A few days ago it was really driven home to me just how uneducated most people are about personal finance. When asked what I was doing, I made a comment to one of the FHBPals that I had just finished setting up a recurring transaction to fund my IRA account for the year. This was met with a blank stare, followed by… “Your what account?”
At this point I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. At first I didn’t believe them, thought perhaps that they were putting me on – this particular friend had graduated from the same college as I and had a full time job, complete with a decent set of benefits and at first glance seemed reasonably savvy of such matters. However, as I continued talking to them, it came out that they had virtually no knowledge or education regarding how to deal with their finances, which explained a lot about why they couldn’t seem to get out of debt!
IRA and other retirement accounts are important for anyone that wants to be able to live out their later years in comfort, and right now things are especially tense because of the recent plunge and decline of the stock market. However, as I explained to my friend, there are many other important things which dictate the financial situation a person ends up in. Over the next few days I’ll be writing about ways that everyone can plan for retirement and get ahead for themselves.
Tags: finances, investing, IRA, long term, Retirement, setting goals
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