The savings rate in America has been on a steady decline since the 80’s.  According to the Wall Street Journal household debt has finally decreased for the first time since 1952!  Over the past several years the savings rate has actually dipped below zero! Think about that for a minute, how do you ever expect to retire if your spending more that your making?  This is due to so many American’s racking up credit card debt thinking they didn’t need to save for their own retirement because they were busy watching the value of their homes skyrocketing! Well we all know what has happened recently to home prices.

I think we’ve all learned our lesson and its time to get down to saving for retirement and building up that nest egg.  The savings rate this year is expected to be approximately 3-5%, Goldman Sachs has even predicted it to be as high as 6-10%.

So what do you need to do to get started? The best way you can start saving is to set up an automatic savings plan.  Pre Authorized debits from your bank account into a savings account, brokerage account or retirement account.  Anything to get the money out of your everyday bank account!  Once these funds are separated you won’t be tempted to spend them, out of sight out of mind!

That doesn’t mean you can forget about them though!  You need to make a commitment to stay informed about what you are investing in and how your nest egg is growing.  Ignorance is not an excuse when it comes to your retirement, after all no one else is going to save for your retirement except you!  So get started, set up an automatic savings transfer today and you’ll be one step closer to your dream of early retirement.