Opinion – Grain in Grain: Two lies they tell about your retirement

Planning for retirement is simpler than you might think, but it’s not easy at all. The difficulty lies in the discipline of creating a plan and following it. To alleviate this difficulty, some myths are spread and, by being repeated, we end up falling into the trap of believing that they are true. I comment below on two of these myths that we need to pay attention to.

We are, of course, troublemakers. Is not for nothing. Every day we are bombarded with financial dilemmas that are supposed to be more urgent or that bring immediate satisfaction.

Thus, we postpone or relegate important decisions that will only affect us in 10, 20 or 30 years. After all, why bother with that now?

One day you wake up and realize that all those financial dilemmas could have been put off and what you put off was the priority. With that, he realizes that he fell into the trap of the first lie he heard in the circles of friends.

For a while, no need to worry about it

I have heard this statement several times. Just like other similar ones like: you’re too young to worry and you expect to have a higher salary to start with.

Concern about investing for retirement should be as relevant as paying your basic expenses.

After all, saving for your retirement is simply anticipating your future basic expenses.

If we are talking about the same expenses and the difference is the time in which they occur, they are equally relevant.

But there’s a reason you should start worrying now.

The sooner you start, the easier and cheaper it is to retire.

I will exemplify with a basic account only, but you can extend it to all. Imagine that someone asks you if you prefer to pay R$200 or R$100 for the same electricity bill. What would your answer be?

The answer seems so obvious that we even think there is something hidden. Nobody wants to pay double.

Although it seems obvious, many choose to pay R$200. Sometimes the choice is made out of ignorance or because they fell into the trap of lying that they don’t have to worry for now.

The preference for paying R$200 is the answer for those who put off and don’t bother now to start planning for retirement.

With a real interest rate of 5% per year, above inflation, if you wait 14 years to get started, you double the cost you pay.

Note that I only used real interest, that is, the one who plans and starts investing today pays R$100, but the one who expects pays R$200 at today’s values. So, double.

Many even start early, but fall into the trap of the second lie.

Just go saving

As I have explained in the past, investing is much more than saving.

I make an analogy with the desire to have better health. Undoubtedly eating less and exercising is good. But would it be enough?

I imagine everyone has thought about losing weight or having a slimmer body.

I’m disciplined. I wake up every day at 5 am and ride my bike to the office, but before that I still train at the gym.

Getting a little exercise isn’t enough to have a slender body. Being radical and cutting food is also not the most recommended, as it can be harmful to your health today.

You need to have a plan.

To achieve the desired goal, it is necessary to create a food, exercise and supplementation plan in a way that does not affect your health today and prevents you from having better health in the future.

In finance, I am an expert, but in health, I count on the help of my sister-in-law, Ingrid Serafim, who is a nutritionist, for the construction and monitoring of my plan.

With retirement it’s the same. It’s no use believing that just keeping without having a goal, and a process to be followed, will achieve a satisfactory retirement.

If you want your retirement to be in shape, you need to have a plan. If you can’t structure this planning alone, do as I do with health, count on an expert as your financial advisor.

The construction of this plan is not complicated, the difficult thing is to maintain the discipline to follow the built plan. For both challenges, you can count on help.

So, don’t waste time, start today, but first build a plan for your retirement.

Michael Viriato is an investment advisor and founding partner of Investor’s House

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