One of the smartest things you can do for your future is to start planning for tomorrow today! MSN Money has a great retirement calculator that will give you a rough idea of how much you need to save in order to be comfortable in retirement. After answering a few questions you will receive multiple scenarios for where you’ll stand come retirement based on the information you provide. Now I know there are a few of you out there saying, “I’m only 25 years old, what do I care about retirement!” I promise you, the earlier you start caring, the better off you’ll be in the long run. Here’s an example…

• Suppose you want to save $100,000. If you have 20 years, you can reach your goal by saving $3,272 a year at a 4% annual return. Now shorten your time frame to 10 years, and you’ll have to save $6,559 a year and earn 8% annually. The moral of the story is the longer you wait to start saving, the more money you have to put in and the riskier your investments need to be to achieve the same goal!

So whether you’re 25 or 55, this is a great tool and I strongly recommend checking it out!

Enjoy this article? Subscribe to the RSS feed!