Of course, we know we should be putting money every month into our retirement accounts, be it a 401k, IRA or other investment. Unfortunately, what happens all too often is that life gets in the way. You have an emergency or the kids need some help with a loan, etc. It’s an endless situation at times. So, what happens in that you find yourself not setting aside enough money for retirement?

In fact, a survey done by the Employee Benefit Research Institute bears this out. They found that nearly 45% of Americans have less than $100,000 saved up. Less than 14% had $250,000 or more.

Now $100,000 may sound like a great deal of money and if you have a wonderful pension plan, it may very well be enough to carry you through your golden years. But, if you don’t have a lucrative pension plan and you will be relying on Social Security to meet your needs, then $100,000 won’t be enough.

Most experts agree keeping your retirement withdrawals at around 8% of your balance each year is the way to go. What this means is that for every $100,000 you can safely withdraw $8,000 a year.

Of course, there are always other issues that ultimately determine this amount such as taxes or market dynamics, etc. But this gives you a good starting point.

The good news with this is that even though you may not be where you want to be at this time. It’s still not too late to get there. You can now contribute $5,000 to your IRA if you are over 50. Even better is that you can put in up to $20,000 in your 401k.

With a little planning and discipline, you can catch up and put your retirement funding back on the fast track.