By Matt Frankel, Motley Fool Investment Planning

10 Ways To Save An Extra $1

Million For Retirement

1

1. Get rid of your landline

• Unless you need it for

a fax machine, having

a landline has

become rather

unnecessary

• By using your mobile

phone as your only

phone, you could

save $40 per month

or more towards your

retirement2

May 14, 2015

2. Shop around for insurance

• Shopping around for

car insurance is fairly

common, but many

people don’t bother to

shop around for other

types, like homeowners

• Also, check how much

your premiums could

drop if you increase

your deductibles

3

May 14, 2015

Source: www.stockmonkeys.com

3. Dine out less

• If you go out to dinner

regularly, cutting back

by one meal per

month can really add

up

• Choosing to skip a

$50 dinner for two

every month means

$600 extra per year

that you could set

aside4

May 14, 2015

4. Maybe cable isn’t a necessity

• A few years ago, this would

have been a ridiculous

thought, but with services

such as Netflix and Hulu,

maybe you don’t really need

cable anymore

• You can even get HBO now

without buying a cable

package

• Or, if you insist on cable,

think about downgrading

your package or getting rid

of some movie channels

5

May 14, 2015

5. Bring your lunch to work

• Instead of buying your

lunch at work, try

brown-bagging it

instead

• If going out for lunch at

work costs $10 and

packing a lunch costs

$3, your talking about

more than $1,700 in

savings throughout a

year

6

May 14, 2015

Source: wikipedia

6. Avoid bank fees

• Overdraft or returned-

check fees can cost

you $30 or more per

incident

• And, try to avoid

going to ATMs that

aren’t free (Those

$2.95 ATM fees really

add up over time)

7

May 14, 2015

Source: wikipedia

7. Your gourmet coffee habit

• By switching from a $5

premium coffee drink

each day to a $1 cup

you brew at home, you’ll

save nearly $1,500 per

year

• Or, if you simply brew

your own coffee half the

time, that’s still $750 per

year in savings

8

May 14, 2015

Source: wikipedia

8. Quit smoking already!

• Aside from the obvious health

benefits, many people could

create a comfortable

retirement with just this one

step

• A pack a day at $6.00 per pack

is $2,190 that isn’t going into

your savings

• By quitting and investing this

much money every year

instead, it could grow to more

than $325,000 in 30 years!– Note: assumes investment returns on par with

the S&P 500’s historic average

9

May 14, 2015

Source: flickr user KOMUnews

9. Pay off your credit cards

• Paying credit card

interest is one of the

biggest drains on your

financial health

• If you owe $5,000 in

credit card debt at 18%

interest, it’s costing you

$900 per year just for

the privilege of owing

money

10

May 14, 2015

Source: flickr user frankieleon

10. Boost your 401(k) contributions

• Perhaps the easiest way

to save more for

retirement is to make it

automatic by increasing

your 401(k) contributions

• Even if you’ve maxed out

the amount your

employer is willing to

match, you can still

decide to contribute more

(up to $18,000 per year,

or $24,000 if you’re over

50)11

May 14, 2015

Source: 401kcalculator.org via flickr

• Let’s see just how much of a long-term

effect this can have

– For the purposes of this calculation, I’ll make

the following assumptions

• We’ll assume that we’re talking about a 35 year old

who wants to retire at 65

• We’ll assume we can match the S&P 500’s

historical rate of investment returns

12

Adding it all up

• Check out how much money you could

potentially save1. Getting rid of your landline - $40 x 12 months = $480 per year

2. Shop around for insurance - $100 in savings per year

3. One less dinner out per month - $50 x 12 = $600 per year

4. Get rid of cable, replace with Netflix, HBO - $75 in savings x 12 = $900 per year

5. Bring your lunch to work - $7 savings x 250 workdays = $1,750 per year

6. Avoiding 1 ATM fee per week - $3 * 52 = $156 per year

7. Brewing your own coffee ½ of the time = $750 per year

8. Quitting smoking - $2,190 per year

9. Pay off $5,000 in credit card debt at 18% interest - $900 in savings per year

10. Contribute an additional 1% of your salary to your 401(k) - $750 per year (assuming

$75,000 salary)

May 14, 2015

13

A million or more

This adds up to a staggering $8,576

per year!

If you could boost your retirement

savings by this much every year for 30

years, it could grow into a $1.3 million

nest egg!

May 14, 2015

14

Of course, you don’t need to use all 10

of these tips

Just a few of these could mean the

difference between struggling to retire

on time and creating the retirement of

your dreams

May 14, 2015

15

16

Increase your retirement income

even more…

The $60,000 Social Security bonus

you need to know about

CLICK HERE TO READ NOW