You don’t need to give up your avocado toast or Grande Latte to start saving for retirement. Instead, we show you how to do it as effortlessly as possible.
It doesn’t matter if you’re late to the party where retirement savings is concerned. Your 30s is the perfect time to start investing, maxing out employer contributions, and coming up with a plan for your financial future as you get older. With years of wisdom guiding you and more discretionary income to invest, you’re at an advantage. You can get the most out of your retirement savings by following the advice given here. Best of all, you don’t need to give up your favorite things to afford to do so, either!
The Best Time to Start Saving for Retirement is Today
Many financial experts state that the average 30-year-old should have the equivalent of one year’s salary saved for retirement. If you don’t, you’re like a lot of people your age. You may feel the need to catch up, and that’s ok if you can afford to save more now that you’re older. However, if you have nothing saved, imagine how you’ll feel in ten years when you still have nothing put away for retirement. Every penny counts, and you’ll see how easy it is to save without sacrificing the quality of your current lifestyle to make it happen.
Here’s how to make saving for retirement in your 30s effortless:
Automate Your Savings
Automate your savings so you don’t think about it; out of sight and out of mind. You can’t miss something you don’t have available to spend, right? When you automatically put away a specific amount of money into your retirement accounts, it makes it harder for you to withdraw it. Doing so can mean penalties, and no one wants that! Determine how much you can reasonably afford to put toward retirement and set up automatic transfers. It saves you time, money, and energy.
Save Just One More Percent
Aim for saving one percent more than you’re already saving. Make it a challenge to save a slightly higher percentage than you first started out saving. See what expenditures you can cut back on so you can invest more into your retirement fund. You’d be surprised how much easier it is to reduce your spending than try to live on a pittance as a senior citizen. So tighten your belt, grip your wallet, and make your hard-earned money work doubly hard for you.
Increase Savings Contributions with Raises
Take all raises and save them for retirement. Whatever money you’ve been paid extra for the work you do, take it and boost your retirement savings. Those were funds you weren’t counting on receiving, and you can easily manage to live on your previous salary without giving up things to remain comfortable. Instead, you can use the extra money you earned to give you a momentary feeling of excitement or provide you with more security during your Golden Years.
Reinvest Your Tax Refund
Invest your income tax refund to maximize savings. Like your raises, it’s money that you weren’t necessarily expecting to have available for spending. It’s a considerable amount to put toward retirement when you have little to nothing saved. It’s easy to acknowledge that a new big-screen TV isn’t worth as much to you as the peace of mind as a senior when work opportunities are scarce.
Invest Other Surprise Money
Use your windfalls to secure a brighter future for yourself. Anytime that you have money given to you that you weren’t expecting, you can do a few things with it. You can use it to buy something you want. You can pay down debt, so you have more money to save for retirement, or you can save it immediately with no thought of doing anything else. It’s up to you to determine the best option based on your current needs and household budget. It’s yet another way to save more for retirement fast.
Maxing Out 401(k) Contributions
Max out 401K contributions. Work for an employer that’s invested in your future. Find out what the limits are for 401K contributions, and max them out. It’s an excellent way to grow your nest egg because you’ll have your money and your employer’s money to live off of during retirement. If you follow no other piece of advice listed here, carefully choose your employer based on the benefits package offered to you. You’ll save a reasonable sum of money that way.
The good thing about saving for retirement for the first time in your thirties is that you’ve gotten a lot of the significant life events that you’ll experience out of the way. That means that you’ve had more time to establish yourself in the workforce, too, and earn significantly more money than you did while in your 20s. You’ve also gotten comfortable with what you can reasonably afford to spend and save, too. Think of saving for retirement as investing in your financial future.
To see how your contributions are adding up, you can access tools that help you make sense of how the interest is accumulating. There are separate calculators on our website for simple interest and compound interest. They’re free to use and very beneficial in figuring out the ideal rate of savings for you.
Calculate Your Earned Interest with Our Convenient Calculator Tool
Getting a visual picture of what you’re saving and earning in interest is made more accessible with our helpful calculator tool. You can access it by visiting our calculator and inputting your data into it. It gives you up-to-date information so you can visualize what you’re working towards building for yourself every step of the way. A brighter future is made with every dollar that you save and earn interest off of today. Even the most minor contributions add up over time.