Reply to How much should I be saving for retirement?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am 28 and am literally JUST now starting to save for retirement.  I can not wrap my head around the fact that I wasn't privy to all the seemingly apparent suggestions for saving as soon as you can.
It is killing me seeing those charts where if you started saving at age 18, compound interest, etc-- you'd have hundreds of thousands of dollars.  How did I not know this?  How did my parents (who are otherwise amazing, smart people) not spend even an hour discussing these things with me?  Or a teacher?  Anyone? Bueller?

Sigh...... anyways, am I screwed?  I am just starting my first "real" job and making around $40k.  I have lots of bills at the moment but believe I can put away 10% into my newly available 401k- employer will match 3%, so if I can contribute 7%, I'll be putting away 10%-- 7% is a stretch for me financially but I will make it work.[/quote]

10% is great. If you can do it, go for it. I find it useful to use the rule of 72 when thinking about purchases. If something costs $5, ask yourself if you'd pay $15 for it. If so, buy it. If not dont. The beauty of that is it'll get "cheaper" both as you age and as your income goes up...But here's the real secret: don't let your lifestyle keep pace with your income. When you get a raise, pretend you didn't. That's hard when you make $40k a year, but a little easier at $60k, and a lot easier at $100k.

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