Many people have the goal of retiring early. And if you make an effort to consistently contribute to your savings, it may be an attainable goal for you.

But what if you've faced some recent setbacks that forced you to hit pause on your retirement plan contributions? A lot of people have struggled to keep up with higher living costs this year, spurred by inflation. And so you may have needed to stop your IRA or 401(k) plan contributions to keep paying your rent or put food on the table.

Meanwhile, a lot of people paused retirement plan contributions during the pandemic due to being laid off or incurring extra expenses in 2020 and 2021. Say you needed to spend an extra $10,000 on childcare during that time so you could continue working while schools were closed. That's money that may have otherwise gone into your retirement savings but didn't.

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Source Fool.com