I choose to remain a Midwesterner for many reasons, but one of them is that I really appreciate having four seasons. That doesn’t mean that I like all four seasons equally.

In Illinois, spring holds the promise of warming days. It also frequently disappoints us with cold, rainy days and the occasional snowstorm.      

I’m guessing most people look forward to warm summer days. As someone who often wears a suit to work, anything over 80° can leave me a sweaty mess.

I do enjoy freshly fallen snow, but let’s be honest, most of our winters are just cold, with gray skies and brown slush.

Fall is my favorite time of the year and I try to spend much of it outside. As a child, I remember riding with my grandpa on his combine during harvest or on a tractor pulling a grain wagon.

As an adult, my daughter and I would head out to Curtis Orchard in Champaign to pick apples, then return to pick out pumpkins. We also loved visiting Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch outside Rantoul to navigate their corn maze and pick out a Christmas tree.

I visited Curtis Orchard last weekend with Erica and the boys for some apple picking and a little fall fun.

In retrospect, it seems like I was collecting as many outdoor experiences as possible before the cold gray winters locked me inside for a few months. Sort of like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter, or a bear eating as much as possible to prepare for hibernation.

Just like we have seasons throughout the year, we also have seasons in life. I often like to say that we shouldn’t live to work, we should work to live a better life. And the best way to have better golden years is to start saving early.

That’s why we established My Illinois Savings. The easiest way to save is when you don’t even realize you are doing it. People who have automatic workplace deductions deposited in their own individually controlled savings accounts are much more likely to be saving for retirement than someone who doesn’t.

My Illinois Savings is available for Illinois workers whose employers do not offer a workplace retirement plan, self-employed individuals, or anyone who wants an easy way to save in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that they can take wherever their career leads.

Last spring, we lowered costs, made it easier for employers to use, and added an app for savers. My Illinois Savings is now one of the lowest-cost Auto IRA programs for savers. More than 180,000 people have saved more than $370 million toward retirement.

If you have not been enjoying nice fall days outdoors, I encourage you to get out of the house. If you have not been saving for your retirement, I encourage you to check out My Illinois Savings. You will thank yourself later for starting today.

Sincerely,  
Michael