123: Spending, Saving and Investing for Retirement

Learn why you want to start saving for retirement the moment you have income and why it should be higher on your priority list than it might be.

Last episode I was talking about spending priorities and I gave you my list of 10 spending priorities. Spending priorities are a way for you to decrease impulse spending and really focus on matching your money with your priorities. If you know where you want to spend money, you'll be less tempted by purchases that are thousands of dollars and totally unplanned. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a fan of budgets, unless you have a very limited income and must watch every penny. But for people who have excess money every month, I think budgeting can feel like a diet - too restrictive, you want to go off it as soon as it starts and it may give you a bad relationship with money because you always feel guilty when you spend.

Rather, I think you should have spending priorities and be very clear on what they are because then you are matching your money with what matters most to you. What matters most HAS to include retirement savings from the time you begin to earn income. Ten percent (10%) into a retirement plan and ten percent (10%) into savings (so it's available as an emergency fund and for more investments outside of your retirement plan), will get you on the path to building wealth and having a comfortable retirement.