9 Easy Moves With Lasting Financial Value

7. Reclaim grocery store savings from using a coupon or club card that get tallied on a receipt. The amount saved should be put into a savings account or retirement plan, Ringquist suggests.

The most recent Principal Financial Well-Being Index, a quarterly survey by Principal Financial Group(PFG ), found that workers' top two resolutions heading into the year were paying off credit card debt (35%) and putting a set amount of money into savings each month (30%).

Retirees' top resolutions were to reduce their spending by a specific amount each month (19%), pay off credit card debt (17%) and put a set amount of money into savings each month (15%). If that's so, says Catherine Golladay, vice president of 401(k) Education and Advice for Schwab(SCHW), there's a painless way to make those resolutions into realities:

8. Take advantage of free investment advice most likely offered with your plan, Golladay says. A recent Schwab study found that 401(k) investors who take plan-offered advice save more and panic less, with savings rates doubling among "advice takers" from 5% to 10% of pay.

Retirement strategist and financial coach Bill Losey has another suggestion that might seem tough:

9. Accumulate "up to three years worth of income in savings, CDs, money markets or treasury bills."

But all you have to do is start the process, he says.

"This is where you should start taking money from when you retire," he says. "Use this 'safe-money' benchmark strategy so the money you need is in the safest yet lowest-yielding investments where your principal is protected. It helps to weather the ups and downs of the stock/bond markets where the rest of your long-term money is allocated and diversified properly."

-- Written by Joe Mont in Boston.

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