Retirement Preparation at Each Life Stage
No matter your age, you should be vowing to boost your retirement savings to enjoy the life you lead (or more!) in the future. Betterment can help you do that.
By Miranda Marquit
|
Published: January 2, 2013
When you're younger you can afford to take more risk with your investments as you will have longer in the market.
After 50, you can make additional "catch-up" contributions in many kinds of retirement accounts.
This year, no matter how old you are, commit to improving your retirement situation.
In Your 20s
It’s easy to tell yourself that you have plenty of time when you are in your 20s. No matter how young you think you are, now is the time to start saving for retirement. Compound interest will work in your favor for longer. Learn about investing, and how it works. Start contributing to a retirement account, whether it’s a 401(k) at your work, an IRA, or both. It doesn’t matter if you can only contribute a small amount; the important thing is to get started and in the habit.
In Your 30s
This is a good time to really concentrate on the accumulation/growth phase of your retirement nest egg. You’ll have time to recover if you make mistakes. Plus, now that your earning power has (hopefully) increased, it’s a great time to boost your retirement savings. In your 20s, it was all about getting started. Now, you can probably afford to contribute a little bit more to the cause. Pay attention to your asset allocation, and really get serious about developing a solid retirement portfolio.
In Your 40s
Now that you are starting to inch closer to retirement, it’s a good time to double-check your savings. Are you really investing enough? Do you need to rebalance your portfolio and reconsider your asset allocation? If you think that you will retire early, it might be time to start shifting from accumulating assets to preserving them. At the very least, you should be maxing out an IRA for you and for your life partner.
In Your 50s
Hopefully, by this time, you have been regularly contributing to your retirement account for decades. Even if you haven’t been, you can still take advantage of compound interest if you start immediately to make significant contributions to a retirement account. You can even make “catch up” contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts once you turn 50. If you have been saving up over time, now is when you start moving your asset allocation to reflect safety and income over growth and accumulation. It’s also a great time to reflect on what you want to do with your time during retirement, and start making plans to downsize.
No matter your age, you should make it a goal to improve your retirement. Work on building your assets, and paying down your debts.
Plan now, invest in your retirement accounts, and your future self will thank you.
Recommended Content
View All Resources
How We Use Your Income to Calculate Retirement Spending
Learn how your current income plays a role in calculating your desired retirement spending level in the future.
Top 3 Life Insurance Policy Riders to Consider
When shopping for a life insurance policy, you can pick from additional riders and features. Find out which ones Haven Life believes are most crucial to help protect you and your family.
How to Roll Over Your 401(k) to Betterment
Betterment makes rolling over your 401(k) simple and efficient. Get started online, or with a rollover concierge.
Explore your first goal
Safety Net
This is a great place to start—an emergency fund for life's unplanned hiccups. A safety net is a conservative portfolio.
Retirement
Whether it's a long way off or just around the corner, we'll help you save for the retirement you deserve.
General Investing
If you want to invest and build wealth over time, then this is the goal for you. This is an excellent goal type for unknown future needs or money you plan to pass to future generations.
Smart Saver
You could earn 20X more than a typical savings account with our low-risk investing account for your extra cash.
How would you like to get started?
Your first step toward a smarter investing future starts here.
Create a Betterment account
Go ahead and join the smart, modern way to invest.
See what we can do for you
Tell us a bit about yourself, and we'll show you the benefits of investing with us.
Get a free investing checkup
Help us get a sense of your investing approach and see how you could improve.
Transfer a 401(k) or an IRA
Move an existing retirement account into a Betterment IRA.
Download the mobile app
Enjoy the Betterment experience anywhere on the go.