One Year To An Organized Financial Life: June Week Two

Calculating the cost of retirement is the topic for this week.  On average, a person needs to be putting away 15% of the income and earmark that money for retirement.  So my question is: if we were putting money away for our retirement (which we are not currently doing right now), what would that look like for us in a budget?

• MONTHLY INCOME:  3500
• TITHE: 350
• RETIREMENT SAVING: 525
• LEFT FOR MONTHLY EXPENSES: 2625

Right now that doesn’t feel the least bit do-able.  I guess that’s why I’m reluctant in this area.  This is definitely a learning month for me – this topic is hard for me to get my mind around.  It’s the part of Dave Ramsey’s course that I don’t get either.  I may need to find someone else who speaks my investment language.  So far I’m not getting it.

Habit: Read about investing.  I still need to pick up a book on this topic.  Here are some titles Regina Leeds suggests:  anything by John Bogle, but especially The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, Investopedia.com, Save Your Retirement  by Frank Armstrong III and Paul B. Brown, and Russell Wild’s investing books.  I guess I should put some of these on my to be read list.

Tool: Friendship.  This week we helped, attended and participated in our friends’ wedding.  Besides the obvious expenses of my husband’s suit and travel (a local wedding) to and from, this week’s activity cost very little.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,