What do you think is the right age to start saving for retirement?

[Purple999Red]

Creating a comfortable retirement is, in many cases, the single biggest financial challenge that anyone can face. What do you think is the right age to start saving for retirement? Is a 10-year time frame still enough time to reach a solid financial position?

I would say as soon as you get your first job you need to start this. My DD who is aged 24 has started paying extra into hers now. I am not sure 10 years will allow you to get a big pension pot saved but it will be better than nothing. You would probably be best to get financial advice on the best way to maximise this.

I started at 26...should've started earlier. I MIGHT be able to drop to 3 day week at 60 and retire at 63.

as soon as you start earning - look at the effect of compound interest .. you need to save about 25x your annual spending to retire so if you can do that in 10 years, you are good .. but I think that would require you to save a significant proportion of your income .. I am currently saving about 30% of mine and it is tough - how I regret not starting when I started earning!!

As others have said, as soon as you start working! Take full advantage of any employer matching (it's free money!) and salary sacrifice if appropriate for your circumstances. Getting a head start will put you in a significantly better position.

I wish someone had given me that advice when I first started working. Making up for lost time now!

Oh and 10 years will absolutely not be enough time.... unless you earn a millions.

40+ year time frame is what you would be realistically looking at to have a comfortable retirement.

10years? Not a hope unless you earn BIIIG bucks.

100k will kick off about 4K of sustainable income. Pitiful really, but that the truth.

If you need more than the state pension and before it pays, start saving as soon as you can. Self impose a retirement 'tax' on your earnings. 15% throughout you're working life will give you a decent pension. It is widely accepted that auto enrolment levels are insufficient (8%) and this will need addressing.

I've just read your question again OP. Are you saying you have 10 years until you retire? If that's the case, you'll have to be on it. It may not be cruises and parties, but anything is better than nothing. I'd start putting a campaign strategy together.

Ever since I started working, I wanted to set aside an amount every month for savings. 10 years later, I was only able to set aside 15 hundred. Now, I don't think anyone would want that as their safety net, right? So, when I got married and had kids, I really took this promise seriously. It is really hard to do esp if you have mortgage and car payments on top of other expenses. You won't be able to do it alone. Your bank can probably help you in setting aside some amount. A friend of mine, very appropriately, said that we should invest in condominiums. You pay for it for a certain # of years and afterwards, its yours to rent out and earn from. When you retire, you can use the rent money for your day to day expenses. There are a lot of things you can do. Just setting aside a certain amount a month is a start but there are others that can help you get to your goals in 10 or 15 years.

The day you start work.

As you don't have a time machine - don't waste any more of it.

I started at the age of 31. Have I known the benefits, I could have started much much earlier. Try talking to a financial adviser who can help you and who can give you an overview of the benefits you can reap. I have talked to an adviser from our local credit union about retirement planning and since then, I have started with my retirement fund.

As soon as you start work, with regular reviews. If you ever work part-time you will need to factor that in too. When you are ten years away from retirement I think you should just be tweaking things, paying extra into your pension if needed and making plans about how you will manage your pensions. I would be really scared to be ten years away from the age I intend to stop / decrease work and not have made proper provision.

As a very basic start get a state pension projection.

As soon as you can, but better late than never.
Some people even invest in pensions on behalf of their dc!

Ten years might not be too bad if you own a decent sized home outright, but you will have to accept that you may need to downsize or release equity from that home.

Why save when you do not know what the future holds ?

You need some money for a rainy day, so saving is a must but there also has to be spending.

Some people save all their life for retirement and never live to enjoy it, some lose all they have saved when their property is taken off them either by deceit or by the Government to pay for their social care in an old people's home and some are no better off than those who did not save due to means testing.

With the way things are going, about 4 and a half

Ghanchi- yes that's true. But a far greater number do not save enough when they are able to and face poverty in retirement.

I save precisely because I do not know what the future holds, ghanchi

I started paying into my pension at 18. I am 44 now and will be able to retire at 60. My dh is 10 years older than me and will retire at 60. I will have the option to reduce my hours or quit at 50 because of his pensions. We are on a good wage so save some to pay off the mortgage early and spend some on holidays.

Is 10 years enough? That depends on how long you plan on living after retirement.

If you retire at 65 you could easily live another 25 years. Say £10k a year for 25 years you need £250k.

If you can save that in 10 years then go for it but if you start earlier you get interest.

The figure I heard is take the age you start saving, halve it and that is the percentage of your income you save each month for retirement.

I started at 22 so 11%