"I'm 39, and my retirement plan is haphazard, chaotic, and borderline nonexistent. I feel a lot of shame around this fact because I should know better. My first job out of college was at PBS, where I opened a TIAA retirement account at 22. Somewhere in the intervening 18 years, the retirement accounts at PBS switched from TIAA to Fidelity. I now get notifications from both, and it's confusing."
"I've had a twisty-turny career path, including a pandemic-era six-year stint as a startup founder developing a new tech product for book lovers. During that time, I worried about money every day, so I wasn't saving anything for retirement. So that leaves me with a string of sparse, underfunded retirement accounts, regrets about the past, and worries about the future. I'm deep in the middle of what I call "retirement planning paralysis.""
"I've shied away from retirement planning throughout my career for the same reason I didn't freeze my eggs or plan for any aspect of the future: Today is the only day that is promised. I've always tried to live in the present because it feels presumptuous to plan the future. And the future always felt very far away, so it was easy to put planning off - especially in my 20s and 30s."
The individual opened a TIAA account at 22 while working at PBS, and those accounts later transitioned to Fidelity, creating duplicate notifications and confusion. Subsequent employers offered retirement plans but enrollment did not occur, and a six-year startup founder period produced daily money worries that prevented saving. Current financial status includes a string of sparse, underfunded retirement accounts, regret about past choices, and anxiety about the future. At 39, the person has begun contributing to a 401(k) but still needs to consolidate past accounts and overcome retirement planning paralysis.
Read at Business Insider
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