Saving For Retirement: It's Not Your Parent's Retirement Anymore

Getting ready for retirement is a lot harder than it used to be. Companies no longer offer pensions and many are decreasing or eliminating matching contributions to 401K retirement plans. Moreover, Social Security retirement benefits are getting limited and you may have to wait longer to collect benefits. Which means it's basically up to you to fund your own retirement; you can no longer rely on Social Security to pay your bills while in retirement. To make sure that you will have a comfortable retirement, you'll need to begin planning and saving now.

But for many people in the working world, it's hard to save. You need every dime you have to pay the bills, get the kids through their dentist bills and dresses for school and have a little left over at the end of the month for dinner and a movie. So how can we ever find ways to to put money back for retirement under these conditions?

The key to savings is to take advantage of changes in your income to start a savings program. For example when you start a new job with a new salary, before you get used to that paycheck, create a direct deposit of a small amount of money into a tax deferred account such as an IRA. The money moves straight in there and you never notice it in your paycheck. The funny thing about how we all think is that you live up to the level of money you are getting. So if you never see that $50 or $100 in your paycheck, you will adjust your lifestyle accordingly and suddenly you have a plan in place to save for retirement.

You can apply the same concept to payments you may have automatically subtracted from your account. If you are giving a car payment or you have a health club due taken directly out of your account, when those things come to an end, think about whether you want to see those direct withdrawals stop entirely. If you are not used to having that money in your budget, you may be able to have your bank direct deposit partial or all of that amount straight into your retirement account.

Just imagine how nice it would be if you could put your car payment into retirement savings every month. You would see a very significant amount of money build up in that account in no time. And when you start seeing the financial reports start coming in from your bank or whoever is managing your retirement funds and you see it truly start to build up, the vision of a secure retirement future for you and your spouse will begin to be a reality for you.

Another exciting way to build up that retirement account is to make a project of it. You and your spouse could take on the challenge to do some form of contract or temporary work every month or so and put all of that money into your retirement fund. Maybe he can move out with friends and cut wood and sell it around town for firewood. Maybe she could use her artistic knowledge to make original art works and sell them at the nearby crafts fair or flea market.

Saving for retirement may appear difficult now, but it's essential if you want to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Gone are the days where you could rely on your company and Social Security benefits to fund your retirement. It's up to you to make sure you have enough money to have a fun and financially secure retirement.

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Saving For Retirement: It's Not Your Parent's Retirement Anymore

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