Most employers offer 401ks these days, don’t pass these up! These accounts have a lot of advantages for your retirement savings.
Do as much as you feel you can afford, but as a rule at least ten percent, if not twenty. This will help make up for slower saving years and always keep your investments moving forward. Plan out how much you need, and how much you need to save each year. Don’t forget to add in the returns on your investments, like a 401k or IRA. Making a plan is key to any successful retirement savings.
Then do the math again changing the number of years you’ll be in retirement, to get some numbers for what you’ll need if you retire earlier or later in life. This gives you some estimations of how much you need to save (remember you’ll get returns on your investments that will help with this) and how much of a difference earlier and later retirement points makes.
