The Boulevard to Financial Independence

By Mariette

It’s National Save for Retirement Week! Who knew? In an effort to promote the idea that saving for retirement is important for everyone, regardless of income, the Senate and the House have declared this National Save for Retirement Week. So in doing our bit to promote this idea I want to look at one of the biggest stumbling blocks that people have to planning their finances in general and saving for retirement in particular, feeling too intimidated or overwhelmed at the idea of learning something new.
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By Mariette

This past year was a real eye opener for me. I never used to be concerned about health insurance; I was healthy, took good care of myself and never bothered with it unless I happened to have a job where it was part of the benefits. I had lived in Europe for many years and was not used to having to worry about it myself, and resented that I had to pay inflated premiums out-of-pocket for care I wasn’t using, particularly as I tended to use complementary or alternative medicine which isn’t usually covered by insurance anyway.

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By Mariette

I don’t have a million dollars, nor will I anytime in the near future. That’s okay, it isn’t one of my goals. Yes, I want to have some money saved for retirement so that at the very least I only have to work part-time in the last part of my life, but I’m not obsessed about it the way many people seem to be. Partly that’s because I never felt that having a lot of money equaled happiness, this belief was reinforced by some of the rich people around me growing up, who seemed to be some of the most miserable people I knew. Certainly we need our basic necessities met in order to be happy: clothing, food, shelter, but beyond that happiness has far more to do with your state of mind and how you approach your life than how much money you have in the bank.

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