FLINT -- Saving for retirement may be harder these days for people in between jobs or making a low income, but financial advisor David Boike of Retirement Resources in Flint said it is more important now than ever.  The country recently observed National Save for Retirement Week, but Boike said that message needs to get out to people every day.

“There’s a lot of concern.  There’s a lot of fear,” he said, referring to the instability in the financial markets, on the heels of last year’s global economic crisis. 

“We have investors gripped by fear.  They are indecisive and they stop saving.  That’s the big mistake,” he said. 

Before the crisis, the national savings rate was between 3 and 4 percent.  That dropped to or below zero during the crisis, Boike said.  Now he is recommending people save as much as 10 percent of their income for retirement- even if that means making short term sacrifices like going without cable, or not dining out. 

There are several places to put those funds including savings accounts, money market accounts, or guaranteed annuities. 

Boike said people need to “get back to saving on a regular basis and start building up that surplus again.”  Click on the video link to hear David Boike’s advice on life stage planning. Also catch his Money Matters reports Monday mornings on NBC25 Today.