We went to the RV show this past weekend, and now retirement, and the concept of “Time Value of Money”, is on the brain! How do you best make your $$ work for you?!
As a 20 year old, you’re just starting out and retirement seems a world away. This is actually the BEST time to start saving for your retirement!! With your very first job, start putting 10-20% of your income into savings or preferably 401k. If you start when you are used to living like a poor college student, or just a poor kid in general, you won’t miss 10 or 20% of the income, when you get a bigger job.
If you are already in your 30s or older, and haven’t started saving for retirement, and are struggling to cover all your bills already, start putting 5% or whatever you can away, then increase the amount year over year.
Your investment will typically double at least every 10 years, so the earlier you start, the more you will have put in, in principle, and the more times it will double. If your company offers any type of 401k matching, definitely take advantage of that, too.
This book is dated, but it was amazing helpful when we started out: Money: An Owners Manual, A Personal Guide to Financial Freedom. It makes money management seem pretty simple, and when you follow the recommendations, it is.
The time to plan for retirement, is NOW! You’ll be thankful you started planning and investing early!
katbeckman 