ladies, it’s finally time to stop spurging on yet another Chanel wallet or Christian Louboutin pumps and start SAVING UP FOR RETIREMENT! dun dun duuhhhhhhhhh. okay it’s not as bad as you think. while you might sit here thinking: god, retirement? that’s when i’m old, wrinkly and fat and my gorgeous Gucci pumps which are at least 5 inches tall would definitely not compliment my age anymore (nor my tiny sagging body).. so life would be pointless, who cares? well ladies, sorry to burst your lil pink bubble but there is life after you reach your retirement age!!! YIKES!!!!!!! what to do what to do?
of course, you can always hunt up a life changing, miracle working plastic surgeon to make you look younger as you get older (you know, doing the Benjamin Button thing)… but don’t you need the ching a lings to do that? (by ching a lings i mean money). so where can i get the ching a lings when i’m 65 years old and can no longer use my beauty and youth to get my way through work (cos work = money, no work = no money tada!)?
David Bach’s Smart Women Finish Rich book tells us how to dream realistically, pay for ourselves first and be rich and happy, yes.. happy even when you can no longer look good in a size 2 Alexander Mcqueen dress you saw Camilla Belle pulling it off beautifully on the red carpet last night.
so my fellow lovely girlies who will all eventually turn old and drive at 40/mph on the highway, here are some recaps from the book which i would love to share with you because we are all on the same boat.
there are Mary Kate and Ashley, both at the age of 22. Mary Kate decided she would rather invest in her new summer wardrobe every year and only plan to start saving $2,000 a year for retirement when she turns 30 and onwards until she retires, since she’s got “so much time”. on the other hand, Ashley decided to start saving $2,000 a year now and stop when she turns 27 (for those with slow math, it’s 5 years). so.. ready to hear the difference in outcome between these two young ladies?
in the end, Mary Kate’s total investment put into her retirement savings is at least 680% MORE than Ashley (meaning: she spent way more money in her savings, which also means, buying at least 3000 less American Apparel jersey short sleeve v-necks).. but here’s the catch: Ashley earns at least 46% MORE (meaning: she can buy 19442 more of those v-necks when she retires). does it make sense? are you convinced? there are actual calculations to show you in the book and it’s put out really nicely and clearly in graphs. but doesn’t these numbers shock you enough? so by saving up earlier and for a shorter period of time, you can actually get more ching a lings in the end! ARE YOU CONVINCED?
now by saving up for retirement, i don’t mean putting some money aside and only touching them if there are any emergencies (real emergencies ladies, fashion related does not count). saving up for retirement means actually going to a bank or broker and opening up an actual retirement account and putting an actual percentage of your monthly income into this account. because obviously you need to grow your retirement money through interests, bonds and all that ya-di-ya financial stuff. i know the real-life MK and Ash probably don’t have to worry about retirement funds even if they live for another million years. but pinkpoutine‘s MK and Ash are poor and miserable and have spent WAY too much on Balenciaga bags ever since they make Nicole Richie and Kate Moss their style icons.
so to motivate my fellow readers a bit more.. pls indulge in the following picture:
imagine owning 19442 of these!!!!
one can never have enough American Apparel tshirts : )
– love jemma
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