Before you say it. I know what you’re thinking. “Did she really quote Cardi B as the title of her blog post?!” Yes, yes I did. Don’t act like the song isn’t catchy!
Anywho, I started this blog post in January and am finally ready to list it all out. I decided that at 27 years old I am (way) past the point of it being excused or understood why I don’t have a savings account with more than $50 in it. Or “what do you mean you haven’t started a 401k?”
In my defense I have started a 401k. Three times actually. The first was dissolved after I bought my first home, suddenly lost my job (story for another day), and maxed out all my credit cards. The second was cashed out after I quit a job, took a well needed trip, moved, started a new job and was in that awkward place where you’re in between paychecks. With that said that was then this is now and those past situations were zero explanations (aka excuses) for why I could not seem to figure out this whole savings account business currently.
But! Determined to change that I now have my 401k in place since around February. Third times the charge right?! I am confident I am not the only one having these same struggles so I wanted to share them with you. I want to list specifically the places I went so if you are local you can take advantage of these same great places. But even if you are reading this not as a neighbor I would still recommend pushing yourself to find similar people, places and companies where you live.
So the first step seems simple: open a savings account. Duh. But if you have related to anything I’ve said so far then you already know how not-so-simple it really is. You open the savings account with pride and drop in some cash. Then you see this amazing sale on those booties you’ve been eyeballing at Target for months. And with the help of your super convenient banking app you transfer the cash from savings to checking and voila! New booties. No savings. Well Target shopping is just what savings accounts are for right?! Wrong.
The savings accounts (yes, I opened two) changes that. Both banks offer savings accounts that are “locked” until specific dates. The idea is that you put money into this savings account throughout the year that cannot be touched or easily transferred into your checking account whenever you want. You can try, but it won’t work. Until October 1 which is when the savings account balance is automatically deposited into your checking just in time for holiday shopping! So if holiday shopping or a winter get away is your goal, then bingo you found just the savings account for you. Although my goal isn’t specifically to save for the holidays the idea still works that it stops me from just transferring the funds whenever I want to buy something stupid throughout the year.
My other goal for this year is paying off credit cards. Yet again I can say “I’ve done this before.” I am proud to say that I am not nearly as bad as I once was. My credit cards are no longer a huge problem and my minimum payments are no longer $400 EACH. So yayy there. However the goal is to keep it that way and at the rate I see myself going it could easily become that way again. Time to rein it in Chev! The mere idea of falling back into that death trap gives me major anxiety to the point that some times I just lay in bed crunching numbers. So what better way to get this issue resolved than to Mend My Mind with a little touch of humility.
It’s time to just face it: I am not great with finances. GASP! I know after reading my Target Temptations (that kinda has a ring to it) you are so shocked. But it’s true. So I decided to see a Wealth Manager at Morgan Stanley. The other plus with going there is that they also specialize in 401k. Ding Ding Ding we have a winner! By going there I was able to plan for paying off debts (surgeries, credit cards, car loan etc) AND set up my 401K.
As I mentioned this blog post was started in January, and since then my 401K has (as of this month) grown to a balance that I can now start investing in stocks. I know NOTHING about stocks or really what is happening to your money as it is sits in the 401K account. But I am determined to learn – which is the perk of having a rep at Morgan Stanley who prints me educational portfolios and really motivates me to learn and be involved.
I’m excited for the possibilities of my future finance accomplishments. Now excuse me as I go read Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover.
The Mending My Mind 