Kids Archives

When you're a twentysomething, long-term financial planning is often not a high priority. Being in your 40s without retirement savings isn't great, no matter how you look at it. But rather than lose your cool, or worse yet, resign yourself to the notion of never getting to retire, take steps to get a handle on your finances and make choices that allow you to start banking some serious money.

The table above demonstrates the importance of not only enrolling and contributing to KiwiSaver as early as possible, but also how your decisions around the fund type can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars difference at retirement age. So the first thing to do, even before you start saving for smaller, short-term goals, is to build an emergency corpus.

This program offers young adults tips and tools to become financially savvy around financial basics, paying for college, college life, world of work and economic survival tips. As you can see, not starting your retirement planning early in life could lead to several serious problems.

Debt should not be availed just because one's monthly income can support it. Gradually, debt becomes an integral part of one's life, damaging ones financial position irrevocably. Speak to your financial adviser about the best plan for your needs, and have a look at our Retirement Calculator to see if you're on track.

And this is true even if you've reached your 30s without setting aside a single dollar in savings. At 60, you should have 10x your annual earnings as your retirement savings. By investing for your retirement in your 20s and early 30s, you'd be able to give much more time for your investment to deliver higher returns.

You won't hear anyone say it's too late, although the ideal scenario is to start early soyour investment has more time to grow. PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. USAFrance Financials is Stock market not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian.