How Do I Stay Motivated When Retirement Savings Feel Small?

$50 a paycheck can feel embarrassing. Not because it's nothing, but because it feels like it's not enough, like you're trying to fill a swimming pool with a teaspoon.And when you do the math, your brain starts whispering some things that aren't too nice. What's the point? I'm too far behind. This isn't going to change anything. Friend, listen to me. Small savings is not a sign of failure.It's actually a sign you haven't quit. And today, I'm going to help you keep going without drowning in discouragement. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.And this is Financially Confident Christian, where we break the cycle of financial shame and really live in confidence. And today's topic is how to stay motivated when retirement savings feel small. So many of us feel that from time to time.So let's get right to our listener question. Listener writes this. Ralph, I'm trying to save for retirement, but all I can scrape together is $50 a paycheck.It feels pathetic, like I'm putting a band aid on a gunshot wound. I love that analogy, by the way. I run the numbers, and it seems pointless, like I'll never have enough anyway.How do I keep going when the progress feels so impossibly small? I don't want to give up, but I'm struggling to see the point. You know what? So many people feel that same way.I bet if we took a poll of the audience right now, so many people would have their hands up. So here's a big idea for today. You got to really lean into this. Retirement is built the same way. Faith is built by steady obedience in small steps.So how do we get to that point? First thing, stop calling it small. It's not small. Start calling it consistent. See, the enemy of retirement savings is not $50. It's discouragement.Because that's what we're really battling here. We're battling discouragement. And see, discouragement says, if I can't do a lot, why do I do anything? I felt that so many times.I put off retirement savings for a long time because I thought, you know what? I really can't do that much, so why bother? I'm not gonna do anything. But consistency beats intensity. It beats it every single day.See, $50 a paycheck means let's walk it out clearly. Here's what it really means. You're 25 years old. I wanted to do the math here.I say, don't do math in podcasts, but I'm gonna do the math because I really want to lean into this. If you're 25 years old, investing $50 a week until you reach age 65, now that's 40 years of investing. Let's talk about this. That's $2,600 a year.So in 40 years at $2,600 a year, that's $104,000 that you've contributed. So even if there's no growth, I'm talking about zero return on that, you'd have over $100,000 thousand dollars saved. That's not chump change.That's a lot of money. But that's not even the whole story. See, the real story is the growth. Let's talk about compounding.Let's assume a long term average annual return of 7%. That's, that's a conservative stock market average, actually. But 8% or even 10%, here's what that looks like. Let's just say we say 7%.Remember what I said? $2,600, $50 a week at 7% return when you turn 65. Ready for this one? That's a lot of money. Listen to this.If it's an 8% return, again, very doable in the market, you'll have $648,000. Ready for this one again, $50, 10% return, you'll have approximately $905,000. Let that sink in for a second.$50 a week, nothing flashy, nothing dramatic, just consistent. And you're looking at a half to nearly a million dollars. See, you're training a habit. You're building identity.And you're proven that you can be faithful. And that matters more than the number today. But how do you get there? You gotta tie your goal to a future you can actually care about.Because I don't know about you, but I'm not motivated by spreadsheets. But I am motivated by a picture. Make it personal for yourself. Picture. That retirement savings is me loving future me. What does that look like?Are you on the beach when you're on a boat? Are you traveling? Maybe for you it's deeper than that. It's protecting my spouse. I want to make sure my wife is always taken care of.That's the picture I put in my mind. Or for me, maybe it's just choosing peace later. Because maybe you've seen how. Maybe your parents or your, your grandparents struggled.Maybe they're struggling right now. Maybe you're listening to this right now and you're struggling. But give it a name. Instead of retirement, maybe your Future Peace Fund.I love that one. Or how about the older me fund. Guess what? You're going to get older. Or how about this one? My Freedom Fund.See, because when that account has meaning, it stops feeling pointless. But now here's something practical you can do. A lot of people don't think about this one. Make sure you're not missing free money.When clients come in to get their taxes on, the first thing I ask them is, are you covered by a pension plan at work? So if your employer offers a match. Now, what I'm talking about, there is a lot of employers.If you've got a retirement plan, they will match what you put into the plan. Well, that's free money. So even if you can't contribute all that you want to get, at least do enough to get to the match.If their match is 3%, listen, you better be putting 3% in. And if you don't have a match, I still encourage you to put something away. It doesn't have to be perfect, just automatic.And if you don't have a plan at all, go create a simple IRA plan or a Roth ira. Now, we could have a whole discussion about that, but set it up to be automatic, because automatic beats emotional every day.Here's another practical tip. Use what I call the 1% promise. You don't have to jump from $50 to $200 overnight. That's how people get burned out.I've seen so many people say, oh, I've really got to start planning for retirement. I'm going to put $200 a week in. Well, guess what? If you're not living, if you're not used to living that in your budget, that can hurt.But if you choose a tiny increase schedule, here's a great example that let's say every 90 days, this is doable, I think. Increase it by $5 or maybe 1% of your pay, or $10. The goal is not guilt here. The goal is growth.And little by little, that 1% or that $5, the habit grows. And little by little, the account grows as well. But here's the other thing. You got to look at this thing.By zooming out a little bit, those small seeds become real trees in the end. Think about this. Have you ever planted some seeds in your yard?It's funny, on my farm here, when we first moved in 10 years ago, we have a farm that has a big roadway in front of us. One of the things my wife and I wanted is some privacy. So I'll never forget, we planted some trees out there.And when we planted them, they were about 3ft high as I drove over this morning. Beautiful snow on this, on the trees today. Those trees are over 30ft high now, but they started real small.That small seed you're planting in your retirement account is going to blossom into real big trees. And here's the thing, don't check your balance every day because it'll be overwhelming because you're going to feel like nothing's happening.So as I always say on this show, pick a rhythm, check it quarterly, celebrate the progress, track those contributions, look at what you're really doing and remind yourself this progress isn't only the market gains. Progress is that you didn't quit. Because one thing I know is those faithful steps, they add up over time. So here's your win for today.Set your retirement contribution, auto increase if your plan allows it, do 1% per year. If not, set a calendar reminder for 90 days from now to increase it by $5 or $10 today. Just that simple.Because one small decision today protects your future without pressure. Well, let's look at the Bible verse I picked out for today. It's from the book of Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 11.Whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow again. That was Proverbs 13:11. Why is that? Because God honors steady faithfulness. And yes, growth is often slow.But when you look at that account balance at 65 and you've got almost a half a million dollars by putting $50 a week away, that's real growth, my friend. How about we pray together? Lord God, you see the discouragement on our faces and in our hearts sometimes.And you see how easy it is to look at a small number and feel like it doesn't matter. I just want you to remind my friend that faithfulness does matter, Lord. So give them strength to keep showing up.Give us all wisdom to automate, to increase slowly and to refuse that lie, that small means pointless. Provide for them today and prepare for us all tomorrow. And let peace rise in all of our hearts as we take these steady steps towards freedom.And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. Here's my encouragement for you today. Don't despise the small start. Because what does scripture tell us? God grows things little by little.And if you've got a question for this show, I would love to answer your question on this show. Go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question we'll put that in the show notes. But again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionand hey, you know what else you can do? You can actually record a voicemail message for me by going to our website. So thank you so much for joining me today. Stay financially savvy.May God bless you and you have a great day today.