Time flies. One minute you’re young and invincible with your whole life ahead, and the next you find yourself thinking “wow, what a banger” while comparing fiber content between cereals in the breakfast aisle of a Ralph’s in the deep suburbs.
If you braved downloading music from Limewire to get your hands on songs that are now played at the grocery store, hearing Bowling For Soup’s “1985” come on might feel like a personal attack.
Truly maturing, however, is realizing that the Debbie your friend in Bowling for Soup sang about has a lifestyle that is aspirational by today’s standards. She never had it all, but at least she can afford healthcare, raising two children, a reliable vehicle, and a nice house in a decent neighborhood… not bad for a plan B, honestly. Unfortunately financial security (even just for retirement and emergencies) is going to take more than abandoning your dreams to become an actress, nowadays.
Not sure where to begin? Here are a couple of guidelines for when you start loading your cart to music you danced to at prom.
Build Your Emergency Fund
You may think you grew out of living life on the edge, but in reality you’re pushing the limit more than ever by aging in a country that places your healthcare in the hands of soulless insurance companies. If you can swing it, you should always keep four to six weeks of living expenses ready at hand.
Save For Retirement
Generally it’s recommended you have about three times your annual salary put aside for retirement by the time your grocery store plays your high school jams more than anything else. Hopefully when you first notice this transition starting you will have some amount of savings already, but if you’re a bit behind- don’t panic. The process lasts years, it’s likely you can still catch up without doing anything drastic.
You will know it’s complete when the emotionally charged songs nearest to your heart are treated with complete irreverence. If you want an idea of what that’s like just ask your parents how it felt hearing “Comfortably Numb” get intermittently shat on by PA announcements asking for assistance in the deli or clean up on aisle 12 for the first time.
Once that starts happening, you will be glad to hear the next wave of teenage anthems take over. These goals might seem overwhelming, but the best thing to do is simply get started.
Until you hear instrumental versions of your music in the elevator, you have time.