It’s nearly Easter, and the spring flowers and chirping birds have the NACCC staff thinking about nest eggs. Retirement may seem far away now, but it’s important to begin planning, even in small ways.
You know you should be building a nest egg for retirement, but where do you even start? Here are some quick, easy tips on building a nest egg through small steps every day. Soon you’ll be on the road to retirement with these simple saving strategies.
Live with less
You may be living comfortably, but try to live below your means. If you spend $200 a week on groceries, try to lower it to $175. Buy a less expensive vehicle than the one you can afford. Use coupons and code discounts to save on purchases you usually make without worrying about cost. Try to use less electricity, gas and other utilities.
Essentially, pretend your income is lower than it is every time you make a purchase. Stow the additional income away.
Pretend you have less than you do, and you will save more.
Convert your habits
Do you take daily trips to the office vending machine? Are you lured into the siren call of the drive-thru every time you pass a certain restaurant? Resist your impulses and find less costly ways to meet your desires. Set the savings aside.
If your current commute involves an expensive toll road, you may find a route that takes a few minutes longer and pocket those coins for later. Or perhaps you can fix a habit you have been meaning to break: for example, you may cancel a video-streaming subscription and choose to go to the library instead.
Upgrade your career
Better jobs provide more pay and better benefits. You may not be able to just jump into a new job immediately, and that’s okay! This list is about taking small steps every day.
- Remember to invest yourself in your current job. Do your best to maintain positivity and put your best efforts forward.
- Attend at least one networking event or career event per month (or better yet, per week, if you have options available in your area).
- Devote a certain amount of time each day towards learning a skill that will land you the job you desire.
Enlist the help of a friend
Friends will often compete in diet or fitness challenges to provide encouragement and support for each other. You can do the same when building your nest egg. Turn it into a friendly, competitive game with a friend.
It may be uncomfortable to share intimate financial details with a friend. That’s okay! Instead, calculate your amounts saved as percentages. So instead of saying the amount saved, you can say it as a percentage of your income. That way you can still share numbers without oversharing the details of your financial life.
Or you can compare smaller, less important numbers, such as amounts saved on groceries, or how much you’ve collected with a change jar.
Make your savings visible
This means determining how much you are setting aside. A smart way to do this is to calculate how much you have saved each month and comparing it to past months. Doing this monthly will keep your nest egg at the forefront of your mind every time you are about to make a spending decision.
Change jars or vision boards are excellent physical objects to remind yourself of your retirement dreams. Passing these items every day will remind you to keep growing your nest egg.
Have fun with it! Some people use an image of themselves as an elderly person (often using an app on their phone that edits a personal photo to appear as an older version of themselves). This silly prop serves as a quirky reminder that you will want to retire in prosperity someday. By seeing your future-self every day, you are encouraging you to plan ahead for retirement. Your future-self will thank you!
How are you saving for your nest egg? Let us know in the comments below!
Interested in more tips? Check out our 18 Tips for Career and Financial Growth in 2018!
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