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Working Americans Not Saving Enough Money For Retirement, Survey Finds

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – How much are you saving for retirement? While three out of four working Americans are indeed saving money for retirement, a new survey finds that not everyone is saving enough.

Thirty-five-year-old Taryn Ciulla just recently started thinking about her retirement plans.

"I was saving for a while, then I felt like I couldn't afford it, so I stopped," Ciulla said. "But when I got a more permanent job as a teacher, I started saving again."

The survey found 29% of people are increasing their retirement savings compared to last year. But half are contributing the same and 16% are saving less.

Steve Grimes has a 401k, but he admits he hasn't given it enough attention.

"It wasn't something I was thinking about until easily five years ago and that's relatively late – my mid-30s before I started thinking about retirement."

A 35-year-old who puts $5,000 in a traditional IRA every year could have around $500,000 at age 65.

But if that same person started contributing when they were 25, that retirement account could be $1 million.

"If you are not saving at least 10% of your income for retirement you need to get there pronto and once you do look to bump that up," Greg McBride, chief financial analyst with Bankrate.com, said.

So what does McBride mean when he says "bump that up"? McBride strongly suggests that people put a full 15% of their income in savings to ensure they have enough to retire.

Click here for more on the survey.

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