• skeleton567 - Friday, February 8, 2019 8:55 AM

    Good morning Steve and all.  I just work up to your writing, and will add a few thoughts.  I heartily agree on most of your points, and will add a few items.

    First, as I have commented before, at my advancing age I can attest to the importance of planning for and contributing to your retirement, especially if your employer will match anything you do.  Over our working years together, my wife and I both maxed out the amount we could put into tax-protected savings.  Now we are so thankful that we did that,even though it might have been hard to do back then.

    Now here is a simple and least painful method to accomplish that.  When I was first getting serious about retirement savings back in my 30's, I decided that any time I received a salary increase, I would increase my retirement savings contribution by the net amount of the increase.  The first thing that happens is that you receive the maximum that an employer might contribute if your plan includes matching funds.  That is like finding money.  Second, the increased contributions are fairly painless since you don't get accustomed to living on the increase, so life goes on as all you do is adjust to the inflation factor.   

    I kept records of all this and found it was very comforting when our tax-free retirement  growth became like a 'third income'.  Now that we are retired, and have been for a number of years, that third income continues to work for us and 'send us a check'.  Now, at 75 years, all I have taken from my tax-protected funds is what the feds require me to remove and pay tax on.  The rest continues to grow tax-free until removed.

    My final point is to be extremely careful WHO you trust with managing your funds any time they are not managed by an employers choice.  We had both good and bad over the years.  You need to learn about personal finances and select, with good professional advice, what is appropriate for your situation.  The item in particular that was not a good experience for us was investing in annuities at a point in our effort that was too early for that type of savings.  You need to focus early on growth and later on income.

    How do you save for retirement? Are there services you use that compounds yearly your savings? Thanks!