So what does one do with one's money? If one has any?
Stupid question, says a 30-year-old. Buy new appliances, or a new car, or pay off student loans. But in the "final five," you don't need those things. In fact, you don't need any "things." Someone has already died and left you more old furniture, clothes, and mementos than you have room for. If you have money in the "final five," the big question is where to put it so that it grows.
When I was 30 I knew about compound interest, but I didn't have enough money to do anything about it. Today, I live for compound interest. I don't want to buy things, I want to grow my nest egg so I have enough to support a writer's lifestyle until my "internal modem" crashes. Like many others in my cohort, I am constantly searching for the highest interest rate. Fifteen years ago (when I also had no money), the highest interest rate was easily 5 percent, and sometimes greater. Today (now that I have a nest egg), my one percent returns look good.
So here's my answer to what one should do with one's money in the final five years of employment: nothing different than you have been doing, assuming you have been saving as much as you can. Keep some of it available, because I can guarantee you, your car, or amajor appliance will get sick. Give more to your church. Help your children. Take trips that make you long for retirement. And for heaven's sake, don't worry about money.
Just like everything else we have, money is a gift from God. He provides it to help us sustain His world and the people in it. Eventually everyone dies, and no one takes his or her money with them. Money is only as good as what you accomplish with it, so get started on planning. What do you want to accomplish between now the end? Get your list started!
Stupid question, says a 30-year-old. Buy new appliances, or a new car, or pay off student loans. But in the "final five," you don't need those things. In fact, you don't need any "things." Someone has already died and left you more old furniture, clothes, and mementos than you have room for. If you have money in the "final five," the big question is where to put it so that it grows.
When I was 30 I knew about compound interest, but I didn't have enough money to do anything about it. Today, I live for compound interest. I don't want to buy things, I want to grow my nest egg so I have enough to support a writer's lifestyle until my "internal modem" crashes. Like many others in my cohort, I am constantly searching for the highest interest rate. Fifteen years ago (when I also had no money), the highest interest rate was easily 5 percent, and sometimes greater. Today (now that I have a nest egg), my one percent returns look good.
So here's my answer to what one should do with one's money in the final five years of employment: nothing different than you have been doing, assuming you have been saving as much as you can. Keep some of it available, because I can guarantee you, your car, or amajor appliance will get sick. Give more to your church. Help your children. Take trips that make you long for retirement. And for heaven's sake, don't worry about money.
Just like everything else we have, money is a gift from God. He provides it to help us sustain His world and the people in it. Eventually everyone dies, and no one takes his or her money with them. Money is only as good as what you accomplish with it, so get started on planning. What do you want to accomplish between now the end? Get your list started!
Comments