I take a look at the headlines on Investment News daily and noticed one a few weeks ago that caught my eye about young workers and employee matches.

The story was based on data released from the Employee Benefit Research Institute last year that said 71 percent of full-time workers ages 21 to 24 were not enrolled in their workplace retirement plans.

Not that every employer offers a match. But if yours does, the “.50 cent for every dollar you put in” match which is most common, is more lucrative than you’d think. Invest $100 and that’s $50 for free. Over and over and over again. Not bad. Those matches are getting more generous too: One in five companies plan to increase matching dollars, according to Hewitt Associates.

The Investment News story quotes Brian Jones, a 30-something adviser and author I’ve spoken with in the past who works with young workers. He suggests that workers getting started should ask their parents to help them save for retirement if living expenses make it nearly impossible for them to do it on their own.

I think it’s a great idea in theory– especially since starting early is one way to amass lots of money without major sacrifice. But I don’t know if that’s realistic considering many parents are unprepared for retirement and need to save that money to fund their looming golden years.

I think the right way to save for retirement is skip a few iTunes downloads and head to happy hours at the cheap bars, not beg mom and dad to fluff up your nest egg. They already hatched you and fed you worms for 20+ years (forgive me for taking that too far, but it’s Friday).

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 11:59 am and is filed under retirement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.