Felicia at one of her Start2Save classes
To most of us in our twenties, retirement isn’t a word in our day to day vocabulary. Sure, I always hear that it’s never too early to start saving for retirement, and I’ve always deposited into my work’s retirement plan… but that’s all I do. I don’t know how much is in my Fidelity Account. I know I get an email monthly telling me my account statement is ready… and that’s about it.
But when I learned that this week is National Save for Retirement Week, and heard that Peninsula Family Service has a program called Start2Save that helps with beefing up your emergency savings account, I decided to learn a little bit more about the program and what I could potentially do to jumpstart my own savings – for emergencies and for retirement.
Start2Save is a combination of classes, resources, and even a deposit of $1,000 into your emergency savings account. And it’s all free. I thought it was too good to be true, so I asked Felicia, a participant in the program, to tell me about her experience.
Felicia told me that she’s been putting $50 in her savings account each month since May – and come April, when she graduates from the program – a group called Opportunity Fund will deposit $1,000 into her account. I was excited about that – who doesn’t like free money? She took some classes about savings, budgeting, and investment. She’s come out of the classes a new woman.
Felicia has stopped eating out so much to save money. She also has significantly decreased the number of payday loans she takes out. I don’t know anything about payday loans, so Felicia explained to me that you need to pay $45 within 15 days of taking one out – so just saving $50 each month at the start more than makes up for multiple loans.
I asked Felicia what she learned from the program. “Discipline,” she said. “Before, I was living beyond my means. Now I stick to my budget.” With this new emergency savings account, Felicia can feel confident about moving forward with saving for retirement. She even has a side business she is starting, outside of the regular workday. With the money from her business, she hopes to give back. “If I make more money, I can help more people,” she said.
All this talk about saving for retirement made me curious about my own future. In my online research I stumbled upon the AARP Retirement Calculator (you can check it out here). I’m in my late twenties now and not married. If I continue saving at the rate I am (basically putting away my birthday money each year plus the Fidelity stuff), I won’t be able to retire until I’m 78! If I want to retire by the time I’m 67, I should be saving $3,400 each year. That’s a lot more than I get for my birthday, that’s for sure. It was very enlightening. Something needs to change, whether I spend less on food or make more with a side job. Felicia was lucky that she had Start2Save to help her along the way.
I’m happy National Save for Retirement Week exists – I know I’m taking this week to look at my finances and think about how I can save for the future. I read one statistic that I found interesting, and true in my case: outside of employer-sponsored plans, employees save virtually nothing. Doesn’t sound like the best way to get ready for life after retirement, does it?
Heart to Heart 