Tag Archives: Save for Retirement

Do I Have Enough Savings for a Secure Retirement 

secure retirementThis is the main question we all have about our retirement future. How can we figure out what our future will be ? How long will we live? Should we base our life expectancy on how long our parents lived? Or perhaps our neighbors since we share a similar economic situation. A secure retirement means that we need to make an estimate of how long we will work, how long we will live and many other assumptions. In this post, we will discuss these issues and others that many consumers need to factor into their decisions.

Will You Have a Secure Retirement

Are you already retired and wondering if you have enough to live comfortably during retirement? It is time to take stock of a number of things about your lifestyle and your situation. Here are a few, but the bottom line, your income must be the same or more than your expenses. Plus you need savings set aside for emergencies that invariably will come along.

Track expenses – to get an understanding of where your money is being spent. If you need to reduce, then you can start here and identify those areas where you can reduce and how much it will save you.

Track income – to understand how much is coming in and whether it will be enough or not. If not you may have to reduce expenses, go back to work, even if it is just part-time.

Re-evaluate every 6 months – life events and inflation happen all of the time. Recheck all of your calculations on a regular basis to make sure all of your assumptions are still accurate.

Balance income and expenses – as we said income must be higher than expenses otherwise it will eat into your savings quickly leaving you without enough to live on when you are much older.

Earn more, go back to work etc – going back to work can make a huge difference in both your life style as well as your savings. Your money will last much longer.

Reduce expenses

Do you really need to eat out all of the time? Can you make cost cutting painless. Look at all of your expenses and make a decision on those that can be reduced.

Downsize, rent, move in with the kids – if you must, these are drastic reductions that can be made to reduce your expenses.

Obtain expert help – find a financial advisor you can trust and review your situation with him or her. You may want to get several recommendations before settling on one direction or another.

For more retirement saving ideas, click here.

How to Retire Early

How to Retire EarlyHow to Retire Early and have enough money to last well into your golden years is the big question that many people are facing. They turn to experts and to investment advisers, however there are some things that you need to do that the experts do not really talk about too much. They are often too interested in selling investment products to you. Retiring early is all about managing our expenses. If for example you can downsize and move to an area of the country that has lower taxes, lower cost for heating, lower property values and lower taxes then you can probably sell your existing home payoff your debt and live quite comfortably on much less money. This is what one couple who moved from Chicago to Tennessee did.

How to Retire Early – Save Aggressively

Another person made a very good salary, in fact they were making approximately $110,000 per year but lived like they were only making $50,000 per year so they were able to set aside $60,000 over a ten-year period and combined with interest income able to save $800,000 towards a retirement in less than 10 years.

Downsize and Mid Course Corrections

While downsizing might be the right answer for many people, retirees should always be prepared to make mid course corrections. If for example you have downsized and still found that your expenses are too high for the lifestyle that you lead or for your budget, be prepared to make another downsizing decision which will decrease your expenses even more so. For example one couple was paying $1000 a month for the upkeep of the grounds around their home. They found that they could move to another place and still only pay $93 per month for that same upkeep. They also were prepared to do more of their own landscaping etc. This is an example of making mid course corrections during your retirement years.

Started a business

Another approach to retiring early, is to start your own hobby type business. If you can augment your income by $10,000 a year, this may be sufficient to provide you with sufficient income to bridge the gap. And you get to do your hobby as well.

The writer for example has retired when he was 48, but has been building websites and blogging for the last 15 years. He has been able to augment his income sufficiently to live very comfortably.

Become a landlord

Another approach to generating income and allowing yourself to retire early is to buy property. Rent it out and use the rental income to pay for the property mortgage and taxes. Once the property is paid for you have the choice of either selling it. Or using the capital to live on. Or continuing to rent it and using the rental income as part of your own personal income to live on after payment of all expenses associated with property.

Live on one income

If you are lucky enough to have two incomes, can afford to live on only one income? The best approach is to save the second person’s income toward your retirement. This will provide a great deal more savings opportunity and quality of life for you when you plan to retire. It is all about saving sufficient money to invest in to live on when you retire.

For many more posts about retirement planning, click here.

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