If your last day of work is tomorrow, are you ready for retirement? Perhaps you are young and do not believe you need to worry. The more effort your put into your retirement plans, the more fun it will be. Early retirement is even a possibility! As you are reading the article here, consider the options available to you.
Either start saving or keep on saving. If you aren’t saving already, then it’s due time that you started. You can never really begin saving too early for retirement. If you are already saving, then good job, but you can’t slack off as time goes on. Keep saving and don’t give up.
Refrain from taking early withdrawals from your retirement account. These withdrawals will have substantial penalties, and will take away from the money that you have set aside. Typically, you will be charged a fee of 10% on top of the federal and state taxes that you will pay, reducing your amount by almost half.
Think about keeping a part-time job after you officially retire, for a number of reasons. Primarily, it will help out a lot in terms of financing your lifestyle. Also, working is a great way to stay active and to keep your mind and body in great health as you get older.
Does the company you work for have a retirement savings plan in place? Make sure you put money toward that. It’s a win-win situation, as you will have money for your future and you can lower your taxes at the same time. Get the details on whatever plan is offered and figure out how much you want to put in.
Follow good living habits right now. This is the time when you should pay attention to your health so that you will stay in good health during your retirement. Eat the right foods and get exercise regularly. When you build up a strong and healthy foundation, you will be in good shape when you retire.
Get your retirement portfolio rebalanced every quarter of a year. Doing so more often can make you emotionally vulnerable to market swings. If you do not balance your portfolio often, you may be missing out on great opportunities. Work with someone that knows about investments so you can figure out where your money should go.
Try downsizing as you enter retirement, because the money you can save could be really meaningful later on. Although you may feel like you have everything figured out, you never know when a financial emergency will occur. Medical bills and things like big house fix expenses can really hit you hard during your life, and they are really hard to deal with when you retire.
If your employer offers retirement plans, take advantage of them! Contributing to a 401(k) plan can lead to lower taxes, and your employer may even contribute more on your behalf. As time goes on, compounding interest and tax deferrals on your plan will begin to accumulate, and you’ll be saving even more.
Be careful when assuming how much Social Security you might get in retirement. The program will survive in some form, but you might see raised retirement ages and reduced benefits for higher earners. If at all possible, plan on saving up your entire retirement on your own, so that any Social Security funds are a bonus.
If you have an IRA, set it up so that money is automatically taken out of your check each month and put into the IRA. If you consider your retirement savings to be another bill that you must pay each money, you are much more likely to build up a nice nest egg.
When thinking about your retirement needs, figure that you’re going to keep your current lifestyle. If you do, you should be able to bank on expenses being approximately 80 percent of the current figures, considering that your work week will be significantly abbreviated. You just have to keep from spending additional monies during all the extra time you’re going to have.
Now is the time to keep tabs on your spending. How much do you spend on food? How much for your home or car? These expenses won’t go away when you retire, so you need to know exactly how much you will be spending once your income levels begin to drop.
Consider when you must touch your Social Security funds. If you can hold on touching them for a few extra years, you may get a bigger return on those funds. As well, touching them too early can cost you. You may get less than you expect. If you can hold out, you could be rewarded.
How should you start planning for your retirement? Are you prepared to live on a budget of some kind or do you wish to travel and spend a lot of money when you retire? Whatever you choose to do is fine, but you must plan for your retirement regardless. The best way to be ready for the unexpected is to have plans in place.
