Nightly shelter use in the city of Toronto, Canada, averaged 7,000 individuals in 2020. The number is staggering and alarming. This was also the year of COVID, which resulted in massive job losses and business closures. Who knows what the long-term economic fallout will be? What’s certain is that without emergency funds saved, many people who lost their jobs or businesses are in dire financial straights. Even if you dodged that bullet, you’ll eventually face a serious emergency. That’s a fact. So, it makes sense to start saving and invest your money now.
Then there’s the high cost of borrowing for a car, a home, and your child’s education. Saving in advance for some part of these expenses will reduce the drain on your pocketbook and improve your quality of life.
For example, a $35,000 car loan at 7% over 72 months will cost you about $8,000 in interest. Any portion of the car’s price that you save in advance will positively impact your lifestyle.
And what about retirement? With the immense pressure being put on the Canada Pension Plan by aging baby boomers, you just can’t count on the program being viable when you reach the age of 60 or 65. Besides, it only provides for bare subsistence; it’s not going to give you the retirement of which most of us dream. Also, with the changing face of the business world, you can’t expect a company pension like the one your parents or grandparents received. Therefore, it’s essential—if not critical—that you save for your retirement.
As an example, my colleague’s wife worked for Sears for over 30 years, and just before she was to retire, Sears closed. She lost her entire pension and had nothing else saved. I have another friend who worked at an airplane manufacturing company. His pension, worth $350,000 in 2000 and approximately $1,000,000 in today’s dollars, is entirely based on company stock price, which sharply fell just before he retired. Don’t misunderstand; having a company pension is a great thing, but it’s also necessary to save outside of that plan. And for those who aren’t accumulating a company pension, you must actively build up a nest egg for retirement.
Then there’s the reality of longevity. People are living a good decade longer than they did 30 or 40 years ago. Are you willing to run out of money when you’re 85 or 95? What will you do then? Sure, it’s possible to go into a government-run retirement or nursing home, but do you know what that’s like?
A few years ago, my sister and I were searching for a retirement home for my mom. She was 91. The government-run places weren’t as nice as the private homes. The hallways were smelly and mouldy, and the showers were dated and often didn’t work. I wouldn’t want anyone to live in such conditions, let alone my mom.
Retirement homes are for elders who can still perform the five basic functions: dressing, showering, going to the washroom, eating, and walking. Nursing homes are for elders who can’t do at least two of those five things. Even though she was 91, my mom could do all five, and wasn’t allowed to apply.
Almost five years later, my mom is still in a retirement home (as she’s still able to perform all five basic functions—albeit a little slower than before). Her room and board cost approximately $4,300 per month. She also requires between $500 and $800 per month for miscellaneous expenses. If she gets sick, we’ll need to bring in nurses to help her, and that will be extra. Her pension and my dad’s pension give her approximately $37,000 per year, which leaves her a couple of thousand dollars short each month. That means she’ll continue to drain her savings.
Two couples in my mom’s residence had to move out in recent years because they ran out of money. I don’t know them; I just hear my mom talking about them. She was sad, but she was thankful she didn’t have to worry about a similar fate because she knows that my sister and I would take good care of her.
I’m not telling you to be showy or a hero. Instead, I want you to know that children these days have a hard enough time surviving. It may not be possible for them to give you the financial assistance you’ll need to keep going. What will you do? I suggest you start building your saving habits early and bit by bit. You’ll be amazed at what you can accumulate if you start soon enough.
And guess what? Once you’ve built your nest egg, you can help the next generation and the generation after that. In fact, the rich look ahead two to three generations.
But what if you’re in your 50s and 60s and haven’t saved anything? Or what if you’ve lost much due to disasters? It’s never too late to start again. Yes, it may be a little tougher, but you must have a plan.
I would seek a suitable financial planner, financial coach, or financial advisor and work with that person to develop your plan. And if you need to get a part-time job or another part-time career—so that you can catch up—I would do it now instead of later. Our time on earth seems short but much too long after retirement. Regrets won’t help. What you should and could have done is in the past. What you can do going forward is all you can work with.
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In 2009, author Simon Sinek gave a TED talk called “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” It was an 18 1/2 minute speech that called on business leaders to “Start With Why.” Why isn’t just a word: it’s the driving force behind industry. And Sinek powerfully demonstrated that organizations guided by this concept would succeed more often than those that aren’t.
Let’s adopt the why movement here in this book. For example, the most important reason I save is that I want to have money to use as long as I live (my grandmother lived to 103, and my mother is now 95). That’s my why. I want to rely on my own financial wealth. I don’t have children, so if I ran out of money, I wouldn’t have many people I could turn to for help. And even if I did have children, I wouldn’t want to be a burden to them. Besides, it’s totally false to assume that I won’t need as much as I get older. On the contrary, I’ll need more to have the same quality of life because I’ll need to hire people to provide more services.
Are you clear about why you need to save?
Once you’ve decided your big why(s), you’re 50% of the way there. What’s left are the things this book can offer you to make your dream come true— what you need to do and how to do it.
So, to begin the process, here’s what I know: Wealth is all about the money you hang onto. The poor save what’s left at the end of the month after paying all the bills. The rich save first and spend later, eliminating the problem of not having enough when they reach month’s end. It’s about what you save and properly invest right now. Not tomorrow or the next day, now! I guarantee that if you don’t develop a good saving habit now, you won’t be able to hold onto money. The more money you earn, the more you’ll spend, and in the end, you’ll have very little to show for your efforts. After all, there are plenty of cases where people made millions of dollars during their lifetime but died broke (Billie Holliday, Mickie Rooney, and Judy Garland are famous examples).
On the other hand, I’ve had two divorces, suffered significant investment losses, entertained frivolous spending habits, and I still became a millionaire. Because I’ve learned it’s about how much you keep rather than how much you make; I learned how to save.
Warren Buffett wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Today, he’s the fourth richest man in the world, worth 70 billion dollars. A savvy saver and investor, Buffet has attributed much of his success to the excellent saving habits he learned from his father. Buffet started when he was six years old. “Save much and save early” is his number one Golden Rule.
In his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg wrote that 40% to 50% of our daily behaviours come from habit. So, if your actions around money aren’t leading to you having more of it to invest, it’s time to work on altering your habits.
Successful people are simply those with successful habits.
–Brian Tracy
You know, for most of my life, I followed my parents’ philosophy that “money isn’t everything.” They taught me that my health, well-being, family, and friends are all more important than money. But while I recognize that’s true to a certain extent, I believe money ranks as high as the air I breathe, the water I drink, and the food I eat. Without money, the quality of my life would be...