{"id":9789,"date":"2015-06-11T14:19:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T21:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/?p=9789"},"modified":"2016-12-21T07:27:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T15:27:44","slug":"5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s easy to understand how a retirement is built \u2014 steady saving, prudent investments and time. But so many of us fail at it because we get stuck\u00a0trying to make\u00a0just the first moves.<\/p>\n<p>As the saying goes, &#8220;A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step&#8221; and that&#8217;s true. You really have to set aside the first dollar somewhere, somehow, with the intention of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/compound-interest-grow-retirement-lily-pads\/?utm_source=marketriders&amp;utm_term=5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\">not spending it but instead growing it<\/a> over years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-9791\" src=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280-800x479.jpg\" alt=\"build a retirement\" width=\"496\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280-800x479.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here are five steps you can take to make a plan start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement that will fund your golden years.<\/p>\n<p>Ready to build a retirement? Here we go:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Save at least something, now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You need at least some ready cash for emergencies. Aim for a low, achievable number, say, $50 out of your next paycheck. Stick it into a savings account. Next paycheck do another $50. Pretty soon you&#8217;re sitting on $1,000 or more. It won&#8217;t take long.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Ramp it up automatically<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once you have a month or two in expenses sitting in savings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/yes-you-need-an-ira-probably-two\/?utm_source=marketriders&amp;utm_term=5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\">open an individual retirement account (IRA) at your bank<\/a> and fund it. Likewise, join your workplace 401(k) if you have one.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re already putting away $50 in cash for your rainy day fund, put the same\u00a0into your retirement plan. Definitely ask about your company&#8217;s matching policy. Try to set aside at least enough to get the full match, and ask if your employer will bank future raises automatically, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Invest\u00a0windfalls<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Got a tax refund? A gift from a relative? Picked up some fast cash on an odd job? Our natural inclination is to treat found money as a chance to spend. In fact, you should treat is as money that doesn&#8217;t exist today. If you invest it, it will compound, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/key-to-retirement-success-is-compounding\/?utm_source=marketriders&amp;utm_term=5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\">turning into much more money<\/a> down the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Cut taxes, now and later<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Saving into an IRA or 401(k) will lower your taxes today. That&#8217;s exactly the kind of &#8220;found money&#8221; that helps a retirement balance grow more\u00a0quickly. What you don&#8217;t pay in taxes should allow you to save that much more.<\/p>\n<p>If you use a Roth IRA, you get to avoid taxes later, when you take money out. It grows tax-free in the meantime, too. It&#8217;s a win-win for retirement savers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Keep investing costs low<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard for people to believe, but using expensive, actively managed mutual funds is a real drag on your retirement. The pitch from the funds is that superior management easily beats the stock market averages.<\/p>\n<p>The data, however, suggests a far different result: After fees, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/actively-managed-funds-a-faulty-product\/?utm_source=marketriders&amp;utm_term=5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\">the majority of active funds cannot beat the market averages<\/a> consistently enough to matter. Meanwhile, those fees cost you real money, now and into the future.<\/p>\n<p>Taking a few small steps toward your retirement may not feel like doing much. But, over time, making the right moves early will help you grow your savings into plenty enough money to retire well and on time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s easy to understand how a retirement is built \u2014 steady saving, prudent investments and time. But so many of us fail at it because we get stuck\u00a0trying to make\u00a0just &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[43,54,55],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@marketriders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@marketriders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MarketRiders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\",\"name\":\"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-11T21:19:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-21T15:27:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/f2be262f5c0f3ed5ad50d6c40640ba8c\"},\"description\":\"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/\",\"name\":\"MarketRiders.com\",\"description\":\"How To Become A Better Investor\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/f2be262f5c0f3ed5ad50d6c40640ba8c\",\"name\":\"MarketRiders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e06113f594828daaf313d283544d566?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e06113f594828daaf313d283544d566?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MarketRiders\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/author\/support\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders","description":"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders","twitter_description":"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wanderer-455338_1280.jpg","twitter_creator":"@marketriders","twitter_site":"@marketriders","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MarketRiders","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/","url":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/","name":"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement | MarketRiders","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-11T21:19:12+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-21T15:27:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/f2be262f5c0f3ed5ad50d6c40640ba8c"},"description":"Ready to build a retirement? Here are five steps you can take to make a plan really start off right and, in time, turn into a real retirement.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/5-money-moves-that-build-a-retirement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Money Moves That Build A Retirement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/","name":"MarketRiders.com","description":"How To Become A Better Investor","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/f2be262f5c0f3ed5ad50d6c40640ba8c","name":"MarketRiders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e06113f594828daaf313d283544d566?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e06113f594828daaf313d283544d566?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MarketRiders"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.marketriders.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/author\/support\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9789"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9804,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9789\/revisions\/9804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketriders.com\/investing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}