One of the most difficult parts of the process of evaluating your retirement is taking the first step; that is, trying to imagine realistically what kind of life you want to live in retirement. It’s not difficult to imagine being a multi-millionaire jet-setter, if you’re into that kind of thing, but is it really possible for you?
Start Your Retirement Plan Now
If you are just beginning your working life and you are all ready to start planning for retirement great. The sooner you start saving the more you’ll have as, generally, your money grows exponentially, thanks to compound interest and/or the profits of your investments, themselves, earning profits. Dream on and put away as much as you can every chance you get – but don’t forget to enjoy life now, too.
There are experiences that cannot be replaced later on, like the joy of sharing new places with your children and giving them the priceless benefit of broad-ranging experiences as they grow, or for yourself, participating in activities that may be impossible as the joints get old and stiff.
If you’re getting to the middle of your working life, it’s a good time to get down to brass tacks. Do you have the lifestyle you want now? Choices like where you want to live, whether you want to be in the heart of a city bustling with activity, want to travel, to have educational opportunities, volunteer, or just sit on the porch in your rocking chair and watch the world go by are critical to you being able to figure what you will need in your later years.
Health In Retirement
How’s your health? This is important to both your life expectancy (namely how long might you have to stretch your money so you don’t outlive it) and it is to the level of services you might need (hospitals, assisted living, nursing care) and how soon you might need them.
Reassess your budget to see where you are spending and saving wisely and where you are being wasteful. What do you have yet to put away to reach your goals for retirement? Although it’s admittedly a wide range, most people will need 70-90% of the yearly income in retirement that they were making at the end of their working careers. By now, you should have a better idea what that income is likely to be than you had in your twenties and thirties.
Retirement Planning Calculators
There are a lot of factors that need to be considered in figuring out where in that 70-90% range you are. To get a good ballpark number, I suggest going to a few retirement calculators on-line. These are useful tools and can suggest things you need to think about that you might not consider on your own.
At any stage of the game, consulting a financial advisor can be a big help. He or she will be more objective than you, yes, really. Also, advisors spend a lot of time gathering and evaluating investment information. So, having an advisor whom you trust will be a great source of information that you can use to help evaluate your retirement and make the best decisions for your future.