Financial dependence can be made independence if you can remain determined in building your financial foundation. By certain ages, it is recommended to have a certain percentage of your income in savings/investments to improve your chances of having a financial independent lifestyle in retirement. Unfortunately, many do not start saving for retirement until it is too late, and are then financially dependent on their community, society, family, government, or all of them.
Inspired by an article I found here: https://www.cnbc.com/select/savings-by-age/ , you should have your annual salary in savings by the time you hit the age of 30, three times your income in savings by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67.
Notice how this article did not mention how much you have to have in savings exactly...sadly, the suggested savings is not attained by most people in the US (and likely, the same is consistent worldwide). In the same article, it says that 2/3 of those in their 40's have less than $100K in retirement savings and just over 1/4 of 60-year-old's have less than $50K. It's hard for me to imagine this because I have always been told since I was little to save for retirement. I checked my retirement info a week or so ago and found that between what my company will pay me and what I have in my 401(k), I actually meet the requirement. So how did I do it?
Every paycheck, I put in 10% of my earnings. Part of this is straight from what I earn and part of this is a company match, but it's still 10%. The other part is done from my company automatically creating a pension for me that is funded based on how many years of service I have with them and how much income I make per year. I highly recommend the 10% savings number. I've also heard of the following advice:
Every time you get a raise, put a percentage of it toward retirement...for instance, if I'm given a 3% raise, put 1% toward retirement and 2% toward living expenses/budget. After so many years, this will result in more than 10% going toward retirement, but will also force me to live on my earnings...beneath my means. By the time I'm ready to retire, I should have the 10x my income in savings...and I hope to retire around 56-60 years old, if I don't become a multi-million-coin holder in Leo, POB, and Hive lol!
The point is...if you're not there in your savings journey, take note...then apply a small percentage from here on toward your retirement...the same goes for blogging here on Hive. You can stake a percentage of every coin you get and sell off the rest, if you so wish. This way, you're building a retirement one day at a time. Over the years, your staked holdings will result in marvelous dividends. If you don't believe me, check out my post, @haveyaheard/best-financial-advice-you-ve and see how your savings can multiply!
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It's never too late to start saving!
Challenge: What will you do differently to make sure you have enough savings for retirement? If you've already reached that point, what did you do to have enough for retirement. Please comment below or write a new post and mention me so I can go read it and upvote your post!