Life is long. In theory, this means you have plenty of time and chances to fuck up, make mistakes, fix them, and get back on track.
And yet we’re surrounded by messages that instill the fear that if we don’t have our financial shit together by the age at which Warren Buffett was starting his prepubescent golf ball recovery empire, we’re doomed to a lifetime of grueling work and poverty.
In other words, if you don’t save $300,000 by the age of 30, you’re financially fucked for all eternity.
Many of the discouraging messages mean so, so well! Yet for the late bloomers, reading about thirty-year-old retirees and debt-free millennials can make it feel like they were late to the show and missed the main act.
And while I love savings and investment projections like this one for the purposes of setting goals… they can imbue the late bloomers among us with a sense of despair. For if you reach your thirties still knee-deep in debt and scrabbling at a meaningful career, it can seem like you’re already way too late. It can seem like it’ll take you forever to catch up. So why bother starting at all?
We got a question along these lines from an anonymous reader a little while back:
“Hi, Bitches. I’m so hooked on your material! Thank you so much for your dedication to financial literacy for us. My only issue is that I’m 26, so when I read through your material, I’m afraid I’ve made too many mistakes already or I’m too old to get on track to where you are. Any advice to us on the older side of this community?”
I’m going to let you in on a little secret, creampuff.
I, Piggy, Co-Bitch of Bitches Get Riches, was twenty-six when I started cracking down on my finances.
So in my book, you’re not late at all. You’re right on time.
