Once you’re retired, you’ll need to maintain 70 to 90 percent of your pre-retirement income to continue your current quality of life. That’s not always easy to do. Meanwhile, it’s possible that you’ll be retired for a long time, maybe 20 years or more, because life expectancies are getting longer.

In other words, retirement is expensive.

So in order to retire comfortably, you have to save for it. Because of how investments have historically performed over long periods of time, a little bit saved now can be worth a lot more in the future.

If you’re not sure where to start, check out the Top Ten Ways to Prepare for Retirement.

This video explains why starting now matters.

Getting close to retirement age? Take the Mystery out of Retirement.