Here’s a confession: I’ve never had a 401k.
Why? Well, when I got my first professional job out of grad school, I had a lot of debt. My then fiance, now husband, had a lot of debt, and we wanted to pay off that debt. So, we opted to forgo contributing to 401ks in order to pay down that debt.
Here’s the stupid part: As a grad student, I earned $12,000 a year. Not bad for a grad student in 1998, but obviously not enough to live a lavish lifestyle. My first professional job paid $40,000. What part of me didn’t think that was more than enough to live on when my rent was $435 a month? The part of me that was financially responsible and did really want to get out of debt and the part of me that thought “Woo-hoo! Real money!”
To keep reading, click here: 30 Million Americans Don’t Have Access to a Retirement Plan (Why That’s a Problem Only You Can Fix)