While reading some articles about the economy, one sentence caught my eye. It wasn't that big of a deal, even, just a financial planner commenting that one of the people profiled in the article should probably have put away more money for retirement.
Which, of course, brought me to my retirement plans.
Right now, I contribute 5% to my TSP (government 401(k)) and fully fund my Roth IRA. I'm starting to wonder if I should do more or if I'm doing the right thing by just putting money into my savings account. I don't think that I will contribute the full 15%, but I'm considering going up to a 10% contribution.
Were the markets doing well, I think this would be a much easier decision to make, though I'm well aware that's not how to make retirement decisions.
At this point, I do still rent, so I'm always putting away money for a down payment. I don't have plans to buy soon, and I don't have a set amount that I hope to save. Just "as much as possible." So the other option for the money is to put that extra 5% into that savings account.
Changing my retirement contributions is easy. I can do it online in just a few clicks. So it's not as if I'm locking myself into some long term decision.
Before I do anything, I'm waiting to see what my paycheck looks like with my promotion. So that gives me a few more weeks to think. What would you do?