It's never too early to start saving for retirement. Here, Pentegra Retirement Services offers the top four things you can do right now to start preparing for retirement. Get started!
1. If you are not already in the game, get in it now. “If you are not deferring a portion of your salary to your employer’s 401(k) plan, you certainly should be. Any matching contribution is essentially free money—something your employer is happy to give you. And, it is incumbent upon you and your retirement to take it,” says Rausser.
2. If you are not getting the maximum matching funds from your employer, do so. “If you are not taking the fullest possible advantage of matching funds, take the steps to do so immediately,” explains Rausser.
3. If you have not increased your savings rate by one to two percent of salary yet, do so now. “If you are currently putting five percent of your salary into a retirement fund, make it six or seven percent; if you are at the six percent level, increase it to seven or eight. Most of us receive salary increases at the end of the calendar year; now is the perfect time to take some of that increase and put it directly into your retirement savings plan. You need to do this annually,” Rausser explains.
4. Re-balance your portfolio, now. “Do this at least once a year. Most 401(k) websites offer you the ability to reallocate your investments in an easy, intuitive way. For example, say that you have allocated one third of your portfolio to stocks, one third to bonds, and one third to cash. Overall in 2012, stocks were up by 13 to 16 percent, depending on the index you look at; bonds were up some 4 to 10 percent; and cash was up a mere one-half of one percent. Based on these returns your portfolio is no longer in balance with your original asset allocation. The idea is to get back to that one third/one third/one third point.
To learn more about Pentegra Retirement Services, read the full press release below.
Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10292901.htm
