7 ways to reduce your debt and save more for retirement
Hanging up your hat at the end of a successful career has always been part of the American dream. But research on how much we save for retirement shows that it’s only a dream.
The average working American has no retirement savings, according to a report from the nonprofit research organization National Institute on Retirement Security. More than 100 million working Americans have no assets in their retirement accounts.
Why? The report doesn’t confirm it. However, a National Bureau of Economic Research white paper indicates that debt is one of the main reasons Americans near retirement age cannot confidently stop working.
According to the study, 55 percent of Americans ages 55 to 64 have a home mortgage and 50 percent have credit card debt.
So what can Americans do to reduce all this debt so they have more money for retirement?
1/ Assessing debts and expenses
When tackling debt, you need to know where you stand. Assess how much debt you have, what it costs in interest payments and monthly fees, and what you spend each month.
Use a spreadsheet or budgeting software to create and manage this assessment.
