Retirement Planning – Lansing, IL
For anyone in "Generation X" - defined as individuals born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s - retirement planning sounds like something your mother and father or other "old people" might do. But you know what? With a lot of "baby boomers" either already in the middle of retirement or observing it on the horizon, "Generation X" is the next generation of individuals to reach retirement. Sure, it is still a ways off, but people in their 30s and 40s need to start focusing their investment planning on retirement and making certain they have the sort of retirement they are working hard to have. Here are some 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. However, the retirement planning for today's labor force needs to be far different than it was in days gone by.
On the bright side, people 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 more than the average life span in 1990 and more than four years more than the average life span in 1980. Therefore investment planning for retirement has to account for a longer time of time now than a generation or two in the past.
Social Security and Retirement - Lansing, IL
On the downside, Social Security will likely be a far less reliable source of income than it is now. And also the odds are slim-and getting slimmer every year-that retirees 20 and 30 years from now will be able to rely on a work pension and enjoy lifetime benefits from their previous employer. Increasingly more, retired persons will have to rely on their savings to pay for the costs of living and medical health insurance.
With people living longer and needing more money to do so, retirement planning is a vital activity even for those who are halfway to the common retirement age of sixty-five. It can be an intimidating task to plan for a few decades into the future, especially with bills, rents and mortgages to pay today, but procrastinating won't make it any easier.
Placing even just a small amount of cash into a savings account which works as a retirement savings plan can pay off later. The interest you get on money in a savings account will allow your initial investments to grow to something sustainable. A savings account will give you a place where you can build up capital earning a little interest rate until there's enough to invest in a reliable security which will yield you more like a municipal bond.
Another good approach that can certainly and gradually build a nest egg is to put money into long-term bonds. On maturation of the bond, you'll get back your initial investment as well as all the interest which collected over the life of the bond. This is a significant amount of money for a 20- or 30-year bond-money that can provide a good foundation for retirement. And a municipal or government bond is really as safe an investment that you can ever make.
401K and IRA - Lansing, IL
However, the best approach when it comes to retirement planning is to put funds in a 401K plan at work or in an IRA opened with an investment house. For the people for whom a 401K is not a retirement planning choice, an IRA is the next best thing. Money put into this account is tax deferred and may be tax-deductible, depending on how much is invested each year.
For more information, please feel free to contact GC Financial Advisors Ltd. at any time and we will be happy to help you! We provide 401K and IRA rollover and review services for individuals in the Lansing, IL area.
