I know that I have been wondering how much do I need to save for retirement. So I started looking around to see how bad my retirement situation really is. I won’t go into my details but the bottom line is that I’m way behind in my planning for retirement. I need a serious infusion of funding to make it through my “Golden Years”.

There are many places to identify how much you need to comfortably retire. What I was able to find indicates that I should have 1.2 million dollars saved in my retirement account to have a comfortable retirement and to live off the annuity from this.

One of the ways to capitalize on your funds if you haven’t saved enough is to postpone your retirement. Waiting just 5 years will make a big difference in the amount that is in your retirement account. Assuming that your account has $50,000 when you reach age 65, waiting until you reach age 70 before you retire and taking the last 5 years to maximize your 401K fund and assuming an 8% return on your investments, you will retire with $772,000 and be able to withdraw an annual salary of $72,000/year for the next 20 years.

While these calculations are fine and dandy if you have a nice nest egg, many of us were hurt by the financial meltdown over the last few years. It makes sense to keep working on your retirement funds but putting all of your eggs into that basket may not be the smartest way to fund your retirement.

I’ve found that an additional income stream that can allow you to save more toward your retirement and even fund it if you work at it. The nice thing about this self-employment opportunity is that it generates residual income once you have a few sites built and ranking, this can run unattended once you have set it up.

I’m referring to affiliate marketing on the internet. This is a business model that is very cheap to start. If you aren’t technologically saavy? There is a community of folks at Wealthy Affiliate that are more than willing to help you get started and learn everything you need to know in a safe environment. Will you need to dip into your retirement fund to learn? Fortunately there is no charge to get started and see what this training facility is all about. For the first 7 days, you will even get Premium level support features with the free membership.

After your first week, some of the high level features are suspended but all of the training for the Starter membership is still available. When you have exhausted the Starter Membership and covered all of the tutorials and certification courses, I suspect you too will have the bug and want to upgrade to the Premium level. If you choose not to upgrade to the very affordable paid membership, there will never be pressure for you to upgrade. I think you will see the value in it though.

If your retirement is looking bleak, and your funds are lacking, I highly recommend that you take a look at your earning power and find out if affiliate marketing is a way that you might close the gap. I know that I have chosen this method and am finding it to be a very helpful addition to my portfolio.