Finances Like a Full-Time Business
Although this is mainly a marketing blog, from time to time I do enjoy writing articles related to personal finance, saving money, investing and retirement.
It’s always been a passion of mine and a topic that I’m deeply enthusiastic about.
Partially because so many people work so hard at their jobs or running a business but have nothing to show for it.
What’s the point of working 40-80 hours per week and having little or no money tucked away in savings or investment accounts?
To me it’s insanity.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial expert or professional, this is just my personal opinion on this particular subject.
If you read my article on paying yourself first, this money saving technique is what really allows people to get ahead financially and break bad habits like spending their paycheck as soon as they receive it.
When it comes to saving money for retirement, we need to start thinking long-term and how we can make our money work for us…Rather than “you and I” working for money for the rest of our lives.
Again, we need to start making money work for us.
I’m not going to get into specific investments vehicles in this blog post when saving for retirement but I do want to go over a mindset/strategy that I use to save way more than I spend.
Giving me additional freedom and security.
When Saving Money For Retirement, Treat Your Finances Like a Full-Time Business
Most people approach saving money for retirement with very little intensity.
They keep putting off saving for retirement because it seems so far away.
Little do they know that the earlier they start, the more their investments will compound over-time and the less they will have to save in the future (compared to someone who starts later).
Unfortunately, most Americans do not start early enough nor save enough money for retirement.
One tip that I’m going to share with you right now really revolutionized the way I thought about saving money for retirement and personal finance in general.
Here it is…
Once I started treating my finances like a full-time business, I started making major progress.
Eventually your investments should make you enough monthly income that this will replace the need for you to work a job.
So why wouldn’t you take this as seriously as you can and treat it like a business?
For me, this meant really being intentional with the money I earned.
It also meant being more organized:
- I started to create excel spreadsheets that would track all of my savings/investments, net worth, side business income, personal expenses and more.
- I started utilizing the right applications on my phone to be more linked into my finances.
- I created goals and money saving strategies each month to hit certain benchmarks.
- I generated monthly reports for myself to track my progress and ensure I was heading in the right direction.
Now some people may think this is overboard or obsessive, but I look at it as being prepared and being able to have options in the future.
If you do nothing, you will have nothing when retirement rolls around.
Another important point to make is that “retirement” doesn’t have to be at the age of 65.
The more you save at an earlier age, the earlier you can retire.
There are many blogs and stories out there of people retiring in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s…It’s possible and just this realization alone may be enough to kick you into high gear.
Take your finances into your own hands, be smart with your money and you may be pleasantly surprised with the progress you make over the next few years.
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Great post, Evan. And I’d also like to point out that the financial security that investments (of all kinds) provide is more about freedom than actually not working, in some cases.
Personally, I couldn’t imagine not working. I’d go crazy! For me, it’s the ability to work on what I find important and fulfilling.
Hey Matt,
Always appreciate your insight!
And I couldn’t agree more. The problem with the word “retirement” is that most people think of that as doing absolutely nothing for the rest of their lives.
When I use the term retirement, it’s more to describe a life of options, doing work you enjoy and having the freedom to make those decisions.
I’m like you, I’d go nutty if I wasn’t working on anything