Were you expecting some razzle-dazzle secret? Sorry.

Taking a few minutes to increase your 401k contribution (or other retirement/investing account contribution, if you don’t have a 401k) may not be exciting, but what it can do for you long-term is.

So seriously, take just a few minutes right now and increase it by at least 1%. More if you feel like it, of course, but you won’t miss 1% percent. (And it’ll end up being even less than that that actually gets taken out of your check, since 401k contributions are pre-tax.)

Which of course is another benefit — reducing your tax liability.

Don’t think you have time right this second to improve your prospects in retirement? It really does not take that long to fill out a little form. Contact your HR or login to your IRA account and do it.

After all, you have time to read about personal finance, which means you have time to act too. Make like Nike and just do it.

But they’re really very simple:

1. Retirement should be on your radar today — even if you never plan to retire
2. And NOW is the time to start saving for retirement, if you haven’t already started

Why are the two items above the most important things you need to know about retirement? (Assuming you’re not already retired, of course.)

Planning for retirement

First, it’s common for people to want to avoid retirement, period. That’s because many people visualize retirement as sitting around the house staring at the TV, bored out of their skulls. Naturally that doesn’t sound very appealing. (Although it doesn’t have to be that way.) It’s also common for people to figure that they’ll never be able to retire, even if they want to.

In both cases, “Oh, I’ll just work forever” is the common refrain.

But sometimes, you can’t work forever — through no fault of your own. You may be laid off late in life and unable to find another job, or you could become physically unable to work. (According to the Social Security Disability Planner , a 20-year-old worker has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before they’re old enough to retire.)

On a more positive note, you might also change your mind on how you feel about retirement. Maybe you’ll be 75 and have the urge to go out and do things you’ve never done before.

In either case, you don’t want to be broke and depending on the kindness of strangers (or maybe the government) if that happens. You want to have options. Choices. The funds to control your own life.

Life never goes as planned, but money can sure help smooth out some of the bumps.

Why NOW is the best time to start saving if you’re young

If you’re young, now’s the best time to start saving for retirement for the simple reason that the sooner you start, the bigger an impact your savings and investments are likely to have. In other words, time is on your side.

Set aside a portion of your income from here on out, save and invest it wisely, and you’ll likely be in great shape when it comes time to retire.

And it won’t take a lot of money to do so. For example, if you’re age 20 now, for the price of a couple of nice dinners out (say $100 per month) you could end up with half a million dollars in a Roth account by the time you turn 65 (assuming an 8% rate of return). Of course, you could contribute more than that too.

So don’t delay because it seems far away. Time really does go faster and faster as you age, and retirement time will be upon you before you know it. You want to be able to retire if you feel like it or need to.

Why NOW is also the second-best time to start saving

Even if you’re not so young, now is where you’re at. You can’t go back and change the past, but you can still have a positive impact on your future by setting aside money for retirement now. Plus, the longer you delay, the more you’ll have to set aside to ensure an adequately funded retirement. Remember though that ANY amount you can contribute will benefit you.

While you might have less time to invest than a 20 year old probably would, you can probably also afford to set aside a larger portion of your income. And if you’re over age 50, you can also take advantage of catch-up contributions — which allow you to contribute a larger amount to your 401k and IRA plans. It’s not too late. (Here’s information on the IRA contribution limits, if you’re curious.)

As the Chinese proverb goes, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Think twice

Here’s why you should think twice when it comes to cashing out a 401k just because you’re leaving a job. For one thing, according to the IRS, if you take a distribution before age 59 1/2 you’ll generally have to pay an early distribution penalty of 10% additional tax. That’s 10% on top of your normal tax rate — which may be even higher than normal since the distribution itself will count as additional income.

Suppose you normally pay 20% of your income in taxes. Would you like to give up 30% of your money “just because”? You may think “Well, but that still leaves me 70%.” While that’s true, would you feel the same way if a stranger accessed your checking account and withdrew 30% of your money today?

So while it may be tempting to take that cash and pay down bills or bulk up savings, cashing out your 401k is really just a good way to lose money that you could otherwise have kept.

Don’t rob yourself

Believe it or not, cashing out 401k just because you’re leaving a job is even worse than just robbing yourself of your current money. That’s because in addition to the cash you’d be losing up front, you’d also be losing out on the wonders of compound interest — interest that could put a huge amount of money in your pocket over time.

Rolling over your money to an IRA is a much better option than cashing out 401k, and it’s not really much trouble, especially if you do a direct rollover. Doing a direct rollover means that you never have to handle the money yourself. If you have an existing IRA, it’s often just a matter of telling your employer that you want to do a direct rollover to that IRA. If you don’t already have an IRA set up, it doesn’t take much paperwork to get it done. Then you can go ahead with a direct rollover to that.

Take care of future you, too

So while the thought of a little extra cash or a nice windfall may be tempting, remember that your 401k is not “found money”. It’s your future — money you’ll need to live on when you retire. If you’re just wanting a little extra cash right now, hold a garage sale or take on a side job. If you want to buy a house, save up for the down payment.

You’ve done the right thing by setting aside money for retirement so far; now’s the time to keep up the good work.

Like Roths for adults, money in a Roth IRA for children grows tax free. Since the majority of kids have very low earned incomes, they’re probably paying little or no taxes on that income anyway. In that case, a Roth can be even more beneficial because it’s likely that most or ALL of the money added to the Roth will be tax free.

Keep in mind though that money in your kid’s IRA is their money. You can’t legally force them to use it only for retirement.

The only catch with opening a Roth for children is that there aren’t very many brokerages that allow you to do so. I don’t know if that’s because the number of people who want to open Roths for kids is low, or if there’s some other reason that makes brokerages shy away from offering them.

You may have to do a little searching around, but I was able to open one for my son at Scottrade though while he was a minor, so there are definitely some places you can open one. You’ll just need to ask if they allow people to open a Roth IRA for kids.

Once you find a broker you’d like to go with and get the IRA opened, you can use it as an opportunity to teach your children the value of saving for retirement — and of not touching that money until retirement.

According to this article on Kiplinger, “For a 65-year-old couple, there’s a 25% chance that one spouse will live until age 97, yet fewer people are retiring with pensions, and Social Security covers only a small portion of most people’s expenses.”

So if relying on things like Social Security strategies and pensions won’t cut it, what will?

Some additional possibilities include:

• Withdrawals from your retirement funds
• Interest from CDs and savings accounts (which seems a little laughable now, but who knows what the future will be like)
• Interest from treasury bonds or municipal bonds
• Payments from annuities
• Dividend income from stocks
• Money earned from passive income ideas
• Money earned from a part time job
• Money thrown off by rental properties

Basically — just like when you aren’t yet retired — the more sources of income you can come up with, the better off you are likely to be.

No matter which options you choose, remember that the money has to last for an unknown length of time, so be careful not to eat into your principal.

Instead, examples of an “immediate and heavy financial need” can include things like medical care expenses, costs related to the purchase of the employee’s main residence, payments necessary to prevent eviction or foreclosure, tuition or fees related to the next 12 months of postsecondary education, or funeral expenses. (See the IRS web site for specifics.)

So when you really need the money, making a hardship withdrawal may seem like a good idea. But is it? Of course you’ll have to judge your own situation for yourself, but I would only make a hardship withdrawal from a 401k plan as a last resort to pay for current and necessary medical care. Here’s why.

First, some of the things listed above — such as buying a home or tuition — can be planned for in advance, and aren’t things that you have to do anyway. It’s possible to wait until you have the money outside of a retirement plan first, and it’s usually a very good idea to do so. Your 401(k) is not a savings account to be tapped at will; it’s a retirement vehicle.

Second, if I were looking at making a hardship withdrawal to pay for medical care that was previously incurred or to prevent eviction or foreclosure, I’d want to be sure I’d exhausted my other options first — things like setting up payment plans, negotiating, and earning extra money that could be used instead.

Once those methods were exhausted, I’d want to think long and hard about whether the withdrawal was actually likely to help in the long run. If it was only a short term fix, and I was likely to end up declaring bankruptcy anyway, I wouldn’t apply for the distribution. That’s because according to this Wall Street Journal article and other sources on the web, retirement accounts are usually protected from creditors to a certain extent in the United States. I wouldn’t want to trade what I’d built up for my future security for a short-term fix that was unlikely to make a lasting difference.

Keep in mind that if you do decide to make a hardship withdrawal from your 401(k), you’ll have to pay income tax on it and pay an 10% additional tax on early distributions. Those aren’t usually withheld for you either, so you could end up short of cash come tax time. Owing the IRS does not sound appealing. You also usually won’t be allowed to contribute to your 401k plan for a period of six months after you make the withdrawal, which makes sense.

So if you’re considering making a 401k hardship withdrawal, be sure you understand all the tax implications and the impact losing out on compounding over time in your retirement account can have on your future.