Retirement Planning – Franklin Park, Illinois
For anyone in "Generation X" - defined as folks born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s - retirement planning sounds like something your parents or other "old people" would do. But guess what? With a lot of "baby boomers" either already in the midst of retirement or looking at it on the horizon, "Generation X" is definitely the next generation of people to reach retirement. Sure, it is a ways off, but people in their 30s and 40s have to begin centering their investment planning on retirement and making sure they have the kind of retirement they are working so hard to have. Here are some tips on planning for retirement:
Retirement life in the future will be different than the retirement of today. It will likely be much better in some ways, and worse somewhat. But, the retirement planning for today's labor force must be far different than it was in earlier times.
On the bright side, folks are living longer than ever. As of not too long ago, the average life span of an American was 77.9 years, exactly 2.5 years over the average life span in 1990 and more than four years more than the average life span in 1980. So investment planning for retirement has to account for a longer period of time right now than a generation or two in the past.
Social Security and Retirement - Franklin Park, Illinois
On the downside, Social Security will probably be a far less dependable source of income compared to now. And the odds are slim-and getting slimmer each year-that retirees 20 and 30 years from right now will be able to rely on a work pension and enjoy lifetime benefits from their previous workplace. Increasingly more, retirees will need to depend on their financial savings to pay for the costs of living and health insurance.
With folks living longer and needing more money to do so, retirement planning is an essential activity even for those people who are halfway to the regular retirement age of sixty-five. It could be an intimidating task to plan for a few decades into the future, especially with bills, rents and home loans to pay today, but procrastinating will not make it any less difficult.
Placing even just a small amount of cash into a savings account that works as a retirement savings plan can pay off in the future. The interest you receive on money in a savings account will allow your preliminary investments to grow to something sustainable. A savings account will offer a place where you can acquire capital earning a little interest rate until there's enough to invest in a reliable security that will yield you more like a municipal bond.
Another solid strategy which could surely and gradually build a nest egg is to invest in long-term bonds. Upon maturation of the bond, you'll get back your initial investment as well as all the interest that collected over the life of the bond. That's a considerable amount of money for a 20- or 30-year bond-money which could provide a good foundation for retirement. And a municipal or government bond is really as safe an investment as you can ever make.
401K and IRA - Franklin Park, Illinois
However, the best approach when it comes to retirement planning is to put money in a 401K plan at work or in an IRA opened with an investment house. For the people for whom a 401K isn't a retirement planning option, an IRA is the next best thing. Money put in this account is tax deferred and might be tax-deductible, depending on how much is invested annually.
For more details, please feel free to contact GC Financial Advisors Ltd. at any time and we will be glad to help you! We offer 401K and IRA rollover and review services for folks in the Franklin Park, Illinois area.
