3 Retirement Savings Mistakes You're Bound to Regret
Social Security generally won't provide enough income for you to live comfortably as a senior, so you'll need to save independently in a retirement plan to ensure that you're able to cover all of your expenses later in life. But if you make these mistakes with your IRA or 401(k), you might wind up with a frightening income shortfall on your hands by the time retirement rolls around.
It's easy to blow off retirement savings early on in your career. When that milestone is 40 or more years away, you may be inclined to spend your money on immediate bills and leisure, figuring you'll catch up on savings later on. But if you don't start funding your IRA or 401(k) from an early age, you'll lose out on years of investment growth that could leave you cash-strapped once your career comes to a close.
Imagine you start saving $200 a month for retirement at age 22. By the time you're 67, you'll have roughly $686,000 to your name, assuming your IRA or 401(k) investments deliver an average annual 7% return (which is doable with a stock-heavy investment strategy).
Source Fool.com
