nest egg

I have no idea what font I actually use on this site.  I also don't know why it is reading as bolded right now, when that enhancement has not been chosen.  

I'm sitting on the 4th floor of a very nice office building.  I will probably get free lunch today.....again.  There are all of the drinks and snacks a person could want, within a 1.5 minute walk of where I sit.  And yet I'm broke. 

I am (financially) broke in every possible sense of the word.  I don't own anything, I have no inheritance or trust funds coming my way, I am unemployed AND I'm a student, which means I have debt.  Mountains of debt. 

What I also have is a few 401k's and IRA's which have needed tending to for quite some time now.  I came across a random statement from one of them the other day and it dawned on me that with all of the tracking and spreadsheeting and analyzing that I have done of everyone else's funds, perhaps I should do that for myself.  This has shown both good and bad things and has also yielded a lesson.  I'll start with the good.

The good thing is, I have something saved up for retirement and after two days of researching mutual funds, calling financial services companies and active consolidation, I now have one 401k plan with a small chunk of money in it, which is actually performing quite well.  This was quite a pleasant surprise. 

The bad thing is, if I divided my small chunk over the years in which I have been gainfully employed and able to participate in a 401k plan, I have saved virtually nothing year over year and should be (and am) ashamed of myself.  But - again with the bright side - at least I'm aware and contributing now. 

And now the lesson.  And oh what an important lesson it is.....
People don't save anymore.  People don't manage their finances and most people - I was, until Monday, one of them - think that they don't have enough money to invest in anything at all, so they just spend it and wait for the next paycheck.  Short term saving, I have never had a problem with, but after looking at these small funds, seeing what their performance has been and how much small gains can do when compounded and re-invested, I now feel it is my duty to tell everyone. 

It's not that hard to manage and if you just pay attention to where the money is and how that fund is managed and performed, you can actually make a foothill out of a molehill and hopefully later, a mountain out of all of it.  So I suppose I should thank my brokeness for showing me all of that. 

Man, it'd be really nice to have insurance again, though.