The Importance of Saving for Retirement

People often fail to understand the ramifications of not properly saving for retirement. They wake up one day in the distant future and wonder how they’re going to pay their bills.

Are you on this path? Take action now before it’s too late to do something about it. You don’t want to have to work full-time to pay your bills in your 70s and 80s. And you don’t want to sacrifice your comfort in your golden years because you barely have enough money to scrape by.

Other reasons to save money now for retirement include the following:

• You might not get enough money from Social Security to cover all of your expenses
• People are living longer now than at any other time in history
• It’s a lot easier to save than you might think, so there’s no reason to fear retirement savings
• You might run out of time and you may not have an option to save for later if you wait too long

Are you starting to recognize the need to save for retirement? To find out more about each of the reasons mentioned above, please keep reading the information shared below.

Social Security Benefits Often Aren’t Enough to Cover Our Monthly Expenses

In a perfect world, your monthly Social Security check will easily cover your day-to-day and monthly obligations. But this isn’t the case for most people. In fact, most people that attempt to live on Social Security alone have to struggle and sacrifice just to get by.

On average, Social Security typically pays every day Americans roughly 40% of what they used to bring home when they were a full-time employee.

Think about that for a second…

Are you prepared to live on 40% of the income that you’ve grown accustomed to making over the years? Is that going to be enough to cover your everyday expenses?

In most cases, the typical American needs to supplement this income in some way, shape, or form. Many of them have to take part-time jobs in their 70s and 80s just to pay the monthly bills.

Others went about things in a different and smarter way. They recognized the value of saving for retirement early and they put enough money aside to cover their additional expenses that their Social Security check isn’t big enough to pay.

These people get to live comfortably in retirement without having to scrimp or sacrifice as much as Americans who failed to save money in this way.

People Live Longer Now Than Ever Before

Unfortunately for many of us, this is a blessing and curse all rolled into one. It’s great that we get to live life longer and enjoy the beautiful things that life in this world has to offer.

Yet, unfortunately many of us aren’t prepared to live comfortably in our golden years from a financial standpoint. We do not have enough money to pay our monthly expenses and many of us don’t have proper health insurance in place, so our medical bills become nearly impossible to pay.

You do not want to have to sacrifice your health for money, yet millions of Americans find themselves in this situation every day. They have to forgo proper medical treatment because they didn’t save for retirement and they weren’t prepared to pay their doctors bills that seem to pile up later on in life.

This doesn’t have to be your future by any means. You can begin saving for retirement now and make the most of the compound interest that will accrue on your behalf. Get started now even if you’re in your 40s and 50s because every penny will help once you finally retire.

Saving Money Is Easier Than You Think – There’s No Excuse

Too many Americans believe that it’s impossible to save money. They convince themselves that many of the things that they want are the things that they actually need, but this isn’t necessarily the truth most of the time.

Instead of attempting to do this the hard way, you can have a portion of your paycheck automatically deposited into a retirement savings vehicle like an IRA or 401(k). This money will come directly out of your paycheck like it was never there in the first place.  

If you set up an automatic payment plan like this, you will not miss the money. You hardly even notice that it’s gone because this regular payment into your retirement account will feel like a normal expense. But it’s actually setting you up in a way that you’ll be able to live comfortably in your golden years when you finally do retire for good.

You want to live comfortably in old age, right? Then take this seriously and plan for your financial future right now. Start paying yourself first today so that you can live comfortably later on.

Time Is No Longer on Your Side the Older You Get

Right now, you might be thinking that you have all the time in the world to save for retirement. You might believe that you can avoid it for now because you’re young enough to make up the difference later.

This thinking is flawed in two ways.

First, the earlier you begin saving for retirement, the bigger and more you’ll be able to take care of compound interest. This interest will accrue magnificently over long periods of time. Believe it or not, you can become a millionaire by investing $6000 a year in an IRA account for 35 years straight.

It really is a beautiful thing to see.

The second type of flawed thinking is that you’re going to remain healthy and strong throughout your entire life. You can get hurt or sick or worse tomorrow and you might not be able to work anymore. This would kill your chances of saving for a comfortable retirement completely, so start now while you’re still in good health.

Final Thoughts

Does anything shared above resonate with you? Do you realize that people are living longer than ever and need money later on in life? Do you realize that Social Security will not likely cover all of your expenses? And remember that time isn’t on your side so it’s easier to save now than ever. Pay attention to this message and heed the warning because your financial future depends on it.