Retirement and key savings goal plans: Why an early start can help you get ahead

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#Goals: Strategies for a lifetime of saving.

© adragan, kamui29/stock.adobe.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Whether you’re painting a room or teaching your child to ride a bike, reaching a goal takes patience, along with a realistic sense of what you can accomplish. It’s the same with financial and retirement savings goal plans, although they usually don’t involve skinned knees and Band-Aids.

We all have long- and short-term financial goals, whether it’s retiring to spend time on the golf course, trekking through the mountains of Nepal, paying for college without breaking the bank, or simply saving that first $1,000. You need to set priorities, see which ones fit the budget, and figure out when, or if, they can be reached. At the same time, there’s got to be some urgency, because the laws of math—and the power of compounding—suggest you can’t wait forever to start saving, especially for retirement.

Retirement may be decades away, but buying a new home or building an emergency fund could be a near-term goal. These also require room in your budget, and planning can’t be put off for long, either. Developing a savings goal plan might slice a few hours out of your weekend, but you won’t regret it when you’re unlocking the door to your new home or tackling the back nine (or a fishing pole) in retirement.

Before setting any short- or medium-term goals, make sure your retirement plan is on track. If you aren’t already contributing to a retirement plan, that’s priority number one if you want to take full advantage of compounding. You can borrow for plenty of things—including a home or education—but if you approach your twilight years with too few resources, retirement will be a struggle.

Does your company have a 401(k) plan, and are you contributing as much as you can—or at least enough to maximize matched funds from the company? If not, have you opened an individual retirement account (IRA)? There may be several reasons you’re not investing toward retirement, but lack of retirement account options is not one of them.

Remember: The longer you stay invested, the larger compounded returns can become.

Once retirement is on autopilot, you can focus on the near-term stuff. Take a look at your monthly budget—and sit down with all the members of your household to hammer out manageable goals and timelines. What are your one-year and five-year goals?

Saving for a fixed goal like a down payment or an emergency fund means allocating different money buckets for each, with different timelines. You can choose a fixed goal amount and calculate how long it will take to get there with your current income, spending, and savings factored in. This could provide motivation.

Knowing the time element allows you to build a goal chart. The goals of a recent college graduate starting their first job might look like:

Although your goals may look different, let’s pretend these are yours. Maybe it’s discouraging to look at that list because you’re on an entry-level salary, owe money, and have little savings. No sugarcoating here: It’s not easy. Achieving savings goals requires discipline and perseverance.

Having a budget, however, can get you on the right path toward at least some of your goals. Others, like a dream vacation, a “wow-factor” house, or fully paying for a child’s college, might need to be scaled back.

It may sound dull, but you need to budget your way to achieve your goals. Ever heard of the 50-20-30 rule? As a reminder, you might budget:

Through budgeting, you’ll notice right away that not all goals are immediately achievable. This means playing favorites, or choosing which goals are top priority and leaving others aside for now. Unfortunately, the most unpleasant goal of all—paying off debt—should be near the top. Interest payments work against goal achievement. It’s like compounding, only in reverse.

Along with debt retirement and funding your 401(k), make emergency savings another high-priority goal. If you have nothing in the bank and are forced to borrow for a car repair, for example, it’s a step backward. Taking on more debt means paying more interest, which means extra money not invested in your true goals.

What if your nearer-term goals conflict with your retirement savings goal? That means making tough choices. If owning a vacation home or a boat someday is really worth saving for, would you be willing to push back retirement a few years to accomplish it?

Remember, something that seems important now might not be in a few decades, so it’s important to revisit your plan now and then. Once you’ve put it all “on paper,” the final step is to set a calendar reminder for one year from now to review the plan again and adjust it if necessary. With goal planning, you can’t just set it and forget it.