I’m 45, and I feel like I’ve screwed up my financial life. I make decent money (about $80k a year), but between raising kids and just not paying attention, I barely have $40,000 saved for retirement. Every time I see something about how much people my age should have, I feel sick to my stomach.
I want to catch up, but saving a few hundred bucks a month feels hopeless at this point. I keep reading about people making a killing in crypto or day trading, and honestly, it sounds tempting. I know it’s risky, but the idea of doubling or tripling my money fast is way more appealing than grinding away for the next 20 years and still coming up short.
Am I crazy for even thinking about this?
Look, man, you can’t outrun reality with Hail Mary plays. You’re scared, and you’re hoping for a miracle, but chasing shortcuts like crypto or day trading is how people end up with less money, not more. The internet is full of “overnight success” stories, but for every lucky winner, there are thousands of people who lose everything and never make headlines.
Desperation is a breeding ground for bad decisions. When you’re feeling backed into a corner, you’ll convince yourself that the riskiest move is the only way out. That’s how people get burned, over and over again.
The honest, grown-up move is to stop running from the uncomfortable truth: you’re behind, but you’re not dead. You’re 45, not 95. This is the moment to get serious.
There’s no magic bullet to undo years of not saving. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of options. The path forward is boring, predictable, and it works: automate your savings, invest consistently in low-cost index funds, and ruthlessly cut out the crap you don’t care about so you can free up more money to invest. Get obsessed with growing your income instead of trying to “hack” your way out of this hole—pick up a side hustle, ask for a raise, or switch jobs if you have to.
Will it feel slow at first? Yes. But this is how real wealth is built. The sooner you stop looking for shortcuts, the sooner you can actually make progress. Start today. In five years, you’ll be glad you did. And remember, nobody cares how fast you “catch up”—they care that you did.