We Can’t Predict, but We Can Prepare
We celebrated our dog Mila’s 11th birthday this year. We weren’t sure we would get to do so.
A while back, we could tell something was off. She started drinking a lot of water, and that meant more frequent trips outside.
After many tests and an ultrasound, the vet gave us the diagnosis: There was a tumor growing near her kidneys, and she had Cushing’s disease.
Mila is an important part of our family.
An operation was risky because of where the tumor was located. Ultimately, we opted to try a cocktail of drugs to suppress the tumor’s growth and to deal with the symptoms.
We were told Mila had two to four more months to live. We figured we would spoil her and make the most of the few days we had left with her.
That was nearly three YEARS ago.
We are happy to report that we are still enjoying our time with her, and even at 11 years, she still often acts like a puppy. Other dog owners we meet on our daily walks frequently underestimate her age.
I write this to show that the experts aren’t always right, life expectancy is hard to accurately predict, and we need to plan for whatever the future holds.
This is why our Illinois Secure Choice retirement savings program is so important.
We all have family members who died too young and did not get to enjoy their retirement. We also have family members who lived well into their 90s. That could mean 30 years of retirement.
Our country has a retirement crisis — far too many people have not saved enough for their retirement.
Many people today are struggling just to put a roof over their heads and food on their tables. They will never be able to save the millions of dollars that they would like to have to fund 30 years of comfortable retirement. But just because we can’t save as much as we would like doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t start saving what we can.
If you have a pension or if you are saving through a 401(k) at work, good for you. You might want to consider if you are able to increase your contributions. Check out our Illinois Financial Wellness Hub for some help with budgeting to see if you can save a little more.
If you don’t have a retirement option through your employer, we stand ready to help. We are already helping more than 160,000 Illinois residents save for their retirement through Illinois Secure Choice. To date, they have saved more than $290 million. And through their contributions and investment earnings, that number is growing every day.
Lagomarcino’s is famous for its smooth chocolates, iconic caramel apples, and delicious ice cream sundaes. I recently visited the Moline shop and chatted with employees who are benefiting from Illinois Secure Choice.
If your employer doesn’t participate, you can ask them about signing up. You also can sign up as an individual at ilsecurechoice.com.
You choose whether your contributions go into a Roth or a traditional IRA. You also get to decide how you want to invest your money. You can contribute as much as you are able.
Then, you can follow your account growth online and reduce some of your anxiety about your future retirement.
We have been blessed with far more time with Mila than we were led to believe was possible. I hope that you have many more healthy years ahead of you, and I hope that you will be able to enjoy them because you started planning today for a more secure tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Michael
Illinois Blazes Its Own Trail
State Treasurers don’t typically play a role in infrastructure improvement, but the challenges are too great to ignore. The Illinois FIRST Fund, my office’s $1.5 billion impact investment initiative, is improving our state’s infrastructure and inspiring other states to follow our lead.
Learn about our progress in this article I wrote for The NewDEAL.
Welcome to “The Mailbag,” where I answer your questions about our programs, state government, or anything else you’re curious about.
Q. Greetings. It is nice that people get to know more about your life and family, but what is being done about the crime and out-of-control taxation? Lifelong residents are leaving Illinois simply because of taxes. Those here don’t have the financial means to leave. Any solutions for the mess Illinois is in? —Bob B.
A. Hopefully you notice that I don’t just write about my life and family. I tell stories, share lessons learned from them, and then introduce programs in my office that apply those lessons to help Illinois families.
My office works to give people greater opportunities. Through our programs, we can create change that results in better jobs, neighborhoods, and quality of life. That’s good for everyone.
For example:
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The FIRST Fund is a $1.5 billion program that will spur more than $3 billion in local construction projects, creating jobs and improving roads, bridges, and communications.
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Through the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund, or ILGIF, we invest in technology-based startup companies. We have helped these companies grow and create thousands of jobs.
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Our Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund grant program helps small Illinois nonprofits serve people in need by providing food, housing, and job training. Since 2017, the program has awarded almost $5 million in grants to more than 200 nonprofit organizations, impacting more than 100,000 people’s lives for the better.
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We also help people get a good education that paves the way for them to land higher-paying jobs.
In addition, our investments have performed well. We have smashed records in interest income, which reduces the need for the state or local governments to raise taxes.
I can’t solve all of the problems in our state, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be part of the solution. That’s what we do in this office and my hope is that these emails reach people who will contribute to our state’s success if we help them create more wealth.
If you’ve got a question for “The Mailbag,” please send me an email with the subject line “Mailbag.” I can’t promise we’ll publish every one, but we do read them all — and I enjoy hearing from you.