When you're ready to ride Metro, we want you to know we're ready for you. Here are just a few of the people at Metro to tell you how we're doing our part to keep riders safe. We're cleaning like noble before you're found half stunt of suns, of statist, no mask, no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro. We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving. Find out more at well mata dot com slash doing our part. When I saw this you become a four oh one K millionaire, I thought, here's
what you do. But you gotta be in your twenties. Is there anything you can do if you're not in your twenties? We wait, now, let's slay. Let's talk about this with Michelle Singletary, who is the nationally syndicated personal finance columnist, is done TV on finance and then then personal savings and that sort of thing, and has an award winning column appears a couple of times a week in Washington Post syndicated nationally. Hey Michelle, how are you?
I'm fine? How are you good? Good? Good? All of my retirement plans are scratch off tickets, all right, Seriously, we're big, big, big believers in four oh one K. You just do you have to do it? But where do we begin? What's your advice? Well, you know it's it's I think it's surprises people that you can become a millionaire in your workplace plan. Um. And it's not as hard as you think. It takes time and consistency. And I heard you joking, you know, thirty years. But
and that's true. Most most of them have been investing for their length of their career. But even if in your thirties and forties, if you're working to your sixes and seventies, you still have plenty of time to reach their goal. Um, to be a millionaire in your four o one K. I assume you tell people this is
I'm gonna tell my kids. First opportunity you have to put money in a four oh one kay, first job you have do it absolutely at the beginning of the I mean when I started in my job, my first new sweet the job, I remember, I come into a huge fire and I called my grandmother, who I called Big Mama, and I was like call then, yeah, I was on a far pay USS. Did you go upstairs and put money away for you your time froment and save you. And I was like, are you kidding me?
A woman, I've got this big story on the front page. And she hung the phone up on me. It was impressed. She was said, do not call me back until you go up to HR and make sure you start putting away money for yourself. And I did that and every job, I've always done that, and that's really what it takes. I've got a daughter who just graduated from college for our master's program, and I already sent her a text I sit down and talk about what you're gonna do
in touse of her time. And what I know when you is it just seems like it's you know, it's never going to happen. And I don't have any money now. So if you think old people chose to be old, you know that is not gonna happen to me. But if most old people could go back and tell the younger post cells, they would say, hey, fool, don't you know stop going out so much and drinking with their friends and maybe take one less vacation. First of all, don't wear that shirt. You look stupid. Take the money
from that stupid shirt and put it it's true. It's true. And you know what I like about it. When we looked at what the traits of a four one K millionaire, it's it's it's just really simple stuff. You know, put in them as much as you can, but at least put it enough to get the company match. You know, do it consistently whether the market is up or down. That's the other thing. They didn't jump out when the
market gets crazy. I mean that's an eight Lots of people jumped out and they lost the upswing of the market, and then they invest in equities. You don't. You see your twenties and thirties. You're not gonna put your money in bonds. Come on, baby, you need more growth. So don't be so conservative, don't be scared um and tell those were the trades and you can do it well. And I wish people would take the heart advice from Warren Buffett that I did many many years ago. You know,
it's essentially by low so high. But he said when people are getting when people are scared, I get greedy. When the market is terrible, that's when you invest as much as you can because prices are low and it will grow. But listen, let's say I don't want to dollar time on you know, young people and what they ought to do, because you know, I care about that. But about for somebody in their forties, maybe even fifties, is it too late for them? I say it's never
too late now. Lots of financial people will just scare people to devil. Oh you don't have three million dollars, you're just good duh, you know, I mean that's just insane. You know. Listen, it may mean that you're gonna have a different retirement than you hope for, but it's never too late. You've got to make some different choices. So maybe you aren't going to buy some villain Florida or travel all across the world on a cruise six months out of the year. You know, maybe you're gonna have
shared housing with other folks in your family. Maybe you've got a sister or brother and you guys can hand your house together. So I just say, never think that it's too late. But as soon as you realize you don't have enough, you gotta buckle down, cut your expenses, do whatever you can to try to stave and catch up. Catch up provisions in the in the law. If you're fifty or over, you can put in an extra six thousand dollars. They'll do those kinds of things. That's the one.
That's the one in Michelle. I don't want to gloss over that because I don't think a lot of people know that when you hit fifty you can vastly increase what you put away pre tax in your four one k. That's right for two nineteen. You can put a maximum if your primin. You can put a maximum if you have an access to four one k. Now, I know most people listen like that woman is insane. But but trying to hit that mark as much as you can, you know, just push yourself, push yourself, you know, because
it's gonna come a time where you're gonna need that money. Uh, and that may mean making some sacrifices now so that you have a secure retirement later. I like your every phrase has emphasized the spending part of it. So many people leave that out, the spending aspect of where your money goes. Michelle Singletary is online syndicated columnists for the WAPO and many other papers. You know. And to that end, Michelle,
my wife and I made a discovery. I don't know you probably recommend stuff like this, But buying a car is exciting, you know, for me, buying a new guitar is exciting. Saving money is not exciting. So this may sound dumb to you. We actually have the thermometer with the different amounts of money on it and we colored in with red for our savings goal. I love it, love it. I think that's what you do. That's they're The key word you said was goal because people always ask, well,
how do you do this? How do you say no to yourself because you have a goal. My husband and I had a goal to send all three of our children to college debt free, which we have and we did it in a five twenty nine times, which is sort of like a four one came for college and so that nobody has any debt. Because that's what we did. We had a goal so we could say no to them when they wanted all the things that their friends had, because we knew that we wanted to send them to
college debt free. They didn't know, so of course they fussed and yelled. And that's why we put extra lock on our bedroom door so they all smother us in all sleep because so but we're Okay, we can take the lock off now because now they're graduating, you know, and so. But the point is that always have reason why you're doing this, and I don't help you. They know the things, and you know, for the college, for example, for each kid, we said two fifty a month for
the twenty years to fifty. You've s been that, going to McDonald's three times a month, you know, I mean, and it's it's doable for many people, not all, but many people if you can do it. But you gotta say, I wish, I wish you were in everybody's ear all the time just because it helped her career. Oftentimes government policy gets uh put in place to take care of people who didn't do these things, as if it's my fault that they're now broke because they, you know, took
nice vacations every year their whole life. My son, by the way, he is speaking to your kids and not getting the stuff. My son said to me the other day, I'm the only kid in my class who hasn't been to Hawaii, which I don't think is true. And even if it were, that doesn't make any meat, you know, trying to tear sony Hawaiian music on the day at the front of him. You know, Now, get some skid
k boy, we'll have a theme party. Michelle Singletary is a three has written three personal finance books, including her latest, The twenty one Day Financial Fast Your Path to Financial Peace and Freedom. Michelle, you're absolutely delightful. Great to talk to you. I hope we can do it again. All right, thanks a million flipping fantastic as she her lover, her grandmother is my hero. She is great. Hangs up on her.
Don't you call me again until you go start saving, just like your regular emphasis on the not spending end of it. Yeah, well, listen, you've got your strategy is and this, this is why we did the silly thermometer thing. I look at that thermometer and I see it going up, and I now all of my spending choices I weigh against. Or we could make that thermometer go off a little more. And that's our big goal. That's our you know, that's the cajuna. And it just it, it's it becomes a
different sort of self indulgence. And so it's not self indulgence versus discipline or happiness. Happiness a bad term like excitement versus cool discipline. No, it's one excitement versus another excitement. It's easier to do. Speaking of discipline, if you had one of those donuts out there, I wish you wouldn't bring that up. They're fantastic. No, I haven't yet, Michael Hughes, what's coming up? When you're ready to ride Metro, we
want you to know we're ready for you. Here are just a few of the people at Metro to tell you how we're doing our part to keep riders safe. We're cleaning before you've found half sign of signs of statist no mask, no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro. We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving. Find out more at well notta dot com slash doing our part