My son repeated, “Mom, are you ready for it?”
With dinner plans in my head, I answered, “Ready for what, honey?”
“Retirement.”
“I think so. I have a long time to get ready anyway.”
My account shows what I consider a pretty big number, but I don’t know if that is good enough. I proceed to Google, “How much should my 401k be at age 39?” Wow, there is a lot of information out there-and it is so hard to read on my phone! Between my 401k account page and my Google search, I have way more questions than answers. Words like Roth, rollover, index fund and annual contribution are making my stomach hurt.
In my account, I can’t even find a number to call for help-not that they would be working at 7pm. I don’t recognize any of the funds I am invested in and don’t understand why my balance isn’t even close to some of the numbers I found online. I have been putting in the max amount each month…I think.
Forget this-I’ve already worked hard today. I’m headed to Facebook. I start leisurely checking my feed, but quickly feel guilty about the elephant in the room. I finally post a status update: I'm freaking out about my 401k! Who can throw a life preserver to this tired Mommy?
After watching my very talented son nail his rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, I glance back at Facebook. No life-savers yet, so I shuffle my son back into the car and start thinking about dinner again.
The next day, at lunch, I am skimming through Facebook again and see a few more responses to my post. There were some technical descriptions of how people work the market and recommendations from my friends for their parents’ Investment Advisors (if I have a big balance, I might get an appointment). And then, a mom whose kids go to school with mine posted an enthusiastic endorsement for a company she signed up with last year. She included a link, a so I clicked through to blooom.com.
“No more pie charts, line graphs or pretending you know what you are doing.” Well, the front page seems to be written for me. I watch the video about their service and even chuckle a few times. A financial company with a sense of humor-that’s new. I flip over to find them on Facebook. There are pictures of the co-founders getting an award, a blog post called, “The Power of Peanut Butter: how it can help you retire faster,” and a link to an article about them in Redbook. They seem great, but do they know what they are doing? The Who We Are page is full of all the experience they have with investing.
I click on Free Analysis and actually understood their immediate explanation of why my account wasn’t invested properly-thanks to their clever flower in a pot graphic. The cost seems like a no-brainer. $15 per month for me (and as low as $1 per month for someone like my little sister-1 year out of college), and I can cancel any time-no hidden fees. They even gave me the first month free!
Before lunch was over, I signed up and felt like I had just turned in an overdue homework assignment. I had pushed my 401k to the “later” pile for two years and just took care of it in a few minutes. On the way back to my desk, I quickly like them on Facebook and look forward to seeing what they post next.
