When I started in business almost 30 years ago, we always talked about the “three-legged stool”. It consisted of a pensions, social security, and personal savings. The pension leg, for most of us, has been chopped away. Personal savings has taken its place and that leg, now supporting two parts of the stool, is more important than ever; add to that the fact that we are all living longer. We must own our retirement and start saving with our very first paycheck. If we can get used to the idea of “paying ourselves first”, even if it is only $10/month with that first job, savings will become second nature.

Social Security being the third leg has been pushed to its limits. There are more people drawing and less people contributing. We know there will have to be changes; in what form is anyone’s guess. For those of you at or near retirement, there will be no changes. For those just entering the workforce, no one knows how Social Security will look when they reach retirement age. This is where personal responsibility comes in.

Savings for retirement today is available in many different forms such as 401k, traditional IRA, or Roth IRA accounts. Many retirement accounts will accept contributions as low as $100/month; which is equivalent to one premium coffee a day. So take responsibility and own your retirement. You will be happy that you did.