Some people say that retirement planning is not difficult but I feel that that's not the case for me because I don't earn a high enough income to save a lot or to invest. Please help?

Well you just need to save ten times your annual salary for your retirement. This benchmark is the same for everyone, regardless of their absolute income. Just think about how to save 3x your annual income by 40 as well as 6x your annual income by 50 (I'm on this second path now.)

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you got this!

I do think that everyone’s circumstances is different and everyone’s personal finance journey will be different from one another. Hopefully some general guidelines below will help! If not, do seek a financial advisor if necessary!

Generally, it would be good to gain new skills to increase your income and perhaps have side hustles to supplement your income from your day job. However, as income increases, one must make sure not to have lifestyle inflation, but continue to keep expenses low. Then, there will be some excess funds for savings and investments!

Not having a high income but having low expenses will mean you have more to invest as well, so i do think controlling one’s expenses is pretty important!

I also think that before investing it would be good to save up to 6 months worth of income as a “rainy day” fund and have insurance too, since insurance is used to protect downsides in cases of mishaps. The rainy day fund will give some holding power so that you do not have to be forced to liquidate your investments.

Starting early in investing would be good too, even if the amount is small, as the effects of compounding will be more apparent with time! But do read up and do your own due diligence before investing!

Hope that helps!

Disclaimer: This post is not a recommendation to do anything, but just opinions of my own! I am not a certified financial advisor!

Income is not the issue. Income less Expenses is the real issue.

There are people with high income but equally high expenses and they will also have problems retiring.
Similarly, someone with a low income, if managed well, may still find that he is able to save and invest for retirement.

What is your income? What are your expenses?

Hello Anon,

I would say, having such thought process is a mental barrier for yourself. Think about the laws of attraction, what you think of, you attract. If you tell yourself retirement planning won't work for you because of your income, then it won't work.

You need to have a financial health review done properly so that we can properly understand what is your current situation, and what needs to be done to get to where you want to be. There is once an UPS deliveryman who earned $1000/month in the US, he understood the power of compounding and set aside $200 every month into an investment fund. (7%-8% returns), by the time he retired when he was 78, he had a net worth of 70 million. How is this done? Consistency, patience and faith, he could have been complaining that his income is low, but instead he made sure he was disciplined enough to set aside $200 every month for his retirement and eventually made it.