Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/743319
Doesthedreadedques- tion "How much money will I need for retire- ment?" tie your stom- ach in knots? Millions of your peers are in the same boat, having saved little, if any- thing at all, to supplement their Social Security benefits during retirement. Waiting until age 50 or 60 to start saving for re- tirement is not ideal. It's late — but not too late. Anything you do now can improve your future. Here are some tips. DIVE IN. You don't have the luxury to ease gen- tly into the waters of re- tirement savings. Forget about the mistakes you've made in the past, and dive in. Focus your full atten- tion on the years you have ahead to save. KEEP WORKING. Ev- ery situation is unique, but generally you need to keep working as long as you are healthy. You may be tempted to hang it up on the first day you're able to draw Social Security benefits, but do you really want to join the 10 million American retirees who are currently struggling living on Social Security alone? Enough said. SAVE LIKE MAD. Let's say you are 50 years old and you begin immedi- ately by placing $2,000 in a Roth IRA or a tax- deferred retirement ac- count, which is invested in stocks, where it earns 8 percent annually (histori- cally that's been the long- term return for investing in stocks). You add $2,000 each following year (about $40 a week). In doing so, you'll have about $210,000 by the time you really need it at age 80. Or if you dou- ble that, adding $4,000 a year ($80 a week), you'll have $418,000 in your ac- count on your 80th birth- day. MAKE IT AUTOMATIC. There's an unwritten rule of saving: You don't miss what you don't see. Set up an automatic deposit with your bank or employer, where a set amount is de- ducted from your pay- check and sent directly to your savings or investment account. DECREASE EXPENSES. If things are already tight for you, finding that $40 or $80 a week might seem impossible. But it's not. In fact, that money may be leaking out of your bank account completely un- detected. To recover it, do this: For the next 30 days, keep a daily spend- ing journal. Record ev- ery expenditure, no mat- ter how small and no mat- ter whether you wrote a check or paid with plas- tic. You need to see where you money is going. At the end of the month, divide your spending into cate- gories like groceries, gaso- line and utilities. Once you have everything in writing it will be easy to see where you can make significant cuts to free up the money you need for your savings. GET THE MATCH. If your employer offers a matching 401(k) plan, sign up to participate. For each dollar you contrib- ute to the plan, your em- ployer will match a set amount, like 3 percent, of your gross pay. That's free money! CONVERT ASSETS TO CASH. Take a look through your home for items you own that have ceased to bring joy to your life. Perhaps you have collectibles and an- tiques you could convert to cash to jumpstart your savings. FRUGALITY IS TREND- ING. There is nothing poor about living frugally. Frugality carries a sense of good stewardship, of carefully managing one's resources. Stop adding to debt. Stop living on credit. Being frugal is a good and responsible way to live. So how much will you need in savings for re- tirement? That all de- pends on the expenses you bring with you to that sea- son of your life. Get rid of your debt, cut expenses and start saving as if your life depends on it. It just might. Would you like to send a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE It's only too late to save for retirement if you don't start now Red Bluff Union High School's second annual Book in Common selection has been announced. The title of this year's book, "The Distance Be- tween Us" by Reyna Grande, is both literal and meta- phorical. It is the true story of young Reyna whose par- ents, first her father then her mother, leave her in Mexico with her grandpar- ents and siblings while they pursue a life in the United States. After living nearly six years without her parents, Reyna and her brother and sister enter the U.S. as un- documented immigrants. In many ways their new lives do not meet the prom- ises made by their father, but through opportunities offered as well as guid- ance by mentors, Reyna be- comes the first in her fam- ily to graduate from col- lege. Many local students have experienced the same type of mobility as Reyna Grande, moving from state to state, town to town, school to school and many have not fared as well. "Even one move in- creases the [student's] risk of not graduating or get- ting delayed in graduat- ing," according to Russell Rumberger, a research pro- fessor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who studies dropout risks and student mobility. It is with these students in mind that the school will read "The Distance Be- tween Us" and consider the many challenges they face when they are uprooted from their homes and at- tempt to establish new lives in a new place. School districts across the nation are developing strategies and supports for students who find them- selves moving to a new school. According to a re- cent article in Education Week, "Student Mobil- ity: How It Affects Stu- dent Learning," in Kan- sas City, Mo., for example, "schools identified at-risk students and paired them with both peer and adult mentors to meet several times a week to discuss the students' sense of be- longing at their schools, everyday challenges and supports, and to reflect on the students' behavior, attendance, and academic performance each week." Through the reading of "The Distance Between Us" and participation in related activities, the school hopes to draw attention to the great need for mentors in the lives of local youth. Students will read four chapters each month be- ginning in November and finishing in April. Planning of events to go along with the project is un- derway. The school be hosting author Reyna Grande this January to coincide with National Mentoring Month. The Tehama County Li- brary will help to support and foster community in- volvement. Other events include a field trip to UC Davis for its Cesar Chavez Leader- ship Conference in March; participating in the 2017 Te- hama County Writing Con- test; having a spotlight on writing careers and local authors at the school's Job Fair in April and partici- pating in the Tehama Arts Council Student Art Con- test in May. The Book in Common program has been sup- ported by Red Bluff High School's Parent Partner- ship Team, the After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens program, Tehama County Arts Council, Roll- ing Hills Casino Education Foundation and the Te- hama County Library. RED BLUFF HIGH 2nd annual Book in Common announced Mary Hunt HISTORIAN SENIAOWENSBY—DAILYNEWS Gene Serr holds an ice axe passed down to him by his father that he used to climb Mt. Shasta and for a winter climb of Lassen Peak. By Senia Owensby Hiker, backpacker, mountain climber — these are just a few of the pur- suits that have driven Gene Serr, of Red Bluff, to explore the great outdoors. As a young man, Gene climbed Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, three times — once he even spent a frigid night atop the mountain. He has climbed Mt. Shasta and more than 20 other 14,000-footers in Califor- nia and Colorado. Born in 1925 in Yuba City, where his father was a farm advisor, Gene's family moved to Stockton, where he spent his forma- tive years before moving to Davis and graduated from high school. Selected for the Marine College Training Program at UC Berkeley, Gene re- ceived a Civil Engineering degree as well as a com- mission in the US Marine Corps Reserve as second lieutenant. He was called up for the Korean War, and served a few months at a supply depot in Philadel- phia. Gene's education con- tinued at Colorado State University — receiving a master's in Irrigation En- gineering. His thesis caught the attention of the US Geo- logical Survey in Lin- coln, Nebraska, where he worked for two years be- fore moving back to Cal- ifornia with the Bureau of Reclamation in Santa Barbara. While there, Gene helped plan the Ca- sitas Dam on the Ventura River and the Twitchell Dam on the Santa Maria River. Serr married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Wilson, in Davis in 1951. They eventually had two sons, David and Jeff, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with another on the way. Nancy, who passed away in 2005, was a wonderful artist. A memorial exhibi- tion of her work was held at the Tehama County Mu- seum in 2011. She worked in a variety of media, par- ticularly oils and water- color, but also silk screen and batik. Paintings on the walls of Gene's home attest to Nancy's talents. Gene established the Nancy Serr Art Scholar- ship at Red Bluff High School in 2016. The Serrs loved to travel. They were able to visit many countries and continents, including Australia — with stops in New Zealand and Ta- hiti as well. Other trips included China and several visits to Europe. Gene was able to find the small village in Ger- many where his family lived before emigrating to the United States a few generations before. The US also provided fun and adventure for the Serrs, when they took their Jeep to Alaska for a driv- ing tour. The pottery and carv- ings Nancy brought from their travels adorn the home. The Serrs spent many of the hot, summer days at a cabin they owned in Min- eral, which was the ideal base camp for their nu- merous hikes in Lassen Park and surrounding ar- eas. Starting in 1957, Gene worked for the California Department of Water Re- sources in Sacramento. In 1966 he was transferred to the Northern District in Red Bluff, where he worked on various proj- ects and programs, no- tably the Davis-Grunsky program, which provided loans to small water dis- tricts to construct wa- ter systems. He retired in 1988. Curiosity about the lumber flumes that came down from the mountains led Gene to discover a sec- ond career in research- ing and writing articles about the history of Te- hama County. He became an active member of the Tehama County Genealogical and Historical Society and served as editor of the Te- hama County Memo- ries for several years. He also helped write Te- hama County, 1856- 2006; Tales from Ishi Country; and Mineral-Mill Creek Place Names. A member of the Red Bluff Presbyterian Church, Gene is involved in Red Bluff Kiwanis, Sons in Re- tirement, Nature Conser- vancy and several histor- ical organizations. Gene usually has sev- eral history projects go- ing at the same time. "I enjoy the research and try to fit the puzzle together," Gene said. "You're always missing pieces, but you do the best you can to fit the pieces to- gether." One of his current proj- ects is Mary Ellen Place and Trail, about 20 miles west of Red Bluff. It is a remote area that will re- quire some serious hiking to reach. He is considering the use of an ATV to get there, assuming he can get per- mission from the property owner. Serr intends to keep working his history puz- zles as long as he can. Avid hiker explored the world, now captures local history "I enjoy the research and try to fit the puzzle together. 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