Underachievers

I read a fair amount of PFBs (Personal Finance Blogs for those of you not in the know) and I am amazed at how much people have amassed in so little time. I've blogged about my amazement at the bloggers' financial savvy before and I questioned whether they would be able to save so much if they were providing for, say, a family of five. Well, this morning I came across this blog, which made me feel at once woefully unprepared for retirement.

I admit it. I haven't given a lot of thought to retirement. Up until now, most of my adult life has been spent in pursuit of higher education (still trying to get that law degree) and raising children (three to date), which translates into not so much time spent working outside of the home. So, I haven't actually been able to sock away money into a 401(k) or ESPP. I know I should have been contributing to a Roth IRA or a money market account. But, I haven't been. Does that mean I'm up the proverbial retirement creek without a paddle? I don't think so. As CEO of our family, I've made some poor money choices but I've also made some good ones. We own our own home, which is no small feat in Colorado's rapidly ballooning real estate market. We haven't filed bankruptcy. Recently. Our healthcare is completely paid for by Madhubby's employer. So, I think we're doing okay. We've been contributing to Madhubby's 401(k) but we could do better. We're going to up the contribution percentage next month and by my calculations (excluding any future pay raises) that will put us on track to a million dollars in thirty years. It's not the four-and-a-half million that one blogger has set as his goal, but we don't need a lot. We live a frugal life now with three children. When we're in our sixties and the nest is empty, our expenses should be a lot lower. Of course, there is that six figure student loan debt I have gnawing at me. But, it should be retired about the same time as Madhubby.

And, I do plan on working part-time, financially contributing to our retirement and chipping away at that student loan debt once my youngest starts preschool; I have one more Social Security work credit to earn before I'm eligible for retirement benefits. So, not great when compared to other bloggers out there but the way I see it: those other bloggers are the Joneses. We have different circumstances than those other bloggers and if I try to keep up with them, I'll miss my own financial targets.