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Retirement, Goal Setting, and Networking + New Gigs
Planning ahead so you can reach new heights
Grace Lemire
October 27, 2023
Hey,
Happy Friday! We’ve got another exciting issue and an interesting audience question this week.
This painting sold for $8 million and everyday investors profited
When the painting by master Claude Monet (you may have heard of him) was bought for $6.8 million and sold for a cool $8 million just 631 days later, investors in shares of the offering received their share of the net proceeds.
All thanks to Masterworks, the award-winning platform for investing in blue-chip art. Masterworks does all of the heavy lifting like finding the painting, buying it, storing it, and eventually selling it. To date, every one of its 16 sales out of its portfolio has returned a profit to investors.
With over 840,000 users, shares of offerings can sell out in just minutes. But Sidepiece readers can skip the waitlist to join with this exclusive link.
Investing involves risk and past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures and aggregate advisory performance masterworks.com/cd
Action Step: Planning for Retirement
Retirement might seem far away but it’s important — especially given that time is on your side. The longer your investments live in the market, the longer they have to grow. This makes investing early super important.
This makes it equally important to do the math early on to see how much you need for retirement, and therefore, how much you need to invest today to reach that goal.
The 4% Rule
The 4% rule assumes that once you enter retirement at the standard age of 65, you’ll have around 25 years or less of life. This allows you to comfortably withdraw 4% of your portfolio per year before you run out.
So, to calculate how much you need to have invested by the time you retire, you’d multiply your expected annual expenses by 25. Here’s an example:
Annual Expenses: $80,000
Multiplied by 25: $2M
Calculate Your Monthly Contributions
Once you know how much you need to retire, do a lil backwards math to determine how much you need to contribute per month now to retire on time.
For example, here’s what this scenario would look like based on age, assuming a 7% return on investments and assuming you have $0 set aside for retirement currently:
25: $809.21 per month
35: $1,710.20 per month
45: $3,940.60 per month
Use this How Can You Save for Retirement calculator to see how much you’d need to contribute to reach your retirement goals.
Quote
I spent last week at FinCon, a financial conference for personal finance creators and freelancers. One of my biggest takeaways was that no matter how successful someone is, they can still feel behind.
I spoke with so many individuals that said no matter what they achieved, they always moved the goal post further. 100k followers? Time to reach 200k. Hit a $10k month? Ugh, why not $12k?
Here I was, looking at these people thinking gosh they’re so successful, they must be living their best life. To some extent, they are, but they still struggle with the same never-ending loop of feeling like they’re behind.
It taught me, and hopefully will teach you, that you will not feel better once you hit the next milestone. True happiness comes from within, the whole way to the “top.”
Tool: Blinq
Maybe I’m late to the game, but did y’all know digital business cards exist?! And they’re actually really cool?!
At FinCon, someone shared their virtual business card with me through Blinq, and I thought, where have I been?! It was seamless, shared all of my important information with her, and allowed her to share hers with me.
It’s completely free and nice to keep on your phone. You never know when you’ll meet someone you’ll want to share contact info with.
Links of the Week
Make Money
🎧 Listen to this podcast episode about building wealth in your 20s and 30s.
🛒 Deliver groceries with Walmart Spark. This person makes $500/week.
Save Money
🏫 Tax breaks for people with student loans.
📲 Give the first AI-powered personal finance app a try.
📚 Read this book of 275+ ways to save money.
Featured Opportunities
More new gigs! For more jobs like these, check out a full list here.
You’re one pitch away from a byline & some cash. Find out what stories are selling right now, 3 things editors love in a pitch (and a couple things to avoid), and start your first pitch in class.
Last time, students got paid & published in HuffPo, Insider, Vox, Eater, NYMag, and more. It’s free!
If you’re a holiday-lover, this is a sweet gig. People on TaskRabbit are earning $57 to $123 per hour to set up strangers’ holiday decor.
The BarBack app connects local restaurants in need of help with local barbacks looking for flexible work.
Install the Honey extension to your web browser to earn cash back (and see available coupons). Redeem your earnings right through PayPal.
Looking for a creative copywriter for around 20-35 hours per week.
Looking for a SMM for around 20 hours per week, started at $25-$50 per hour (although we recommend negotiating this into a retainer!)
Want to see a specific type of work? Just let us know.
Ask the Sidepiece Team
A: This might not be the answer you hoped for, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting more. The issue comes when you’re unable to recognize the accomplishments you’ve had up until this point.
Based on this question, I’m going to assume you’re an ambitious person (I am too). We tend to set extremely high goals, achieve something mid-way, then beat ourselves up because we haven’t hit this arbitrary, insanely high mark.
Now, it’s okay to hit this mid-way point and say “I still want more.” What isn’t okay is to say “I haven’t done anything” or “I should’ve done more.”
Something that’s helped me is journaling about my thoughts and comparing where I was a year ago to where I am now. I can see, on paper, that I was making $3k/month and feeling down, but now I’m making 4x that and feeling better.
I’ve also implemented affirmations, which seems cheesy but it actually requires your brain (the neuroscience behind it is insanely cool). Affirmations about my finances have helped me feel more content, secure, and hopeful.
See ya on Tuesday,
Grace