It’s the eventual goal of almost all of us: to retire, to enjoy a lifestyle of leisure, and to know that we will be well-taken care of for the rest of our lives. However, there are a lot of people who aren’t putting enough into their retirement or, worse yet, putting anything into it at all. If you only have a basic retirement savings account, then you’re not going to get the quality of retirement that you might want. Here, we’re going to look at how you can make sure you’re doing more than the bare minimum for your retirement.
Understand and plan for how far your money is going to go
It’s a good idea to have an idea of how much you’re going to need to live off of in your retirement age. This means considering what cost-of-living expenses are likely and how many years you are likely to have them. To that end, however, you need to be thinking about costs in the future, not now. Inflation is a powerful force (and it’s only getting more powerful) and, to that end, you might need to make use of tools like the retirement planning tools from Hammond Wealth Advisory, that can help you account for project inflation. This way, you can make sure you’re contributing what you will need in future, not what you would need in today’s money.
If you’re employed, start matching contributions now
This is one of the simplest retirement tips, but a lot of people look beyond this to other methods that take more investment and money to benefit from. If you want to make sure you’re taking advantage of the options available to you, then you really should be matching your employer’s contributions to your retirement savings. This is the case if your employer offers a traditional 401(k) and you are able to make use of it. Check what your employer offers (it might be a 50% or 100% match on the first 5% of your salary for instance), and make sure that you’re meeting the maximum match they offer. Otherwise, you’re simply leaving money aside.
Have you started investing?
Retirement savings can help you a lot, but while savings offer relatively safe returns, they are also rather tame. If you’re willing to tolerate some risk, then you might want to consider getting into investing in the markets. Building an investment portfolio is how the wealthy tend to get their wealth working for them. It’s always best to invest in markets you understand, however. For instance, if you’ve run a successful business for years, then startup investing could make good knowledge of your business acumen, helping you find and fund those startups that are looking for money.
Open up your IRA to more than basic savings
An IRA is one of the most traditionally popular retirement tools. Usually, they are directed by a manager that makes sure that your money goes into a portfolio of assets that are likely to appreciate. However, you can also get a self-directed IRA that allows you to better control where your money is investing, and an option like Accuplan allows real estate in your IRA. This can help you better diversify your IRA, for one, but also allows you to better invest in real estate, taking advantage of the tax benefits normally reserved for IRAs, applying them directly to your real estate gains, which can help you keep more of them.
Set yourself up with an income
A lot of people feel there is an innate insecurity with living off of savings alone, and that’s not an unreasonable thing to think. People have seen their savings disappear during market crashes and other economic crises. Diversifying where you hold your savings can help, but so, too, can building an income that you receive while you’re in retirement. The best way to do this is with dividends, earned by specific investments, that you might be able to better find with the help of tools like Dividend Investor. If you can build a health portfolio of dividend investments, then you can keep growing your wealth in means beyond your savings alone.
Whether you’re getting the retirement you deserve depends on whether you’re aware of the options that best suit your plans and whether you’re able to contribute as much as you can to them. The tips above can get you started but there may be other options that you could use some professional help in finding.
