Starting Late? Here’s How to Save for Retirement at 40

0:00Feeling like you're late to the savings game? You're not alone and you're definitely not too late. Whether you've saved a little or not at all, today we're going back to basics so you can finally start saving for retirement in a way that sticks. Remember the three R's from school? Today I'm sharing with you the four S's to make saving simple and doable and align with your life. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Wealthy After 40 podcast. the show for Gen X women and couples who are ready to ditch financial stress and feel confident about retirement. I'm your host, Daylene Higgins, financial and retirement coach, helping Gen Xers master their money and create a personalized retirement plan so they can stop spinning their wheels and step boldly into their dream retirement.

0:52If you're feeling behind, don't worry. Continue listening to this podcast, as well as be sure to grab your free guide, Five Must Do Steps to Start Retirement Planning Now at elevatefinances.us backslash must do. And remember, let's make retirement possible together.

1:14Welcome to the episodes. We're talking about saving, saving for retirement, and you probably feel like everyone else has been saving like they should for all of these years, setting enough aside for retirement, and you were just getting started. Well, you're not the only one, and even those who have saved a little still find themselves not saving consistently. While today's episode is about starting to save for retirement, we need to go back to the basics. So like I said in the intro, remember the three R's we learned in school? Reading, writing, arithmetic. We all keep saying we got to go back to the basics.

1:58By the end of this episode, you will know how to save using the four S's. We're going back to basics today. This episode is all about how to start saving for retirement, for anything. You can put anything in there, but it is how to start saving. Next episode, I'm going to dive in deeper to how to save enough for retirement. So be sure to join me in that next episode. All right. Saving is essential to overall financial health. Saving for retirement contributes to our future financial health. So this is definitely a skill that we shouldn't overlook. and that we should continually try to work on making it a habit, right?

2:52It's a skill until we learn it. And then when you get it on repeat, it becomes a habit. And this is where you'll find success. And I know you've tried all of the advice out there about save this way or try this way, you know, all of everything out there. I know you've been doing it. If you're listening to me, You've listened to others, read it, heard it, and you're thinking, but it doesn't seem to be working. That's okay. Keep trying. You've got to keep trying until you find something that works. It's easy to want to give up and it's easy to say, well, you know, maybe saving isn't for me. But saving is necessary.

3:37Saving really helps us get a lot of things accomplished with our money. In episode 30, savings is the number one habit to have. I explain eight different ways this is helpful with your money. So go give that a listen if you're wondering how it all integrates with the overall prospect of money. Most of the time, you're probably thinking, well, others had more money. they've been able to save all along, and you're still over here trying to keep your head above water, paying the bills and working a decent job. And savings just isn't consistent. You know saving for retirement is important, and it should be a no-brainer.

4:21You're like, ah, by this age, I should have figured it out. And then you hear, ah, it won't be enough, or you should have started sooner. Well, if you've been here as a listener for a while, you know, I believe anyone can make retirement possible. If you are over 40 and you're ready to get serious with me, I'm going to share with you today how to start saving for retirement. You can also use this for how to start saving, enter anything in the end, but really how to start saving for retirement, how to find your consistency. And like I said earlier, next week's episode, I'm going to dive into how to save enough for retirement.

5:05We're diving into the four S's that will help you find consistency with your savings. And the first one is you need to get serious. Get it in your mind that you're going to do this. Like I said earlier, you've probably tried many different ways and it's just not working. Stay serious. Don't deviate. Keep going. Keep trying. That is going to help you the most. You've got to be serious about, I am going to become a saver. Now, second, small. Because I know a lot of people get stuck on this one, caught up in it. any amount for saving will do. You got to start small. Getting it into savings, putting it somewhere is an accomplishment.

6:04And once you realize that, once you do it, it becomes easier to do it again and again. We've got to just start with any small amount. Don't fret. Well, what is$10 going to do for me? It's going to be$10 and it's going to show you you can save. So right now it's not about amassing a huge amount. It's about getting started. The third S, style. I want you to save with style. Again, reflecting back to you've tried a lot of different things, but you've got to recognize who you are with money. Being told to do a certain way it can be forced. You really need to find what feels natural. Now Google, you know, savings challenges, see what people are doing to save money, to get some ideas.

7:00Once you feel like, man, I think I could do that, that's the one you try. Being serious about it, starting small, and you've got to look for the one with style. What feels natural? Maybe weekly transfers, numbers, maybe rounding up when you have expenses. There's an app out there, I think it's still out there called Acorns that'll automatically do that for you. And it's a small amount, but it gets you going. You could also say for every$100 I spend, I need to save 10. And it's kind of comes to that back and forth. Well, if I spend it, I've got to save it. And it just kind of gets you in that different awareness setting, but creating a style, creating what works with you, what feels natural.

7:49Number four, system. Without a system, you're going to default to what most people try and do, and that is saving what is left. And you know, as well as I do, there's never anything left. What is truly important is to make sure you budget your savings. You need to have a budget line and that budget line needs to be specific. Get specific with what you're saving for. Knowing what it is, seeing that what it is, being reminded of it all the time and get specific. If you're wanting to save for retirement, in the last episode, we talked about dates and maybe that desire date is the one you put in there.

8:42And you keep seeing that you're like, yep, that's where I'm going. That's what this is doing, you know, or just give your retirement a fun name that describes what your vision is. Getting specific makes it real. So let's cover those really quick again. you need to get serious. Stay serious. If you need to go back to this one and remind yourself that you're getting serious and the reason why. Number two, small. You've got to start with any amount. Don't think about the end result until you've taken that first step. That first step is saving that$10, that$20, that$50. I don't care what it is. That is the start.

9:30Find a style that works for you. Once a week, you know, rounding up transactions for every much, however much you spend, you save. This is how it goes. But the biggest thing that's going to find the support is a system, having a system that isn't, you're just relying on having something left over at the end of the month, but that you're actually navigating it and putting it in there. I've talked about building budgets before. I do bills, spending, and savings. Savings is an entire category. Now there are subcategories in there to the extreme, but that is how you find your savings. Following those four S's will start your consistency.

10:24They'll start you moving forward. at this age you can't be thinking well what's going to get me there quicker how can I find that one thing that's going to make up for whatever with health and wealth there is no quick fix it's all about consistency it's all about just getting started I recently onboarded a client and we were talking about setting a 90-day goal. Now, 90 days is a long time, but the reminder that there are only six paychecks. So again, you have six new money, times of new money to be able to save in 90 days if you are being paid bi-weekly. That is where you've got to get serious and start small to build that consistency.

11:23Even being over 40 or 50, you still have time. You still have 20. You know, if you're over 50, you still have 15. You've got some time and you've got to take the steps necessary to build your consistency. If you're struggling with saving, I would love to have a quick conversation with you. Book a Clarity Connection call at elevatefinances.us backslash connection, and let's figure out if working together is the right next step. Now, for the month of August, if you book a call in the month of August and attend that call, you will receive a short but powerful video training called The Fastest Way to Build Savings, where I will walk you through some of the most effective saving strategies.

12:18We'll get more specific than these four things. We'll get more specific than the ones I talk about in the next episode. Head on over and get that free call booked before the end of August. Again, you can do that at elevatefinances.us backslash connection. Of course, that link is down in the show notes as well. Make sure you get that scheduled. Remember the goal from today's episode is consistency. Use the four S's to help you get there. Quickly, they're serious, small, style, and system. Make them work for you in the best that they can support you. Thank you for listening to this episode. and be sure to tune into the next episode.

13:06We're gonna talk about how to save enough money for retirement.

13:13Thank 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.