The only factor that people consider about their retirement plan is their retirement age, but they fail to consider other important factors, such as their present age, how long they will live, the investments already made, the benefits that the investments are supposed to yield, and the necessary income to support themselves after they retire. The mistake that most people make is start saving for retirement and investing at the age of 50 when they should be doing it at the age of 30.

It is important thing to remember about your retirement fund is - LEAVE IT ALONE! Borrowing against your retirement fund to pay off a credit card, buying something you just "can't" live without, trying a "can't lose" investment or just using a little of it here and there is not the wisest thing for you to do.

Retirement planning is not a thing you should take for granted. You should be thinking about and planning for it as early as possible in your life. Only when you plan and prepare for it you will be able to relax and live a good live in all the comforts you want and need when you hit that retirement age. The last thing that you want is to just get by during those golden days. You really need to think about 401 retirement plan and other relevant issues in advance.

So how much do you really need to start investing in stocks or mutual fund portfolio? To open an account, you could actually start with just $100 and then build up your portfolio by contributing about $25 to $50 monthly. If you don't have hundreds now, you can save some amounts every payday until you have enough to open an account. You must understand that the dollars that you invest now could be worth a lot more in a few years. By building your portfolio slowly, you could accumulate a lot of money after a few years. Studies show that people who have invested in mutual funds when they were in their early twenties have earned a great deal of money by the time they reach the age of forty.

Read the tips about saving the paper money from financial crisis - junk silver bags and junk silver coins.