Mini Episode 3: I Don't Make Enough to Save

0:00Dalene:Welcome back to the Wealthy After 40, part three of the miniseries. Today, we're talking about I don't make enough to save. And I know this is going to resonate with a lot of you. And honestly, this is the excuse or reason or belief, whatever you want to call it, that sounds the most true. That's why it's also the most common. But honestly, it's the one that's the most often wrong. When we think about savings, when we think about the traditional advice that is out there, right, they think it's just go find extra money. You're going to have some leftover. You're going to just, you know, that pay yourself first thing.

0:44Dalene:I don't love that. I don't love that. But those are the pieces of advice that you're getting out there. And so when you look at your money with those views and those filters, you're just like, I don't have any more to save, right? I can't save. I don't make enough. And so as you think about that, saving is only one piece of the quote puzzle that is going to help you get to retirement. Now, if you've been here for a while, there are three areas, I call them the retirement progress levers that can help you find your savings, move yourself closer to that retirement. They are savings, yes, and I believe that is the most important, but there's different ways to look at it.

1:37Dalene:Debt and expenses. And as I already said, most people only ever look at the first one, savings, and that's where they get stuck. And then that's why they actually lean into the fact that I don't make enough to save. right? So then they're either thinking, I've got to go get a better paying job, make more money, or I've got to cut, right? No, you don't need to do either. Client E came to me and her saving ability, right? I call it a monthly savings amount, was smaller than my other clients. So there wasn't much to be put towards retirement because we were really supporting her stability. but I showed her how looking at her expenses, specifically the ones that she had to pay.

2:29Dalene:So I think about those expenses that you have to pay and then lean into those and make sure you're getting the best deal. She was able to increase her savings without any raise and again, without cutting and restricting. So some of these expenses that you're going to want to explore and for opportunity, insurance, cell phones, and internet. You can look at the rest of them and think, right? But what you want to do is go find a better deal. Go find a savings. And what I don't want you to do is say, but it's only$10 or it's only, you know,$20,$5. I don't care. Find that savings and really with a whole lot of effort, shift that to retirement.

3:25Dalene:If you are able to do that 10 times, that's$120 in a year. It's going to compound every year, the closer you get to retirement. If you're able to do that two times, three times, four times, right? You can see this compound. That's what I want you to strive for. I want you to find those little pieces, those little opportunities that can compound together with that compound interest. So inside coaching, all right, I teach retirement levers, the three pieces, and I have a full menu under each of those. So as clients begin to start working on closing that gap, they get to choose what resonates with them, what looks easy, right?

4:13Dalene:Because those quick wins are important. And then we start diving into the others as needed, right? We will be doing this in the live training that I'm running next week, that live training will help you create a roadmap to retire in five years. Inside that training, I'm going to share specifically how these levers, how these pieces really work together to control and quote manipulate because I can't think of a better word to get you to retirement. Leaning into other areas besides just savings is going to have you really motivated and really excited about getting to retirement. So head over to elevatefinances.us backslash webinar to learn more and get registered.

5:04Dalene:We have two more parts of this mini series, so stay tuned. And if you've missed parts one and two, make sure you go back and listen to those as well. Thank you for joining me.

5:17Thank you for spending this time with me. If you're not already following the show, be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And I'd love to stay connected with you between episodes. So come join me inside my Facebook community, Retirement Ready Hub for Gen Xers. It's where we're having real conversations about money, sharing wins, working through challenges and building a clear path toward retirement. And remember, retirement isn't just a dream, it's a plan and you get to make it possible.