Retirement Planning Tips

• Home

When Planning a Retirement Strategy You Need to Set Goals

January 17th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

When you first consider planning retirement strategy, you probably think of buying new golf clubs, or maybe listing all the places you want to travel to. While these are a good start, you need to consider how you will spend your time when you aren’t heading out the door to work every morning.

Retirement can be the most active part of your life. You have the time to travel, or pursue hobbies that you never had the time for while you were working. When you properly plan your retirement strategy, you’ll find that retirement gives you the freedom to explore everything that life can offer. To prepare for a great retirement, you need to set goals to make sure you stay on track. But not all retirement goals involve money.

One important aspect of planning for your retirement is your health. You can start today planning to have a healthier body. You might enroll in a Yoga class, or start taking a daily walk around your neighborhood. If you need to lose some weight, you can develop a plan for that as well. You want to be as healthy as possible when you retire, so you won’t be limited in what you can do once have the time to start enjoying your life. So one of your first goals could be to maintain or improve your overall health and fitness.

If you have been neglecting getting medical checkups, and visiting your dentist? Start now to keep regularly scheduled visits with your doctor and dentist. This will help you stay in top shape and might help you get reasonable health insurance rates as you get older.

Another important area you might want to look at is your friendships and social relationships. Once you retire, you won’t have the day to day conversations around the water cooler that you enjoy with your colleagues. Start making time for friends and family, even if it is just a quick call or a once a week lunch meeting. This will keep you in touch with the people that you care about, and help make sure they are there for you when you have the time to spend with them. Another important goal is to keep in contact with the people that are important to you.

Planning your retirement strategy also means getting control of your finances, and keeping track of where your money is going. You need to keep a detailed list of all your assets, your benefit plans, social security, and any other sources of income you might have when you retire. You will also need to know where your money goes, so you need a detailed list of all your liabilities such as debts, loans, etc. Financial goals are the most common when planning a retirement strategy.

Take the time to sit down and envision your perfect retirement. Think about the things you want to do, and who you want to do them with. Planning a retirement strategy is about looking into the future to see how much health, money and companionship you’ll need to live the way you want.

How to Plan for Early Retirement

January 11th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Early retirement is becoming much more common, but it calls for a lot of preparation. Many people believe that merely putting a bit of money aside each month is a sufficient plan for early retirement. This couldn’t be further away from the truth. Retiring sooner means that additional money needs to be saved than if the person was going to retire later on in life. They may be required to save up to double the amount! Such a crucial thing such as preparing for early retirement requires detailed planning or else the money may fall up short.

Write Your Dream Down

The first step to preparing for earlier retirement is to decide when you would like to retire, precisely, and what you require your retirement to look like. Attempt to be realistic. If you prefer to live in a mansion and drink adult beverages near the pool you better have the money to do it right now, or else you should probably aim a bit lower.

Sum it All Up

Next, attempt to add up how much annual income you will need to live on after your early retirement. Try to think “downsized.” As the children will in all likelihood be grownup and moved away you will be able to live in a small-scale home, drive a smaller car, and buy less food. This will all make your expenses lower annually; just don’t forget to factor in inflation.

After you have an approximation of how much money it will take to live on, then arrive with the total. This is the sum of money that you will need for the balance of your life after you retire. Say you retire at the age of 50 that still leaves at the least 30 years of life after retirement. Multiply 30 by your annual living amount and you will have the total amount you will require to save for early retirement. The sum of money may stun you. Now you realize the importance of preparation.

Take it to the Next Level

Now that you acknowledge the sum you need to lay aside, you may be searching additional ways to sock away the money. An effective way to advance your retirement check is to check out the benefits your employer offers as a lot of companies, even smaller ones, offer 401ks, stock options, and more. They may have a program to match what you invest, dollar for dollar, equal to a certain sum. You can’t beat that deal anywhere else.

Also, check what your bank has to offer. A lot of banks have comprehensive early retirement planning services and plans that can help even the most stringent of budgets.

Use These Tips to Help Planning Retirement

January 8th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Thinking of retirement isn’t generally on the uppermost part of our list of things to do. Then all of a sudden, we get to the point in our life when retirement is about to become a reality. At that point, you really need assistance in planning your retirement. Sure, we think about from time to time, only never take any action about our thoughts. Don’t let lack of activity ruin your retirement, and leave you working well into your seventies. Apply these three tips to help design your retirement and to get started now.

 

1.   Be Realistic about Retirement. Most people do not take the time to sit down and work out how much income they’ll require for their retirement. Here is a painless way to plan what you’ll need for retirement. Take the sum of money you’re now living on annually, and deduct the amount of money you will be able to spare once the kids move out, and you downsize to a smaller house and auto. Take that number and multiply it by how many years you believe you’ll need to live on your savings. The average life expectancy is 80 years.

 

2.   Create a Budget. This will be among the biggest helpers for planning retirement finances. Take out a piece of paper and write down all your monthly expenses. Include your utilities, credit cards, groceries, and everything that you spend money on through the month. Make certain that you add a set sum of money for retirement savings. The next step is to deduct this amount from your take home income. Do you have anything left over? If you do, that is excellent. You will be able to apply these savings for a rainy day account.

 

3.   Curtail Expenses. You already knew this was coming. You have a budget, and know what you’re spending; now it’s time to discover where you’ll be able to cut back so you can invest more money into your retirement program. You don’t have to cut out all the luxuries in your life, but you could find that by renting movies more frequently, instead of taking the family to the theater, will allow you enjoy more luxuries when you retire.

 

These three tips will help you get started saving for your retirement. Of course, there are numerous resources available to help planning for retirement. There are several aspects of retirement to consider as well- your health, your social life, your leisure time activities and hobbies. By sticking with these three tips, you’ll be taking action to help you plan for the best retirement possible.

 

The Best Places to Retire

January 4th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

“Where do you want to be in five years?” is a common question at most job interviews, as the interviewer is trying to get a feel for the candidate’s goals, personal insights, and even their organizational skills.  After all, if they haven’t put some thought into something as crucial and critical, and personally important, as their career plans and path, how will they be able to put the necessary thought into that big customer presentation, or the departmental budget?

Unfortunately, this question is not one that’s forced upon anyone when it comes to their life itself.  No one ever makes you sit in a room and outline where you want to be in ten years, twenty years, or however long it takes you to retire.  No one insists that you sit down and write out your lifelong plan.

This is unfortunate, because many people just don’t seem to have a plan when it comes to their personal retirement goals, and most specifically, where they want to spend those so-called “golden years.”  Sure, some may have a general thought in their mind – they imagine themselves and their spouse out on a golf course by day, dining at a five-star restaurant at night.  Some are even wicked enough to leave their spouse out of that dream!  But when they’re pigeonholed into discussing their exact plans, especially when it comes to location, for their retirement, often they draw a blank.

Why is it important?

It may not seem important to some to think of where they want to retire when considering their plans.  As long as they have enough money in the bank and in their IRA, then everything else will work itself out … right?

There’s a few reasons why this is very dangerous thinking.  One is that if you are married (and are planning to take your spouse along with you!); the two of you should definitely be making these plans together. You might be looking forward to leisurely golf games, but be surprised to learn that he or she absolutely hates the game.  Or you might assume that you’ll move to a warmer climate, but he or she is set on moving into your vacation home up north.  If you don’t start communicating now, you’ll be in for a rude awakening later.

Additionally, there’s some good news for those in the U.S. who are “of a particular age,” and that is that older Americans are actually living longer than any generation previous.  The only downside to this is that by the time you’re ready to retire, there will be millions more doing the same – and just as many who have already retired.  This means that if you’re thinking of moving to some place that’s the new “hotspot” for retirees, you may actually need to get on a waiting list for housing!

So to avoid any future problems with your retirement, you do well to start planning now for where you’ll actually be living.

Get off the beaten path.

As we just mentioned, when someplace becomes the new “hotspot” where everyone wants to be, housing prices do nothing but rise.  This has happened with the typical retirement areas of Florida and Arizona, where many homes are greatly overpriced.

Here’s some suggestions for other great spots for retirees that haven’t yet become overpopulated, according to a recent survey by CNN Money for great places to retire:

• Charleston, S.C.   If you can put up with the humidity, this Southern belle of a city offers very low housing prices in a seaside location with tons of history.
• Asheville, N.C.   Known as the Paris of the South, this western North Carolina town of about 70,000 is renowned as a spot for the arts, culture and diversity.  The housing costs and cost of living are below average.
• Cedar City, Utah.   Cedar City is a great small western town, home to very reasonable home prices, Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespearean Festival and a great climate.
• Boerne, Texas.   An undiscovered spot not far from San Antonio and Austin’s cultural scene.  Low housing prices, lots of outdoor activities, a historical downtown and a relaxed, ranching lifestyle make this a prime spot.
• Fort Collins, Colo.  This Rocky Mountain city of 128,000 has so much to offer.  First of all, housing prices are just over $200,000, so you can probably land a terrific house and still have money left over for your savings.  It’s got a strong economy and moderate taxes.  Finally, it’s close to outdoor splendor.
• Beaufort, S.C.  Ninety minutes south of Charleston lies this city of about 13,000 on Port Royal Island.  Surrounded by tidal wetlands and small islands and steeped in military culture, Beaufort is distinguished by having its entire downtown designated a historic treasure.  Health care is plentiful and homes with a view of the changing marshlands can start as low as $275,000.

Making a personal decision – and doing it now.

Obviously there is no one perfect answer for where to retire for everyone.  It depends on your plans for your own retirement.  If you love the water and plan on spending most of your days on a beautiful boat, then Arizona is probably out of the question.  If heat and humidity make you uncomfortable, then skip Texas and the Carolinas.

And of course there’s no hard and fast rule that says that you must move when you do retire.  If you love your current home and are able to keep it up, and enjoy your neighborhood and the local community, then why make a change at all?

Then again, if you love nature but have been tied to the city for years because of your work, then maybe it’s time to explore something completely different and new to you.

But the bottom line is, whatever your plans are for retirement, you can’t wait until that last day in the office to actually make the decision as to where you’re going to be.  As they say, it’s never too early to start, so do yourself a favor, sit down today, and really consider that question … “Where do you want to be when you retire?”

Where to Look for Retirement Planning Services

January 4th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Now that you have decided to think about retiring, the next step is to get help from retirement planning services. There is a variety of sources for information about retiring, so it pays to take some time and research a few of your choices first.

The most obvious place to look for retirement planning services is to ask your friends and colleagues if they can recommend anyone. If someone is happy with the service they received from their retirement planner, they will be happy to recommend them to you. And, if someone has had a bad experience with a company, you will want to know that as well. You might end up with a collection of horror stories that can save you from making the same mistakes as your friends did.

Many workplaces offer this type of service to their employees, or have a list of recommended retirement planners. Set aside some time to meet with the person at your workplace who is responsible for your benefits. The Human Resources department can explain all the perks, investments and saving plans that your employer has for you to take advantage of. You might find that you have more options available to you than you knew about. This can certainly make planning for your retirement much easier.

Your television is one place you can collect the names of financial planners in your area. Watching their commercials can give you a feel for the type of business they run, and if it is a good fit for you. You can keep a running list of who is advertising, and what they offer. You might also find discounts and introductory special offers advertised on TV.

Online retirement planning services are becoming more popular, with most national banks and financial services offering information and tools online. You can explore their website at your leisure to decide if they offer services that might fit your needs. If you decide that you want to use their full service, they will probably charge you a fee in exchange for added online access to retirement planning services.

After you have done your due diligence, and found a couple of retirement planning services that might fit your needs, it’s time to get on the phone and ask them a few questions. Some things you might ask include:

• What services do you offer?
• What service fees do you charge?
• Do you have a department that specializes in retirement planning?
• What hours are you open?
• Do you offer online access?
• What is the fee for the initial consultation?
• What bank or financial institution are you affiliated with?

Make sure that your questions are adequately answered before you make an appointment. Reputable businesses will provide this information over the phone.

Finding the right retirement planning service is an important part of making sure you have the retirement you deserve. You want to work with someone who understands your goals, and lifestyle. If you want to maintain your current lifestyle, your retirement planner will need to know your current expenses so they can work out a plan that fits your style. You can never start too soon when it comes to planning your retirement. Try the suggestions above and you might be pleasantly surprised at the amount of help you can find.

Planning Retirement Services- Getting Thru the Questionnaire

January 4th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

When you decide on which financial planner to use, they will have you complete a questionnaire to give them the information they need for planning retirement services that are appropriate for you.

Most people dread filling in this type of form, as it can take a considerable amount of time. If you look at it as an investment in your future, you might not find it such an inconvenience. You will be asked about your income and expenses, as well as your attitude about saving for the future. All this information fits together to form a plan for retirement services that fit your lifestyle.

Many financial planners refer to the retirement planning questionnaire as an eye-opening experience for their clients. As they calculate projected increases in expenses as potential losses in their retirement portfolio, some clients realize they are not as prepared for retirement as they though they were. This information is vital to planning retirement services that work for everyone involved

Still, many individuals do not understand why it will take them 30 or 40 years to save money for their retirement when their investments are performing well. A retirement planning questionnaire can show them how a one or two percent drop in their investment income can devastate their overall finances. For many, this is the only incentive that is required to convince them a more stable and conservative approach will be better as they get older and can least afford additional losses.

Planning retirement services can also help you determine if you are ready for retirement. The advisor can review all of your information and help you determine if you have enough money to live on and to enjoy your retirement.

Find the answers to all your retirement planning questions at www.retirementplanninghandbook.com

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Copyright © 2008 Retirement Planning Tips

Credits: Make Money Online | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund