Retirement Planning Services – Lake Forest, Illinois
For anyone in "Generation X" - described 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 you know what? With lots of "baby boomers" either already in the middle of retirement or observing it in the near future, "Generation X" is definitely the next generation of people to reach old age. Sure, it's still a ways off, but people in their 30s and 40s will need to start focusing their investment planning on retirement and making sure they've got the kind of retirement they are working so hard to enjoy. Below are great tips on preparing for retirement:
Retirement life in the foreseeable future will be different than the retirement of today. It will be far better in some ways, and worse in some ways. But, the retirement planning for today's labor force must be far different than it was in earlier times.
On the bright side, people are living longer than ever. As of a few years 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 4 years more than the average life span in 1980. So investment planning for retirement has to account for a longer time of time now than a generation or two back.
Social Security and Retirement - Lake Forest, Illinois
On the downside, Social Security will probably be a far less reliable source of income compared to now. And also the likelihood is slim-and getting slimmer each year-that retirees 20 and 30 years from now will be able to rely on a work pension and enjoy lifetime benefits from their former workplace. More and more, retired people will have to rely on their financial savings to cover the expenses of just living and health insurance.
With people living longer and needing extra money to do so, retirement planning is a vital activity even for those who are half way to the common retirement age of 65. It may be a daunting 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 complicated.
Placing even just a small amount of money now into a savings account which serves as a retirement savings plan can pay off in the future. The interest you get on money in a savings account will allow your initial investments to grow to something sustainable. A savings account will offer a place where you can acquire capital earning a small 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 steadily build a nest egg is to put money into long-term bonds. After maturation of the bond, you will get back your initial investment as well as all the interest which collected over the lifetime of the bond. This is a tremendous 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 as safe an investment as you can ever make.
401K and IRA - Lake Forest, Illinois
Nonetheless, the best approach when it comes to retirement planning is to put cash in a 401K plan at work or in an IRA opened with an investment house. For people for whom a 401K isn't a retirement planning choice, an IRA is the next best thing. Money placed in this account is tax deferred and may be tax-deductible, depending on how much is invested each year.
For more details, please feel free to contact GC Financial Advisors Ltd. at any time and we'll be glad to help you! We provide 401K and IRA rollover and review services for folks in the Lake Forest, Illinois area.
