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Gift of
a good retirement
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[December 29, 2011]
When
the holidays come, the money goes — usually for presents and
parties, greeting cards and traveling to see family. Before you
spend that last holiday buck, make sure you set some cash aside for
retirement as a gift to yourself.
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If you haven’t started
already, now is the time to begin saving for your retirement — no
matter what your age. If retirement is near, you’ll want to hop on a
fast sled right away. If you’re younger and retirement seems a
lifetime away, it’s still in your best interest to begin saving now
— compound interest will help your retirement fund to snowball.
Don’t take our word for it.
You can check out the numbers yourself. A great way to start
figuring out how much you will need for retirement is to learn how
much you could expect from Social Security. You can do that in
minutes with Social Security’s online Retirement Estimator.
The Retirement Estimator
offers an instant, personalized estimate of your future retirement
benefits based on your earnings record and a few variables you
enter. Try it out at
www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.
We encourage saving for
retirement, but there are reasons to save for every stage of life. A
great place to go for help is
www.mymoney.gov.
MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching
Americans the basics about financial planning. Whether you are
planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in
your 401(k) plan, the resources at
www.MyMoney.gov
can help you.
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 Be sure to give yourself a
holiday gift you deserve. Not only should you set aside some money
for your retirement fund, but you should also spend some time
looking at these websites and picturing your future retirement.
Spend a little bit of holiday time at
www.socialsecurity.gov.
By Judith Bartels
Social Security District
Manager in Springfield, IL
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