A few years ago I received the best financial advice yet from my best friend's mother. She told me that as soon as I was able to invest in my employer's retirement plan, to take it. She told me to set up, and start saving for retirement. I didn't believe her at the time, but she told me I wouldn't even notice it was missing from my paycheck. So I did, and true to her word, I did not miss that money. Even when my employer match was cut in half, I kept my contribution the same. While I wasn't paying attention, my money just built up!
What my retirement account has given me already
Having my retirement set up has already been beneficial to me. It feels good to have some amount of money to my name for the future. It makes me feel successful in finances, and motivates me to keep getting my financial self in order. Also, it helped get me to Italy. I had an opportunity to study abroad for a short time with school, and needed about 1,500 more than I currently had saved up. Since this was something I had always wanted to do, and the course offered fit perfectly with my Psychology degree, I booked the trip! I was able to take a loan out from my retirement account and pay it back at a very low rate through automatic payroll deductions. I took out only what I needed, and paid it back in 10 months. Now, some people would argue that this was not a financially smart move, but I beg to differ. It offered me useful world experience, all the money was borrowed from me and paid back to me, and for me, the value was worth the expense. I am thankful my 403b was there.
My Milestone
A few months ago, I had read an article on Money After Graduation about just getting the first $10,000. Adding that extra 0 raises you up to a new level. I believe she was mainly talking about her emergency fund, and not an employer matched account. However, since this is my milestone, I am happy to announce that today, I have reached 10,000 in my retirement account. For someone who is working in the non-profit field in their mid-twenties, I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. Now, onto the milestone!
What my retirement account has given me already
Having my retirement set up has already been beneficial to me. It feels good to have some amount of money to my name for the future. It makes me feel successful in finances, and motivates me to keep getting my financial self in order. Also, it helped get me to Italy. I had an opportunity to study abroad for a short time with school, and needed about 1,500 more than I currently had saved up. Since this was something I had always wanted to do, and the course offered fit perfectly with my Psychology degree, I booked the trip! I was able to take a loan out from my retirement account and pay it back at a very low rate through automatic payroll deductions. I took out only what I needed, and paid it back in 10 months. Now, some people would argue that this was not a financially smart move, but I beg to differ. It offered me useful world experience, all the money was borrowed from me and paid back to me, and for me, the value was worth the expense. I am thankful my 403b was there.
My Milestone
A few months ago, I had read an article on Money After Graduation about just getting the first $10,000. Adding that extra 0 raises you up to a new level. I believe she was mainly talking about her emergency fund, and not an employer matched account. However, since this is my milestone, I am happy to announce that today, I have reached 10,000 in my retirement account. For someone who is working in the non-profit field in their mid-twenties, I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. Now, onto the milestone!