Financial Zip

I am thoroughly convinced of the Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared” or “If you are prepared ye shall not fail.” I have spent a lot of time thinking about this because it is such a huge part of getting yourself prepared for retirement. As we have seen to often plenty of people are not prepared going into their golden years. Little saved and all of a sudden here comes retirement. The next thing you know you are one of the greeters at Wal- Mart.

So for those that are reading this that are in their late teens and early 20’s and even going into their 30’s. I want to impart some important ideas that you need to begin doing right now.

When I was 17, 18 all the money that I made from the jobs I had went right out the window. I really didn’t care about saving I was more interested in getting the latest game or what ever I could waste money on.

So instead of wasting all your money on stuff you don’t need I suggest just saving $1 a day. That is $1 a day. Were not talking about 5 10 15 20 a day, but $1 if you started out saving a $1 a day at the age of 20 and did that for 20 years your retirement account would be so you would have a little over $100,000. No, that is not a windfall but if you put into perspective most people right not don’t have $25,000 saved.

Now remember that you as you move into your prime earning years that there becomes more incentive for you to invest in you retirement. Such as employer contributions, deductions if you have an IRA that you can write off at the end of a tax year.

The main thing here is learn from those that didn’t start early. I didn’t and fortunately I have time on my side since I am still 25 to 30 years from retirement. So contribute money early. Here are some suggested investment vehicles to save in:

1. CD’s
2. Money Market Accounts
3. Mutual Funds
4. IRA’s and Roth IRA’s
5. 401(k) and Roth 401(k)
6. Stocks
7. Annuities
8. Cash Value Life Insurance

The best thing if you want to start investing in any of these is to go talk to the institution and get information on their returns or fee’s the might include on these products.

Figure your retirement savings here.




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