Top Ten Personal Finance Mistakes - Part 6

Start saving now for your long-term financial goals. This means setting up now for retirement. There is every suspicion that social security will not be there when you retire. In fact, social security was never meant to be a substitute for a retirement fund, it was meant as a supplement and a minimal funds for those without.

The earlier you start saving for retirement will mean the more that you will have available when you do retire. A twenty year old who puts aside $25 a week for retirement will have nearly $1.2 million at age 65. Yet a 50 year old who just starts putting aside $250 a week for retirement will have only $450,000.00 at age 65. Which would rather be at 65 years old? Save early and save often.

The Motley Fool ran an excellent article on starting a retirement and savings plan in April 2006 that you can check out here. The Wall Street Journal has a spreadsheet that will help you calculate the cost of that retirement fund so you can determine what to start saving now.

Once you’ve figured out to start saving for a long term goal, check out Part 7, Employee Benefits