My Unconventional Plan to Save LESS Next Year

I’m going to let you in on a secret. My plan for next year is to save less money for retirement. As a financial advisor, I often tell people to do the opposite. Maximizing your savings whenever possible will give you the freedom to have more fun down the road. However, I ran my financial plan, as I do every year, and found that I made it far enough down the road to start having a little more fun. Let me explain…

My wife Charnelle and I were diligent savers from the time we met. We married at age 25 and were both saving at least 10% of our paychecks in our 401ks. With two solid incomes, we quickly learned that we could save more. I can’t tell you what year was the first year we both maxed out our 401k plans, but it was years ago.

We had our first child this year, later than we hoped for in life. The upside to that is those years of diligent saving built up a nice nest egg in our 401ks. It’s not enough to retire on any time soon, but it’s enough that I can back down my 401k savings by a few thousand dollars the next few years and still meet all of my goals.

Why do I want to reduce my savings? Because it’s a priority for us to allow Charnelle to stay home with baby Raelyn. Charnelle’s new job, full-time mom/chief household officer (a made up C-suite term she deserves), doesn’t pay a salary. It pays non-financial benefits – mostly giggles and smiles so far.

I’m sharing my story because everyone’s dreams are different. My job is to put together financial plans to make these dreams a reality. Some people never want to retire. Some people want to retire as soon as they can. Some people want to figure out how to take a year off of work to travel the world.

My dream is for Raelyn to be able to spend as much time as possible with her parents. I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to make that a reality.

Legal Disclaimer: These posts do not constitute an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any securities or instruments or to participate in any particular investment or trading strategy. They are for informational purposes only. CTW gathers its data from sources it considers reliable. However, CTW makes no express or implied warranties regarding the accuracy of this information or any opinions expressed by the author and may update or change them without prior notification.

About the Author: John O’Connor