Jeff Kizer doesn’t equate money with happiness. But his future concerns him.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff Kizer is among a handful of participants selected to work one-on-one with a financial expert for CNN’s Savings Challenge. This story was originally featured in the Savings Challenge newsletter, which you can sign up for here .

When it comes to money, Jeff Kizer’s mindset might best be summed up as … chill.

Jeff said he loves both his jobs – one as a math teacher at a private school and one as a tennis coach. And he wants to work into his 70s if possible. For him, he said, happiness isn’t tied to having more money.

“Money doesn’t bring me happiness – it’s doing stuff with people I love, like playing basketball with friends,” he said. “Money is a resource to do things that make me happy, and I don’t do a lot of things.”

Maansi Srivastava/CNN

Craig Toberman, a certified financial planner who is working with Jeff on his goal to bump up his retirement savings, said Jeff has a few big things working in his favor financially:

He is living within his means.

He doesn’t carry high-rate credit card debt. And ….

He has “the right mindset. Money is psychological. He’s enjoying the journey. That takes a lot of stress off,” Craig said.

CNN Photo Illustration/Photograph by Jessica Lauren

Jeff has been putting away a quarter of his combined income of $113,000 into two 401(k) plans and had amassed nearly $165,000, including $10,000 in an IRA, when he began the CNN Savings Challenge. But he said he’s not trying to “hustle” to catch up as many people in their late 50s do. “Everyone around me is racing to retirement,” Jeff said.

To get a better sense of Jeff’s financial situation, Craig asked him to set up an online account at SocialSecurity.gov to get his latest Social Security statement and learn what his estimated benefit will be when he retires. And he asked Jeff to get more details about the formulas behind the 401(k) matches he receives.

While saving more is often recommended to anyone concerned they won’t have enough in retirement, Craig told CNN that in Jeff’s case he may actually recommend saving a little less – at least until Jeff pays down more than $80,000 in debts, which include a student loan and a personal loan. Doing so will buy him a little more financial freedom in the years ahead while still building a sufficient nest egg.

What’s next: We’ll catch up again with Jeff in a few weeks. But next week, you’ll meet another participant, Abbey Graf.

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编者按：杰夫·凯泽是少数几位被选中参加CNN“储蓄挑战”活动，并与金融专家进行一对一辅导的参与者之一。本文最初刊登于“储蓄挑战”新闻简报，您可以在这里注册订阅。

谈到金钱，杰夫·凯泽的心态或许可以用“冷静”来概括。

杰夫说他很喜欢他的两份工作——一份是私立学校的数学老师，另一份是网球教练。如果可以的话，他想工作到70多岁。他说，对他而言，幸福与拥有更多金钱无关。

“金钱并不能给我带来快乐——快乐来自于和爱的人一起做事情，比如和朋友们一起打篮球，”他说。“金钱是一种资源，可以用来做让我快乐的事情，但我能做的事情并不多。”

曼西·斯里瓦斯塔瓦/CNN

注册理财规划师克雷格·托伯曼正在帮助杰夫提高退休储蓄目标，他说杰夫在财务方面有几个非常有利的因素：

他过着量入为出的生活。

他没有高额信用卡债务。而且……

克雷格说：“他心态很好。金钱是一种心理因素。他享受这个过程，这让他减轻了很多压力。”

CNN图片插图/摄影：杰西卡·劳伦

杰夫将他11.3万美元年收入的四分之一存入两个401(k)退休计划，在参加CNN储蓄挑战赛时，他已经积累了近16.5万美元，其中包括1万美元的个人退休账户(IRA)。但他表示，他并不像许多年近六十的人那样“拼命”追赶。“我周围的人都在争分夺秒地赶着退休，”杰夫说道。

为了更好地了解杰夫的财务状况，克雷格让他登录 SocialSecurity.gov 网站注册一个在线账户，以便获取他最新的社保缴费记录，并了解他退休后的预计福利金额。他还让杰夫详细了解他所获得的 401(k) 养老金匹配缴款的计算公式。

虽然人们通常建议那些担心退休金不足的人多存钱，但克雷格告诉CNN，就杰夫的情况而言，他或许应该建议他少存一些钱——至少在杰夫还清超过8万美元的债务之前，其中包括学生贷款和个人贷款。这样做既能让他在未来几年拥有更大的财务自由，又能积累足够的退休金。

接下来：几周后我们会再次见到杰夫。但下周，您将会认识另一位参与者，艾比·格拉夫。

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