We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for .
Editorial Integrity
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
How We Make Money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
My friend has a $50,000 student loan, which he is paying off as fast as he can with every penny he can scrape up.
“Every day that I owe that student loan, I pay $6 in interest,” he complained. “That’s a six-pack a day — $42 a week that I could be spending on something else — something fun.”
Like retirement. My friend’s not saying that, but he should be because one of these days sooner than he thinks, retirement, especially if he can afford to live well, will be a lot of fun.
Forgoing lattes to retire rich
A 25-year-old who saves $6 a day, just one less six-pack or latte, will accumulate about $1.2 million over 50 years, says Chris Carosa, author of “Hey! What’s My Number?” and chairman of the board of Bullfinch Fund.
“By then, 70 is when people will retire,” Carosa says. “The beauty is a 25-year-old has the advantage of time,” he adds.
Follow three more pieces of his advice if you are starting out young to save for retirement:
Work for a company that has a 401(k). At a minimum, a competitive employer ought to be offering the mechanism to save automatically, and it’s not too much to also expect a 6 percent match on your savings.
Make it automatic. Let your employer increase your savings level the longer you work and as your salary goes up.
Find a savings mentor. Pick somebody that you trust who is knowledgeable about saving and investing.
“The key to success is self-discipline,” Carosa says. “And that can be a challenge for someone who has just graduated from college and is enjoying newfound freedom. But think about: Becoming a millionaire is worth it.”
Share