It's National Save For Retirement Week!

BOSTON (CBS) - This is National Save for Retirement Week. It is a national effort to raise public awareness about the importance of saving for retirement. It is a nine year old program which has had modest success.

They have some lofty goals for the week. I wonder if we don't need a powder keg at times to get folks to focus on their future not just a week dedicated to saving more.

The goals for this week:

• Make employees more aware of how critical it is to save now for their financial future.
• Promote the benefits of getting started saving for retirement today.
• Encourage employees to take full advantage of their employer-sponsored plans by increasing their contributions.

What they are hoping to do is increase personal financial literacy and raise public awareness of the retirement savings vehicles available to all workers. All very good and noble ideas that sometimes fall on deaf ears.

And research shows that more than half of all workers in the United States (57%) have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments, excluding their home and defined benefit plans.

With longer life expectancy and rising costs, especially for health care, it is critical that Americans understand the importance of saving for their future.

One of the things that age has taught me is that it is never too late to save more for retirement even if you are getting close to retirement age. And, of course, the younger you are the more time you have.

And that in itself is a problem, for young workers think they have an eternity to save for retirement. The key years for retirement saving is between the ages of 20 and 35. Starting in your 20s gives your money 30 to 40 years to work for you.

If you want to save more for retirement, something in your budget is going to have to give so you will have the extra dollars to reach your goal of a comfortable retirement.

Review your budget: how much more can you save and where? Better still pick a percentage such as 5 or 10% and rework your budget so savings becomes a priority.

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You can hear Dee Lee's expert financial advice on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 each weekday at 1:55 p.m., 3:55 p.m., and 7:55 p.m.

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