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I recently wrote the following article that answers your question about saving money and getting a good return on it. Here is the article, entitled, Three Ways to Save More Money By Getting Paid to Save.

Three Ways to Save More Money By Getting Paid to Save

Everyone wants to save more money. Yet many cash-strapped people feel like they “can’t afford” to save. One way to make saving each month a little easier is by super-charging your savings – and making your money work as hard as you do. Here are three special ways to turbo-charge your savings. Try them and watch your savings grow faster than ever.

Strategy #1: Open an Individual Development Account or IDA

An Individual Development Account, or IDA, lets low-to-moderate income earners save money for a specific goal – such as a down payment on a house or starting a business – and receive matching funds from non-profit groups, corporations, and government agencies. Many IDAs provide a $3 to $1 match, meaning for every dollar you save, you get $3 in contributions. What’s the catch? You must agree to save money for a set period of time, usually at least one year. Some IDAs require you to set aside money for two or three years. Whatever the term, it’s worth it – because you’ll get rewarded with a huge cash bonus in the end.

The Payoff: If you save $100 a month, or $1,200 in one year, and your IDA has a $3 to $1 match, at the end of a year, you’ll receive a $3,600 contribution.

Resource: Visit www.IDAnetwork.org to find an institution in your area that offers Individual Development Accounts.

Strategy #2: Open a High-Yield Savings Account

Are you frustrated by savings accounts that are paying a paltry 0.5% or less in interest? Don’t despair. There are better yielding options available – if you shop around online. For example, the new InterestPlus Online Savings Account from Capital One currently carries a 1.45% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) – well above the national average. Plus, you can get a quarterly bonus equal to 10% of the interest you earned in the previous quarter. That’s a fantastic deal because you’re basically getting paid twice to save.

The Payoff: Keep $2,500 in your Capital One savings account each month, and you’ll earn an APY that’s roughly three times the amount that’s being offered elsewhere with other savings accounts.

Resource: Go to www.CapitalOne.com/directbanking to learn more about the no-fee InterestPlus Online Savings Account.

Strategy #3: Enroll in Your Company’s Retirement Savings Plan

If your company has a 401(k) or a 403(b) retirement savings plan, and you’re not contributing to it, you’re making a big financial mistake. Not only are you missing out on the opportunity to set aside money for your Golden Years, you’re also likely forgoing one of the best perks available to workers these days: a corporate match on your retirement contributions. Some companies offer a dollar for dollar match on the money you save for retirement, up to a certain percentage. Other firms offer 50 cents on the dollar. No matter the amount, it’s free money, so it’s foolish not to grab it.

The Payoff: Getting a dollar for dollar matching contribution from your employer’s 401(k) plan translates into a 100% return on your money. Guaranteed. You’ll never get that on Wall Street, or anyplace else.

Resource: Head to your company’s Human Resources Department today, and get the enrollment papers you need to sign up immediately for your 401(k) or 403(b) plan. If you’re already in the plan, consider boosting your contribution slightly. Also, read up on the benefits of having a retirement plan at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (www.ebri.org).

By using these three savings methods, you’ll become a more diligent saver, you’ll watch your money grow quickly, and you’ll make the process of saving money pain free. Best of all, pretty soon you’ll feel cash rich instead of cash-strapped.

Retiring in two to three short years from now means you’ve got to ensure that your financial affairs are in good shape, and that you will have enough money on hand to last you another two or three decades. Many financial planners create plans for their clients on the assumption that the client will live until 90 or 100 years old. So you have to consider whether, if you retired at age 65 or 66, you would have enough money to last for potentially another 30 years.

Max Out that Retirement Plan at Work

Start by looking at what you’ve saved in your retirement plan at work. If you haven’t been aggressively saving in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, by all means start doing so. Perhaps your employer offers a match to boost your retirement plan. Under federal law, most employees can put up to $16,500 into a qualified retirement plan in 2010. However, since you are over 50 years of age, you can also put into another $5,500 in “catch up” payments if you’ve been a late starter, in terms of saving. You can also sock money away into an IRA, or Individual Retirement Account. The 2010 limit for regular IRAs and Roth IRAs is $5,000, plus another $1,000 in allowable contributions for those 50 and above. Assess also any pension income or retirement benefits that will be provided directly by your employer. Then find out how much money you will be entitled to from Social Security. You can find out your expected Social Security payments by visiting the Social Security Administration’s website (www.ssa.gov).

Two Steps To Assessing Your Retirement Readiness

In summary, to make sure you are on track to retire when you want, you should follow these two steps:

Step 1: Calculate Your Retirement Needs
Think about what how much money you’ll need in retirement, on a monthly and annual basis. Take into account your projected monthly expenses, any debts you’ll have, along with the possibility of healthcare or medical costs, travel, as well as inflation. A good tool to use is the “Ballpark Estimate” retirement calculator from the American Savings Education Council at: www.icief.org/retirement/illustrations/ill_ballpark.html

Step 2: Estimate Future Benefits
After consulting your Human Resources Department or taking a look at any employer-provided pension income you may be expecting, go get an estimate of your Social Security benefits at www.ssa.gov./estimator.

If you don’t like what you see in the results, all is not lost. You have the option of working a bit longer, perhaps investing slightly more aggressively if you are comfortable doing so, or even using products like annuities that can offer you a steady income stream or make up for any financial shortfalls you may face.