Money Obedience

You may have read in previous posts that I run a marathon now and then. And, yes, I am talking about real marathons, 26.2. miles long. The other day I claimed that “I never run 26 miles” even though I have finished 26 miles in one swoop many times. How can I make such a claim? And what does this have to do with personal finance?

First things first – let me tell you about how marathons work for me. When I start running a marathon I never think about the actual distance ahead of me, like “26 miles to go… okay, only 24 miles to go.” That would make me nuts because I’d feel that the distance ahead was too daunting for me to be able to finish. Instead, I break down the entire distance into smaller mileage depending on the course I am running. I think, instead, “Okay, one mile down… okay, that was a good mile, let’s do another… okay, another mile down. Most marathoners do a similar mental dance – some try to run two 10 milers and then add a 10k (or 6.2 miles) at the end and that’s how they get in 26.2 miles in one shot. The other thing I think about is my pace, making sure that I’m running at the pace that will get me to the finish time at my target time. So, I think “slow down, buddy” or “not so fast” or “that’s just the right speed” as I’m going along. Together, thinking about the particular mile I’m on, and the pace at which I’m running it, makes each mile take on the exact same importance – the 5th mile is the same as the 15th mile or the 25th. I don’t really distinguish between one mile to the next because each one of them is important when I want to follow my plan to finish the race in a certain way (i.e. at a certain time). Don’t get me wrong - my body makes a distinction between each mile, because the last few miles are a lot harder than the first few miles. But my brain takes that into account when I design my race strategy.

Okay, so let me make the connection to financial goals, and especially to retirement planning, which is probably the most important financial goal for most of us. When we are young it’s hard to imagine saving for retirement because that seems so many years away from now. When we look at the actual amount of money we need to save, the task seems even more daunting. You see where I’m going with this, don’tcha? It’s just like running a marathon. The idea of running 26 miles seems crazy, but maybe thinking about running shorter distances repeatedly doesn’t seem quite as crazy.

The most important thing about saving for retirement is starting to save, just as running is about putting one foot in front of the other. It is better to begin saving now than to delay it another month, another week, or another day. You can’t finish either race if you never get started. I once read that the most difficult part about going for a run is getting through the front door. I agree with that. Once you are on your run, you just keep going. The same goes for your retirement planning. Once you get on track to save for your golden years, you will most likely stay on track. Getting started is often the most difficult challenge.

If you’re having trouble committing to saving for your retirement, just don’t think about the huge amount of money you should try to stash away for the time when you finally want to leave the workforce. Instead, you know how much you have to add to your retirement fund with each paycheck or each month so that you reach your target amount at retirement. To continue with the analogy, if you run each mile according to your plan, you will surely finish the race at your target time. When I finish a good marathon I feel very good about my accomplishment. I would imagine I would feel even better when I am about to retire and I have saved a sufficient amount of money over the years so that I can enjoy my old age.