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Pot of Gold – Saving for Retirement is Daunting

Pot of Gold - Saving for Retirement is Daunting

My money class met for the second time and it was daunting but good. Week 1, everyone was to do their no shame, no guilt budget based on what they spend today. And then we were to do our future budget, like where do we want to be.

For the second week, we talked about the “pot of gold” as they refer to the savings for retirement. Essentially, they provided another worksheet that walked you through creating a target number to save for retirement. It was a daunting number – in the millions for most people. And then they discussed what you need to do to reach that “pot of gold”.

It’s not luck of the Irish. It’s hard work, strategic thinking and smart savings and investing. I’m getting there!

It was a very grounded discussion (remember, this is targeting people like me who are entrepreneurs growing a business). The conversation was centered around what you need to live, what you need to set aside for taxes, and what you need to contribute to your pot of gold to get there.

And for this class, they indicate that your pot of gold should be enough for you to pull down 3% for 30 years. I am not sure where they got those numbers but I’m guessing it’s based on lifespan after retirement?

Anyways, it made total sense to me and really met me in a headspace where I’m comfortable. I’ve always kind of lived by “how much do I need to make?” Ok, let’s hustle and build to get there. I just settled for too little, was too comfortable with debt and frankly needed this training a LONG time ago.

It was great.

I didn’t get to attend the 3rd session at the end of last week (work got in the way) but plan on watching the replay soon. I’ve got a lot of work to do to build my “pot of gold”. This class is amazing though. Real numbers, a strategy that works with the way I think. I’m so glad I’m doing this.

P.s. if you have some spare time, consider checking out Leisure Freak. He has a great series of postings on early retirement called “retire early and often” – brilliant.

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Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.

Setting Goals & Getting it Done

by Lindsey Boycott

Setting Goals & Getting it Done

Trying to change my world is hard work. I know what I need to do, but I still need to decide about the best way to make things happen. For instance, I realize that I spend too much money eating out. While eating in sounds like a simple enough solution, there’s a lot of reverse engineering that goes into sustaining a healthy diet at home. From meal planning to grocery shopping and prepping ahead – there’s a lot there. And there are also considerations for my later work shift, like having to pack a lunch and a dinner that I may not be able to reheat as I’m often out and about in the community.

It’s usually about this time that I start getting a little obsessive. I start creating overly elaborate meal plans and spend a lot of time in grocery stores looking for things like smoked paprika and cardamom seeds. FYI, black cardamom seeds have a beautiful smoky flavor that’s perfect for savory dishes. Alternatively, green cardamom seeds offer a lovely swirl of strong and sweet with pungent undertones. While these things are good to know, they end up distracting me from developing maintainable habits for prepping and eating at home. Sometimes I end up becoming overwhelmed and abandoning my very worthy goal.

For now, I’m focusing on doing small shops at the grocery store. I’ve gone overboard in the past and had to throw things out after spending hundreds of dollars to eat at home. This time, I am trying something different. Yesterday, I bought $20 worth of vegetables and cut them up to eat with hummus. It’s an easy snack, and I’m not engaged in this dramatic race against time to eat ten pounds of vegetables before they expire. It’s a small thing, but I feel it’s a step in the right direction.

What’s important about learning something new is figuring out how to make it work for me. If you think back to school, you probably remember the students who studied with flashcards while others just read through the textbook. The same thing applies now to my grand and great eating at home goal. So, I’m pretty good at finding tasty recipes and putting together a list for shopping. Recognizing strengths like this one helps me push through some of the tougher stuff.

One of my challenges is big box stores – I hate them so much. In fact, I think mega-marts are a diabolical Lord of the Flies social experiment featuring a giant rat maze populated with thousands of tense, grabby people who use their shopping carts like battering rams. Consequently, I shop at more expensive market-type stores that offer a slightly more sedate shopping experience. I don’t always get the best deal, but I don’t have to be a gladiator to get through the games. It’s a concession I’m willing to make to get the job done.

You might be asking yourself why I’m boring you with opinions about cardamom seeds and Walmart Supercenters. After all, I’m here to talk about what I’ve done to cut costs and boost savings. I stand to save a substantial amount of money if I can put this into place, but I’m not perfect. I still think it’s valuable to share my experience with the ‘softer side’ of setting money goals. Personally, I know sharing these experiences with you helps me be better – and more accountable. Maybe you folks have ideas that I haven’t considered?

The other point to sharing my random culinary adventures is that nobody gets it right all the time. Putting my struggles into print might help someone understand they aren’t the only ones trying to figure it out. In my opinion, the endless parade of super-shiny perfect pictures on social media is a massive contributor to mental health issues today. So this is me not being shiny or perfect.

Photo by Priyanka Singh on Unsplash

Lindsey Boycott

Lindsey is a long time outreach worker and freelance writer in the personal finance and lifestyle sphere. When she’s not at her laptop, she is likely teaching herself a new hobby with a high potential for injury – such as skiing or cooking. Lindsey has dual Bachelors Degrees, one in Psychology, one in Social Work.