Florida Advisor Pierre Jouve devised a bite-sized approach to saving money that involves planning for retirement in shorter increments of time, particularly for clients who live in the moment, overspend or are stretched financially by more than one family member’s needs.

“Instead of saving for an event that doesn’t kick in for another 15 to 30 years, we set one- to three-year target dates and revisit them annually,” said Jouve, a CFP licensee.

Because saving has become increasingly difficult for Americans who grapple with high levels of debt, whether it’s from credit cards or student loans, Jouve focuses his clients on a12-month or 36-month outcome rather than investment returns.

“I trick clients initially by having them save $20 a week; then after they have been successful at the end of the time frame, we look back and set a higher benchmark for another year or three years,” said Jouve of InsuraWealth in Tampa.

Such craftiness is necessary among financial advisors who feel obligated to help their clients save for retirement in a financial environment in which many are falling short of their retirement planning goals.

“Short-term interval investing makes long-term goals like retirement more tangible,” said Jason Staley, an advisor in Pittsburgh. “It counters the sense that you’re putting your life off for some far-away retirement dream.”

Some 56 percent of millennials said they would increase their contribution to their company 401(k) plan if their debt was paid down, according to a study by T. Rowe Price. That’s compared with 49 percent of all workers.

“Focusing on the short term makes it more likely for my clients to accomplish their long-term savings goal,” said Jouve.

Although it’s beneficial to automatically escalate savings over time, most workers don’t take advantage of the automatic escalation that their company-based 401(k) plan offers. Only 19 percent of millennial workers use this function, compared with 15 percent of Gen Xers and 10 percent of boomers.

“We increase their savings incrementally by 1 percent a quarter from 10 percent to 11 percent until we hit a 20 percent income savings rate for clients who are slower to grind up,” Jouve said.

Staley establishes a series of interim financial goals by age. “This means a 25-year-old employee client will set a reasonable savings goal of maxing out their 401(k) matching feature for the next five years until their 30th birthday,” said Staley, who works with Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors. “We then set a new five-year savings goal and revisit it on their 35th birthday.”

For clients over 40 years old who are cash strapped from educating their college-aged children while also providing elder care for aging parents, Staley recommends investing money from 50 to 55 years old in hybrid long-term-care insurance policies that also provide a cash value life insurance rider.

“It’s a popular way to save money for retirement and provide yourself with coverage for long-term-care expenses in the future because the life insurance rider acts as a savings account in the event living in a care facility isn’t required,” Staley said.

Product options that Staley favors include Lincoln MoneyGuard II and Nationwide YourLife CareMatters.

Kansas CFP Melissa Ellis keeps her clients on a retirement savings track by focusing on creating cash flow in five-year intervals.

 “Saving for retirement is a mental mindset that can deprive clients of a new pair of shoes or vacation, but I find that a cash-flow approach helps people to attain both saving and splurging,” said Ellis, who creates cash-flow reports that show monthly expenditures and details such as when money is withdrawn to pay bills during the course of 30 days.

Ellen Siegel borrows her savings strategy of creating virtual buckets from Raymond Lucia who wrote The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution.

“We set up 12 to 24 months of cash or really liquid, low volatility instruments, then another bucket to kick in at the nth month to address the next three to five years, then another bucket or two depending on age, health or risk tolerance for the long term of seven to 10 years,” said Siegel, who is a CFP licensee with Legacy Wealth Management in Miami.