Looking Ahead

How do you get serious about retirement savings in your 30s and 40s while juggling the costs of housing and raising a family?WE TALK TO:Dan Bortolotti, an associate portfolio manager and financial planner at PWL Capital, as well as the author of index investing blog Canadian Couch PotatoSUGGESTED READING:Our most irrational financial habit? Cheaping out on retirement saving is a good read for those who need some motivation to save for retirement.Check out The Globe's Real Life Ratio calculator to see if your mortgage is keeping you from fulfilling other important financial obligations:Is your mortgage leaving you house poor?

In this first episode, Rob explains why you should be thinking about retirement in your 20s, even though you may have 40+ years in the workforce ahead of you.WE TALK TO:Shannon Lee Simmons, financial planner and the founder of the New School of FinanceSUGGESTED READING:Rob lays out four simple ways for millennials to get started here: Gen Y: Your guide to getting started saving for retirementFor some more tips, check out this:Younger investors, here’s how to get fee breaks and other little-known perks at online brokers and robo-advisers

In this last episode, Rob talks about how to get maximum traction as you head into the final stretch as a saver toward retirement.WE TALK TO:Rona Birenbaum, founder of financial planning firm Caring for Clients and co-founder of the online financial planning platform ViviplanSUGGESTED READING:Given that a lot of traditional measures of retirement readiness are close to useless, here's The new way to tell if you’ve saved enough for retirementEarlier this year, Rob explained Why it’s even harder to save for retirement for women

How much money are you saving for your retirement? Will it do the job? If you've ever wondered if your money will be working hard enough once you're not, The Globe 's personal finance columnist Rob Carrick will help you get in the right frame of mind.