how much money should I save from each paycheck for my retirement. I am 20 and am worried about my future.?

Public Comments

1. My opinion...at a bare minimum 10% of your take home. Start your ROTH or traditional IRA now! Get that monthly contribution started. At least, get your savings account started.
2. It's good to think about your future when you're 20, but not to worry. A percentage of 10% each paycheck is reasonable to a 20s dude, for that you still have 90% to waste on other crazy things (and don't even care about these crazy things, because you're still very young). Just remember to do it (put aside 10% of your paychecks) EVERY month, even when you're temporarily jobless. (no, i'm just kiddin') Well, afterall, don't worry about your retirement yet! Worry about your career, your family... so that you don't have to retire with a fat big bank account but without anybody trustworthy to share the days and nights. :)
3. the most important thing is at the moment ! do yourbest efforts then miracle and money will follow you and your future !
4. I would say that you should save a minimum 15% of your gross. If your company has a 401 (k) plan start there since they usually match a portion of whatever you are contributing.
5. You are young, so I'm assuming you are renting or living at home. Please forgive me if I'm wrong. It depends. If your company match, invest up to the amount they match. Save what you can up to the max limit in the Roth IRA. You will use this money up to $ 10,000 later for a down payment on your first primary house. Talk to your CPA about the tax law, it may change. Your tax rate is little now due to your income. There is no need to defer it now so you can pay alot when you retire. You sound like a responsible person, you should be O.K. when you retired. Try to get yourself a house, so you pay yourself instead of someone else.
6. Saving is not about Big Numbers. It isn't even about Little Numbers Across A Long Time. It is about Consistent Numbers Across Any Time. If you want to purchase a house I suggest saving as much as possible. You will be so glad that you did when you can buy a better house with a bigger down payment. And there are exceptions to early withdrawal penalties for IRAs for first-time homebuyers. In my opinion there are no good percentages: Simply save as much as you can. The following describe an arrangement that will make saving painless. Starting early with a committment to save is good, now it just matters that you do it in a way that allows you to have an excellent day-to-day life: Save Invisibly and Automatically. Saving money certainly involves "not buying stuff." But this view is far too narrow. So long as saving is equated with sacrifice it will be an uphill battle to save. Having day-to-day life that is as stress-free as possible is very important. Continual sacrifice and stress-free living clash harshly for many people. Some people focus on changing lifestyle-related choices, sometimes called the "latte factor," as a method for realizing day-to-day savings. I agree that this is good advice for some people, but as a first step it isn't necessarily the most effective. There are other things that can be done, too. 1. Reduce monthly fees. Stop paying banking fees for services you don't use or don't need. Many banks charge monthly "service fees" or "maintenance fees" for checking accounts. If your bank offers "free checking" or "free checking with Direct Deposit" (and you have Direct Deposit) switch your account, or find a bank that does offer "free checking." Even the smallest leak in any plumbing system will eventually collect enough water to fill a bathtub, so to will even the smallest recurring monthly service fee eventually steal one month's rent. 2. Detemine a reasonable monthly budget. It is important to know "where it all goes." Rent, utilities, cell phone, car payment, insurance, groceries. There is no doubt these numbers exist, but most importantly nearly all of them can be known in advance. Some of them can't be known exactly, but they can be estimated. My advice is to estimate unknown amounts not for the sake of accuracy ("The cell phone bill is usually $40.00 per month."), but for the sake of certainty ("The cell phone bill has never been more than $80.00 in any month."). In the beginning of making and using budgets, budgets work best when costs are overestimated rather than underestimated. It is far less uncomfortable to have "too much" money left at the end of the month than it is to have "too little" left over--and bills still to be paid, at the end of the month. 3. Begin saving automatically. If your employer offers Direct Deposit, and you can open a "free checking" account (with or without Direct Deposit), use this financial automation to the maximum. Open a second checking account. Then contact your HR department to request that your paychecks be split across your two checking accounts. 4. Separate paying bills from saving and investing. Use your primary account for all monthly expenses: rent, utilities, food, car payments and pet food. This is your "Cash" account. The second checking account is dedicated for saving and investment purposes. You won't draw funds from this "Investment" account to pay bills. That isn't what saving is about. Saving is about having money available to fund medium-term and long-term goals. Things like retirement, paying college tuition or buying a home. The "Investment" account will drive all of your automatic saving and investment mechanisms. Similar to Direct Deposit, Automatic Withdrawals can be scheduled to transfer funds from your "Investment" account. Here is how to implement the above steps. Look at the ING Direct website. ING has savings accounts with excellent interest rates, without no minimum required balance. In addition look at the Vanguard website. If you don't have an IRA, 401k or any other kind of retirement account Vanguard has the lowest custodial costs ($10.00 per year) and lowest minimum required balances (usually $3,000.00) of any financial services company today. Accumulating enough money to open an account with Vanguard may take some time, but getting started saving with ING Direct is something that can occur before the end of next month. Many banks, all over the country, offer "free checking" accounts. I list the Bank of America website only because it serves the areas I live in and offers the kind of services I suggest using. Good luck!