Raquel Charles was in her mid-20s when she signed up — begrudgingly — for her first retirement account. Wading through paperwork to start her job at the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City, she would have skipped over the retirement option if not for an older colleague’s intervention.“She saw that I was young and didn’t know what I was doing,” Ms. Charles recalled. “She told me, ‘Just put away something, even if it’s the bare minimum.’” Ms. Charles decided to contribute 1 percent of her salary.For the next decade, retirement was the last thing on Ms. Charles’s mind as she focused on her career and family. “I saw a few dollars coming out of my paychecks, but I never thought abou …
