Melanie Jewkes, Extension Associate Professor

Are you saving for retirement? Do you want to be saving for retirement? Are you looking for strategies to invest more money? Put it off no longer -- the best time to start saving for retirement is NOW. 
But I get it! LIFE gets in the way sometimes. It doesn’t help that picking a way to invest in retirement can be is complicated. But time is of the essence, and you are literally losing money, and money on that money (compound interest), the longer you put off figuring out how to save for retirement.
It is never too late to start saving for retirement. NOW is always better than tomorrow. Here are some strategies to get you on your way to investing in you beginning today.

Vincenza Vicari-Bentley, AFC

​Congratulations! You’ve decided to put money for your retirement through an account offered by your employer. You’ve taken the first big step but now you may face a much tougher decision: 
how to invest your retirement savings? 
You might be overwhelmed with information from your employer and it might be several pages of instructions and advice about things like asset allocation, fund performance, and fees. You probably want a simple answer.  However, when figuring out which investments are best for you, there are a few recommended steps: 

Jerevie Canlas, Ph.D., CFLE

​Historically, women are poised differently for retirement compared to men. Most significantly, women work fewer years and earn less. Women only earn .82 cents for every dollar a man makes, and the discrepancy is larger among women of color. Women spend an average of 9 years taking care of family members instead of being active in the workforce. 
 
Women leaving the workforce to take care of family members is very common, and more especially so in the COVID-19 era. A 2020 survey on the impacts of the pandemic showed that 45% of women have taken on a larger share of caregiving responsibilities since the pandemic and 39% are considering leaving their jobs so they can take on caregiving responsibilities. In the past year, about 3 million women have left the workforce and many are considering quitting their jobs or reducing hours. The phenomenon has been called different names - she-cession, pink recession, etc. 400,000 more women than men have left the workforce since the onset of this pandemic.

Guest Contributor: KristiLyn Wilkinson, M.S.
USU Extension Empowering Financial Wellness Program Manager

Welcome to Part 3 of 3 in this series on financial health for women and “working out” your retirement!  Did you miss Part 1 or Part 2? Don't miss them!
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Now that you have decided which IRA type is right for you, how do you go about opening one? There are multiple different kinds of accounts that can be designated an IRA; mutual funds, stocks, bonds, CDs, saving accounts, etc. Think about your IRA as being a cookie jar. You can put a variety of different cookies into the jar. The type of “cookies” or “investments” you put in the jar depends on what your long-term goals are. Then think about writing on the cookie jar either “traditional” or “Roth” and this will let you know what kind of tax benefit you are going to get on the cookies in your jar! Are you thinking about downing a package of Oreo’s yet? Because I am! 

Guest Contributor: KristiLyn Wilkinson, M.S.
USU Extension Empowering Financial Wellness Program Manager

Welcome back to Part 2 of 3 in this series of financial health for women and “working out” your retirement! If you read Part 1, I know you are anxiously waiting in your stretchy pants to jump right in, so here we go! 
What is an IRA? IRA stands for individual retirement account. There are two kinds of IRA’s, the traditional and Roth. I will break each of these down so you can decide which one is best for you. 
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