I recently got a money question that I thought I should answer here. The question was Am I Saving Enough For Retirement?
I am sad to say that right now I am not saving enough for retirement and in fact I am way behind where someone of my age should be saving when it comes to retirement. When I worked full time I had money going into my pre-tax retirement savings account but I was teaching (so that should tell you something) and I was only full time for a little under four years.
After I lost my job I was not saving for retirement at all and now that I am back in school full time I barely have enough to live on a daily basis so retirement savings is not my goal. I actually only actively put about $10 a month in savings now in a general savings account. This is in addition to the Emergency Fund, Car Fund, Fun Money and other small savings that I do on a monthly basis.
So I am definitely not adding to a 401K or anything of that nature right now.
I need to do a LOT of catching up to my future savings once I finally get out of school and start working again but for now that is just not something I can allocate my very scarce resources to at this moment in time. I try not to even think about how far I am from my savings goals right now because that will just depress me and I need to focus my energies on making it through my classes so I can get that great job!
Some fixed accounts require you to set up a ‘feeder’ account, normally a non-fixed savings account, in order to get the money in. If that’s the case, it’s often speedier to do it at a bank you already have an account with.