Chances are you do not save enough. According to a study conducted last year by the Transamerica Retirement Studies Center, Generation X – people born between 1965 and 1978 – has a median of $ 72,000 in pensions.

$ 72,000 30 years old. According to our analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the average household of retirees currently spends approximately $ 3,800 per month.

There is no bailout here: social security will absorb some, but not all; the program replaces about 40% of the income for an average employee. The rest must come from savings

Faced with this reality, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Put yourself money in the right places

The retirement savings gap is a multifaceted problem: debt levels are high, incomes are relatively stagnant and employer pension plans are rarer than they should be. When there is not enough money to go around, distant goals are put back in the background.

For many people, there is not much more than retirement. After all, there are debts to repay and emergency funds to build, not to mention vacations or houses to buy. But with a few exceptions, retirement should be a priority.

This is especially true if you have an employer pension plan that matches your contributions, which could represent a quick return of 50 to 100 percent. You will not find a return like that elsewhere, so capturing those matching dollars comes before any other goals, including debt repayment. (Want to understand how valuable your game is – run your numbers with a 401 (k) calculator).

What if you do not have an employer pension plan that offers matching dollars? You should always prioritize saving for retirement by contributing to an IRA, especially when you are young. Investing early gives your money the time to compose. The IRA's current annual contribution limit of $ 5,500 could easily grow to six times that of over 30 years without further contributions from you – and with a Roth IRA, you're grabbing that growth from $ 40,000. ;tax.

2. Do you know what you are spending?

There is no coffee or the new version of this obsession with toast to the lawyer. Lynn Ballou, a certified financial planner in Lafayette, Calif., Says, "I call this the 10% solution." I have not worked with anyone who intends to spend money. They could not reduce their spending by 10% in one year.

There are certainly people who have already reduced their expenses to the bare minimum. But even if you did, you'd be surprised how quickly your budget starts to slacken. So, take Ballou's suggestion: Regularly spend time combing through your expenses by examining credit card statements and bank statements. Chances are, even the leanest can leak.

If you still do not know where to make cuts, Ballou suggests taking a look at your insurance coverage. "Most people are undercover for big business and over-insured for the little things, reversing that figure can save 10% there," says Ballou.

3. the money you save saves money?

It's the common hole even in the most well-intentioned effort.You take the time to check your budget, you negotiate your bills, you increase your insurance deductible to reduce your premium, you get an increase or premium … and then that money is absorbed into another expense.

There is no shame – and often free of charge, although you must check by making repeated transfers from your checking account to your savings account, do it every time you save money.

Then once per months, move the supplement you accumulated into a retirement account as a Ro IRA (You can also make repeated transfers directly to this account, but be sure not to pay a commission or transaction fee for each investment.)

"Investing is not done accidentally", said Ballou. "If you just have more money when you reduce your expenses, and you have no process in place to make sure that money goes into your investment portfolio, you can virtually guarantee that you are going to spend it for something you do not want.I really need it. "

Arielle O. Shea writes for NerdWallet, a personal finance site.