Unprecedented hard times are difficult to anticipate and can take a real hit on your savings. This is why you should start considering saving for retirement early. The sooner you start, the easier time you will have adjusting to unexpected financial hardships. In this article, we can provide some tips and tricks on how to save money for retirement and how to cut costs.
#1 – Cut Back on Unnecessary Spending
Try to find ways you can cut back on costs. Effective ways of doing this are looking into your insurance policies and seeing what sort of discounts they offer. There are several hidden discounts you may be eligible for. If your company doesn’t offer you many, then take a look at their competitors and compare car insurance quotes and other types of insurance that those companies offer and see which ones better suit your needs.
You can also save money by eating out less and spending more money on homemade lunches. Take a look at the things you spend money on and see where you can save on some expenses. The more you save, the more you can put in for retirement. Any amount of money is helpful.
#2 – Automate Your Savings
There are many savings accounts out there that allow you to make automatic payments to them. Chances are these savings will also give you benefits for doing automatic payments such as matching contributions you make or sometimes having interest that grows over time.
Another added benefit is if you set one up early, it will slowly start to grow over time without you having to think about it. Just be sure to up the amount you contribute to your savings as your financial situation grows.
#3 – Budget and Open an IRA
Use a retirement calculator to figure out how much you need and learn how to set a retirement budget. Setting up a budget and goals is a great way to have a solid idea of what you are working toward and allows you to set benchmarks along the way. Overall, you will be far more satisfied than having a nebulous goal and a vague idea of what you can achieve.
With all of that in mind, setting up an individual retirement account (IRA) is a great way to start building your savings. You have a few options on what sort of account to go for. There is the traditional IRA and the Roth IRA. Determining which one works for you depends on a few factors.
The traditional IRA is based on your income and is beneficial if you or a partner or spouse have a workplace retirement plan. This plan is sometimes tax-deductible, and it can grow tax-deferred over time until you start making withdrawals from it.
If you meet certain income limits, though, a Roth IRA may be more beneficial. You fund these with after-tax contributions and once you reach a certain age, they are free from federal taxes and sometimes state taxes as well.
#4 – Use a 401(k) and Match Your Employer
With a 401(k) you can contribute pre-tax money to a savings plan. This can add up to be a significant contribution. Since federal tax money is not taken out of what you contribute to the 401(k), you can put in far more money to the savings without it having as significant of an impact on your monthly take-home pay.
If your employer offers you a Roth IRA 401(k) then the money added to this account is your income as an after tax contribution. As such, you will need to adjust according to how much is usually taken out of your paycheck in taxes when estimating how much money to invest in this account. Another thing to note is your 401(k) usually follows you after you leave your job.
Also, many employers may offer to match the amount you put into your 401(k) with their contribution. Take full advantage of this if your employer offers it. So if your employer offers to match up to 5 percent of your income to your 401(k), then put in as much as 5 percent of your income into it. This way you receive the full benefit offered to you.
#5 – Start Early on Savings
Of course, the best advice is to start saving for retirement as early as possible. A benefit of doing this is you can start gaining compound interest on your savings accounts. The sooner you start, the more you will gain down the line. You will also be open to more opportunities to invest in bonds and other kinds of earnings that can help you in the long run.
You will also have more opportunities to stash any extra funds you make. If you ever find yourself with extra money in your monthly payments — maybe you received a raise or you were given a tax break — consider taking half of it and putting it toward retirement. You can still use the other half to treat yourself to something nice, but having some forethought for later may spare you financial hardship down the road.
These are essential retirement tips, and doing all of these will help you delay tapping into your Social Security right away. The later you can delay using your Social Security benefits, the more you will be able to gain out of it. Technically, you can start using your Social Security benefits by the age of 62. The longer you wait to use it, the larger your monthly payments will be, though.
Savings Tips to Remember
Be sure to start your savings early. The earlier you start, the more benefits you reap. Look into ways to cut costs.
You don’t have to wait until you are 80 to do this either. You can start now. And as always, use whatever extra money you make or find yourself with and put it into your savings.
Brennan Lingo writes and researches for the car insurance comparison site, CheapCarInsuranceQuotes.com. He specializes in finance and insurance.