FREE HOME PLANNER
SAMPLE!
I talked with my husband earlier this week about writing this post, and when I asked why he thought it was important for people to invest wisely, he quickly replied “So you don't have to use coupons forever!”
Ahem.  Clearly he doesn't realize we'll be clipping coupons until the day we die.  Even if we have a billion dollars. (Sorry, honey.) 😉
However, in a tiny way he's right. Back when my  husband got his first “real” job out of college, he immediately opened an investment account for retirement. At that point he didn't have any debt, and knew just enough about investing to understand that starting early could change his financial future.
Because that's the way he started, it's what we've always done. We've always known that a certain portion of our income was untouchable, and it's automatically gone towards retirement savings from the very beginning.
I realize though that we were incredibly fortunate to start things out early that way. The fact that he was out of debt from day one gave us so much more freedom to save for retirement. He was also incredibly fortunate to receive wise financial council from the very beginning (which I'm so thankful for!) However, not everyone is in that boat, and you may be someone who just doesn't know where to even start.
Whether you have a little money or a lot of money to save towards investments, every penny you save now towards retirement will be worth it. My dad talks a lot about the “Rule of 72” when we talk about investing (he's smart like that), and while it's not perfect advice, you can bet within reason that on average, every seven years, the money that you're investing now will double.
Double. Every seven years. Did you hear that? Â
Over the course of time, that doubling can really add up, and while it can be difficult to choose to put money into savings when you'd rather spend it else where,  watching your own money grow over time can be some great motivation to keep at it!  Check out this Investment Information from Dave Ramsey that I thought was invaluable . . .
Even if you’re 40 or 50 and don’t have a retirement account, it’s never too late to start. If you are 40 and save just $2,000 a year in a 12% mutual fund, you will have nearly $334,000 by age 65—or more than $425,000 if you wait until 67 to retire! While you won’t have the most luxurious retirement, you can draw a decent yearly income—about $34,000 if you account for 4% inflation—from the interest by leaving that money alone.
So, where do you start? If you're new to investing and just don't know how to begin, contact one of Dave Ramsey's Investment Endorsed Local Providers today. There are so many things you can start investing for, but you'll never make a dent in your financial goals if you don't get started.
Take a few minutes today to find out how to get started investing (and learn if you're investing enough), by talking to a local, trusted advisor. Â Go HERE to contact an Investment Endorsed Local Provider in your area, and find out what you can be doing to change your financial future!
Just another thought on college for people who don’t understand the cost increases we are all dealing with and by the way I am a college graduate ha ha….http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=228899.
He posts a good chart on how many hours kids had to work in the 70s until now to pay for college all by themselves. Be smart folks…everything in life is simple math!!
We just finished Dave Ramsey's course through our church and met with one of the ELP's (from his website) just yesterday, actually! We were already doing much of what Ramsey stated, but we learned so much more, especially about investing! We are currently looking to start an IRA outside of the pension and military retirement that my husband is currently earning as well as try to pay off our house early. If I could be a better couponer, we might be able to save even more! 🙂 — Thanks for your post, Laurie. I enjoy gleaning from your experience!
So glad Dave Ramsey is working for you Keisha and I LOVE that you’re working to pay your house off early. Great job!
Well Laurie saving for college is a personal choice and I don’t bemoan anyone for doing it but the reason people like yourself have to pay these exorbitant college fees is because of all the free money ie. student loans chasing that market. If there were no student loans your kids could flip pizzas to pay for it and they still wouldn’t have debt along with the experience of paying for it themselves. I think if people really knew how much the people smarter than them made off the financial products they wouldn’t be as happy with what they thought they had…compounding interest works more than just one way. If finance people are taking a third of the supposed gains how much compound interest has a person lost over 30 years?
Oh well…what do I know 🙂
That comment by Dave to me is crazy. Earning 12% in a mutual fund after fees consistently is quite a dream. All you have to do is look at all the public pension funds that are promising teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc. Those promises that have been made to those types of people are based on a 8% return which is also ludicrous in so many ways. If that is so easy why are the pension funds showing so much red ink. I would challenge anyone to please explain to me what the fees are in the magical mutual funds out there and I would bet 90-90% do not understand what the true rate of return would be without those commissions.
The only way a person should start a retirement fund IMO is if they are getting a certain match from there employer that gives them an instant let’s say 50% return based on doing nothing. Understanding the fees in these products is very difficult. I would say stay in index funds.
Looks to me like everyone has forgotten 2008. I only invest in distressed real estate. If I can’t get a property at a certain price I sit in cash. Even that most people can’t handle. There is a lot involved in it but at least I don’t have to pay commissions to overpriced brokers.
I like Dave but I think he should stick to debt management and people should focus on earning a return through saving money on their everyday life purchases and it is tax free. I also do not care for the way Dave is always saying to stash a certain amount of money away for college….hello…college is so overpriced right now and only half who start even graduate but yet we encourage kids to take out loans they may never be able to pay back.
Oh well, I am not going to do that with my kids. Who knows maybe my son will be a plumber or an electrician. You certainly don’t need a high priced education to do that…
Rant over 🙂
Hi Jim 🙂 I do understand your rant – that’s why talking to someone (smarter than me!) is so worth it.
I am so glad that we started retirement investing from Day 1 (even though the last five years have been way slower than we would hope – goodness you’re right there have definitely been some discouraging months.) BUT, I think living beneath our means so that we did tithed and saved first has helped so much. And since he’s been investing now for 20 years, our little fund really has grown quite a bit. It’s definitely one of those things we all have differing opinions on, but I wouldn’t change the way we’ve done it (it’s given us so much peace to know that part of our finances is taken care of!)
(And I think Dave says to save for everything else before college if I remember right? We are saving for our kids’ college – mostly because we spent years paying off my own college expenses and I hate for them to start out with that burden – but have other goals financially as well that come before that one.) 😉
Where do I find a 12% mutual fund
Bambi – it would be worth contacting your local ELP to see what suggestions they have!