Saving at the late age of 74 to retire

Hi, I'm Deborah. I'm a single mom and was the Executive Director of four non profit organizations in the US while my son was growing up. There was never enough money, but we managed. After he graduated from university, I began to work in global health.

I've been lucky to work in 30 countries and visit others along the way. I've loved the nomadic life and the modest contributions I've been able to make in global health and child protection. What I haven't done is create s savings plan for retirement. As a friend said recently, "It's late, but it's not too late." My dream is to retire in a low cost village or small town in Spain, one with pedestrian walkways and a lovely sense of culture and community. I welcome your help in supporting me to realize this dream. Any funds raised here will go into a new and separate savings account to be used only for retirement purposes.

The photo I've used here was taken during a visit to the huge Tangeil brothel just outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh. CARE was creating self empowerment groups with sex workers who lived in the brothel. Creating functional groups was difficult because the women had never seen examples of power together; they only had experience with power over others, and leaders tended to follow that model. This beautiful young woman and her grandmother in the photo, and also her mother, all grew up in the brothel and into a life of sex work. She was bright enough to do just about anything, but life had put her here. There were younger girls (teenagers) standing outside in the hot sun, with brands painted on their foreheads - newcomers who had likely been trafficked and tricked into being there. The hardest thing I've ever done was walk away and leave those lovely girls trapped in that life. I couldn't have rescued them, wasn't in my power, but I have never felt entirely guilt free about that.

I hope to continue to work a few more years, and try to find better solutions to protecting adolescent girls and young women from exploitation. You can read a little bit about my work in the world in this book available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/WORK-SALAD-EXPANDED-adventures-consultant/dp/B0CRVLR8F9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FNH8M5FYMXAQ&keywords=work+salad+revised+and+expanded+by+deborah+mcsmith&qid=1706038355&sprefix=Deborah+Mcsmith%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-1