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Many times before in other posts, I have mentioned the importance for "young folks" to try to save as much as they possibly can for their retirement early on!

I just came across this interesting article today that re-enforces that fact! So youngsters, as hard as it may be at this time to save for the future, save, save, save. You'll be thrilled you did when you really need it at retirement time!!!



Ignoring the Early Years

Ignoring retirement is easy when you're in your early 20s. After all, there's plenty on a recent grad's financial plate: scraping together the cash to pay rent and student loans, digging out of credit-card debt, and, well... one has to live a little, too. "Huge numbers of young people, even when they could join a 401(k), don't," says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston University.

That's a mistake you'll regret when you realize just how much more money you'll retire with if you start saving early. Consider this: If at age 25 you started contributing 10% of your income to a retirement plan and then stopped contributions when you turned 35, at age 65 you'd have saved the same amount as if you started contributing at age 35 and contributed for the rest of your working years, Munnell says. Thanks to the power of compounding, contributions made early on will have much longer to grow and multiply. "If you start saving early, that's the most potent thing you can do," Munnell notes.

The good news: Because 401(k) contributions are tax-deductible, the bite out of your paycheck will be smaller than your actual contributions.

Years ago our financial adviser told us that the day his son turned 18 he started a pension plan for him, said it was the best thing he could do for his son. That sunk in - finally persuaded our middle daughter to start her own scheme, she puts the minimum in each month that she can but when she hits retirement she'll be glad she did. (mainly because we intend to spend the kids inheritance on fast living:wah:)

the way things are going i'm hurting now and boy am i really gona hurt later





hey look on the bright side i probably wont live that long :wah::wah:

jimbo;684178 wrote: the way things are going i'm hurting now and boy am i really gona hurt later





hey look on the bright side i probably wont live that long


Right Jimbo! I remember how difficult it was to save when I was young too.

But maybe something just as simple as if you could (I know bite my tongue) skip an extra brew or two at the pub during the week, each week, you could be able to save 15 pounds a month!!!

Since 1978, I always was participating in my company's 401K matching program. However, I now regret that I did not contribute "more" into my 401K account when I was much younger! (When it was very hard to make ends meet) I never thought I was going to see retirement when I was young, so I only half heartidly participated, putting in the only minimum 2% allowed! Over the years my smart wife convinsed me to gradually keep increasing the percentage. When I got to about 50 or so, I increased the percentage to the max, and after about age 55 I even added 4% more than the max. Luckily for me, doing that has left me financially quite comfortable now! But one can't help but to think, god only knows how much more I would have had now, (I know, being greedy!) if I started to save more when I was 25!!! So save, save, save, you youngsters, you'll be glad you did!

(A word to the wise is sufficient, so jimbo in your case I repeat it! Save,save save!!!:D:wah::rolleyes::p)