Saving for retirement can be a daunting task. There are student loans, the cost of raising children, the mortgage on your house, health emergencies…the list can seem to be endless. Click here to see the long list of reasons we don’t save. If you’re like most Americans, you don’t have enough retirement savings socked away to last the possible decades of life you’ll live after retirement. However, even those in their 50s can still manage to overcome at least some of that shortage by taking a multi-prong approach according to the Wall Street Journal. It can be daunting to think about saving 15 to 20 percent and for many people even considering it is a non starter. Instead consider increasing your savings rate, postponing your retirement for a few years and holding off on collecting Social Security benefits. While it may not be able to make up the entire shortfall, you’ll get closer to the goal in smaller, more palatable bites.
Here are some more tips on how to save for retirement even if you start late. Even if you are in your 50s, you still have time for the magical compounded interest. No matter whose article you read though, you’re going to have to start sacrificing. Either by spending less, earning more (and potentially that means a second job) or putting off retirement or some combination of the three.
Start by finding some idea about how much you’ll need to retire, there’s a mountain of calculators available, doing some research about what it will take to get there and putting some action into play rather than sitting on your hands. Eventually, you’ll get there. Here’s a great list of steps and tools to get you started.
Finally, don’t do it yourself. Hire a professional to help you work smarter not harder on achieving your goals.
