Waited Until Your 40s to Save for Retirement? Here's Your Game Plan.

If your 20s and 30s came and went without making progress on your retirement savings, you're not alone. A good 61% of Americans ages 18 to 29 don't have dedicated retirement savings, according to Motley Fool research. And among workers under 35, median retirement savings as of 2022 only reached $18,880.

If you're approaching your 40s, or recently entered that decade, and you recognize that you're behind on retirement savings, don't panic. While it's of course a great thing to begin funding an IRA or 401(k) at an earlier age, you're not doomed to retire with $0 if you're first starting now. But it's important to go about things strategically.

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Focus on regular contributions

If you missed out on saving for retirement in your 20s and 30s, the best thing to do from this point forward is to prioritize consistent monthly contributions to an IRA or 401(k) plan. To that end, take a close look at your spending and see how much money you can realistically sock away, with the goal of aiming for 15% to 20% of your income if possible.

If you can't get anywhere close to that range just yet, that's not necessarily a problem. But if, say, you're only able to save 3% of your salary, that should prompt you to consider making spending cuts to boost that percentage a bit more. And if that's really not possible, start with what you can do right now but aim to increase your savings rate each year as your wages rise.

If you want to make sure your retirement savings get funded every month without exception, it's best to put the process on autopilot. The good thing is that 401(k)s already do this, since contributions are taken as payroll deductions.

If you have an IRA, set up an automatic transfer so that funds reach that account every time you get paid. This also removes the temptation to spend the money on something else.

Invest your money strategically

If you're getting a bit of a later start on retirement savings, it's important to set your money up for growth. To that end, aim for a mix of stocks, exchange-traded funds, or index funds that give you exposure to a wide range of companies and industries.

While there's risk in investing in stocks, if you're already playing catch-up, you can't afford to invest too conservatively. You need the returns the stock market can offer, and diversifying your investments is a good way to protect yourself against volatility.

Imagine you begin funding a retirement account at 42 with the goal of retiring at 67, which would be your full retirement age for Social Security purposes. If you contribute $500 a month during that time, and your investments give you an 8% yearly return, which is a bit below the stock market's average, you could end up with close to $440,000 by the time you retire.

Waiting until your 40s to being saving for retirement isn't optimal. But it's also not the most dire situation imaginable. Focus on steady retirement plan contributions and smart investments to make up for lost time and grow a nest egg that's able to support your lifestyle once you stop working.

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