“If You Ever Want to Retire, Start Doing These 9 Things Right Now”. That was the heading. The article to which it was linked gave some very basic financial advice—nothing that would guarantee retirement. So here is my list:
1. Focus on your education. (Don’t go to college just because someone tells you that is what you are supposed to do.)
2. Have a plan.
3. Get a job. Work. (Duh!)
4. Save.
5. Avoid unnecessary financial debt.
6. Live below your means.
7. Eat a healthy diet.
8. Exercise.
9. Don’t smoke!
Focus on your education. I am a huge proponent of education. I am a college professor, after all. Despite depending on university students for my livelihood, I don’t believe everyone needs to go to college. Personally, I think there are far too many young people going into deep debt because someone told them that they need to go to college. Focus (as a nation) needs to be first on K-12 education—giving everyone who is capable the skills to function well in society. Beyond high school, we need more people to join the trades and use their gifts to build and create. University, then, should train young people to be innovators and creators. College should not be to prepare one to get a job. Better served is the college student who is prepared to make jobs. University should produce thinkers. It should be interdisciplinary and not structured to a single discipline that fails to develop the whole person and aid in creating the connections in our ever-progressing world.
Have a plan. Too many students come to me their Junior and Senior years with the question: “What am I going to do with my degree?” I try to encourage them to have a plan. Plans can, of course, change. (I went from Mining Engineering to Geology to Exercise Physiology.) Indeed, we should be prepared for change. Still, we need a plan. In particular, we need a growth plan—that best prepares us for the inevitable change that will come in life. We also need shorter-term plan for the future. Financially, too, we need to consider the future.
Get a job. Work. To retire, you must have something from which to retire. One may not land his or her dream job right out of college. Don’t sulk! Work! Be productive. Do something. Don’t complain. Work. Gain experience and maturity. Don’t be afraid to do the work that is “beneath” you. You might actually find something you love.
Save. Saving for tomorrow seems to be a thing of the past. We want things now. Young people feel that they need to buy a new car and a house immediately upon graduation. Have parents forgotten to teach their children that they had to work for years before they bought a home? If we want to have money to retire, we must give up something today to have for tomorrow.
Avoid unnecessary financial debt. Credit cards are for convenience. Car loans (assuming one can easily make the payments) might be necessary. Home loans are almost unavoidable but should be tailored to what we can comfortably afford—not what we must stretch ourselves thin to afford. Pay cash or pay off credit cards monthly. This seems so simple.
Live below your means. I am getting a bit redundant with these last three, but I had to stretch my list to 9.
Eat a healthy diet. And don’t believe that a healthy diet will cost you a fortune. I once lived on a weekly food budget (you can ask my roommate at the time, ‘Johnny Mac’) of about $25 a week and was quite healthy. It was nothing fancy and lacked variety, but it was healthy. Shop wisely and don’t waste food money on junk.
Exercise. How much do I need to say here??
Don’t smoke. If you honestly want to live to retirement, don’t smoke. Quit, if you presently smoke. Smoking is, hands down, the most destructive thing one can do to one’s physical health. There are no benefits. Cigarettes cost a small fortune (not to mention the expense of cleaning and destruction to property, e.g., reduced resale value of automobiles, burns and odor in carpet and furniture, etc.). Smoking is also connected to a plethora of health conditions. And it stinks!!
So, this is my list. No creative financial advice. Seek such advice, if you want a more comfortable retirement. But, first, you have to live to retirement and you must have money with which to retire. Simple.
Carpe momento!