Your AI Roadmap

CHAPTER 12How Much Money Do You Want? Goals, Retirement, and Financial Independence

I was recently on the phone talking to a close childhood friend about money. “I'm so excited about the next steps in my career,” she said, “and I'd really love your help negotiating my salary when I get the offer,” she added.

“I'd be happy to!” I said. She's one of my best friends in the world. “Those base salary numbers we negotiate will be awesome so you can work on 401k matching and can max out your IRA,” I mused.

“IRA? What are those?” she responded. “Do you contribute to your Roth IRA every year?” I asked. The phone line went silent. “Joan, what are you talking about?” she said. “People always told me to ‘save for retirement’ and I thought that meant after I'd landed a big adult job,” she continued.

“Oh gosh, okay,” I stammered. I was stunned. “Um, I have six figures in my IRAs right now. I've been maxing them out every year.” She didn't miss a beat, “Dang, good for you!” she replied and then paused. “Okay, how can I catch up?” So, for the rest of our phone call, we talked about her plans for retirement and her broader financial goals. She is currently getting a degree where she has incredibly high salary potential. I'm confident she will retire well, but it'll take time.

As a kid, I was told “Max out your Roth IRA every year you can.” Was there a lot of explanation about this advice? Nope. But I took the advice and diligently put money into my IRAs since I had a summer job at the age of ...