It’s not uncommon for younger workers to neglect their retirement savings. After all, many people spend the bulk of their 20s paying off student loans and saving for a home. And they spend their 30s grappling with child care expenses and the ever-climbing cost of raising kids.
As such, if you’re entering your 40s with no money in retirement savings, you’re no doubt in good company. But it’s also time to get serious about building a nest egg.
The good news is that you might still, conceivably, have several decades in the workforce ahead of you. But it pays to make these three smart moves if you’re midway through your career without any money in your 401(k) or IRA.
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1. Choose a major expense to slash
If you have a family and ties to a community, selling your home and moving to a less expensive neighborhood might not be desirable. But that doesn’t mean you can’t cut back on another large expense.
It could be possible, for example, to go from a two-car household to a single-car household. And unloading a car could free up thousands of dollars each year for your nest egg.
If that’s not doable, look at other large costs you can play around with. If your family commonly takes a $6,000 yearly vacation, skip it this year and use that money to max out your IRA ($6,000 is the annual contribution limit for workers under the age of 50).
These types of sacrifices aren’t easy. But if you…
