Page 14 - Book11E

Be honest with yourself about your financial situation. Credit cards have a way of cushioning us from our financial realities. We may go weeks or months without balancing our checking account because overdraft protection has given us a false sense of security.
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Remember to top off your emergency fund again when you have to take money out if it. Your goal-oriented savings should also be in a separate place so that you aren’t tempted to use it for other things. One of the long-term benefits of a goal-oriented savings plan is it helps you to stop purchasing items you want on credit and be patient until you have saved enough to pay cash for them. You’ll be able to discipline yourself to stay out of debt.
3 . Retirement
Don’t rely on Social Security as your only income when you retire. It won’t be enough. Many people who bought their homes in the late sixties or early seventies now pay as much or more in property taxes each month as their mortgage payment was. Those are the cold, hard facts so unless your employer provides a really good retirement savings plan, it’s up to you to begin setting aside the money that you are going to need to live on when you’re no longer working. Of course this may seem incredibly far away, but the sooner you can begin setting a little aside each month, the lower that monthly amount will have to be and the more you will have in the long run simply because it will have more time to grow.
It may seem odd to you that this savings plan should start happening before you begin saving for your children’s college tuition. The truth is, your children can provide their own college tuition if they have to, but they’re not going to want to fund your retirement, and you wouldn’t
Financial Tips for Single Parents