College students and recent graduates face particular challenges in saving and planning for retirement. Daunting student loans, a still-uncertain job market and competition for jobs among fellow graduates may all seem far more pressing than a retirement decades down the line, but that doesn’t mean post-career planning should be put to the wayside. Here’s what college students should know about retirement:
Start saving young. Saving early and capitalizing on years of compounding interest is key to retiring comfortably. “[The] most important thing to remember is that [students] will, in fact, retire someday,” says Mark Helm, a certified financial planner in Falls Church, Va. “They can either get one of the great forces of nature – compound interest – to work for them, or they can get started late and fight that beast for 30 years.”
One of the initial steps toward a successful retirement is one many students feel they’ve had enough of: education. Most students haven’t learned to deal with their finances properly, according to Robert Fragasso, CEO of Fragasso Financial Advisors in Pittsburgh, and that’s the first hurdle to a healthy retirement.
Summer is almost over, school is starting and 2013 will be over before you know it. If you put off retirement saving until later in the year, now is the time to get on the ball. Sure, you can 
You’re in your 50s. Retirement is now a visible light at the end of the tunnel. You’ve worked hard and saved hard. But that might not be enough.
