By Brenda W Hargroves
While facilitating a financial literacy class, a student once asked if I was a millionaire. His question threw me because I’d never considered becoming one. Making sure I could continue to sustain a lifestyle that met my comfort level was worth a million to me.
We rarely get everything we want in life; however, I can say that for the most part, I did not have to sacrifice my needs and wants throughout early adulthood and have successfully lived my definition of retirement for the past twelve years.
Wanna know how? By saving.
I’ve been a saver all of my life. I started as early as first grade. At that time, parents could set up savings accounts for their children. Each week a bank representative would come to our elementary school class to collect our deposits. Every student was given to a bankbook to track their savings. By the time I was in third grade, I’d saved over $100. Not much by today’s standards, but a small fortune back then.
Since that time, I’ve tried every form of saving – from saving change to the envelope method to participating in credit card rewards programs. And for more of a challenge, I’ve made saving a game. Prioritizing saving as part of my master financial plan was the smartest move I could have made.
In 2022, I paid all my bills, including imposed rent, food and gas price increases; bought what I wanted; did quite a bit of traveling; and donated to my chosen charities. A review of my overall financial situation indicates I should be able to continue doing so. One thing was different though. I didn't add anything to my savings last year.
My immediate reaction to that realization was fear. What if something happened? I live in hurricane territory. My car is over twenty years old and although she’s been good to me, I may need to replace her. Then I had a conversation with my friends, a married couple who are also living their best life in retirement. I expressed my concern that I hadn’t been saving and asked them to comment on their situation. They said they broke even, spending about what their investments earned. And they were comfortable with that.
My terror subsided when I reminded myself I’d taken emergency spending into consideration as part of my lifelong savings plan. And although I hadn’t added to my savings, the small amounts of interest earned on my investments were a form of savings. So, now in my double-digit years of retirement I’ve come to understand I may not need to always make savings my priority.
I recently read an article that reminded readers that nowadays we all need to spend wisely, but not at the expense of our quality of life. So, I consider myself fortunate. I’ve been able to maintain my lifestyle. I enjoy eating out and attending other social activities. I can treat myself or someone else without worrying about where the funds are coming from. In other words, I did my homework by making saving a habit at an early age and sound financial decision-making, so now there’s nothing wrong with loosening up or even spending a portion of what I’ve saved.
A young friend of mine recently implemented a serious savings plan. She sent me a picture of the message she got in a fortune cookie suggesting she might be too focused on saving. We laughed and decided the advice was meant for me. She was simply the messenger.
Perhaps the time does come when saving shouldn’t be the main focus, but it takes time and discipline to get to that point. So, if you do your homework, practicing good money management skills will serve you well from young adulthood through retirement. Just like it did me!
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