First Person: The 8 Reasons Young Adults Don't Save for Retirement

Most of us know that we should save for retirement. However, many young adults put off this financial necessity. You may be one of them if you rationalize your not having started a retirement savings plan with one of these reasons.

There are too many other demands on your money. In some cases, this may be a valid argument, given the need to make ends meet on what may be a meager salary when you are just starting out in your career. Also, many young adults today have hefty student loans and large credit card balances. Given these financial demands, saving for retirement may seem impossible, but if you start early, even very modest savings (such as 1% of your income) can turn into a nice account balance by the time you retire.

Retirement is decades in the future, so there is plenty of time to think about saving for it later. It is true that retirement is a long way off when you are a young adult. However, if used well, those decades are your friend when it comes to retirement planning. The longer you save, the more painless it will be (since, to build the same retirement account balance, you will have to set aside less from each paycheck if you start now than if you delay five or 10 years) and the better prepared you will be for a secure retirement.

Retirement planning is intimidating and confusing. Yes, figuring out exactly how much you'll need when you retire 40 or more years from now is almost impossible, and the information you get from the experts on retirement planning may be hard to understand and even contradictory. But none of that should stop you from taking the first step, which is to open a retirement account and begin to fund it regularly. Even small contributions are better than nothing.

You don't have time to open a retirement account. True, it takes some time to read the information in your employee handbook about your employer's retirement plan and to fill out and submit the forms, but this is a pretty weak excuse for not doing something that could make a huge difference in your long-term financial security.

Investing is scary. Retirement planning pros say that the younger you are, the more you will need to rely on stock market investments to build your account balance. But given what you've heard about the stock market's volatility, you may be nervous about committing your hard-earned funds to equities and uncertain about your ability to make wise investment choices. One way to solve this dilemma is to invest in a target-date mutual fund that diversifies your investments for you based on your age and adjusts your holdings appropriately as you grow older.

You are discouraged because you don't believe that you can save enough for retirement. This is another weak excuse for not starting a retirement plan. It is also self defeating since, if you use it to avoid saving, you will increase your chances that, just as you fear, you won't have a sufficient retirement nest egg when you need it.

You will have a pension from your job, so you don't need a retirement plan. Perhaps you will be one of the lucky few whose years of labor result in a generous pension when you retire. However, you may not want to count on it. Job security is not what it once was and, even if you keep your job, there is no guarantee that your pension benefits won't be reduced or eliminated. Therefore, it is a good idea to start saving for retirement so that you have a safety net in case your pension doesn't pan out.

Social Security will pay for your retirement. Even if there are no changes to Social Security before your retire, your Social Security checks may not be sufficient to support the life style you are used to, so plan to supplement them with your own retirement savings to ensure a comfortable retirement.

More from this contributor:
What to Know about Secured Credit Cards
Retirement Planning for Young Adults
Insurance Coverage and Young Adults