Retirement planning is typically something that individuals and couples engage in once they hit their late forties and early fifties. The conventional wisdom has been that once you hit a certain age, you should be looking to prepare to retire.

In actuality, every American needs to start working on their “nest age” immediately. Putting it off while failing to consider drastic changes to the economy will likely result in disappointment later on.

There IS no certain age to begin retirement planning. These three reasons to start preparations as soon as possible should hopefully help you take steps towards a happy retirement.

More And More Americans Are Not Able To Retire…Period.

Senior citizens were polled in 2012 and a surprising number—as many as 30 percent—said they didn’t intend to stop working until they hit 80.

Compare that to the once held belief that 65 was the ideal retirement age.

And 80 is being optimistic; for too many senior citizens there will simply be no retirement. Or they may have planned to retire in their 80s, but will not live to see that age.

The recent recession and housing bust can be blamed for this grim outlook which encourages retirement-age Americans to delay or forego retiring.

If you do not wish to be working hard into your seventies, then you shouldn’t delay retirement planning.

The Volatile Stock Markets Aren’t Big On Reassurance

Putting all your nest eggs in one basket? You may be setting yourself up for disaster.

We already know that the stock markets can crash at any time, and are likely to do so at least once in our lifetimes.

A number of aging Americans have put most of their savings into the stock markets in the hopes that what they most of their savings will still be there when they retire.

While buying some shares isn’t a terrible idea, putting everything into something so unpredictable is never wise. Consider alternatives for investment such as CDs, real estate, and even gold.

The Longer You Wait, The Less Money You’ll Have

In the U.S. News article “5 Reasons to Start Investing for Retirement Today”, the writer brings up an outstanding point as to why you should begin saving for retirement as soon as possible:

The longer you have your money invested, the more powerful compounding interest is. For example, $5,000 invested by a 20-year-old with an average 8 percent annual return will yield $160,000 by the time he retires. That same amount invested by a 39-year-old will yield only $40,000 upon retirement.

While his example specifically addresses compounding interest, the same logic can be applied no matter how you choose to invest or save for retirement.

The longer you wait, the fewer retirement resources you will have at your disposal!

What other NEED TO KNOW advice can you offer persons planning to retire?