Let’s Talk About Retirement… When’s the Best Time to Save?

No matter where you are in your career, you need to have a plan for after you retire. Saving for retirement is the smartest thing you can do for your future.

1. Let me be clear, start saving for retirement as soon as possible, not next week, not next month, but now. If invested now, or sooner than later, your money will have more time to grow through compound interest. By doing this you can avoid playing catch up and worrying if you will have enough.
2. Identify how much you need. You should withdraw no more than 3-4% from your retirement portfolio each year during retirement. So with a portfolio of $1 million, that is $30,000 to $40,000 a year. This may be what you are looking for or it may not be, so make sure you take into account things like your properties and other sources of income and plan accordingly for how you would like to live during retirement. 
3. Open a Roth IRA to potentially save more. Once you have maxed out your 401k, consider saving more money each year for retirement through a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs grow tax free, they avoid capital gains tax on the growth of your contributions, and withdrawals are tax free as well.

Remember everyone’s savings for retirement will look different, due to the quality of life they are hoping to live in those years of their life. A thing that should not be different is to be proactive and plan how much, and where you would like to be putting your money into for your retirement savings.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

A ROTH IRA offers tax deferral on any earnings in the account. Qualified withdrawals of earnings from the account are tax-free. Withdrawal of earnings prior to age 59 ½ or prior to the account being opened for 5 years, whichever is later, may result in a 10% IRA penalty tax. Limitations and restrictions may apply.