Monday, January 09, 2006

Retirement

I'm thirty years old and the hubby is 28 (yeah, I rocked the cradle). We've been together seven years (tomorrow is our dating anniversary) and married for five and a half. The first few years we were both in school, which consumed our everyday thought. Now, we're out of school and on our own. So what consumes my mind? Retirement. Hey, time flies. When Dan and I started out, he was twenty-one and I was twenty-three. Next thing you know, we'll be in our fifties.

I want our retirement to be filled with tons of traveling and no worries about our finances. This requires money saved up, and lots of it. Dan received an awesome book written by David Bach called "The Automatic Millionaire" from his aunt and uncle for his birthday. I read through the first twenty-six pages and was very intrigued. What's funny is that he hasn't said anything that I didn't already know. The problem? It's all in my head. I always think about the money I put aside. And guess what happens? I end up needing it because I constantly think about it.

Well, things are going to change. I asked Dan to go into work today and have ten percent of his paycheck go directly into savings. I'm a bit different because I make cash right on the spot. But I'll be automatically putting money aside before my shift. We also need to start looking into money market accounts, cds, and the works. Most importantly, we need to stop the wasteful spending. That my friends is a more difficult task. David Bach calls it the Latte Factor. Substitute Latte for any other word and you get the picture. Another big thing is not putting anything on your credit cards. Dan and I have been practicing that approach for the past two years (except lately we've used our cards to get stuff for the apartment). If we can't buy it cash, than we won't. Same goes for vacations. We can't pay for them cash, then we can't go on them.

Since I believe that like attracts like, the more money we have saved up, the more money will come to us. Wealthy is what I want us to be and that is what will happen.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see you are taking charge of your future. It is very important these days to do so. Expecially when you have kids, you don't want to burden them with your care in the end. Glad to hear the Dan is putting 10 percent of his salary in savings. But what about you? Maybe you should concentrate on finding a job that can offer you a 401K retirement plan, or IRAs. That's where you can really save the money. There doesn't seem to be much future in waiting tables.

Xia Diaz said...

I actually figured out what I average in a week and having it automatically transferred into my savings. My job does offer a 401k plan, but since I technically only make 2.13 and hour and get taxed on my tips, I can't contribute to it. You're right. I do't plan to wait tables for long. It's just a transitional job while we get settled in NY.