Retirement Myth #1: I Can Wait Until I'm Earning More To Save For Retirement

BOSTON (CBS) - The reality is if you start later in your working career you will need to save more money than if you had started younger.

The key years for saving have passed you by if you start in your 40s. Your best income producing years may still lie ahead but at 40 you have many more demands on your income compared to your 20s. You could have kids needing braces, college tuition. You may have kids from a first marriage. Then there is really no money left over for retirement savings.

With fewer employers offering pensions to employees today you are going to be responsible for your own retirement savings.

Starting to save for retirement with your first job could give you 45 years or more to accumulate retirement dollars.

The longer you wait to start saving for retirement the more money you will need to save. An ING Direct (now Voya Financial) survey found that 33% of previous retirees re-entered the workforce because they did not have enough money saved for retirement.

The survey also found that 40% would have maxed out their annual contribution if they had a known how much money was needed to retire, and another 16% felt a better financial role model would have helped.

For example, if you want $1 million in your retirement nest egg at age 67 and you start saving and investing at age 20 you will need to come up with $166 a month for your retirement account or $2,000 a year.

Now I assumed you would invest this money in a retirement plan investing in the stock market and over your working career could average an 8% return which is doable.

If you wait until age 40 to start saving and you want that 1 $million you will need to save $880 a month, that's 5 times what a 20-year-old needs to save.

I have included a chart to illustrate retirement savings at various times in your working career below.

You are never too young or too old to start saving for retirement. I do believe most young workers can have a comfortable retirement if they are disciplined about saving starting with their first job.

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• Anthony Silva