“I believe that the biggest mistake that most people make when it comes to their retirement is they do not plan for it. They take the same route as Alice in the story from “Alice in Wonderland,” in which the cat tells Alice that surely she will get somewhere as long as she walks long enough. It may not be exactly where you wanted to get to, but you certainly get somewhere.” ~ Mark Singer, The Changing Landscape Of Retirement – What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You
My guidance to friends and family (or basically anyone who will listen): Most people don’t know what they are worth or how valuable they would be to any company. In the past, I have started looking around to find a better paying job and suddenly found that I had a huge, and I mean 50% huge, pay raise with some really nice words about how they’d like me to stay. Note, I hadn’t told anyone I was looking elsewhere for a pay raise.
Two, later in life (after my 40s) every time I got a pay raise, half of it went into my retirement savings. I still got a raise and I never missed the other half because it was like I never had it. I think they call this method “paying yourself first”.
The Bis Key Chronicles 