How old are you? How many years away from retirement are you? No matter how you answered any of those questions, if you aren’t saving some money away for your retirement right now, you’re already behind. But it’s okay, being behind is no big deal as long as you recognize that you’ve fallen behind and take steps to remedy it right this second.
It’s easy for the personal finance gurus out there to recommend that you put 20% of your salary into savings every month, those gurus are rich and can do whatever they want. I’m not a guru and I’m not telling you to save a specific percentage, but I am telling you that you have to save and the easiest way is to make it automatic and to do it before you start spending.
If your company offers a 401k, are you signed up and contributing? If they have a match, are you getting it? If the answer is no, you’re in trouble but it’s okay… sign up and start contributing. If you’re giving up a match, then that’s just plain stupid because that’s free money right there. If I said I would give you a dollar for each dollar, up to 5 dollars a day, you saved, wouldn’t you save it? Heck yeah, or you’re a fool. Well if your company offers a match, that’s what they’re doing… so don’t be a fool.
What if you don’t have a 401k, consider opening a Traditional or Roth IRA. Seriously it only takes a few minutes to open up an account and it’s not even hard, so don’t be intimidated. Do not let the fear of the unknown stop you from saving! Every dollar you save now will turn into hundreds if not thousands when you retire… and you do want to retire right?
So, get off your butt and start saving!