Whether you’re 23 or 35, it’s important to know whether you are saving enough for your retirement. There is no time like the present to ensure you are allocating enough funds to your retirement account.

With folks routinely living into their 80s and 90s, it’s more important than ever to ensure your money lasts your lifetime. Millennials have the advantage of time. You can benefit from compounding and the long-term trends that can make a real difference over the course of several decades.

A good savings target is 15% of your income. That’s a very general target, and in many cases, it’s too conservative. That can be a real challenge if you are also saving for a house and/or paying off student loans. The important point is to make a commitment to your retirement savings by contributing a consistent amount with each paycheck (or if you are self-employed, every invoice). The absolute percentage is secondary; more important is to set a goal and stick to it.

How will your lifestyle change? In retirement, you may no longer be drawing a salary, although many folks take up some form of self-employment that brings in an income. It’s up to you whether earnings will be part of your retirement plan. If not, your retirement savings should be robust enough to supplement your Social Security without sacrificing your lifestyle. You can check you projected Social Security payments on the Social Security Administration’s website.

Time may heal all wounds. Millennials may have unpleasant memories of the Great Recession and the family turmoil it could have caused. A conservative attitude toward risk isn’t surprising given those circumstances, but sticking to overly conservative investments has its own risks, such as not keeping up with inflation. You have time to recover from the inevitable ups and downs of the markets, which means you might want to consider adding some aggressive investments to your retirement account.

Figure out how long your savings will last. To get a reasonably accurate figure, you should derive your annual “burn rate.” That’s the amount of savings you’ll need to live on each year. You then see whether it will last for your estimated life expectancy, which you can check with any number of online calculators. If the answer is no, you’ll have to increase the amount you save now and/or cut back on your retirement plans.

Your retirement finances are not set in stone. You have options at any age. Contact an advisor with Seacoast Investment Services today. Don’t put it off—the sooner you understand your financial alternatives, the sooner you can take positive action to protect your golden years.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. There is no assurance that the views or strategies discussed are suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes. Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal.

Check the background of our investment professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck.

Securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC). Insurance products offered through LPL or its licensed affiliates. Seacoast Bank and Seacoast Investment Services are not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. Registered representatives of LPL offer products and services using Seacoast Investment Services, and may also be employees of Seacoast Bank. These products and services are being offered through LPL or its affiliates, which are separate entities from,and not affiliates of Seacoast Bank or Seacoast Investment Services. Securities and insurance offered through LPL or its affiliates are:

The LPL Financial registered representatives associated with this website may discuss and/or transact business only with residents of the states in which they are properly registered or licensed. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident of any other state.