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"  Save, save, save. Financial experts all agree that the only way to be able to fund a retirement is to accumulate savings. But saving money isn&amp;#039;t the first step to retirement planning.   Figure out what it will cost you to live To determine how much money you&amp;#039;ll need per year in retirement, you first need to know what it costs you to live today. If you already use a budget, you have a good idea. If not, track your expenses for at least three months. You might need less than you spend today if you plan a simple retirement in a low-cost area. However, you could actually spend more than 100 percent of what you spend today if you plan to travel a lot or foresee major health issues. An excellent publication to order is SAVINGS FITNESS: A GUIDE TO YOUR MONEY AND YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE from the U.S. Department of Labor.   Be realistic The AARP suggests you begin retirement planning 10 years in advance. But be realistic about what you plan to accumulate before waving goodbye to the 9-to-5 life. A million dollars in assets is great, but you&amp;#039;re unlikely to accumulate it in just a decade of saving and investing.   Check your Social Security benefits Retirees on average receive around 40 percent of what they earned while working. Give the Social Security Administration a call at 800-772-1213 for a free statement of your estimated benefits if you haven&amp;#039;t received one in the mail this year. You can also create an estimate at socialsecurity.gov.   Investigate employer benefits Does your company offer a pension or profit-sharing plan? Find out what&amp;#039;s in your account if you&amp;#039;ve been contributing. When a job change seems likely, be sure to determine what will happen to your current pension if you leave the company. If you&amp;#039;re married, find out if you&amp;#039;re entitled to any benefits from your spouse&amp;#039;s plan.   Do the math Subtract estimated Social Security benefits and those from any employers from what you think you&amp;#039;ll need in retirement. The figure you get is what you&amp;#039;ll have to save or gain in investment value. You have lots of ways to reach that number.   Start saving If safety is your first concern for beginning your retirement planning, consider money market accounts or certificates of deposit in an individual retirement account (IRA) at a credit union or bank. You can select a traditional IRA or the newer Roth IRA. How your contributions and withdrawals are treated taxwise depends on which one you pick. If you can tolerate a bit of risk, open an IRA with a broker and invest in mutual funds.   Consider contributing all you can to your employer&amp;#039;s tax-sheltered plan such as a 401(k). Suggest that your company look into starting a plan if it doesn&amp;#039;t currently offer one. If you&amp;#039;re self-employed, tuck away as much each year as Uncle Sam allows small business owners who are sole proprietors to save. Automatic deductions reduce the pain of saving and assure that you pay yourself first.   Watch your dollars grow Avoid the urge to withdraw your savings. You could end up paying a hefty early-withdrawal penalty. Instead, watch your money grow. Whenever you change companies, make sure you roll over job-related retirement savings into your new employer&amp;#039;s plan or an IRA.   Once you&amp;#039;ve begun saving, you&amp;#039;ll want to check all your accounts at least twice a year to see how they&amp;#039;re doing. Don&amp;#039;t be afraid to revise your strategy for reaching your goal if your needs change along the way. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/work-money/tips/a3736/retirement-planning-where-to-begin-76915/>