Retirement Savings: Possible, But it Takes Planning

"10 Tips for Retirement Savings"
HowStuffWorks

"Retirement just kind of happens. If we live long enough, we'll eventually reach a point where we either leave our careers, opt for another, less intense work life, or finish working for a living altogether. There was a time when companies included pension plans in their compensation packages and employees could look forward to receiving a percentage of their salaries to live on for the rest of their lives. Social Security benefits used to be enough to offset the cost of living, so that a person could retire based on Social Security income alone. In the 21st century, neither of these hold true any longer...."

The trick, of course, is to have been earning enough to save some. Which can be done, even near the low end of the pay scale - in America, anyway.

The advice starts out with something fairly obvious: plan.

Most of the article is common sense. Like:

"...Avoid the temptation of taking out a second mortgage to consolidate your debt unless you trust your spending habits have been curtailed to fit a saving mentality and the cost of paying off your credit cards and other debt is more expensive than the additional mortgage payment each month...."

Good advice, that: Someone who's still spending more than what comes in won't be helped - in the long run - by a second mortgage. That'd just add, a few years down the pike, the cost of the mortgage to whatever new debts had piled up. Not a stress-free situation.

The points are given as a sort of countdown, from 10 to 1. I'm following point #3 right now: "Keep Working" - I'm about seven years from that magic number, 65, but at this point I expect to sail right past "retirement age" without breaking pace.

It helps that I enjoy what I do - but there's that little matter of generating an income, too. Utilities and credit card companies expect their bills to be paid: imagine!

Seriously? You may not find a lot here that's new to you: but you might find the 'obvious' put in a different - and more helpful - way.