Many of us are like the ostrich with the head in the sand when danger is around. Especially when it comes to thinking about and planning for our retirement.  For the young, it is so far off that there is no need to think about it. While people are in the middle of their lives, they have too many other financial pressures to give much thought to. By the time we are in our 50’s and 60’s, panic has set in. We realize that we will not have the kind of retirement we had all planned since our savings are too low.

This usually means working a lot longer, sometimes well past age 65. Some people want to work, while others never want to work again. Let’s at least have a choice.

How Can We Avoid this Panic?

The answer is quite simple. It does take some willpower and some perseverance. However, if you start saving early enough for your retirement, it can be quite easy to have large retirement savings when you retire. The best part is that after a short while, you will not even miss the money you save each week from your paycheck. Just take 10% and put it in a savings account. Somewhere you cannot touch it for any reason until you retire. Let’s illustrate this with a couple of small examples.

If you were to start setting aside $100 a month until retirement at age 60, at an average of 7% interest rate, you would have $239k in your savings for retirement. If you retired at age 60 and lived until age 80, you would receive $22k per year. Not bad for just setting aside $100 per month!

We use this example to illustrate how easy it is to build up a retirement plan by saving a small amount each month. We go further by suggesting that a person should set aside 10% of their salary yearly for retirement.  Ten percent is certainly affordable. Once you get used to being without the money, you do not even think about that 10% you are setting aside.

The Ten Percent Investment Plan Solution

Let’s assume that you make $50 thousand a year and are disciplined to set aside 10% or $5000 per year in your retirement savings plan. $5000 per year sounds like a lot, but it is only $416 monthly. You might have done without a car or some other convenience, but that should be an easy sacrifice to make your retirement comfortable.

So with our example, you will set aside an average of $5000 a year into a savings plan at an average of 7% interest rate until age 60. By the time you are age 60, you will have $998k or almost a million dollars saved. If you live for another 20 years until age 80, you can afford to draw $94k per year from your retirement plan. Wow, that is not too shabby! All for just setting aside 10% a year.

Some Issues to Consider – Ten Percent Investment Plan

Now some people will say that there is no way I can afford to set aside %5000 a year in my early 20s. True, our best earning years are later in life. However, if you always invest 10%, you may end up only setting aside $2k a year initially, but in later years as salaries increase, you may find that 10% means you are investing as much as $10k a year. This will more than make up for the difference in the beginning years.

Can you make an average of 7% return every year? Probably over the lifetime of your savings plan. You will make significantly less in some years, while in others, you will make significantly more. Based on past market statistics, it should average around 7% over the 40 years or even a bit higher.

But the government will tax me and take a lot of my earnings. This is true, and that is why you need to invest your money in a tax-free savings account ( Canada) or an RRSP ( Canada ), or a 401 K ( United States ). These accounts will let you build up your nest egg without being taxed by the government while saving for retirement. When you retire and begin withdrawing funds, you will be taxed at the tax rate commensurate with your total income.

This is Your Life. Take Care of Yourself

We have seen over the past decade that several really big companies have suffered badly or gone out of business. Also, the volatility of the markets has caused many retired or pre-retirement people to wonder if they will have enough money to be comfortable.

We have all learned that we must look after ourselves and not depend on our company or government to look after us. That means we must take responsibility for our savings investments and practice good savings techniques and strategies. This means we need to be involved with our investments.

Diversify

Be extremely careful and invest wisely. Avoid placing all of your investments in one place. If it is too good to be true, then it probably is. Just think about the recent Ponzi schemes that have come to light. Investors lost millions of dollars when the investment was too good to be true.

Diversify investments across multiple companies, diversify investments across multiple advisers, and then pump them for information to make decisions about the best approach for your investment strategy.

Summary

Invest 10% of your income every year into triple-A investments inside a tax-free account, diversify your investments, and avoid investments that sound too good. Start early in your life with your 10% plan, and in no time, you will have a nest egg that will help ensure your comfort during retirement.

Placing the 10% in your investment savings plan every year takes discipline. It also takes discipline not to touch this nest egg when you are short of money or need to buy a house.