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From the .gov site: “The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $164.90 for 2023, a decrease of $5.20 from $170.10 in 2022. The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries is $226 in 2023, a decrease of $7 from the annual deductible of $233 in 2022.” 

I have a friend who is talking about retiring; she’s almost 66 and has been with the same company for 22 years. She said they didn’t offer a 401K or any other type of retirement plan even at the management level, which is not unheard of in the restaurant industry. She said she would be living on SS and a small income from money she put away over the years. I know there are many people who squeak by on SS, and it is tough for them to do so. 

So, food for thought for those who are much younger then me: start early.

I believe – key word here, I BELIEVE – that our young people are not being educated either in school or at home about finances. Many of our high school graduates have no understanding of finances. And many don’t even know how to balance a checkbook. They get a job and they run out and buy a car or whatever, and before you knowit, they’re in over their head. Or, they get married and buy a home based on two incomes. 

When we went to parent’s day at Paris Island for my grandson’s graduation, the Marine Corps brought us in and gave us a list of things that they told these young people. But the one thing they really emphasized was that they told the young men and women graduating that week not to run out and buy things with their newfound income, especially if they are getting a signing bonus. Too many of these teens would see this as an opportunity to get things they wanted without a clue as to the long-term effects, and cars were the number one thing.

They can’t take it to boot camp and their first deployment may be overseas and often times they don’t have a clue of all of the other things that go into owning a car, like annual taxes and insurance, etc. 

Back during the boom in the late 1990s, I watched from my living room window as young people – late 20s and early 30s pulling into this new subdivision across the road in Silver Spring, Md. – lined up to buy these new homes based on two incomes and their great jobs, only to lose them when the market crashed. We knew an (older) couple that lived in that development and they told us lots of sad stories of how family after family lost their homes because they overspent. 

I guess I’m writing this for our younger people who may read this. I was blessed to have a grandfather who taught me about finances. And yes, I didn’t always heed his advice. But I did have a savings account similar to the one FNB and other local banks offer for kids so they can start early. They called mine a Christmas Club. 

I hear young people, especially if they are married, say that they can’t afford to put money away. So, I have some advice even if your finances are tight. 

Start small. If your company offers any kind of matching fund program, open an account with them now. Think of it this way: if at 18 years of age you start investing and if all you can only put away is 2 percent of your income, and they match 2 percent, you have gained 100 percent of your investment. Nowhere else can you do that. 

If you make $15 an hour and you only put away 2 percent, then it only cost you $12 a week. And if you took advantage of those matching funds of 2 percent at the end of the year, you will have $1,248.00. If they invest it in a medium risk fund that only gained 3 percent and you don’t touch it until retirement (49 years) you will have approximately $140,000.00. Not bad for a $12 a month investment. 

Something else my granddad also taught me was not to spend all of my raises. Take one-third of it and add it to the matching fund programs. Last but not least, if you leave a company and they tell you that you have to take your money (one of mine did), don’t spend it. Roll it into a personal 401K. Again, DON’T spend it. 

I started early and I made mistakes along the way. My point is, I just hope our young people can learn from us older people how to survive better in this ever-changing world, especially when it comes to retirement.