America Saves Week, February 23 – 28, 2015, reminds us all to focus on the importance of saving and investing for the future. The Social Security Administration is one of many public and private organizations participating in America Saves Week.
Steps toward achieving financial goals include saving, investing and planning throughout an entire career.
What is the status of your savings? According to the America Saves Week website, www.americasavesweek.org/, you should assess your savings annually to make sure you are saving for all the right things and it provides several questions to help you do this.
Someday you will want to retire. Prepare for it. Now is the perfect time to examine your saving habits. Are you on track for a comfortable retirement?
Estimate 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.
Create a my Social Security account and view your Social Security Statement. Along with your Social Security earnings record, the Statement provides estimated retirement amounts plus 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.
To help your planning, here is a Test Your Savings Knowledge question from the American Saves Week website:
Q: About how much more do families with a savings plan save than those without such a plan?
A: According to one study, if family incomes are the same, those families with a plan save about twice as much as those who do not have one.