Hi, I am Maggie. Recently, I started blogging about retirement planning, saving and investing. The reason behind my decision is the wake-up call I had while meeting with a financial planner.
I always saw myself as a smart woman when it comes to deal with finances. But that meeting woke me up to the realization that I don’t have a solid retirement plan and I am not financially ready for the retirement of my dreams.
What is the “Save, Invest & Retire” Blog All About?
Helping baby boomers women to prepare for retirement. We all know that managing finances is not an easy task. As women, we have to wear many hats in our everyday life.
We take care of our aging parents, our grown children, our husbands. We work hard and build our careers. We have been giving generously to other people throughout our lives. We have been giving our time, our talents, and even our money. But very often we forget to check if our financial future is on a sound footing.
Many of us shy away from conversations about finances and investments. We are more comfortable talking about our loved ones, health, and shopping, than discussing money and financial planning. We like to delegate that task to men. Sadly, when it comes to managing money and investments, many women feel less confident than men.
My motto for this blog: Knowledge is Power.
I want women to take control of their finances. I want to educate and encourage each of you to take the steps necessary to achieve success on your journey toward retirement.
I hope this blog will help you create a clear plan of action – how to prepare for retirement. I hope this blog will help you develop a strategy for reaching your long-term goals and your dream lifestyle in retirement.
My Personal Story
Once upon a time, I was living a simple and happy life in a country far away from North America. I lived with my parents and younger sister in the Soviet Union. Life was comfortable and predictable. We were not rich, but we were not poor. My father was a high-rank executive at one of the state-owned companies and my mom worked as an engineer at an architectural firm.
After high school, I was accepted to engineering school. My first job as an engineer was at the construction of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Station in Lithuania. A few years later I met my husband Roman and a year later our beautiful daughter Ksenia was born. We had everything we needed for a happy life. We lived in our own apartment, we loved our jobs, and we had a great group of friends and relatives.
But suddenly all of it came to the end when the Soviet Union started to collapse. The republic of Lithuania where we resided at that time, was one of the first to claim independence from the Soviet Union. The government buildings of Vilnius were surrounded by Russian military troops and tanks.
The whole population was out on the street fighting and protesting. It was chaos. The country was on a brink of collapse and our future had never felt more uncertain. Roman and I made the decision to leave the country. Deep inside I understood that the life we were trying to build was over.
Our journey to a new life started on a grey and cold October day in 1991. We said goodbye to our friends and relatives. One door of our life was closing and another one was about to open. We were ready to embrace the new phase of life and start our journey.
Fast forward to the present days.
It took us many years to build a new life, to overcome the challenges and struggles of newcomers. We started our journey in Israel, spent eight years living and working in Canada (both Toronto and Montreal), and then moved to Boston in 1999.
Life was hard but exciting. We learned a lot, we went back to school and got our second degrees (I am in Interior Design and Roman in Computer Science). We built our careers, raised our daughter, and made many friends.
The story of my life is classic American Dream material, from its rough beginning of an immigrant, straight through to the happy ending. We surely didn’t get to where we are today without struggle. But we were determined to overcome all obstacles and create something to be proud of.
Like most people, I dream of being financially independent. I dream of doing all the things I want to do without worrying about where to find the resources.
Unfortunately, reality has been far from my dream. For years Roman and I struggled to raise a family and make ends meet.
We lived through two major recessions and watched real estate and financial markets crash. We lost some of our investments, but we did well in other areas. We made some mistakes, but we learned a lot from our experiences.
I never shied away from financial conversations. For years I have been reading anything from personal finance to real estate investment books. I gained my knowledge from attending financial seminars and became a member of a real estate investment club. I learned how to invest in stock and real estate markets. I like to manage our family’s retirement and investment accounts. Over the years we made some good investments in rental properties.
My personal goal is to use all the knowledge available out there to find a way to financial independence. I started this blog because I want to help women gain confidence in managing finances, have a better understanding of their financial situation and readiness for retirement.
What do I like to do while not working as an Interior Designer or writing posts for my blog?
My favorite three things to do: read historical novels, dance, and travel. Traveling is in my blood. I never grow tired of it. When I was young, I would wander the streets of new places for hours. I would admire the architecture, visit the museums and art galleries, and always wanted to come back to explore more. With years the joy of traveling became part of our family’s favorite hobby. I dream of traveling full-time once I retire.
Save Invest & Retire.com is a personal finance blog about my own journey to retirement. It’s how I overcome fear and anxiety about money, get out of debt and learn to save and invest. Please remember that I don’t offer professional advice about investing or retirement planning. This is an educational blog.
Do you see a glimpse of your dream life on the horizon, but just cannot find the path to get you there? Then sign up for the newsletter and receive regular emails from me containing all the new posts, along with great ideas and extra resources to help you prepare for retirement.