I recently ran into this piece on Yahoo titled Your Retirement Nightmare. It contrasts the perceptions of retiring today with the realities of retiring (in the piece, I think they've actually mixed up some of the perceptions and realities, so take note in you read the piece.) They cover several retirement-related issues, but one of them stood out to me in particular -- how much we're saving for retirement. Here's the situation:
Without a pension plan to rely upon, workers must increasingly save for their own retirement. That means stashing a lot of money into accounts like IRAs and 401(k) plans, which offer tax breaks for saving.
But here's what is happening:
Almost half of workers saving for retirement report that they have less than $25,000 saved or invested for retirement. (That doesn't include home equity or the value of any pension benefits that may or may not be coming their way.) Less than half of us have attempted to calculate how much we'll need in retirement.
Anyone surprised here? I'm not.
What's my suggestion for those not yet saving for retirement (or those that think they may be saving too little?) Set your retirement number (here's how I set my retirement number) and start saving now to get yourself to your goal. The sooner you get started, the sooner compounding can start working for you to grow your retirement nest egg.
For more thoughts on planning and saving for retirement, see these links:
This truly does worry me, not only as a person concerned for his own well=being long term, but everyone around me. I know 95 percent of the people I work with who are my age (less then 30) have almost nothing of a nest egg; and assume our state pensions (haha) will be there, as well social security. State pension systems are almost broke, and if SS makes it another thirty years, I'll be impressed.
Posted by: Andrew | May 23, 2007 at 08:14 AM
I'm seeing the same thing for the 20 something around me. Nobody wants to save for retirement since it's so far away. (Good luck trying to tell them the value of starting early)
There seems to be this mentality of "enjoying life" while you are young.
Posted by: Edmund | May 23, 2007 at 09:44 AM
I'm in my early 30s, and I'm already concerned I'm not saving enough--I've had enough to get the company match in the 401(k) since I was 22 (when I started working), but as much as I should have. At least I've still got some time on my side, and I'm trying to improve my outlet. I wish someone had guided me, or at least piqued my interest in personal finance years ago. In my 20s, I thought I was doing well. Now I know better.
Posted by: Beth | May 23, 2007 at 11:29 AM
D.Mund: I agree explaining the need to save to a younger crowd is rather difficult, I myself just turned 19, and I'm looking into investing in an Index Fund, also I'm looking into Retirement funds, thats a cloudy are for me, so im in the process of doing research, any suggestions???
Posted by: Truth | May 23, 2007 at 12:32 PM
Hey Yahoos! (how appropriately named!)
I am a boomer earning minimum wage with student loan debt. How much do you expect me to be saving for retirement?
Posted by: Minimum Wage | May 23, 2007 at 05:53 PM
In many regards, it matters less how much than how much relative to others. Take comfort that when you retire there will be plenty of people to hire to do the work you no longer want to do.
Some states, like CA, are in good shape, others, like IL, aren't. Better know how it is doing if you are depending on it.
I would hope that is an echo boomer. The thought of a boomer still with student loans makes me cringe.
Posted by: Lord | May 23, 2007 at 07:21 PM
You can save for retirement, regardless of how much you make. 5% of anything is still 5%. Heck, I started by emptying my pockets every night of lose change. In six months, I had almost three hundred dollars. Thats enough to fire up a Roth IRA at ING with 50 bucks left over.
Posted by: Andrew | May 24, 2007 at 11:59 AM
We have created a virtual retirement planner with the specific goal of getting people to save more for retirement.
We adopted a completely different approach than the existing calculators by focusing on the motivational aspect. Our goal is to make retirement saving accessible to the majority of people who feel overwhelmed about the financial lingo.
We have been developing this software for several months. Now we are testing it, and we would love to hear your feedback. Thank you!
Posted by: Felipe Albertao | May 25, 2007 at 05:15 AM
Our federal government is trying to save everyone from everything and spending trillions in the process. Yet, they are even addressing upcoming problems like long term care. Our feds need to back off, not grow bigger. Our taxes are going to shoot through the roof one of these days.
Posted by: aai | June 18, 2009 at 07:06 PM