Spokane-area financial advisers say they have become more assertive in their efforts to help young workers build savings while planning for retirement.

“What’s the biggest challenge for young people saving for retirement? In a word, life,” says Paul Viren, owner of Spokane-based Viren & Associates Inc. “Actually, let me clarify that—it’s lifestyle.”

“It’s the money they spend on the technology they feel they have to have; the latest iPhone. What I see is a struggle to understand the difference between needs and wants,” Viren says.

Says Sarah Carlson, owner and founder of the Fulcrum Financial Group here, “I tell them there’s financial aid for college, but there isn’t for retirement.”

Carlson and Viren say all consumers, but especially young ones, are continuously bombarded by advertising enticing them to spend.

“Today’s advertising exceeds anything that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” says the 60-year old Viren. “Amazon, online shopping in general … with just a couple of clicks you’ve made a purchase. It’s made easy.”

Viren says his 29-year-old daughter thinks he’s “a dinosaur” for carrying a wallet and cash.

“You can more effectively track your money with cash in hand. You use the credit or debit card all week and it becomes harder to know just how much money you’re blowing,” Viren says.

Ryan Moore, a 37-year-old, Deer Park-based financial adviser with Edward D. Jones & Co., agrees with Viren’s assessment of today’s young workers.

“They don’t have cash. They don’t see cash, and ultimately many don’t have any idea exactly how much money they’re spending,” Moore says.

He says initially he doesn’t approach the topic of retirement directly with clients—or potential clients—under age 40.

“I believe it’s more effective to ask, ‘Where are you today? What have you been spending money on?’ Then I bring up the dreaded B word,” Moore says. “Budget, let’s create a budget. That takes work. We’re programmed to spend. And for a lot of people, the budget is a real challenge. But it can be done.”

Moore says many clients are often amazed when they peruse three to six months of budget statements from their bank or credit union and discover just how much they’re spending.

Donald Morgan, a financial adviser with Independent Wealth Connections LLC, in Spokane Valley, says the word retirement has seldom meant anything to people in their 20s regardless of what generation they’re from.

“To start, I’ll tell anyone regardless of age to get control of your finances,” Morgan says. “Understand what you owe and own.”

Despite the Great Recession, Viren says he thinks there’s still no shortage of lenders extending loans and lines of credit to consumers who shouldn’t have them.

Viren tends to be most concerned for young workers whose employers don’t offer some form of retirement plan, either through a pension or 401(k).

“In that case, they have to save on their own. And not just young people, but older Americans are showing less discipline in being able to save on their own,” he says.

Viren, like Moore, says many consumers express consternation at the idea of living on a budget.

“Even with the technology and tools available to budget and track money, people still don’t know where their money goes. Coffee drinks, dinner … there’s all this stuff that your monthly bank statement shows that you don’t even know about,” Viren says.

Viren says he’s “dead center” in the baby boom generation. His words of advice to everybody are as follows: “Save, save, save. Don’t buy junk. Know where your money is going.”

At the very least, Moore recommends clients save at least the minimum amount in their employer’s 401(k) plan in order to earn the matching funds offered.

If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement program, then set up a simple Roth IRA.

“My encouragement is to try and max out the amount you can put in annually—$5,500,” Moore says. “Now obviously that’s tough if you’re working at minimum wage. However, that’s where we sit down with the budget and calculators and ask, ‘What is the maximum amount can you contribute based on the budget?”

After establishing a budget, Moore says he checks in with his clients frequently in the months thereafter to get a feel for their progress and comfort level living on a budget. Clients are also encouraged to build emergency savings budgeting.

Moore says younger workers tend to be single without the financial responsibilities of their older counterparts.

“They’re out of school, or college, and while they may have student loans, maybe a car loan, generally this is the age where they have the most disposable income,” Moore says.

Marriage and children often follow, and while the financial priorities change, habitual overspending without saving puts people under financial duress, Moore says.

Viren says the most effective retirement savings pitch he makes to young workers is to explain compounding interest, the interest added to the principal of a deposit so that the added interest also earns interest from then on.

“It takes money, interest and time,” Viren says of compounding interest. “And the thing I tell them is that unlike their elders like me, what they have is time. They have it more than anyone.”

Viren, who also teaches area financial planning courses through Dave Ramsey-offered seminars, encourages young people to give every dollar a name, a strategy employed in Ramsey-run seminars. “If your dollars have names like iTunes and Starbucks, then you need to change their names.”

Also take advantage of sub-savings accounts at the bank, Viren says.

“It’s the envelope system, again, this is another Ramsey idea, but you’re putting money into different envelopes for taxes, charity and fun, so as to specifically assign your dollars a name,” he says.