Banking on Retirement: What to Pay Attention to in Your Finances
Friday, February 26, 2016, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Planning for your retirement is something you can make easier for yourself by getting started early. Every year unplanned is another year wasted, and as time passes, you need to chart a different course with respect to your savings and investment goals if you expect to keep up with the cost of living in your golden years.
No one can tell what events will most likely influence your future retirement plans, but you can make planning financially far easier by taking to heart the following guidance.
-
The Benefits of Working Longer
Being healthier and possessing a less physically demanding job than your ancestors makes holding onto your job for a few more years a viable option if you need to accumulate some extra money to fund your retirement objectives.
Stretching out your career makes sense because the economic payoff is so dramatic.
In addition, folks who hold onto their network of personal contacts and remain mentally active into their later years are generally better at staving off dementia and are more likely to remain motivated to keep fit and healthy.
-
Don’t Ignore the Status of Your 401(K)
Today, half of private-sector employees don’t participate in any sort of retirement plan provided by their employers.
This is unfortunate because over the years IRA and 401(K) accounts have taken the place of private pension plans that retirees have relied on for so many decades.
You will do yourself harm if you fail to monitor the progress of your own 401(K) account over time.
To give yourself the best opportunity for a good outcome, you need to be certain you have an optimal mix of stocks and fixed-income investments in all of your retirement savings accounts.
To minimize market risk as you come closer to your actual retirement date, you should be meticulous with respect to moving more of your money out of stocks and into interest-earning investments.
-
Learn to Manage Debt
Using borrowed money to finance the purchase of enduring assets such as a house or a car is not a problem for the thrifty consumer.
Debt becomes a problem when it is used to finance a lifestyle that is unsustainable without the availability of borrowed money.
Chipping away at consumer debt (especially the credit card type) early in life is a very good way to make future retirement plans easier to fulfill.
Dollar for dollar, there is almost nothing you can do in your financial life that will make for a better investment than paying down your consumer credit obligations.
The retirement of any high-interest credit card debt should be your first goal if a carefree retirement of your own is what you seek.
-
Housing and Long-Term Care
In published reports, the United States Department of Health and Human Services have suggested that most of the people turning 65 years old today will need some level of long-term care services going forward.
Americans are living longer and they’ll need to accumulate more money for retirement than previous generations. They may also need housing solutions that combine long-term care services.
The planning of senior housing options should include consideration for traditional St. George retirement communities, as well as active adult communities, assisted living, independent living, and continuing care options that are able to meet the needs of seniors during the subsequent phases of their lives.
Retirement planning is about solving the problem of accumulating sufficient money so you can pay your bills for 30 years or more after you stop working.
Because life has a way of tossing unexpected changes your way, having time on your side helps you cope with such changes.
Time and intelligent planning is what you need to take the guesswork out planning your future retirement.
Throw us a like at Facebook.com/doable.finance
