Cover letters, resumes, applications, internships and job interviews.
For twenty-somethings, the act of finding work is, well, a full-time job in itself. Who has time to worry about retirement if we aren’t even employed?
Apparently, a lot of us. Seventy percent to be exact. A recent study from TheStreet and GfK Public Affairs finds that 70 percent of Millennials haven’t started saving or even thought about a strategy for retirement.
We know the economy is a mess, Social Security is drying up like a Texas gulch and economists predict we’ll be worse off than our parents. So why aren’t we preparing for our twilight years?
Probably for these 16 reasons.
1. Because life can’t go on without a yearly subscription to NFL Red Zone.
2. Kickstarter won’t let me stage a campaign for my own pension fund.
3. You want me to invest in CDs? Um, why? I have all my music on my iPhone.
4. I needed to impulse-buy a $1400 racing bike because, you know, I’m going to train for that triathlon… eventually.
5. You mean with a 401(k), I’m supposed to contribute money from every paycheck?
6. Sure, if I invest shrewdly over several decades, I could be a millionaire in my 70s. But what if I become a millionaire by age 30? Ever think of that?
7. If I could sync my portfolio with Facebook/Twitter and blast out updates whenever I have a solid quarter, I’d be investing like mad.
8. If I can’t dive headfirst into a pool of my coins, then I’m not interested in saving.
9. Yes, a Roth IRA is a smart option if I make less than $112,000/yr as a single person. I hope I don’t cross that threshold at my unpaid internship.
10. I’m sure the government will have money to support me when I reach retirement… said no one, ever.
11. Three words: student loan debt.
12. I can send a tweet in 2.3 seconds. Why would I ever place my money in a portfolio and wait FOUR DECADES to spend it?
13. Modest monthly contributions to a range of diverse mutual funds? Yes, I’d love to. Just let me first work down $10,000 in credit card debt.
14. It’s inevitable I’m going to make a lot of money and won’t need a retirement fund. Just gotta find a job first.
15. True, I could put a few extra dollars each month into a savings account. I could also book a flight to Coachella.
16. I swear I’ll start saving tomorrow.
If you want to plan for retirement but don’t have the means, here are a few easy ways to get started:
- Take this quiz and find your risk tolerance when it comes to investing. Are you aggressive, conservative or something in between?
- If your company has a 401(k) match program, make full use of the free money. A simple breakdown from financial firm Milliman: “The most common matching formula offered by companies in the United States is a 50 percent match of up to 6 percent of your contributions. In other words, if you contribute six dollars of every 100 dollars you make, your company will contribute three dollars to your retirement plan.”
- Set up an automatic deposit into a savings account, even if it’s only $25 a month. Over time, it adds up.
Do you have any investment tips? Share with the rest of us!