Since I’m in civil service, I was able to join a deferred’s compensation program. It’s pretty much the same idea as a 401K, except the city doesn’t make contributions. However, the fact that the money comes out of my paycheck before I get my hands on it is a tremendous benefit! When I first started working for the city, we lived in a fairly low rent apartment and weren’t paying tuitions yet, so I took the max allowed, 25% of my salary per paycheck. When we bought a house, and the kids started yeshivas, I lowered it to 7.5%. But even so, that will hopefully be a decent nestegg. Otherwise, believe me, we wouldn’t save $5 a week, we basically live from paycheck to paycheck. But B”H, we do have those paychecks.
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