The Ultimate Quest: Leveling Up Your Finances for Retirement Victory

It’s time to gear up and get ready for retirement! Whether you’re just starting your journey or preparing for the final level, here are some side quests to get you on the path to victory.

By Rebecca L. Bennett

The name of any video game is preparation. A player’s success with progressing through missions and overcoming the final challenge of the game is often determined by how diligently they leveled up their character, outfitted their inventory and crafted their gameplan.

Navigating the journey to retirement is a lot like embarking on an epic video game quest. Each stage of your career will present new challenges, requiring skill-building, saving and strategy to reach the ultimate goal: a secure and fulfilling retirement.

Starting Your Quest

The first thing you’ll want to do when starting your quest is begin building your personal finance skills and savings. Focusing on the fundamentals early in your adventure will pay off as you get farther along in your career.

• Craft a Budget and Stick to it: The first skill you need to master is tracking your income and expenses. Tools like apps and spreadsheets can help you allocate your income wisely and avoid overspending and accruing high-interest debt.

• Harness the Power of Compound Interest: Since you have a TCDRS account, you’ve already started saving for retirement, but it’s a good idea to open additional retirement accounts, too. The interest you earn on your investments will stack up in your inventory over time, so it’s important to start now.

• Complete Savings Side Quests: Emergencies and unexpected expenses can derail your progress along your retirement quest. To combat this, save three to six months’ worth of living expenses in an emergency fund for major unforeseen costs, as well as a healthy amount in a rainy-day fund for smaller road bumps.

Leveling Up

After you’ve mastered the fundamentals of questing, it’s time to get serious about leveling up. The middle of your career is the perfect time to start exercising more advanced strategies as you prepare for the final battle.

• Fortify Your Retirement Contributions: As your income grows, you should steadily increase your contributions to your additional retirement accounts to ensure you’re maximizing the growth of your treasure stash.

• Slay the Debt Dragon: Prioritize paying off debt, especially high-interest debt like credit cards and student loans. Eliminating these financial burdens will give you more resources to build wealth and fewer expenses to siphon your retirement income someday.

• Seek Wisdom from the Wise: Before you enter into the final stages of your journey, talk with a financial advisor to make sure you’ve done everything you can do to set yourself up for success. You can also schedule a TCDRS Online Counseling session to talk with us about your TCDRS account.

Whether you're just starting your financial journey, leveling up in your career or preparing for retirement, mastering these personal finance tips will help you overcome challenges and achieve financial success along your quest to retirement!

Preparing for Retirement Victory

If you have completed all of the above challenges, you’ve honed yourself into a seasoned adventurer, ready to take on anything in your path and ascend into retirement. Before you embark on that final mission, take care of these last few quests:

• Ask Yourself: Am I Truly Ready? Hanging up your sword and shield will be a big change — and not just for your wallet! Take some time to identify your retirement goals and thoroughly assess your financial and emotional readiness.

• Gather Your Allies: Don’t forget to lean on your allies as you prepare. A financial advisor can help you get everything sorted with your finances, while loved ones will be a great source to consult on whether they think you’re emotionally ready. And of course, at TCDRS, we are always just a phone call or online counseling session away.

• Fine-tune Your Battle Plan: After you’re confident you have the skills and savings to achieve retirement, take time to develop a strategy for withdrawing funds from your accounts after you retire. Consider factors like taxes, inflation and healthcare to ensure your treasure will last throughout your golden years.

Whether you’re just starting your financial journey, leveling up in your career or preparing for retirement, mastering these personal finance tips will help you overcome challenges and achieve financial success along your quest to retirement!

Personal Finance