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What To Do If You’re 55 and Just Started Saving
If you’re age 55 and have just started saving for retirement, you’re not alone. Not everyone starts saving money in their 20s and 30s, and even if you start saving in your 50s, there’s time to build up your savings.
Strong financial discipline combined with the right money habits can help you retire on track, especially when factoring in Social Security and other forms of income. Here’s how to start.
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Catch-up mode: Maximize your contributions
One of the best ways to catch up on retirement savings is by making the maximum contribution — or as much as you can up to the limit — to your 401(k) and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). These accounts allow for additional catch-up contributions for anyone who is age 50 or older.
The more money you contribute to retirement accounts, the more you get to capitalize on the tax advantages that come with them. While traditional retirement accounts require that you pay taxes on withdrawals, your money grows tax-deferred, and there’s a good chance you will have a lower tax rate when you retire. That’s because tax rates are based on your income, and if you are no longer working when you withdraw from your account, your income will likely be lower.
Get rid of high-interest debt
Even if you are in debt, it may make sense to continue contributing to your employer-sponsored retirement accounts up to the employer’s match, if there is one. It’s essentially free money. But after you’ve maximized your employer’s match, it’s time to prioritize paying off high-interest debt.
Debt can make it more difficult to build wealth because a portion of your money has to go to paying interest. Credit card debt is especially notorious for having high interest rates. Try cutting your expenses so you have extra cash to throw at your debt, and review past credit card statements to see if there are areas where you can reduce your spending.
Cancelling unused subscriptions and minimizing your discretionary spending can speed up your progress. The sooner you pay off high-interest debt, the sooner you can invest more money into your investment accounts.
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Extend and upskill
Increasing your income can help you retire sooner. While you can’t control how your assets will perform in the long run, you can grow your income by pursuing new opportunities. You may want to develop new skills, pick up side hustles or pursue a raise at work to make this happen.
Diversifying your skillset may also make it easier to semi-retire. This retirement model involves doing part-time work at retirement age instead of completely exiting the workforce. Semi-retirement offers you some of the time back you may be seeking from retirement, and you can pursue a part-time remote job for even more flexibility.
Semi-retirement may also be able to provide you with enough money to cover your living expenses and allow your portfolio to grow. You might even be able to contribute to your portfolio during semi-retirement. Committing to a part-time gig for a few years means your nest egg won’t have to stretch out for as many years, increasing the likelihood that your portfolio is large enough to see you through your full retirement years.
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Focus on progress, not perfection
You’re not likely to go from zero savings to a fully-developed nest egg in one year, since it takes time to build a portfolio. But you can make gradual progress each day.
Celebrate the little moves you can make on the path to long-term financial goals. Acknowledge small wins like cancelling an unused subscription, learning a new skill that can turn into a side hustle and asking your employer for a raise. These actions add up, and while you may not see the fruit of your labor immediately, it may become more apparent after a decade.
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How To Retire Comfortably Without a Million Dollars
When planning for retirement, it’s easy to target a “magic number” — like $1 million — just because it seems like that’s what other savers are doing. But it’s possible to retire even without a nest egg that large. Doing so requires taking a closer look at your lifestyle and expenses.
Some people can happily retire with less than $1 million if their priorities don’t include luxurious lifestyles. Here’s what you need to know about retiring with less money.
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Rethink what comfortable means
Your needs change over time, and acknowledging those changes can help bust the myth that you need $1 million to retire. For instance, when young adults start families, they often buy houses large enough to accommodate multiple children.
However, that same house may feel empty when the children become adults. Downsizing can make sense, and opting for a smaller house can reduce your monthly payments.
Cut costs, not happiness
Cut down on activities that don’t enrich your life to save money. Getting rid of unused subscriptions and memberships, for instance, and instead investing that money will give your portfolio more mileage. Opting for lower-cost tiers of those subscriptions or memberships is another option. The lower your expenses, the more likely you’ll be able to cover them with Social Security paychecks and other forms of income.
Review your recent credit card statements to assess which expenses are unnecessary.
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Make your income work harder
Instead of saying goodbye to your job completely, you may want to consider a semi-retirement. A part-time job or side hustle can bring in some extra cash while allowing you to enjoy a retired lifestyle. These gigs can align with your hobbies and passions, making the work fun instead of mundane.
You can also put your money to work in assets that generate cash flow, such as dividend stocks and bonds. And rental income can act as a solid good source of cash flow if you have enough money to buy a small property or already own one. Some retirees list their properties on sites like Airbnb and rent out one of their rooms. This gives you the flexibility to make certain days and weeks unavailable for booking.
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Redefining success
How much money do you really need? The answer will be specific to you, your situation (such as where you plan to retire) and your goals. Some people will be able to buy fewer material things and be happy, allowing them to use that extra money to pay off their debt or invest, and requiring a smaller pool of money for expenses. Financial security can translate into emotional security, which may be worth more than any material items.
So remember that even if it seems like everyone around you is aiming to have $1 million in retirement, that particular goal may not be necessary — or make sense — for you.
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What I Learned About Love and Worth When Money Was Gone
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” ~Oprah Winfrey
The fluorescent lights of the grocery store hummed, a cruel counterpoint to the silence in my head. I watched the cashier scan the items, the familiar beep-boop-beep of the register a countdown to my humiliation.
Pasta, milk, a loaf of bread, eggs—each item was a tiny weight on a scale, and I knew the final tally would tip it into the red.
“I’m sorry,” the cashier said, her voice a soft, sympathetic murmur as she removed the items one by one. I nodded, my throat tight, and watched as my cart grew emptier, mirroring the hole in my stomach. The ride home was a suffocating silence, each mile marking the distance that had grown between me and my husband.
This wasn’t a one-off embarrassment. It was the crushing peak of months of mounting financial stress. Every bill, every unexpected expense, felt like a personal failure. The pressure had created an unspoken tension in our marriage, a wall of silence where there used to be easy conversation.
The feeling of being a failure followed me everywhere, a heavy shadow that I couldn’t outrun.
I remember a particularly cold Tuesday evening, sitting across the dinner table from my husband. The week had been hard, and the car’s check engine light had just come on. We ate in a tense quiet, but then I looked up and saw it—the flash of pure exhaustion and worry on his face.
He quickly looked down, pretending to be focused on his plate, but the damage was done. In that instant, I felt the deepest shame. I wasn’t just failing myself; I was failing him. The emotional cost of our situation was far greater than any dollar amount. It was costing us our connection.
The Thought in the Dark (The Turning Point)
Dinner was a quiet affair, just the clink of silverware and the unspoken resentment hanging in the air. Afterwards, I sat alone in the dim light of the living room, the weight of the day pressing down on me. I felt a total, profound hopelessness, as if I had failed at the most basic responsibility of adulthood: providing.
Then, a single thought broke through the despair: What if my worth isn’t in my wallet? It was a simple question, but it hit me like a revelation.
For so long, I had equated my value as a husband and a human being with the number in my bank account. When that number was zero, my worth felt like it was too. But what if I was wrong? What if my worth was something that couldn’t be measured in dollars and cents? This one thought began to shift my entire perspective from focusing on what I lacked to what I still had.
How I Started to Rebuild
I didn’t suddenly get a new, high-paying job. The financial problems didn’t magically disappear. Instead, I started a different kind of work—the inner work of rebuilding my self-worth. Here are three things I did that you can do too.
Tip 1: Redefine your role from provider to partner.
I realized my husband didn’t need a provider; he needed a partner.
I started providing in non-financial ways. I made his favorite meal when he had a stressful day. I listened to his fears without trying to fix them. I made sure our home was a peaceful, clean sanctuary, a place where we could both breathe. These small acts of service and emotional support didn’t cost a dime, but they filled our relationship with a new kind of wealth.
The first test came a few days later.
My husband came home, his shoulders slumped from exhaustion after a long day of job searching. The old me would have retreated into silence, afraid of saying the wrong thing. Instead, I walked over, handed him a cup of tea, and just said, “You look like you’ve had a day.”
That was it. But the look of relief on his face was worth more than any paycheck. It was the moment he realized I was no longer a silent judge but a teammate in the trenches.
Tip 2: Have the conversation about fear, not just bills.
Instead of saying, “We can’t afford that,” which felt like a judgment on both of us, I learned to say, “I feel scared when we spend money right now.”
This simple shift from accusation to vulnerability changed everything. It invited my husband to share his own fears, and together, we started to see each other not as sources of stress but as allies in a shared struggle.
That first “scared conversation” was terrifying. I remember my hands shaking as I approached him after we got yet another overdue notice. I took a deep breath, and, instead of talking about the bill itself, I just said, “I’m so scared right now.”
The vulnerability was difficult, but the result was incredible. My husband looked at me, his own face softening, and said, “I am too.” That single admission of shared fear broke the dam of unspoken tension that had been building between us for months. It felt like we were finally standing on the same side of a canyon, instead of shouting across it.
Tip 3: Create a daily log of your non-financial value.
I started a “Proof of Worth” list. Every day, I would physically write down evidence that I was a valuable human being beyond my income. Things like “Made my husband laugh,” “Fixed a broken faucet,” and “Helped a stranger carry their groceries.”
This simple practice forced me to see the good I was doing in the world, one small act at a time. It became a powerful daily reminder that my worth was inherent, not earned.
The first day I did it, I felt ridiculous. I wrote down, “Cleaned the kitchen” and “Remembered to water the plants,” feeling like I was just listing chores. But by day ten, the entries were more meaningful: “Gave my husband a back rub without being asked,” “Listened to my brother’s problems without offering advice,” “Didn’t get angry in traffic.”
By day thirty, I was looking for these moments. This small act didn’t just document my value; it started to rewire my brain. I was no longer a person defined by a number but a person defined by my actions. This little list was proof that I was a good human being, regardless of my circumstances.
Rich in a Different Way
The money problems aren’t completely gone. We still have to budget carefully and sometimes make difficult choices. But the emotional atmosphere in our home has changed completely. We are no longer two stressed individuals living parallel lives; we are a team, facing our challenges side by side. We have learned that we are more than the sum of our assets and liabilities.
A few weeks ago, the washing machine broke. In the past, this would have been a financial crisis—a silent, resentful burden. This time, we looked at each other, and my husband said, “Okay, we’ll figure it out together.”
We went online, researched repair options, and decided to try to fix it ourselves with a YouTube tutorial. It was a messy, frustrating hour, but we were laughing and problem-solving together. That’s our new normal.
You are not your bank balance. You are not your debt. Your true worth is measured in your kindness, your effort, and your courage. Start there, and you will find you are richer than you ever imagined.
About Badmus Dayo
Badmus Dayo is a writer and home cook who believes that our true value is found in the love we share and the care we provide. He writes about rebuilding a rich life from the inside out and shares comforting recipes at his website, kobokitchen.com.ng.
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The Hidden Math Trick That Doubles Your Retirement Money
The Rule of 72 is a formula to predict how long it will take to double your investment portfolio, and demonstrates the power of compound growth. While it’s a useful guide for calculating how long it will take your money to double give a certain annual rate of return, it’s a general guideline — not a promise.
The key to growing your wealth is to consistently save and contribute to your investment accounts.
How the rule works
Divide 72 by your expected rate of return to estimate how many years it will take for your money to double. For instance, if the expected rate of return is 6%, the calculation would look like this:
72 / 6 = 12
Therefore, it would take 12 years to double your portfolio if you average a 6% return per year. However, you may be able to estimate an even higher rate of return depending on your investment vehicle. If you average an 8% return per year, you will double your money faster:
72 / 8 = 9
Jumping from a 6% annualized return to an 8% annualized return allows you to double your money three years faster.
Why compounding is so powerful
Compound interest is the interest you earn on interest — and though compounding can start slowly, it becomes more powerful as your portfolio grows.
Say $1,000 grows at an annual rate of 7%. After one year, you’d have $1,070. Then, the 7% interest grows on $1,070. After the second year, you’d have $1,145.
You can reinvest dividends and interest payments so that they compound.
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Cutting fees and taxes
Despite compound growth, fees can eat away at your portfolio. Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) come with expense ratios, or the cost of someone managing your account. While many ETFs that follow market benchmarks like the S&P 500 and have expense ratios below 0.10%, some actively managed funds have expense ratios of 1% or even higher. That can significantly hurt your returns.
If your ETF produces an annualized 8% return and has a 1% expense ratio, you only end up with a 7% return. Instead of doubling your money in nine years, the lower 7% return results in you doubling your money in 10 years.
Taxes can also weigh on returns if your fund distributes cash that is treated as ordinary income. Because of this, you may want to pick an index fund with a low expense ratio and cash distributions that are not treated as ordinary income.
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Putting the rule into action
You can use the 72 rule to gauge how long it will take for your portfolio to double using a fund’s historical returns to predict future annualized returns — though keep in mind that past returns don’t guarantee future ones. Having an estimate for how long it will take to double your money can help with your retirement goal planning.
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