Congratulations! If you have followed the steps we have laid out thus far, you have built a solid foundation for your retirement.  Stick to your retirement savings plan and you have guaranteed yourself comfort in your golden years, 30 or more years from now.

To summarize the retirement savings strategy that I have posed:

1. Set up a Roth 401(k) or 403(b) plan or traditional 401(k), and Roth IRA.  USe a discount brokerage like [1] ShareBuilder.com to hold your Roth IRA.   Take advantage of any employer match to increase your contributions.
2. Use the [2] time value of money calculator to determine the amount that you need to save each month to adequately fund your retirement OR simply plan to max out your Roth IRA each year ($4,000 per year or $333.33 per month).
3. Set up an automatic draft into your retirement accounts from either your paycheck or checking account, to make investing easy and take advantage of dollar-cost averaging.
4. Dollar-cost averaging makes sense as an investment strategy for long-term savings, such as retirement or other long term goals. To take advantage of dollar-cost averaging in your retirement savings, automatically invest a fixed amount each and every month your retirement account and you will automatically hedge against falling prices and reap more rewards when your investments flourish!
5. Choose an appropriate asset allocation for your retirement savings, for example: 45% Large Cap stock
   35% International stock
   15% Small Cap stock
   5% Cash
6. Choose a basket of ETFs, with mutual funds and stocks filling in any gaps, that matches your chosen asset allocation. 

[3] Click here to review all posts related to retirement.

That’s it!  Next time around, we’ll continue with “The Plan” and examine saving to reach other financial goals, like buying a home, taking an extended vacation, or retiring early.