Who is saving for their retirement?

Question

I want to know how many of you are saving for your retirement...and if you have a pension fund do you think much to it? and do you invest in other things as well ...what is the best way to do this...
I have investments etc but have never set up a pension fund, but my dad is always nagging me to do it ... but I just think that pensions were better in his day (he is retired on the usual 50% final salary etc etc ) and I can't help but think they are a waste of time and other things are better to invest in... and also to be honest I don't really want to be tied down set amounts each month .. everyone knows how hard it is just to live these days ..

Answer 1

i am saving a crate of guiness in the garage every week for my retirement in 10yrs time 52x10=520....they are 24 can crates so should last awhile

Answer 2

Very difficult these days to get a pension. In some larger companies this is still offered. Companies such as GM have much financial difficulty from supporting all of the retirees some those are slowly fading away.

401k's are pretty much the replacemnt for these. Companies off some kind of matching for the money that you put in. You can save through the company "tax free" until retirement.

IRA's are similar to 401k's, but you have to set this up on your own. Most finanicail institutions will let you do that.

Roth IRA are also just like IRA's, but you pay tax on the money now, so when you pull the money for retirement, it's tax free.

You should check with your company to see what they offer. If they do not have any options, check out a website like Fidelity.com

Answer 3

The earlier the better. It may sound cliche but it is so true. Try to save at least 10%-15% in a pretax or tax sheltered investment such as a 401(k) or Roth IRA.

Always start with your 401(k) if you get a match, this is like free money! After getting your match, if you qualify with your income, fund a Roth IRA with after tax dollars. If you fully fund your ROTH and still have not saved 10%-15% of your income, then go back to your 401(k) if you have decent investments there.

It is important to note that 401(k)s and IRAs are not investments, they are a tax treatment on investments. Therefore, you should invest mainly in good growth stock mutual funds. Depending on your age, you will want to diversify differently (for example, younger people want to invest mainly if not exclusively in stock mutual funds whereas once you get older, you may want to put some of this money in safer investments such as bonds).

Like I said, if you can start early, DO IT! My wife and I both started saving for retirement at 21 years old and by 30, we will be done! We can then use that extra income every month for our daily lives. And we will have much more at 65 then if we would have waited until 30 and invested more each month for 35 years!

Do the math, the concept of compound interest can make you extremely wealthy. On the other hand, if you constantly live in debt, compound interest can rob you of everything you have and more. Knowledge is power so good luck!

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

If you are a Tax payer, especially a 40% Tax payer, you must be nuts not to have a Pension (SIPP).

OK, so you have to wait until you Retire .. but chances are you will never get a better deal .. right now, for every £60 you take home you could have put £100 into your SIPP fund instead ..
.. and when you DO finaly retire, you get 25% of your Fund back Tax Free !

Sooner or later Gorden Brown is going to realise that no-one is paying 40% tax anymore (they are all putting it into their Personal Pensions) and when he does, you can bet he's going to pull the plug .. so fill your SIPP with Tax Rebates NOW whilst you still can ..

Answer 5

I am retired now and in the last ten years of my working life I invested my money in the building society that offered the best rates. This proved in my mind to be the best way for for me. No worries like with shares or similar funds just an almost guaranteed income. Prior to this I invested £50,000 with an investment company for ten years and all I got back was my original sum plus £4,000, nothing.

Answer 6

I was contributing the max I could to my 401k when I first got my job, but now I can't because I have to pay a lot out of my paycheck for health insurance through work. Honestly I would rather have access to that 3k or so so I could pay off my student loan, get an apartment, pay for my wedding and when I'm making more than $9 or $10 an hour I could afford to seriously put away money out of each paycheck. I know most of you on here are advocates to start saving for retirement ASAP but I also would like to get out of debt now.

Answer 7

What's a pension. Don't have them any more except for a few special jobs. And there was no "usual" pension. The different companies did what they thought best (for themselves).

401k and personal investments are the way to go. No social security benefits will be left for us. We're going to have to pay for ourselves.

Answer 8

I think about it if that counts! lol Nope no savings, no investments, no retirement plans with work. Too busy trying to keep my head above water now. Besides my son says he'll be rich someday! lol Honestly I do have a plan its just the action part that is so hard to pull of right now.

Answer 9

I have it all set ... I have a substancial savings account thanks to greedy lenders , and uneducated home buyers who lived beyond their means , I had several investments in housing , consumer credit , which is still at a record high due to the housing crunch people have went back to using their credit cards for extra money ...
plus when they first dropped the interst rate , I just re financed my existing home which is 4500 sq ft . and sits on 10 acres out in the country , I paid it off early , and now have no debit at all , while everyone was out buying new homes , new cars , boats , and Hollister clothing , I sat back and made money off everyones wreckless spending , I just paid cash for more land , and will build a home with cash next year , I have 4 cars plus work trucks . no vehicle payments , I saved all I could , invested all I could , and have my roth IRA ready so when I turn 65 I will have 3.5 million dollars , In 3 years I plan to give my son this house , and when my daughter turns 18 she gets the other one ....my son can take over the company at age 25 which will be in 10 years and I will retire and live on my savings until I reach age 65 my daughter can work for the company when she comes of age if she wishes , if not she will get her share of the comapny in cash so she can start her life ....I worked my @ss off , day ,and night , my friends laughed because I worked all the time , never took a vacation never bought new cars ( they are terrible investments ) ..now that it is all coming together , they are having the boats and new cars repoed , and some are falling in to foreclosure , I played the hand I was delt and stayed in the game , they a folding and now they are just another victim of the credit trap ....Banks spent billions on advertising saying you need credit cards , you need to borrow , you need good credit ..even kids toys have plastic credit cards for toddlers to practic swiping cards with Master Card logo's on them , some have Amex , but that was the banks plan was to drown people in debit , and they won , they did free checking for poor people , when a Bank gives its projected earnings say 150 milloin for next year , half of that is anticipated profits off of NSF Charges from free checking ....consumer debit is over 2.450 trillion dollars , and they have the nerve to fuss about the National Debit ...

You can keep your investments , but the markets are no sure way , you need something to fall back on , you dad has suffered hard times if he is as old as mine , he knows what he is talking about , if the market crashed tomorrow , what would you have ??? if we hit a tiny depression people with credit will have nothing , those with something in the bank will be fine ..
You can listen to dear old dad , or fall like everyone else who thought they needed no savings or retirement ,

I have 7 digits in the banks , and I have a big IRA when I get 65 , I still make over 100K per year , and I still get my clothes from goodwill , and I drive used cars ...people can laugh , but everything I have is paid for , it is not on a plastic credit card or set up in payments ...there is no way anyone can take away my stuff ...In fact I do not even have a credit card ....

it is the old saying ..You can pay now , or you will pay later

all those who lusted after the finer things they could not afford , and all the Banks consumed with greed ...It is time to pay for those sins .....

Answer 10

A pound saved when you are 20 is worth a hundred pounds saved when you are 50.