Last week at my work we had a representative from TransAmerica come out to meet with our employees one on one to answer any questions and help you be better prepared for the future, RETIREMENT!
If you're anything like me you're no where near being prepared... well it's not too late!
I know... it's hard to save money. You need the money now. You don't make enough to save. I know every excuse in the book, trust me I've made those excuses myself as well.
This is only an example but think of it this way...
You can either save $100 a month now or wait until next year and now you need to save $200 a month. The longer you wait... the more you'll need to save to catch up on your income.
Okay, that's a horrible example but basically start saving now... or you'll need to sacrifice more later. Start making small changes now and eventually it'll just be a habit. Trust me, you won't regret it.
My company has an automatic deduction where every pay check they automatically take it out and add it to my 401k. Which is what I opted to do because if they take it out then I don't have to worry about it.
Personally, I am contributing about 2% of my income to my 401k when really I should be more about the 6%-10% range. At this time, 6% is a huge contribution and will take some adjusting to so my plan is to gradually increase my contribution. So I'm starting off at 2% as of last week :) once I start seeing what is being taking out I can start adjusting my lifestyle and know more of how much I can spend on a monthly basis. After about 2 months or so I'll increase my contribution to 3% and etc.
Another thing you can do is if you have an annual increase of say 4% automatically add that 4% to your contribution. A good way to think of it is that the 4% is extra income. If you've lived off comfortably without that 4% you can continue to live that way. If you want to loosen the strings a bit contribute 3% instead of the full amount that way you feel like you've gotten a raise :)
I know a lot of people are relying on getting social security when they retire but the truth is... you don't know how much you're going to get and whether you'll get any type of assistance at all. If you're young and are in your 20-30s the truth is you'll may not get any... so you're on your own!
If you don't start saving now, do you really want to have your family have the burden of taking you in? Don't put that stress on then and prepare for the future.
Even if you can't contribute as much as you should, any amount is better than none. Start somewhere. JUST DO IT!
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