Why you should save for retirement when you’re really young –
Introduction ๐
Who wants to work forever? Not me! ๐โโ๏ธ
When you get older, people usually reduce the amount of time they work, or even stop altogether.
This is called retirement. ๐ง
People often retire due to things like:
- health changes as they get older,
- getting fed up of working,
- or maybe saving enough money to live on!
But you’re young! ๐ผ
Why should you care about retirement? ๐คทโโ๏ธ
It’s ages away, isn’t it? ๐
Today we’re going to explain why it’s important to save for retirement as sooooon as you possibly can! – Especially if you’re really young! ๐ถ๐ธ
Disclaimer: This website provides information for guidance and educational purposes only. The Grown-Up School does not provide regulated financial advice. You can seek independent financial advice from a suitably qualified and regulated professional advisor. Check out our disclaimer policy for more information.
1. Retirement is really expensive!๐ธ
Retirement is possibly the most EXPENSIVE thing you will ever need to save for. ๐ฐ
It’s often more expensive than:
- Buying a house,
- Getting married,
- Raising children,
- Going to university,
- Or getting a car!
And the problem is, everyone has to retire at some point – you don’t really get a choice!
Retirement is super expensive because:
You have to pay for your living costs for a very long time ๐ธโ
Imagine this, if you retired at age 60, you might need to save money for 40 years’ worth of living costs!
If you wanted ยฃ25,000 to live on each year for your 40 years of retirement, you’d need to at least ยฃ1 million in your retirement fund!
That’s a lot of money! ๐ฌ
It would take a long time to save up ยฃ1 million!โ
Your health might get worse ๐ค
As you get older, your health could decline, and this could cost a lot of money.
In countries where there isn’t free healthcare, this can be particularly worrying due to big medical bills. ๐ค
Whether it’s getting someone to care for you in a nursing home, or getting a stairlift installed in your home, health problems can be expensive.
It’s important to save for retirement early, so that you have as much time as possible to prepare for all of these costs!
2. Time is more important than how much money you have โณ
Start now with a small amount! ๐ฐ
“But I don’t have a lot of money to save for retirement!” – I hear you say ๐ฌ
That’s totally fine – it’s the fact that you start saving now that is the most important!
Even if you started with just ยฃ100 – it can make a huge difference in the long run.
Growing your money with investing ๐ฑ
When you put money in retirement saving schemes like a “workplace pension”, they usually invest that money for you, to try and make it grow before you retire! ๐ชด
(Investing is where you buy something, expecting that it’s going to increase in value over time. For example, your workplace pension scheme might invest your money into buying small pieces of companies to earn you extra money before you retire!)
The sooner you start investing in your pension, the more time it has to grow. ๐ฑ
This creates a snowball-like effect where even if you invest a little bit of money, it can grow a huuuge amount in the long run. โ๏ธ
The sooner you invest, the longer the snowball has to grow!
The more money you invest, the faster and bigger the snowball can grow. ๐จ๏ธ
3. The younger you start, the easier it is to get enough money ๐ถ
When you start your pension at a young age, it is a lot easier for you to grow the money in your pension fund. ๐
This is because you will have more years for the money to grow in investments! ๐ฑ
For example,
Starting your pension at 25 years old
Nutmeg estimates that you’d need to save ยฃ479 into your pension every month, to reach a ยฃ19,000 a year income when you retire. ๐ง
Starting your pension at 35 years old
Nutmeg estimates that you’d need to save ยฃ716 each month to reach that SAME ยฃ19,000 a year income! ๐ฑ
ยฃ716 a month is a lot more money to put together than ยฃ479 a month!
4. Government payments help, but aren’t enough!๐๏ธ
In the UK you can get “state pension” from the government. ๐ธ
This is money that you can claim from the government at “pension age” (66-68 years old depending on when you were born). ๐ง
You get this money after paying “national insurance tax” to the government when you work. ๐ผ
You need to pay towards “national insurance” for 35 years to get the full state pension money from the government. ๐๏ธ
In 2021/22 people can get up to ยฃ179.60 per week as their state pension.
For a lot of people this isn’t enough money to comfortably live off when they retire, which is why they invest in pension schemes/workplace pensions.
5. You probably won’t regret having a great safety net ๐ฅ
Some people argue that saving into a pension could be pointless, because the world is very unpredictable.
– We don’t know what life will look like in 50 years! ๐คทโโ๏ธ
BUT
What we do know, is that in 50 years money will probably still be useful. ๐ธ
In 50 years’ time, would you ever find yourself thinking “Oh I wish I hadn’t saved all of that money to live off!”?
Probably not!
Growing your money through a pension could help to give you a great safety net for an uncertain future. ๐ฅ
6. It could give peace of mind for you and your loved ones ๐
Money stress can be one of the worst feelings to ever experience. ๐ข
Worrying about how you’re going to pay for food, shelter, and family can be particularly painful.
Experiencing money issues/stress can create:
- sleep problems,
- low confidence,
- low energy levels,
- feelings of anger, shame, and fear,
- increased risk of depression and anxiety.
Having pension savings for the future helps to reduce money stress, giving you peace of mind that you have a safety net for when you get older. ๐ฅ ๐
Conclusion ๐
So that’s it!
You should consider starting to save for retirement when you’re really young because:
- Retirement is really expensive!๐ธ
- Time is more important than how much money you have โณ
- The younger you start, the easier it is to get enough money ๐ถ
- Government payments help, but aren’t enough! ๐๏ธ
- You probably wonโt regret having a great safety net ๐ฅ
- It could give peace of mind for you and your loved ones๐
If you know any friends or family members who might benefit from learning about why you should start saving for retirement when you’re really young, share this post with them!
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