This is a question I get asked a lot. In fact, it’s probably one of the most discussed financial topics out there. Some experts have created guidelines that give you an idea of what you’ll need to put aside for retirement based on your age, but there are so many other factors to consider.
How much you’ll need to save depends on what age you intend to retire at, if you have a pension, if you’ll retire with no debt, and what kind of lifestyle you expect to have in your retirement.
Do you have sacred cows when it comes to spending? Things that you absolutely refuse to put on a budget?
There are no sacred cows when it comes to our budget. Instead, I must justify what I spend on everything, all the time.
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Sarah Deveau’s first memory of saving up to buy something she really, really wanted was at age five, when she saved her allowance and birthday money for six months to buy a mini waterbed for her Cabbage Patch doll. She’s been in love with money every since; making it, spending it, and saving it too.
The author of two personal finance books, Money Smart Mom: Financially Fit Parenting, and Sink or Swim: Get Your Degree Without Drowning in Debt, Sarah’s work has also appeared in Today’s Parent magazine, the Calgary Herald, and other newspapers and magazines across Canada.
Shortly after her first daughter was born, Sarah opened her own business, an award-winning children’s consignment boutique in Airdrie, Alberta. But once daughters two and three came along, she closed her store to invest in a lakeside farmhouse on 40 acres in rural Nova Scotia. Sarah and her high school sweetheart husband plan to move east within the next ten years and semi-retire before the kids hit high school, made possible by the everyday money decisions they’re making now.
Whatever your financial goals, be it a vacation home, college savings for the kids, or getting out of debt and stop cringing at credit card statements, this blog is for you.
Follow Sarah on Twitter: @SarahDeveau
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