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Tag: retirement planning

  • Retirement Planning Tips: Save Smart

    If you want to retire and live comfortably, you need to start saving as soon as possible.

    Everyone can save a little money, regardless of how much you make or how many bills you have.

    While saving money can be tough sometimes, when you finally do retire from your job, you will be glad you have a savings to fall back on.

    If you are ready to start planning for your retirement, consider these tips.

    Savings Account
    Set up a retirement savings account and keep it separate from your other savings and checking accounts. Choose a set amount of money to deposit into the savings account each week or month and stick to it. Eventually you won’t even miss the money you deposit into the account and it will be waiting on you when you retire.

    Invest
    If you aren’t good at saving money, consider investing it. There are numerous ways you can invest your money and end up with a big chunk of loot when you retire. If you aren’t sure how to invest or what to invest in, consult with an investment agency for help.

    Talk With Your Employer
    Many employers offer retirement plans that make it easy to save money over the course of your lifetime. You can talk to your employer to determine what your work retirement options are and learn how to set up your retirement savings account through work.

    Saving for your retirement can be tough, especially when you want to spend your hard earned money now. If you handle your retirement planning properly, you will find that retirement is enjoyable and you will be glad you saved when you did.

  • Retirement Planning: 3 Reasons To Start As Soon As Possible

    Retirement Planning: 3 Reasons To Start As Soon As Possible

    Retirement planning is typically something that individuals and couples engage in once they hit their late forties and early fifties. The conventional wisdom has been that once you hit a certain age, you should be looking to prepare to retire.

    In actuality, every American needs to start working on their “nest age” immediately. Putting it off while failing to consider drastic changes to the economy will likely result in disappointment later on.

    There IS no certain age to begin retirement planning. These three reasons to start preparations as soon as possible should hopefully help you take steps towards a happy retirement.

    More And More Americans Are Not Able To Retire…Period.

    Senior citizens were polled in 2012 and a surprising number—as many as 30 percent—said they didn’t intend to stop working until they hit 80.

    Compare that to the once held belief that 65 was the ideal retirement age.

    And 80 is being optimistic; for too many senior citizens there will simply be no retirement. Or they may have planned to retire in their 80s, but will not live to see that age.

    The recent recession and housing bust can be blamed for this grim outlook which encourages retirement-age Americans to delay or forego retiring.

    If you do not wish to be working hard into your seventies, then you shouldn’t delay retirement planning.

    The Volatile Stock Markets Aren’t Big On Reassurance

    Putting all your nest eggs in one basket? You may be setting yourself up for disaster.

    We already know that the stock markets can crash at any time, and are likely to do so at least once in our lifetimes.

    A number of aging Americans have put most of their savings into the stock markets in the hopes that what they most of their savings will still be there when they retire.

    While buying some shares isn’t a terrible idea, putting everything into something so unpredictable is never wise. Consider alternatives for investment such as CDs, real estate, and even gold.

    The Longer You Wait, The Less Money You’ll Have

    In the U.S. News article “5 Reasons to Start Investing for Retirement Today”, the writer brings up an outstanding point as to why you should begin saving for retirement as soon as possible:

    The longer you have your money invested, the more powerful compounding interest is. For example, $5,000 invested by a 20-year-old with an average 8 percent annual return will yield $160,000 by the time he retires. That same amount invested by a 39-year-old will yield only $40,000 upon retirement.

    While his example specifically addresses compounding interest, the same logic can be applied no matter how you choose to invest or save for retirement.

    The longer you wait, the fewer retirement resources you will have at your disposal!

    What other NEED TO KNOW advice can you offer persons planning to retire?

  • Retirement Planning “Toolkit” Outlines Optimal Strategies

    Baby Boomers are beginning to retire, and that means huge shifts coming to the American economy. The exodus of older workers from the labor market could ease employment troubles for younger workers looking to break into their field, but the millions of workers set to retire over the next decades could also mean big costs for companies and the U.S. as pension systems pay out and the government picks up the slack for those who haven’t retired responsibly.

    Seeing the coming wave of retirees, the U.S. government has released a retirement “toolkit” meant to help prospective retirees cover their expenses after they cease working. The U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Social Security Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services threw together the document to help aging workers wade through the convoluted rules and regulations surrounding their retirement funds.

    The main portion of the document is aimed at those over 50. The toolkit provides a timeline showing when certain retirement events can take place without incurring penalties.

    The timeline shows that at age 50 workers can begin making “catch-up” contributions to their pension plans. Six months before age 60 employees can begin to withdraw funds from their individual plans without penalties. Age 62 is the earliest age at which workers can draw on their Social Security benefits, though drawing that early will cause monthly benefits to be significantly reduced. Medicare and Medicare Part D are available for workers and retirees starting at age 65. Age 70 is, more or less, the deadline for being retired. At that age most retirement savings plans require at least minimum withdrawals or else charge penalty fees.

    For workers who can’t even think of retiring yet, the toolkit still has a few suggestions. The document warns workers not to touch their personal retirement savings plans until at least six months before they turn 60, lest they pay tax penalties and lose interest. It also advises that waiting until after full retirement age (66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, 67 for those born between 1955 and 1959) to pull Social Security benefits can increase monthly benefits by around eight percent for every year waited.

    Image via the U.S. Department of Labor