It’s Never Too Soon: Tips for Planning your Secure Retirement

Define Your Life in Retirement

This is the fun part. Envision what you want your retirement to look like. For example, perhaps you want to do a lot of traveling, retreat to a house on a lake, or drive across the country in an RV. Each of these lifestyles requires a different kind of planning and therefore a different level of financial resources.

Envisioning the retired life you want is the first step toward making it happen. If you want to travel around the world, you’ll obviously need to have a significant savings.

Set a Target Retirement Date

Assuming you will be able to retire and then not being able to do so because you have not accumulated enough money is disheartening, at best.

If you set a target date for your retirement, you will be able to plan much more specifically and therefore more effectively. Even if retirement is 40 years away, this is a good start.

Figure out about how much money you’ll want in your retirement account and do the math to figure out how much money you will need to save per month or per year.

Choose Your Financial Strategy

Though of course any savings you can manage is better than no savings at all, you are not as likely to reach your retirement goals successfully or on time if you do not develop a savings strategy.

Whether you started saving early or whether you are beginning a little later than most, you certainly want to optimize the resources you have in the time you have before retirement.

If you are intentional about how much you save and how you save it, you will be much more likely to be able to enjoy a stress-free, on-time retirement.

Expect the Unexpected

While your financial planning may be adequate for living the retirement life you envision, you must also anticipate the unforeseen and unknown.

For example, you must also prepare for the possibility of unexpected out-of-pocket medical expenses as well as the possible necessity for expensive long-term care.

These are common but critical issues to consider when you are doing your long-term planning for life after retirement.

Consult a Financial Advisor

One of the most helpful things you can do to establish an effective retirement strategy is to consult a Phoenix retirement planning advisor.

While there are numerous do-it-yourself retirement expense calculators available, you will benefit most from discussing your future plans and your present reality with someone who is uniquely trained to help you meet your goals as painlessly and effectively as possible.