Real retirenent advice.Can you really go on retirement. In Australia and other European countries, they made the seniors more productive by making them retire later. In US, because of the current economic difficulties, and the situation where many retirement funds lost value or were wiped out due to bank failures, many retirees are forced to work again.Also when you retire and/or just sit on the rocking chair, you speed up your aging and early death.
Free Money Finance
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Posted: 22 May 2013 01:29 AM PDT
The following is a guest post from Gerrid Smith is CEO of the charity-focused coupon website, Save1. They provide coupons and deals from over 5,000 online stores! Each time a coupon is used, they provide a meal to a child in need.
There's no lack of how-to retirement articles online. You can learn about everything from travel to estate planning. It's great advice but is it practical? Instead of asking more experts, we wanted to ask some real people who made it to retirement with enough money to live comfortably and cross off a few of items on their bucket list. Here's what they said. Practice Retiring How do you really know how much you'll need to save for retirement? The answer is that you do not but there's a way to put some data behind your projections. Sydney Lagier, retired owner of the blog, Retirement a Full-Time Job, says that she and her husband tested their retirement budget the best way they knew how: They lived it before actually retiring. "My husband and I agreed to practice living on our planned budget before I retired. Of course, we could not. That practice run was a reality check that I'm glad I sorted out before I actually pulled the trigger on retirement." If it doesn't work, make changes. Those changes will give you an idea of your retirement lifestyle. Will one or both of you have to continue working part time? Can you cut expenses enough to be able to travel or lavish the grandchildren with gifts? Everything costs more than you think. Don't Fall for the Sales Pitch Every investment advisor has the magic fund that will set you up for the retirement of your dreams but as so many learned in 2008, those dreams can become a nightmare almost overnight. Boyd Lemon, author of Retirement: A Memoir and Guide, advises retirees to be wary of the products financial advisors try to sell to them. "Do not expect a higher return with low risk no matter what the investment adviser says. If the return is high relative to government bonds, it means that the risk of loss is correspondingly greater. You can count on that." If you're behind on your retirement savings, ratcheting up the risk in your portfolio isn't likely to make a large-scale difference especially if you're nearing retirement. Instead, contribute more. The IRS allows for catch-up contributions, which increases the maximum you can contribute to an IRA after the age of 50. Budget After Saving Bob Lowry, author of the retirement blog Satisfying Retirement, says, "A budget is the single most important tool to financial stability. There is no other way to understand where the money goes." Lowry advises people to think of saving as a payroll deduction that comes out of your paycheck before the money reaches your account. Then, design your budget around what is left over. Most employers allow you to split your check into multiple direct deposits with one going to a savings account, IRA or other vehicle and the other, into your checking account. He says, "make the decision early on to take your total income, commit to a percentage of savings (at least 10 percent), and then design a budget on what is left. Too many folks tend to build a budget and then make it work with available income and credit. (If they even budget at all). I followed this approach starting at age 28 and was able to retire at 52." Go after the Discounts Jim Probasco, a retired school administrator from Dayton, Ohio says that there are more senior discounts than retirees might think. Probasco says, "There are numerous websites that allow seniors to look for discounts in their community. Sites like seniordiscounts.com list discounts based on the zip code you enter. When I enter my zip code, it returns more than 7,000 results. Before we make travel plans, my wife and I check these sites for discounts at our destination. The terms of the discounts vary but most require you to be at least 50." "Some companies require that you register before receiving the discount. Some states also have discount cards that make you eligible for deals at participating businesses in your state. If your state has a department of aging, ask about discount programs available to you. These discounts can add up to substantial savings." Make Retirement an Adventure Everybody is concerned about saving enough money to live comfortably but Richard Pawlowski, author of the book, 2 Years in a Tent, proves that for those who are willing to forego the luxuries of a traditional lifestyle, retirement can cost very little. After he and his wife, Laura lost their home during the financial crisis, they traveled the country living in a tent. That might not be your idea of the ideal lifestyle but the traditional advice of saving at least 80 percent of your income is only true if you plan to live a similar lifestyle to the one you live now. If you're the adventurous type, retirement may cost a lot less. Pawlowski adds this advice: "No one has any guarantees in life. Millions of us may not get to retirement so why put it off until later? Live in the present and go travel in a tent. You'll save money, see our country, and get a totally new perceptive." Finally Whether your idea of the perfect retirement is traveling the world, living in a tent, or spending time with your grandchildren, the lack of a plan early in life will likely limit your options. However, living an unfulfilled life now in the hopes that later in life you can live in wealth probably isn't the perfect strategy either. As with any life decision, nobody can tell you what will make you happy. Dream big and take steps to realize those dreams. |
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