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A big part of my job is to write about retirement planning. As such, I’m well aware that planning to retire on Social Security alone is a disastrous idea.
Right now, the average senior collecting those benefits gets $1,827 a month. That’s an annual income of about $22,000. And if I’m being honest, there’s just no way I can see myself living on an income that small — even once I’m able to shed some of the larger expenses I’m grappling with now, like college plan contributions for my kids’ education, childcare costs, and my mortgage payments.
That’s why I’m a firm believer in saving for retirement. But that doesn’t make it an easy thing to do.
One challenge I tend to face with regard to my savings goals in general is that spending opportunities have a way of just popping up. I might tell myself that for the upcoming weekend, I’m only going to spend money on groceries and essentials, only to have my kids get invited on an outing that has me swiping my credit card to the tune of $60.
It’s for this reason that I’ve taken to automating my retirement savings. And I highly recommend you do the same.
The benefit of putting the process on autopilot
Even though I do consider myself a pretty good saver, there are times when temptation rears its ugly head. That’s why I prefer to automate my retirement plan contributions.
What I do is arrange for a chunk of my earnings to leave my checking account at the start of each month, before I get to spend that money. That way, I know I’m meeting my goals.
In fact, automating the savings process takes a lot of the pressure off for me. Let’s say I do spend an extra couple of hundred dollars one month because I’m invited to a concert, a few nice restaurant outings, or something else. I don’t have to feel guilty or stressed over that spending because I know I’ve already met my savings goal for the month.
Make sure your savings are being prioritized
One of the things I really like about automated savings is that your financial goals are being prioritized. So even if you’re someone who might struggle to save, by automating the process, you’re basically taking temptation out of the equation.
If you have access to a 401(k) plan through your job, that’s probably the easiest way to put your retirement savings on autopilot. That’s because 401(k) contributions are deducted from your paychecks off the bat.
But if you don’t have a 401(k) plan available to you, you can open an IRA account with an automatic savings feature, and then arrange for a specific amount of money to land in that account every month. It doesn’t have to be a ton of money, either. If you can only swing $50 a month, so be it. But automating the process should help you stick to your goals. I know it certainly has for me.
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