Looking back at the bankruptcy and seeing all of my retirement funds depleted left me feeling insecure about my future. I figured I would be working until I died, something that my dad basically did.

My father had a pension and a 401k, he also did not have much left on his mortgage but none of that was substantial enough to live off of in the long term, especially with the cost of his care. He had dementia towards the end of his life and the care was expensive.

The memory unit at the nursing home in New Jersey was $11k a month. The general rule for retirement is to have 80 percent of your salary. With my current income, I should account for having about $8k a month in retirement. This would mean a $3k shortfall.

When we moved him down to Florida the cost became a much more reasonable $7k a month and his facilities were nicer and more accommodating.

Plan For Life Events

Seeing the impact that this had on his finances and reviewing where I was I started to stress about having enough money. This along with some other life events caused me to reevaluate my spending and saving and started me on this path.

It is never too late to start planning for retirement. It just requires a bit more time and effort.

Recently a family member has fallen on hard times. Divorce, loss of employment, loss of residence, and a bad accident. At 56 she has no retirement and a mounting hospital bill. We suggested bankruptcy and feel that is her only choice.

I told my spouse that there is no way that I am going to get to 56 and have nothing to my name. That has motivated me to save even more and pay down every last bit of debt that we have.

Attack Your Debt

If you have been following the blog for the past few months you would know that I have been attacking our debt. I have also been increasing my contributions to my retirement. As we have seen most of our high-interest debt disappear we have increased the contributions even higher.

Last month I increased mine by two percent and my wife’s by three percent. We both contribute to a pension as well so having diversity in accounts will allow us to weather these financial storms. It may not be as great as had we started twenty years ago, but ending up at 56 with no retirement would be a disaster.

Look For Ways of Increasing Your Income

I have also begun to look at extra streams of income. Things that I would enjoy doing as I approach retirement. These are not necessarily side hustles. Side hustles are great when you are younger but add stress and require more time as you get older.

These extra streams would enhance my current career. I have already been teaching management classes. This has caused me to start on achieving my MBA. My overall plan is to teach classes on the college level to earn extra income.

Achieving my MBA will also help advance my career a bit more. While it is not a requirement for advancement in my current position. Most of the executive team at my employer has their degree. The other benefit is my company is paying for the majority of the program.

I plan to graduate in just over two years and with virtually zero debt from the program. This is a win-win for me and will give me the ability to pursue my teaching even when I retire from my current position.

Don’t Shy Away From Planning

Retirement planning can be scary. Especially when you look at how far you are from your goals. This can motivate you to save more and spend less. The hard thing is doing this while also living a normal life.

There are things that you can do even if you are living paycheck to paycheck. Every personal finance blogger would agree to pay yourself first. Most retirement accounts give tax benefits as well. With just a small contribution you could reduce your tax liability and not significantly reduce your income.

By contributing a small percentage ultimately that would add up. When I was working at a ski shop back nearly 25 years ago I put money in their 401k plan. I worked part-time, maybe 20 hours a week for $9 an hour, and most of my money went to purchase equipment for my hobby. At the end of the two years that I was with the company, I had close to $3k in my 401k.

Not a substantial amount by any means but with the minimum income I was able to put money aside for retirement. Just a bit of perspective, that initial $3k with a minimum $50 monthly investment and a 7 percent rate of return in 25 years I would have had over $57k.

With my current net worth sitting around $42k, it would have been really nice to have kept up with the 401k from the ski shop.

Increase When You Can

However, even in the past two years, with just contributing the minimum in my 401k and the company match I have accrued $14k. This number will keep going up as I increase my percentage as well as increase my salary.

I also have a 457 plan from my previous employer that I will begin to increase in percentage. My plan is to go to 10 percent of my salary in my 401k and 5 percent in the 457. That would close to max out my 401k but still give me room in my 457.

At 10 percent of my current salary and a 3 percent contribution from my employer, my retirement income from just my 401k at 63 would be over $510k.

Add on the 5 percent from my 457 and I would have an additional $220k.

That would give me a total of $730k in retirement plus the pension I have from three of the last four jobs I had and I would have over $1 million to retire. Of course, in 15 years that may not be as much as I need, but seeing my sister in law with nothing this gives me a lot of hope.

Feeling Financially Secure Is Important

If I continue to invest as well everything that I add will just grow and give me security in retirement.

All of this has happened over the past five years. If I can go from bankrupt to a net worth of $42k in five years and on my way to $1 million in retirement you can get there too. Just reevaluate where you are and make a plan.