forever students

We’re so thankful we set up a meeting at Summit last week to discuss retirement! A little while ago, we blogged about retirement – but we decided that due to some lingering questions, we should reach out to a Summit Financial Advisor! Summit set us up with Brennan, who works through our branch. Between Scott and myself, MY understanding of terminology under the “retirement” umbrella was incredibly, embarrassingly low! I only knew that a person should be contributing to their retirement.

As a couple, we learned so much. There are so many tools available on Summit’s website, but this retirement calculator was the REAL showstopper. By manipulating how much you’re investing in retirement, years in retirement, rate of return, etc., you can see precisely how much money you’ll have in your pocket when you decide to leave the working world! This was scary and awesome, but mostly inspirational! This was a great “beginner/I’m not retired yet or anywhere close to it” calculator; however, there are others listed that can help people further along in their retirement or those who have questions for how a Roth IRA will compare to a traditional 401K. There is also this fabulous to-do list for getting your retirement plans started! Check it out!!

The biggest takeaway points from our discussion:

I didn’t realize that the money I put towards retirement wasn’t guaranteed – look up mutual fund for further clarification! Depending on the amount of risk you invest your money in, you have to sit back and watch it happen, but don’t lose sleep over checking your investments daily! Check your account a couple times a year to know, in general, the trends of your investments and to ensure the correct contribution is reflected. Lastly, depending on how you invest, you may be taxed on your contributions now or when you take your money out!

I feel so relieved knowing what all the parts of my retirement statement means (and knowing where to look on the 8-page document…!). Once we reduce our student loans a bit more, we will definitely be following up to assess how we can invest our money to have the best future! As Brennan said a few times during our meeting, it’s so important to invest now because this is how you “pay yourself” later!

Peace, love, and #youcanneverstarttooearly,

Megan + Scott