Set It and Forget It: Retirement Made Simple
()
About this ebook
How would you feel if you knew your investments would never lose money again?
If you answered something like, "Fantastic!" then "Set It & Forget It: Retirement Made Simple" is for you.
Even when economic times are good, you still face challenges and pitfalls that cause problems. Almost half of Americans run out of mo
Related to Set It and Forget It
Related ebooks
Set It and Forget It: Retirement Made Simple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Heart of Caregiving: A Guide to Joyful Caring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUniversal Sense: The Blueprint For Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCreating Your New Reality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Theory & Practice of Well-Being: Your Comprehensive & Actionable Guide to the Good Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDone With Broke: The Woman Physician's Guide to More Money and Less Hustle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Compromise: Practical Concepts That Has Proven to Counteract Recidivism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Sanity Saving Tips for Caregivers: You Don't Have to Kill Yourself to Keep Them Alive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinancial Literacy 101 for College Students: How to Find the Money, Budget the Money, and Grow the Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuccessful Aging for Women Over 50 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPracticing Happiness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Face Within: How To Change Your Unconscious Blueprint Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPermission to Rest: How to cultivate a life of self-care, rejuvenation and nurturing the spirit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Escape the Medical Debt Trap Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'm on My Own and so Are You: Financial Security for Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFix Your Fairytale: A Woman's Guide to a Great Life, Love, and Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Own Worst Enemy: Understanding and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Egg Timer: A Companion Guide for Having Babies in Your Mid-Thirties and Older Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvery Woman's Guide To Retirement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbsolutely Should-Less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reclaiming Control Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivorce by Design Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Six-Year-Old Inner Artist, Everybody has one! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMake Healthcare Great Again Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Of You: How to Unlock Your Own Unique Potential Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Complete Guide To Moving A Loved One In A Long-Term Care Facility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIt Starts at Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Worry About Retirement Again: A Financial Guide to a More Stress-Free, Happy Retirement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTake Control: A Guide to Holistic Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Teaching Methods & Materials For You
Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Bears Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Take Smart Notes. One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy's Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour: Mind Hack, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Be Hilarious and Quick-Witted in Everyday Conversation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From 150 to 179 on the LSAT Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Think Like a Lawyer--and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Speed Reading: How to Read a Book a Day - Simple Tricks to Explode Your Reading Speed and Comprehension Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Four-Hour School Day: How You and Your Kids Can Thrive in the Homeschool Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Personal Finance for Beginners - A Simple Guide to Take Control of Your Financial Situation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers: The Secret to Loving Teens Effectively Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles: Life and Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (10th Anniversary, Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Do Motivational Interviewing: A guidebook for beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Set It and Forget It
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Set It and Forget It - Michelle Kotler
Introduction
Why this book? Why me? Why now?
Turn your wounds into wisdom.
− Oprah Winfrey
A
s I write this book during the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve just turned 50 years old. I have been single, married, and divorced. I have two children, currently ages 22 and 18. Despite setbacks, I’ve survived. As I am writing this book, even in the face of COVID-19, I feel confident that I am financially stable and prepared for the future, come what may.
My life wasn’t always this way.
I started working at the age of 12. All my life, I did everything right
— the way we were taught to do as kids; especially as girls.
Behave, do well in school, get a good job, be a good girl,
get married, have 2.5 children, work hard, live within your means (with varying degrees of success), rely on your spouse’s pension for retirement (if you or your spouse is lucky enough to have a pension), save more money for retirement, and all will be well.
Except life, being what it is, didn’t quite turn out the way I’d imagined it would when I was 12 and had my first babysitting job. I had a thriving babysitting business. I was saving money and buying myself fun things, and felt confident the rest of my life would be as easy as this.
When I was young, my mother used to say, Michelle, you have to be able to stand on your own two feet. Even in the best of marriages, a man can get sick. A man can lose his job. A man can die. You have to get an education and be able to support yourself.
How right she was.
As I grew up, I made sure that I got a good education and avoided as much debt as I could. I earned three degrees, including a Juris Doctor, all at in-state public colleges. To save money, I lived at home and paid tuition with a combination of scholarships, work-study, loans, and my own tutoring jobs.
I got married, went to law school, had two children, and worked as a teacher, a school administrator, and a disability attorney. I juggled my thriving disability law practice with raising two young children until I could juggle no more.
When I decided to become a stay-home mother so I could be more present for my young children, I thought I would rely on my husband’s government pension, our savings, and Social Security. I banked on our marriage and enjoyed taking care of our kids.
Goodbye, retirement contributions. Hello, dependence! Life surprised me. We divorced after 13 years of marriage. Everybody leaves a divorce with regrets. My regret is that I didn’t ask for more of my fair share of the marital assets. I wish I had understood as much about the future value of money at that time as I do now. I encourage you (if you are married) to rid yourself of fear and become informed about all your marital assets. Know what you have and where it is at all times.
A few years later, I was humming along. I was working in my solo law practice (80–100 hours a week), traveling, dancing, taking care of my kids… I was enjoying my life.
Then one day, around the age of 41, my world turned upside down. I endured a major health challenge, which took me out of the workforce for almost three years.
Despite my three college degrees and a lifetime of work, I faced financial challenges that could happen to anyone unexpectedly. Some of them I handled with my savings, and for others, I got help.
I tried to get Social Security Disability Income, thinking I’d worked and paid taxes since I was 12 years old. Surely, there was a pot of money somewhere with my name on it. Of course, the government told me to go jump in the lake. I appealed the decision and finally won my case, three years later. By that time, I used all my resources to figure out what was wrong, heal myself, and move on.
Fortunately, I rehabilitated myself, went back to work part-time, and learned all I could about protecting myself financially in the future. The Social Security judge awarded me what is called a closed period,
meaning he found me disabled between the time I stopped working and the time I returned. That pot of money replenished most of the savings I had drawn down while I was out of work. I bounced back, but it wasn’t easy. I was one of the lucky ones.
Health insurance pays your doctors if you get sick. Who pays your monthly bills when you are too sick to work? No one. If you’re out of work, who is funding your retirement plan? No one.
This experience taught me that having a long-term disability-insurance policy is imperative. Almost anyone can obtain one, but the healthier and younger you are, the easier and less expensive it is to get