Your fifth decade can be swell, since that’s when you’re in your prime earning years and when your kids (if any) are likely to be adults or nearly so.
If you were careful (and lucky) in your 20s and 30s, you’ll start to see some real rewards in your 40s.
Not every life is lucky, of course. Issues like un- or underemployment, divorce, chronic illness and a lack of financial education can derail your dreams. Nearly 30 percent of Gen Xers, who are currently in their 40s and early 50s, have zero retirement savings.
“Seven vital money moves to make in your 40s,” my recent piece at The Simple Dollar, tells you about the things you really, really need to have taken care of by now.
Haven’t done them all, or even some of them? Better late than really late. Every step you take, or don’t take, determines what the last few decades of your life will be like.
Ready for anything?
September is National Preparedness Month. We’re all supposed to be ready to be self-sufficient for at least three days after a natural disaster, severe weather or even just a prolonged power outage.
In addition to food and water, you also need money – in hand, not in the bank. “Why you need a cash cache,” another piece for The Simple Dollar, explains why.
Hurricane season has been pretty horrific thus far. Once the wind stopped blowing and the water stopped flowing, people needed supplies to augment such supplies as they had. Although some stores* did open, they might not have been able to process credit or debit payments.
That ice won’t buy itself, people. Read the article for tips on how to plan a cash cache. The piece includes a chance to get a free copy of the “Challenge Yourself To Save” chapter from “Your Playbook For Tough Times: Living Large On Small Change, For The Short Term Or The Long Haul.” This can help even those on super-tight budgets carve away some money for the cash cache (and the emergency fund).
(Seriously: It’s free.)
Finally, if you’re a streaming-TV type you should take a look at my latest for Money Talks News. “A simple, genius hack to save 15 percent on Netflix and Hulu every month” shows how just a little bit of ingenuity will cut the cost of entertainment year after year. In some cases, you might not pay for TV at all.
As ever: If you have thoughts after reading one (or all!) of these pieces, I hope you’ll share them in each article’s comments section. Starting conversations is what I’m after.
*For a really interesting look at how one Texas supermarket chain handled the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, see this article on LinkedIn.
I think this may be more accurate of the 6th decade – your 50s – as many more of us are having children in our mid to late 30s. For example, I was 32, almost 33 when my youngest was born. I was 50 the month after he graduated high school. I am now 56 and the youngest still has two years to go. I am trying to save for retirement, but it’s a tough slog.
Yes. In the article I note that some people are having kids in their 30s and are surprised in their 40s about how much it costs to raise them.
However, plenty of people are still having kids in their 20s and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by their mid-40s: Kids out of college or trade school, or nearly so.
I had to help Mom manage her finances as her health declined. My husband and I were saving for retirement, but seeing all of my Mom’s expenses was a good wake-up call for me. I’m currently maximizing my retirement savings, so hopefully we won’t go through all of our money when we finally retire. It costs more than you think to grow old!
HEB is the best. Not only is their selection great but their prices are VERY competitive. And they’re involved with the communities they are in.
Every time there is a small town parade or festival you can count on them to participate – handing out free bags, water bottles or the like. And no, I don’t work for them, I just shop there:)
I’m currently participating in an “eat from the pantry” challenge and it’s really fun. I’m frugal because I want to be more than I have to be, but our fat emergency fund boosted by my frugal efforts has certainly come in handy in covering $50k in recent home expenses (mostly related to plumbing emergency repairs).
Yikes — $50k?!? Thank goodness the two of you were smart with your money.
I may have no control over my own the declining health but I want to have my finances in place to better manage poor health and mental decline.
The elder care issue is one I am floundering in. My mom is chronically ill. Insurance does not cover the home health aides she needs, it is called custodial care. Mom is exceeding her income and spending down savings to maintain living in her home. Stubbornly inflexible mentally, and not making good decisions for either her health or her finances, Mom is unwilling to leave her home.
That sounds terribly stressful for both of you. Apparently it will be an object lesson for you when it comes to your own retirement, and what you don’t want to put your daughter through if it comes to that.
So True Donna! When Hurricane Irma was approaching my area, we had a meeting at work and all were discussing what they needed to get for the storm (Note: it was Wednesday, storm headed our way that weekend,store shelves were already empty of necessities – and these people who LIVE here in Florida hadn’t gotten what was needed yet!)
Not one person mentioned “cash”…until I did, and then they all looked at me – and I reminded them power would go out (and did – for almost a week for some of us) , and how would you use your ATM/Credit/Debit card then?
There was a story on our local ABC news just this morning that said the average family spent $5000 preparing/evacuating Hurricane Irma. I was SHOCKED at that number. But, it makes sense – if you wait until the last minute to prepare – you are going to buy every last thing at the store, (or evacuate to a hotel instead of a friends) and pay a steep price.
I was scared (first time in 43 years living here that a Hurricane really scared me), but also prepared. So, other than losing some fridge food and lots of sweat during power outage – all ended well. Hope your Father, his wife and their home are safe 🙂
I’m now even MORE prepared for the next one 🙂
Belated reply: Yes, their place was apparently pretty much untouched. They’re up in New Jersey now.
Glad you came through well (albeit sweatily) and that you’re determined to stay prepared.
I’m pretty young and got in with a decent company here when I turned 24(they offer a 6% match on my 401K plus a nice bonus if the company does well at the end of the year) though my husband and I together do have a good bit of debt together. He changed his mind 2 years into college to go into something else and then decided to go back to the original thing(which caused him to add 2 extra victory laps). But we’re feeling pretty tidy with 2 years of EF if things do got sour with our company. Also we’re located what’s been noted as being the second safest place in terms of not having a natural disaster, Syracuse NY beat us out with having slightly cooler temps….
I keep 3 cases of water per person in my house, some in the attic(in case it floods) and some in the basement simply because it’s nice and cool down there. And also a fair amount of ready to eat things like crackers, cookies, dried fruit and veggie straws. And beer. Because worst case, it’ll hydrate me and it has sufficient calories to keep me alive for a few days.I’m guessing about 2 weeks worth of food for 3 people plus cat food and cat litter and all the toiletries. That and having cash… well, my husband ever since the week long blackout in 2003 tends to keep about $500 on hand in a variety of bills and coins. We’re not fully prepped but we’re trying!