<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Bob and list, This is a subject dear to my heart -- not S corporation, which I know very little about, but saving for retirement. The Social Security office assures me they will help with retirement costs of living, but I'm not counting on it very hard.  Even if it's there, it just won't go far enough.  Our kids have all left the nest, so my wife and I are both working fulltime and putting a fairly large percentage of our income into IRAs, because we didn't start early enough.  Now we're changing our strategy a little.  Tomorrow we have settlement on a house we will rent out, and we'll see how that goes. For anyone who is self-employed, self-discipline is the word.  In some way you have to see that the money is regularly squirreled away.  The earlier one begins, the smaller the regular contribution can be, and it adds up over time.  (Well, that's the general idea anyway; right now it's like burning it in the trash barrel if you put it in stocks or stock funds.)  Our oldest child, who is 27, regularly invests the maximum amount that is tax-advantaged in an IRA. But you're probably right that most people just spend what they have, and even more, as they go along.  If we don't look ahead, and plan ahead, we're going to be in for some very meager times down the road. Regards, Clyde Hollinger BobRussellpiano@AOL.COM wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>When I ask questions whether it's prudent to reduce your SS taxes thus reducing your retirement and/or disability payments they usually say how you can do better taking the money and investing in an IRA. I don't disagree with the premise of this statement, but how many of us will take this money and save it. I'm concerned about self employed techs following this advice and having problems down the road. I'm aware that you only need 40 quarters of high income to establish good benefits with SS, but at what point does the average tech start this process, later in life when their kids are in college? I realize that SS isn't nearly enough to cover retirement, but the way most people save nowadays, is it prudent to underfund our retirement. What are your thoughts on this subject? Bob Russell RPT</blockquote> </html>