Get (Slightly) More Serious About Retirement Savings

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Do you want to work until age 75? Yeah, that sends a shiver up my spine, too. Sadly, working well into the golden years is the reality for many members of today’s workforce.

Let’s ponder the worst-case-scenario and assume you haven’t saved one single dime for retirement yet. What’s it going to take to catch up? The chart below offers a rough guideline:

Hopefully your retirement account balance has a little more than, say, $0 in it to start. Even if it’s not much more, there’s still a lot you can do to prevent your retirement from becoming a nightmare on golden pond. And, no, it doesn’t require switching to a steady diet of ramen noodles and renting out your basement to loud college kids. Here are three ways to instantly improve your future prospects.

1. Increase your 401(k) contribution by just 3%. Contributing to an employer-sponsored 401(k) or 403(b) with a matching plan offers you an instant savings boost. A 25% match turns a $5,000 contribution into $6,250. If you're 50 or older, take advantage of yet another break -- a tax break -- via the catch-up contingency, which lets you sock away as much as $22,000 in pre-tax dollars in 2009.

Granted, a lot of companies have curbed or eliminated the match these days. Still, consider this: Every dollar you contribute to an employer-sponsored retirement plan reduces your taxes. So if you're in the 25% tax bracket, for example, a dollar deposited in your retirement plan cuts your tax bill by $0.25. Put another way, you have to reduce your spending by only $0.75 to save a buck.

Get your 401(k) contribution paperwork from your human resources department (you can modify your contributions at any time of the year) and bump up the amount you're contributing by just 3%.

2. Open an IRA right now. Yes, right now. Delaying just one single year can rob you of tens of thousands of dollars down the road. Consider a 40-year-old man who begins contributing $3,000 annually to a Roth IRA (not even the full $5,000 that you may be eligible to contribute each year!) and continues to do so until he retires at 65. Assuming 9% annual growth in this instance (OK, maybe that’s a pipe dream, but still!), he'll have $254,102.

What happens if he puts off his initial investment until age 41? When it comes time to collect his gold watch and enter the life of leisure, he'll have $230,369 -- a $23,733 difference thanks to his late start.

To max out an IRA before next April's tax deadline (the contribution limit in '09 is $5,000), you'll have to set aside $714 a month for the next seven months. I know, I know. Even if you can't max out that amount, set aside something -- anything. And stay on course month after month by automating transfers from your checking account into your IRA.

3. Save another $100 a month for retirement: What will an extra $100 in savings a month add to your retirement paycheck? Let's do the math: Investing an extra Benjamin a month for 20 years and earning 8% interest annually will add about $60,000 to your retirement kitty.

Major bonus points to those who tackle all three of these savings triage moves this month. Even if you can't max out your 401(k), fully fund an IRA, or scrape together triple-digit dollar amounts monthly, every little bit helps.

Fool.com writer Dayana Yochim’s future self will be happy that present-day Dayana Yochim automates her retirement account contributions.