“Well begun is half done,” the proverb says. And we tend to agree. Since it’s your journey, we don’t like to sweat the particulars: it’s never too early to start, but it’s also never too late.
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Quite a bit of the news around retirement research focuses on shortfalls. How many of us have heard a headline lately about how many people aren’t saving enough for retirement or aren’t hitting their retirement goals?
It can sound bleak. But when you get into the numbers, things are a little more nuanced. (Examples: people sometimes overestimate what they think they’ll need, and even when they “fall short,” people tend to make do with however much they do end up with.)
According to survey findings from Allspring Global Investments, most retirees agreed that they were glad they had started preparing for retirement when they had… but most retirees also wished that they had started earlier. Turns out humans are a tricky bunch to satisfy!
Retirement is such a huge topic, and our emotions around it can affect how willing we are to take a closer look at our situation. We don’t need to let fear call the shots, however. Avoidance is a survival skill, not a “thrival” skill.
“Being clueless about money is no longer affordable,” writes Kate Levinson in her book Emotional Currency. (Ouch, right?) But Levinson points out that this challenge is also an opportunity: any day is a great day to get started.
Not only is it never too early to get started, it’s also never too late to get started. Ever ripped off a Bandaid or taken a flying leap into the deep end? Ever opened that email or that bill you were dreading?
Ever crossed a finish line after you thought it would be impossible to even get started? In the face of the unknown, it’s easy to let fear tell us stories about how hard things will be. We don’t have to accept the first story our fear tells us.
Instead, let’s let the journey be as pleasurable as it can be. We can embrace this very moment as the best possible one to take the next step. It’s never black-and-white. Sure, maybe we could’ve started yesterday, and after all, there’s always tomorrow.
But it’s also really nice to be here with you, today. Call or email us, any time.
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