Beyond SS: The Yummies of Saving

by Roberta Ness

A Recipe for Retirement pt.2

Excellent to have you here again for what will be a real espresso of financial planning. Following on from Social Security, we'll be discussing the planning necessary to live through old age, and to live well. As I said last week, Americans today say they think they'll need 1.46 million to retire comfortably. To get to that comfort zone, you'll need to be proactive starting as early as possible and save, save, save.

The math of saving early and often is as simple as it is magical. Why? Because of the wizardry of compound interest. Consider this: let’s say you put away just $100 total when you started work in 1987. Assuming a conservative 3%/year interest plus inflation, that $100 would now be worth a whopping $7,300. No joke.

Saving into a 401k (defined contribution plan).

Offered by many employers, you contribute a percentage of your before-tax salary and your employer matches…