Ask anyone of your older-generation friends, loved ones or family members, and they’ll all agree on how important it is to save for retirement. But as the trends below indicate, not many people save for retirement early enough, or put away enough money each month in their retirement savings accounts—and sadly, many come up short when they should be enjoying retirement.

Questions to Consider when You Save for Retirement

Do you know how much you need to save in total so that you’ll have enough retirement savings to live on for 20 years of relaxing retirement? As the infograph below shows, if you want to live off of a modest $3,000 a month in your retirement years, you’ll need to have $500,000 saved in retirement accounts. Is $3,000 enough to check things off your Bucket List? Do you want enough money saved up to not only be able to survive each month, but to also take vacations and check things off your bucket list? How much will that summer trip to Thailand cost you? On a fixed income retirement, it can be hard to budget for vacations and large expenditures if you haven’t planned ahead. So here’s your challenge SprinkleBit Nation!

How much will you save for retirement now that you have a few years to take the challenge?

Look at your savings habits today. Which category do you fall under in the retirement savings infographic below? How much do you put away each month for your retirement? Are you ahead of the curve, or are you putting off tomorrow what would yield you more savings today in the long run? Chime in below in the comments and if this becomes the one thing you read and share today, let it be an early reminder to save for retirement early and often.

UPDATE: A lot of our viewers requested more practical tips on how to save, and we cover that a lot here on SprinkleBit. Here is some suggested reading:

A popular post on why trying to learn market-timing isn’t worth it in the long run. A breakdown of how the average investor loses potential retirement savings by trying to “time the market” and sell a stock to buy low.

NEW! Some tips on how to save on your food budget so you can afford to pay yourself more in retirement savings each month.

Learn to invest and contribute to your retirement savings by joining SprinkleBit for free, today!

Click Infographic to View Larger Version

This infographic is licensed under the Creative Commons License 2.0 for commercial or private use. Thumbnail Credit: Cassio Braga from Abduzeedo.com