Baba, Mama and Bro came out to Cali for a wonderful weeklong tour of the Bay Area during the Holidays. Up until their visit I thought I was in relatively good shape and had at least enough stamina to outlast the aging parents - wrong, I'm pooped! I can honestly say that I haven't done that much sightseeing my entire 2years living here in Berkeley. Pure awesomeness. Everyone shacked up at my house since my two sweet roommates went home for the holidays. *Roommate Sarah now calls her recently retired parent's sailboat "home," which this holiday season is docked in the Caribbeans - now that's how to RETIRE.... which is a topic I've been ruminating on in this new tax year...
It's hard to think 35years down the line, shoot, I can hardly plan for weekends let alone what I'll be having for dinner (sweet and sour shrimp?). And there's plenty a tender youth can't be expected, or even be allowed to know. One of the many motherly soundbites from this past week includes: "I'm so happy to see that you know how to take care of yourself now, BUT, there's still so much you don't know..." It's the latter that continues to echo and play with my psyche. She has always used that line, dangling it in front of me like the unattainable grapes in Aesop's classic "The Fox and the Grapes." I believe her though and don't see this yet-unattained-sage-wisdom as the fox's sour grapes. That knowledge to me is true and valuable, and I look forward to the day that I can not only know, but also share what only experience and time can teach.
One goal that has not turned into sour grapes for me is Retirement. For many, especially my peers, it's a seemingly distant phase of life that has no relevance to us now. But in this new year, and new *tax year, I wish more of my friends, and especially classmates, would begin thinking about this distant milestone. Luckily we 20-somethings have on our side both time and a relatively high tolerance for risk. What many of us don't have, unfortunately, is the sage-wisdom of our elders to fully comprehend the magnitude of the task before us. That is, understanding that retirement planning needs to begin NOW before dreams of a Tuscan vacation during our golden years turns to sour grapes. But what I often hear from friends (the few that have broached the topic w/ me) is that a petty grad student stipend is barely enough to cover bay area rent and food, let alone sock away nest egg monies. My response? Simply that the power of compounding means that a forgone Starbuck's or Cafe Strada's latte today could translate to a fine glass of Argiano Suolo Toscana IGT in the Tuscan hills during retirement.
I'm not going to launch into the cost/benefit analysis of early retirement saving in this blog, there are plenty of expert websites and investment groups that already do this (see below). Once you start reading it becomes really clear what needs to be done, and you soon begin to wonder why all of us didn't start, like, last year. The goal of this blog is simply to send a reminder that this new year also brings new opportunities for us to make steps towards tangibly realizing the sweet nectar of our future. Contributions to a tax-sheltered Roth IRA, 401K, or 403B plan, among others, is probably one of the healthiest and most prescient decisions one can make this new year.
*And remember that you have up until the April tax deadline to make contributions to last year's ROTH IRA (up to $4000 for qualified indiv.), and can begin contributing to the 2008 tax year ROTH IRA (up to $5000 for qualified indiv.).
Here are few good sites to begin with:
-Grad Students Discussing/Debating Merits of Roth IRA in SCIENCE: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/tools_resources/forum/view?id=35134
-IRA explained: http://www.fool.com/money/allaboutiras/allaboutiras.htm
-Retirement Calculator: http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/retirementplanner/retirementplanner.jsp
-Target Retirment Funds (the lazy, yet smart, way to invest): http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/InvestForRetirement/OneFundRetirementBuyAndForget.aspx
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