Our Race to Retirement: The Preparation Begins |

The blog that connects you with boomers!

Previous Post: Our Race to Retirement
Next Post: Our Race to Retirement: First Month

Our Race to Retirement: The Preparation Begins

Our Race to Retirement: The Preparation Begins

BLOGGER: DEBORAH HEISER

Click this link to read the first article: Our Race to Retirement

On our midlife quest to use our newly acquired basic (and I mean basic) financial knowledge about stocks, bonds, mutual funds and all sorts of other gobbly gook (I mean important information), Jackie, Judy and I have been preparing for May 1^st . The- big day when we use our new financial skills to actually start trading! We’ve decided to take $1,000.00 and see if we can make it grow (and whoever does best…wins. I’m not sure what we win but anyway…).

I’ve been keeping track of what I’ve been doing since we took the course less than two weeks ago. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Day 1

I came home at the end of the course filled with excitement. That evening I opened my binder. Then I closed it.

Day 2

The next day I got up and took out my binder again and opened it. Then I took a break and got a cup of coffee.

I came back and reopened the binder, took a deep breath and told myself it was now or never. I turned to the first tab: Day to Day Financial Planning. That was hard work. I needed another break, so I checked my email.

Once I got a grip on myself, I opened Excel and made myself sit at my desk. This was not easy. I got out the personal budget template, followed the category headings and made one for myself in Excel. Okay, not bad. I emailed Judy and Jackie to gloat…er…let them know I’d actually accomplished my first task. I felt pretty good!

Day 3

I was on fire. I turned the page in my binder and created my Personal Budget. This, I admit was not fun. Rationalizing all my take-out meals and other unnecessary necessities took a lot out of me. Granted, there wasn’t a real RED FLAG anywhere, all the spending just looks bad when it’s in black and white on a spreadsheet. Still, overall ICK.

Day 4

Drained from looking at spreadsheets, I took a day off to slack off a bit and tried to figure out how to rationalize my spending on take-out and eating in restaurants. This was tougher than I thought. So, I took anther day off to gather strength. Note, I didn’t even start to think about how I’d begin the investment part of the project.

Day 5

I still wasn’t thinking about investing, but figured I’d start thinking about the idea of thinking about investing. So, I set out to organize (which means open the file drawer) some of our accounts so I’d actually know what was in them. Lo and behold, I found an account I’d long ago forgotten about – an old Fidelity IRA account I had from a long ago job way before I even started grad school. It was one of those accounts where I received a statement in the mail periodically. I’d usually just throw it away, and ever so occasionally, I’d open it, see the amount had decreased yet again and then throw the statement away. That was the old me.

The new me phoned the company and asked all sorts of questions using my newly acquired financial lingo. I realized that I never called about my retirement accounts prior to this because I didn’t even know enough to know what kinds of questions to ask. I felt empowered.

I decided this account would be used as my starting point. My first steps were made – I have my $1,000 in an account and now I’m ready to start figuring out what stocks to buy. Wish me (oh yeah, and Jackie and Judy) luck!!!

If you have any tips or suggestions for us, please let us know.And…

Who do you think will win this competition?

Are you for Team Jackie, Team Judy or Team Debbie? Leave your pick in the comment box below and it will be posted!

To read the bio for Deborah Heiser, click here.

If you would like to receive updates when new blogs are posted, type your email address in the “subscribe” box on the left side of the screen.