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Saving For Retirement
July 8, 2010 Updated Jul 8, 2010 at 3:25 PM EDT

It has long been taken for granted that if you save 10 percent of your income through your working life, you'll have plenty of money for a comfortable retirement.
Now experts are beginning to suggest more is needed because inflation continues to nibble away at spending power, health care costs have soared and today's workers are living much longer than their ancestors.
The need to save more is not a message most Americans want to hear - especially since the nation's savings rate has been negative since the second quarter of 2005.
The 10 percent savings goal may still work for a very small group - those who start putting money aside for retirement in their early 20s.
But the reality is that most people don't make saving for retirement a priority when they're that young. Nor are
they that diligent.
Someone who starts saving at 40 probably needs to set aside more than 20 percent of income, while someone who starts saving at 50 may be looking at 35 percent of more.
Those figures may seem outrageously high, but keep in mind, many people can expect to spend 20 or more years in retirement.
For more help calculating how much you'll need to start saving, retirement calculators are available at
www.choosetosave.org.

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