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I always advise women of two things, first take care of your personal finances throughout your years ‘as if you had to’. And second, save regularly regardless of your financial health. This was the adage of a client I dealt with years ago. A lesson learned when her husband of 25 years walked out and left her and their 3 kids in a state of financial shock. As she said, “how I wished I had paid attention to our finances over our marriage”. Twenty years later she is retired and fulfilling her dream of travel.
How?
Well she had decided to become a student of her own financial health. Her first step was to get a true understanding of the financial situation she was now in. She figured out how much money she needed a month to house and clothe her children. With that in mind she went in search of a job that would pay enough to cover these basic needs. And then regardless of her financial position every month she put away whatever she could towards her retirement savings. When she finally decided to retire she had over $300,000 invested. In her words, “I started saving just $5 dollars a month. After a few years this had crept up to $25. And by the time the kids had left home I was saving $200 a month. It just became an empowering habit”.
So what did I learned from this client?
Take responsibility of your own financial health throughout your life, ‘ as if you have to’ . This means you should have an understanding of what monies come in and what monies go out. And second, set up a regular saving plan. The latte factor as it is called. If you are spending $4 a day on that fancy coffee you can surely find $20 a month to put aside for savings.
Start small if you have to and invest into something you cannot easily access. Take charge of your financial health and make your retirement your responsibility. As I like to remind my female clients, “A Man is not your Retirement Plan”. You are!