April is Financial Literacy Month, the perfect time to examine your saving habits and ensure that you are on track for a comfortable retirement. Financial planning can put your mind at ease, but getting started can be overwhelming.
If you have not begun saving for retirement, now is a good time to start, no matter what your age. Whether retirement is near or seems a lifetime away, now is the time to begin savings so that time and compound interest works to your advantage.
Get a good estimate of your future SSA retirement amount with the Social Security online Retirement Estimator, one part of the SSA retirement planner. The estimator connects to your actual work record to provide a personal estimate. You can change the default estimates for those more in tune with your actual plans.
For those years from retirement, create a my Social Security account and use it to view your Social Security Statement. The Statement contains your earnings from your Social Security record but, more to the point of financial planning, has estimated personal and family benefits should you become disabled or die. This information helps you arrange other parts of your financial planning.
Social Security personnel cannot assist with financial planning. Select your own helpers for this. Two websites to help you get started are www.mymoney.gov,the official U.S. government website dedicated to teaching Americans the basics of finances, and the Ballpark Estimator at www.choosetosave.org/ballpark, part of the American Savings Education Council program, which includes the Social Security Administration.
These sites, and others like them, are not just about savings for retirement. There are reasons to save for every stage of life.
April is Financial Literacy Month. Now is a good time to review your existing plan, or start one.