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Unlike most people our age (24), my boyfriend and I seem to be pretty aware of the importance of saving for retirement. Well, actually a lot of people my age know that they need to start now, but they still haven’t actually gotten around to doing it. Meanwhile, both of us already having some savings in Roth IRAs, and try to set aside more each month to add to this.

Despite doing all the “right” things, when I sit down and try to figure out how much I’ll need to have saved to retire at 65, it seems nearly impossible to have enough to pay bills AND travel and have other luxuries in retirement. But wait! I’m giving up travel and fancy dinners out now so I can have them later! When will that later come?

I find it stressful to be responsible for this planning ahead, and knowing how much to save now, vs how much I should be spending now to enjoy today so I don’t have regrets later on… Sometimes I think it would be so much easier if I could just be careful enough with my money that I don’t have debt, and I have some savings, but if I didn’t know enough to calculate how much I need to retire comfortably… or to buy a house down the road…

I am thinking about finding a new place to live,  that’s quieter than where I live now, but my current rent is so cheap that pretty much anywhere else would double my rent. I’m thinking about how much I need to save to buy a house once I figure out where I want to live permanently - but if that’s on the west coast I’ll need 80,000 for a down payment on a $400,000 house. (That’s how much houses cost over there, at least, right??)

So I know a bunch of you have managed to buy houses on the west coast (or several properties in the case of RB40), or are figuring out how to live on one income. My question is HOW?

How did you save for retirement while saving enough cash for a down payment? I can see how it would be possible to pay all the bills on one income, but again, how much retirement are you building with the leftover after the bills?

It just seems so overwhelming that over the next 40 years, I need to save enough money to live 20 years in retirement after that (at least. My grandmother is almost 95 now and her sister lived ‘til 97 or so too).

And here’s another planning question - am I going to want to travel when I’m 65 or 70? Some 65 year olds (my dad) could easily still travel, walk around foreign cities, but who knows if my knees will be up for that then. So should I be traveling now, and just plan on living in a little house with reading books as entertainment in retirement? Because that requires a lot less savings!

What has been your approach to retirement savings? Did you have enough money for a 20% down payment on your first house? How old were you when you bought your first house?