On this edition of Stretching Your Dollar, certified financial planner and author Larry Sprung offers his tips on how to start saving for retirement early. 

On this edition of Stretching Your Dollar, certified financial planner and author Larry Sprung offers his tips on how to start saving for retirement early.&nbsp;

Wake Up With Cheddar

Stretching Your Dollar: Tips on Saving for Retirement Early  

And welcome back everyone. I'm and I'm at a and now to stretching your dollar saving for retirement may not be a top priority, especially for people in their twenties and thirties. But jump starting your retirement fund early has huge benefits. According to our next guest author of the book Financial Planning Made Personal Larry Spro, Larry is also a certified financial planner. Larry. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. We're thrilled to have you. So, are there any misconceptions about when you should start a retirement fund? Yes, there are. You have to start early. I think the misconception is that when you're younger, you don't have the money to invest. So I'll wait till I earn more money. But when that happens, you have a family, you have a house, you have more poles on that same amount of money. So the earlier you could start the better because then the sooner you can stop saving and even take a break. But if you start later, you're really gonna have to put the pedal to the metal and really go until retirement. So let's talk about the benefits here of starting this in your twenties. And thirties, even if it is just a few bucks here or there are putting that aside. Sure. The big benefit is compound interest. Eighth wonder of the world. You know, Albert Einstein said that I believe, or Ben Franklin, I should say. And, uh, you know, it goes by, if you had a penny, you know, if I give you a choice to have a million dollars today or a penny doubled every day for 30 days, which would you choose? And a lot of people say, oh, I want the million dollars, but a penny doubled every day for 30 days is $6 million because of the compound interest. That's the same benefit you can reap from starting early in your retirement plan. So we know there are a few options out there for people who are considering jump starting their retirement savings. Tell us about them. Yeah, I think one option right off the bat is if you're working for an employer that has a 401k plan, take advantage of that, especially if there's a match, make sure you're contributing at least up to that match. If not more, that's free money 100%. And that doesn't happen very often. Free and money in the same sentence. Number two is if you don't have that option, then look at a traditional Ira or a Roth Ira which you can set up on your own. A little bit different in the amounts that you can contribute to each of those. But first 401k, next, look at an Ira or Roth and maybe even combine the two. If you have the ability to do that, there's, let's talk about Ross and traditional Ira is obviously very popular. But what are sort of the differences between those two? Yeah. So the traditional Ira you can put in money, pre tax, you get a tax deduction today, money grows tax deferred. When you take it out in retirement or whenever you take it out, you're gonna pay taxes on it. Then Roth Ira different. You're not getting any tax benefits. Today, money is growing tax free. You're never going to pay taxes on that money. So if you're in your twenties and thirties in a low tax bracket, typically the Roth Ira is a much better match for those folks. Do you have any other final advice for younger people? Considering retirement saving options, especially in their twenties and thirties pay yourself first. We think about things backwards. Right. We pay all of our bills. We pay everybody else and then we use what's left over, figure out an amount maybe 5 10%. That's good. Pay yourself that amount first to your retirement plan, your saving strategies and then use the remaining 90% if you choose 10% and pay all your bills. We're the most important people in our own lives. Advice. Larry Sprung, author of financial planning. Made Personal. Thank you. So much. Alright guys coming up. We are just moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Stay with us to see how the markets open for a brand new week of trading. More. Wake up coming up right after this quick break.