What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self About Saving for Retirement?
I’ve been thinking about retirement a lot lately. Like many women in our community, I don’t see myself slowing down any time soon. This year, I turn 70, so, I reached retirement age quite a while ago. But, as a freelance consultant and the founder of Sixty and Me, it feels like I am working harder than ever.
At the same time, like most baby boomers, I often wonder whether the financial decisions that I made in my younger years will come back to haunt me. By “younger years,” I’m not talking about my 20s. I’m talking about my 50s and early 60s. Those were the years when my family had left the house and I was still making a steady corporate income.
In many ways, I’m luckier than most. I have skills to fall back on. I am surrounded by a community of women that I love. I have some savings – not as much as I would like, but, then again, who does?
Looking back, I sometimes wish that I could go back and tell my 50, or even 60-year-old self just how scary the idea of retirement can be. I wish that I could convince my younger self to take saving even more seriously than I did. I wish that I had become an expert in putting more aside than I thought that I would need. Do you feel the same?
For the benefit of the younger women in our community… those in their late 50s and early 60s, I wanted to start a conversation about what we wish we had known about saving for retirement before we reached it. It doesn’t matter if you have reached “retirement,” in a traditional sense. If you are in your late 60s, 70s or beyond, I’d love to hear your perspective on this.
If you could go back in time and tell your 50 or 60 year-old self just one thing about saving for retirement, what would it be? Would you simply tell yourself to save more? Or, would you provide specific tips, like paying cash for items? Or, would you focus on building skills that you could use to make extra money in retirement? Or, perhaps you would simply say, “It’s not too late to save in your 60s?”
Let’s get a conversation started! Please join the conversation and “like” and share this article to keep the discussion going. What one thing would you tell your younger self (50s or early 60s) about saving for retirement?
