One last money post
Tomorrow I'm talking about a book about self-help books. Consider yourself warned.
It's that time of the summer when chores get done (hello, one week tracking down how I change my dentist), and for some reason this is always the time of the year when I think about how I don't put money in my retirement account. This is Bad, I'm aware...except I became eligible for a work-sponsored retirement account in the fall of 2007. GSC puts a fixed amount in the account, no matter what I do; since there's no incentive, and there were paperwork issues in the beginning, I've never gotten around to signing up for the program (which I'm only allowed to do during an end-of-quarter, anyway. Like that's going to happen).
I understand compound interest and investing. In the past week, I've probably read three articles about how, if you start investing at twenty-seven, X amount per week gets you 1 million dollars, but you need like more than 3X to pull that off if you wait until 40 (vary numbers slightly; WHOA! New article!). Since I can run all of these numbers myself, I beat myself up when I read these things.
But. Fall of 2007, remember? My retirement account has lost money every. single. statement. I know I'm correct in thinking that, assuming I get in before there is too much of a rebound, I'm better off for putting my money in a savings account. Despite that, it creeps me out every time I read these things. Given that I don't expect to ever retire, anyway, this makes me feel like a gigantic media whore.
It's that time of the summer when chores get done (hello, one week tracking down how I change my dentist), and for some reason this is always the time of the year when I think about how I don't put money in my retirement account. This is Bad, I'm aware...except I became eligible for a work-sponsored retirement account in the fall of 2007. GSC puts a fixed amount in the account, no matter what I do; since there's no incentive, and there were paperwork issues in the beginning, I've never gotten around to signing up for the program (which I'm only allowed to do during an end-of-quarter, anyway. Like that's going to happen).
I understand compound interest and investing. In the past week, I've probably read three articles about how, if you start investing at twenty-seven, X amount per week gets you 1 million dollars, but you need like more than 3X to pull that off if you wait until 40 (vary numbers slightly; WHOA! New article!). Since I can run all of these numbers myself, I beat myself up when I read these things.
But. Fall of 2007, remember? My retirement account has lost money every. single. statement. I know I'm correct in thinking that, assuming I get in before there is too much of a rebound, I'm better off for putting my money in a savings account. Despite that, it creeps me out every time I read these things. Given that I don't expect to ever retire, anyway, this makes me feel like a gigantic media whore.