Have You Funded Your Future Retirement Paycheck?

 

In the United States, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day on August 26th. But let’s be honest, women are anything but equal when it comes to retirement planning. That is why I get passionate when I see articles about women, money, and retirement. When it comes to funding your future retirement paycheck, I strongly believe in the power of knowledge.

This brief and to-the-point article, Building your Future Retirement Paycheck, by M. Cindy Hounsell, President of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, provides four simple ideas for women to fund their future retirement paycheck.

The four steps shared in the article are

1. Save as much as you can
2. Know your options
3. Learn Investment Basics
4. Protect Your Assets

In this post, I would like to discuss the first step Hounsell shares, Save as much as you can.

Saving as much as you can is more than just an action step. It is a mindset and a lifestyle.

[shareable]Saving as much as you can is more than just an action step. It is a mindset and a lifestyle.[/shareable]

The reason most women do not eagerly look for more ways to fund their future retirement paycheck is they think they will have to sacrifice too much of their lifestyle today. What is fun about depriving ourselves of the pleasures of life, right?

We are an instant gratification society. We want all we can get right now. But until we truly understand just how much money we need to fund our future retirement paycheck, we will not be motivated enough to save as much as we can.

It all boils down to mindset. What do we believe is possible for our future wellbeing?

What do we want to happen when we are no longer working to earn an income?

We need to become future-focused and fund our future retirement paycheck.  Unfortunately, most of us have too much on our plate to think about the details of planning for a safe and secure financial future.

However, no one wants to find out they have not saved enough money when they are eighty years old. That is why being hypervigilant in doing all we can to fund our future retirement paycheck is not only necessary but crucial.

What we women need to remember is that statistically, we live longer than our male counterparts.

We also need to consider that women spend an average of nine years out of the workforce to care for children and older family members, according to Hounsell.

Simply put, women need to make a lifestyle of saving more money.

We cannot rely on someone else to do this for us. We need to empower ourselves so we can take care of our future needs.

Let me be clear. I am not saying we need to go into a state of deprivation to save more money. That would only create a financial tension that could lead to compulsive spending.

We need to be empowered, not deprived.

We need to have a plan that allows us to enjoy life’s little pleasures while we are also saving for the future. We need to spend within our means. We need to allocate our finances according to our values – and hopefully, one of those values is future financial security.

One way to get focused on saving is by reading articles like Hounsell’s, which you can find HERE.

Let me know what this brings up for you. If it is fear, that is okay and extremely common (especially for women. Remember, money is emotional for us). But we cannot let fear keep us from taking action.

That is where a financial coach can help. A coach guides you through the process of sorting out your finances. She will coach you through the emotional landscape so you can get clarity on what you want (your dreams and goals) and how to make it happen (the steps to implement).

The result is you will have peace of mind. You will end up saving more money than you ever thought possible. You will feel a lot more confident when you have taken action to fund your future retirement paycheck.