Real Life

As I was surfing the internet I stumbled on an article on how much a person should save to be financially responsible.  As a professional in the personal finance industry and being curious for personal reasons I read this article and it got me thinking about real life.   The author stated that he adopted Elizabeth Warren’s balanced money formula which divides your income into three categories, Needs, Wants and Savings and allocates 20% to savings.  

I liked this idea, in fact I liked it so much that I calculated what 20% of my salary was.  After I got done crying and whipped the tears from my underpaid eyes I realized that this is just a good idea and not going to be practical for everyone, especially in today's economy.  I always hate talking with a "doom and gloom" tone and I try to stray from that as much as possible but the reality is that right now families are going through tough times!  People are losing their jobs or getting pay cuts so often that talking about saving money seems like the wrong topic!  Maybe it would be better to write a blog on how to create your own job or how to not get fired. The reality also is that millions of families are asking about saving.  Everything from where to save it to how much and when addressing the question of how much there is no right answer, no matter what the economy is like.

"Real Life" happens to all of us and is often the reason that we don't save all that we can.  By "Real Life" I mean the things that we can't avoid spending money on yet things that aren't technically emergencies.  For example, a bill that came in higher than you had expected or paying for your family to go pick out a Christmas Tree.  Granted the later is a want but still, that is real life!  All sorts of expenditures could be listed in the "Real Life" category and all of them aren't irresponsible ways to spend your money.  So, what does the average family or person aim to save from their pay?  I say, whatever you can just make sure you have a goal that you are steadily growing towards.  Make sure that you aren't spending dollars on lunches out everyday or small things that will add up over the course of the month.  Saving for long-term goals like retirement is all about being consistent and persevering so set a goal and start saving something!

As always I will keep this Short...until next time! (which is 10 months if I keep up my current pace)

The "Idea"

An idea is a concept or whatever is before the mind when a person thinks. There is no guarantee that the idea will become a reality unless the person with the idea implements a plan for the idea to become reality. For the past two years I have been in the business of financial planning meeting with several families as well as attending numerous trainings. Through this I have noticed that retirement is an "idea" nothing more and nothing less, although many American families are living as if it were a guarantee. Very few of Americans actually have a set plan to make their "retirement idea" a "retirement reality"and even fewer know any sort of specifics on how they actually want to retire. The sad reality is the average person is taking more time to plan their family vacation each year than they do to plan for a comfortable retirement.

Now, most of you readers are my close friends, family members and those that got sucked into reading this because I now paste it on my email signature. But if you are a random Googler or somehow referred to this blog by one of the above mentioned then you need to know that my views on retirement are formed from the Word of God(the Bible). For more about a "Biblical Retirement" I recommend John Piper's online FREE book, Rethinking Retirement, The Bible talks a lot about money and savings an because I am not an expositor I will leave it at this, God commands his children to save for the future.

I don't think anyone, no matter what type of retirement you are planning on, would argue that retirement is a good "idea". Scratch that...its a Great Idea. It is why 99% of us go to work, because there is hope that one day we wont have to go to work! I think the only person that doesn't want to retire is Bret Favre. That being said, how can it be that the median income for those age 65+ and in retirement is $16,770? (Employee Benefit Research Institute, March 2008) Its because of a lack of savings, advice, sacrifices and too much debt. So, how do you make the "idea" a reality? Here are 4 ways you can start doing to make your "idea" really happen.

1. Create a detailed budget (more on this later)
2. Pay down Debt
3. Save whatever you can
4. Get Advice

No matter how you slice it, saving money is hard. It will take some work, sacrifice and a great deal of discipline but in the end it will be worth it. Talk with a person in retirement that has done so successfully they will probably tell you it wasn't a bed of roses getting there. There is no such thing as getting something for nothing.