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Short answer: as soon as you begin working. Too late for that? Remember that saving will be easiest if you start now.
It doesn't have to be big, but it forms a healthy habit.
If your employer offers you a 401(k) plan, with a corresponding match - that is the best opportunity to start saving for retirement, and why shouldn’t it be? It’s free money after all.
If not, then generally the best option is to open a retirement account through an online brokerage. https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017...etirement.aspx
I started my 401k at 18 at my first job. I made so little after 3 years I might have had $2,000 in there. When I turned 20 and got a real job I started putting 33% of my income towards my 401k. I maxed my contributions for two years. Then I moved on to a lower paying more stable job and continued to contribute. I've been investing for 10 years now.
Did the contributions ebb and flow over your working career or remain steady?
For the most part, they went steadily up over time; with some exceptions. After 21 years of pretty heavy debt paydown and a savings rate well into the double digit percentages for the last 15, I'm taking a break, probably only saving 10% this year. But I've got compounding doing a decent amount of the heavy lifting now.
My retirement savings are now over 8X my gross income. I'd be in a better position if I hadn't moved around from fund to fund and just stuck with a balanced allocation and left it alone. I'm always recommending balanced funds such as these:
Vanguard Wellington
Fidelity Balanced
Dodge & Cox Balanced
Mairs & Power Balanced
Oakmark Equity & Income
There are other good options, but if you have one of the above in your 401k plan, definitely contribute to it and keep adding money.
What’s the old expression, “God protects babies and fools?” I didn’t seriously start saving until I was on my late 30’s. Some fortuitous decisions along the way didn’t hurt, but for the most part, it’s been “steady as she goes.” I’m on track for a comfortable retirement before age 60. Can’t beat that.
Answers:
1) I started saving at age 10 when I got a paper route. My goal was general savings and not specifically Retirement Savings, but the ground work was laid,
2) My contributions toward Retirement Savings have ebbed and flowed during my working career with the challenges of also providing for a family. Only a very short period, if any at all, when I was not a 10% contributor to my employers Stock Savings Plan.
I did not consciously start saving for retirement other than by living simply and taking advantage of employer 401K matches. Home purchases were made with regard to good resale potential, and house and cars were well maintained to avoid big unexpected costs. Lots of sweat equity.
Not until I was 40. I paid off my 15 year mortgage in 7 years, and became debt free. Then I saved up to replace my aging vehicle with a new car paid in cash. At that point, I maxed out my deferred compensation, 100% in an S&P index fund. During the lost decade, 2000-2009, I was buying low. I think this is a big factor in why I am financially successful.
I was probably in my mid-30's. At the time, I was married to a CPA, who insisted that I contribute the maximum to whatever retirement plans were available to me. I don't remember now what those retirement plans were. At first I protested, saying, "I'm never going to live to see this money!" but my ex was the boss where money was concerned. So I just made the contributions automatically, and kept it up after he and I got divorced.
Now I'm 70, and I'm living on SS plus required minimum distributions from those IRAs, which grew to a substantial enough amount to enable me to live a comfortable, if frugal, lifestyle. Apparently I did live to see that money, after all.
I got two good things from my marriage to that person: my wonderful daughter, and my IRAs.
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