I’ll continue to save, invest, and enjoy my hard-earned money all the decades of my life.

3 min readJan 27, 2024

~ Saturday, January 27, 2024 Blog Post ~

Me at Taco Bell (Sheena Ricarte, January 2024)

Today I watched the video included in the MarketWatch article titled, “Why your 40s are a great time to boost retirement savings” and took some notes. The following are the main takeaways from the presentation:

1. It’s time to boost your savings when you turn 40, which is a new decade of life.
2. Life can be a little more expensive.
3. You’ve got higher expectations.
4. Now is a great time to maximize earnings.
5. Take a look at your goals and see how far you’ve come.
6. There are so many financial responsibilities happening at this moment, such as raising a family or putting kids through school.
7. You might have a mortgage or a small business.
8. There are just a lot happening in your 40s.
9. It’s really important to keep retirement top of mind.
10. You can borrow money for a mortgage or a kid’s education, but you cannot borrow for retirement.
11. Getting serious with a budget makes it possible to still retire with a million dollars.
12. Review your goals and see where you can bump things up.
13. If you can make any changes at the moment, make a plan with how you can in the future.

I agree with all the insights presented in the MarketWatch video. By the time I’m in my 40s and all the years of my life, I’ll continue the time-honored financial habits of saving, investing, and enjoying my hard-earned money. I really don’t mind my age. Aging is a privilege for not everyone reaches old age. The most important thing is I enjoy my life.

My life is not a little more expensive. As a hardline miser, the only parts of my life which are expensive are the dining and traveling aspects. Of course, I don’t eat cheap and unhealthy food. I also have got much higher expectations. Surely, I don’t want anything I’m paying for to be substandard or mediocre.

Millennials like me are generally parents by now. In my case, I don’t have my own family. Thus, I don’t have many financial responsibilities at this point. I chose not to have children since I’m not really interested in becoming a parent. I’m well aware of the financial and emotional investments required for that job. Raising children and families are expensive.

Since I’ve always been a penny-pinching and frugal miser, I’m also always cutting costs. Haha. Surely, retirement is a top-of-mind concern for me. I am well aware that retirement funds cannot be loaned to a retiree. Lastly, I ensure I always get a clean bill of health from my physician. I’m super health-conscious and value preventive health.