Retirement Planning Company – Lyons, IL
For the people in "Generation X" - described as folks born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s - retirement planning sounds like something your mother and father or other "old people" would do. But guess what? With a lot of "baby boomers" either already in the middle of retirement or observing it in the near future, "Generation X" is the next generation of people to reach old age. Sure, it is still a ways off, but people in their 30s and 40s really need to start focusing their investment planning on retirement and making sure they've got the type of retirement they are working hard to have. Here are some tips on preparing for retirement:
Retirement life in the future will be different than the retirement in the present day. It will likely be much better in some ways, and worse in some ways. But, the retirement planning for today's workforce 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 four years more than the average life span in 1980. Therefore investment planning for retirement has to account for an extended period of time right now than a generation or two in the past.
Social Security and Retirement - Lyons, IL
On the down side, Social Security will likely be a far less dependable income source than it is now. And also 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 employer. Increasingly more, retired persons will have to depend on their financial savings to pay for the expenses of living and health insurance.
With people living longer and needing more money to do so, retirement planning is an essential activity even for those who are halfway to the regular retirement age of 65. It may be an intimidating task to plan for a few decades into the future, particularly with bills, rents and mortgages to pay right now, but procrastinating will not make it any easier.
Placing even just a little bit of cash into a savings account that functions as a retirement savings plan can pay off later on. The interest you receive 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 acquire capital earning a small interest rate until there is enough to invest in a reliable security that will yield you more like a municipal bond.
Another solid strategy that could certainly and progressively build a nest egg is to put money into long-term bonds. On maturation of the bond, you will get back your initial investment along with all the interest that collected over the lifetime of the bond. That's a tremendous amount of money for a 20- or 30-year bond-money that could provide a nice foundation for retirement. And a municipal or government bond is really as safe an investment that you can ever make.
401K and IRA With Retirement - Lyons, IL
Nevertheless, 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 those for whom a 401K is not 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 information, please feel free to contact GC Financial Advisors Ltd. at any time and we will be glad to help you! We provide 401K and IRA rollover and review services for folks in the Lyons, IL area.