Whit's Wisdom

I do hate to be so repetitive, but when something is this important I think you need to keep pounding it into peoples brains.  And Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey repeat themselves day in and day out - and look how well respected they are....and how much we learn from them.  So, here I go again:

SAVE FOR YOUR FUTURE!

I was listening to Clark Howard today and he had a fantastic suggestion for the new saver.  He says to start off by putting 1% of your paycheck (each pay period) into either a 401k program through your employer, or into a Roth IRA.  If at the end of 6 months this absence of the 1% doesn't cause financial problems, then up the percentage to 2.  Continue this practice until you either max out the percentage amount you can contribute OR until you start really missing that money.  You might have to wait a year (or until you receive a salary increase) to increase your saving percentage.

I'm going to take it to a more personal level, though, because Clark is such a nice guy that he won't really spell it out.  "Feeling the absence of the money" is NOT being upset because you cannot stop at Starbucks every morning now.  It is not foregoing saving money so that you can purchase a new boat, or go on vacation.  It is not owning an iPhone, having cable and 8 million movie channels, or being connected to the internet through every known portal possible.

The reasons you can hold off saving for the future are food, shelter, utilities, health insurance, car insurance.  That's it.  If you can't pay for all of the above, then by all means you do not need to be saving your money and neglecting your bills. But if you have all of these areas covered and you have a few cents left over, put those away for a rainy day!  Do not let one more day go by without securing YOUR future!  They don't offer loans for "old or unhealthy"...and you simply CANNOT assume that Social Security will be there for you when you need it. 

Take care of yourself...do you really think the Government is going to?