Plug your numbers into retirement calculators, and you might easily feel overwhelmed. You need millions of dollars to retire comfortably?! Forget about that large amount and focus on the small stuff—maybe even just $15 a day.
Investing just $15 a day in a retirement account could help secure your financial future, those decades when you’ll no longer be working.
George Schneider writes on Seeking Alpha:
Focusing on a small number we can all relate to will be more effective in visualizing the goal and measuring progress toward that goal.
Instead of the frightening and confusing large numbers like millions (forget about billions or trillions) most folks can identify easily with a small number like 15. We can use our elementary school math and easily discover that $15 will buy us about 7 gallons of gas today (just a few years ago, it bought us only 3 gallons).
[...] $15.00 X 365 days = $5475
Does this number look familiar? If not, you really need to get cracking on your financial future and plans to make it a reality.
$5500.00 per year is the amount the government allows us working stiffs to put into a self-directed IRA. So many of us no longer get the gold watch and pension at work. We must make plans for ourselves. No one’s going to do it for us.
The post goes on with examples of investing $5,475 in stocks like AT&T, compounding at a 4.94% rate for 40 years for a total nest egg of $694K.
You should diversify instead of investing in any one type of investment or stock, but the point is: As daunting as saving for retirement might be, it takes only a small investment consistently over time to reach your savings goals. Even just $50 a month will make a big difference, thanks to the power of compound interest—perhaps the most powerful force in the universe.
How to Retire on $15 a Day | Seeking Alpha