Simple strategies to boost your savings

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:

Simple strategies to boost savings

Most Americans admit they're bad at saving for retirement, said Gail MarksJarvis at the Chicago Tribune. Nearly 70 percent of respondents to an Employee Benefit Research Institute survey confessed that they could put aside more but don't. The trouble is that people make too many financial commitments — a car loan, gym membership, housing that they can't really afford — that sabotage their ability to save. "They need to follow some rules of thumb to keep them out of a financial straitjacket." Among them, spend no more than 30 percent of income on housing. "Consider a 50/30/20 budget." Fifty percent of pay after taxes goes to necessities such as mortgage or rent, insurance, food, and student loans. "Thirty percent goes to wants, like gyms and vacations, and 20 percent goes into savings."

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Employees get ID theft protection

"More employees are likely to see a timely new offering when they choose their benefits in a month or so: identity theft protection," said Suzanne Woodley at Bloomberg. Some 70 percent of companies say that the service could be on their benefits menu by 2018, according to brokerage firm Willis Towers Watson, up from 35 percent in 2015. Corporate interest in ID theft protection began to pick up following the massive data breach at insurer Anthem in 2015 and surged again after the recent hack of Equifax. "Employers have a strong interest in their workers using the service." A 2016 study found that 56 percent of ID theft victims asked for time off work to deal with the issue.

Millennials in love with prenups

The prenuptial agreement "is starting to lose its taboo" among millennials, said Jonnelle Marte at The Washington Post. For generations, the agreements have been a sticking point for couples who deem them unromantic. But because millennials are getting married later in life than earlier generations, they are more likely to have their own careers, businesses, and property. "And that, financial advisers say, has made them more protective of what they have built." A 2016 survey of matrimonial lawyers found that 62 percent had seen an increase in the number of couples seeking prenups; 51 percent noticed more millennials requesting the agreements. And prenups aren't just about protecting assets. In an era of rising student loan debt, the agreements let young couples "say up front how they would like to separate their debt loads in the event of a divorce."