Retirement Planning – Mount Prospect, Illinois
For anyone in "Generation X" - described as people born between the mid-1960s and also the early 1980s - retirement planning sounds like something your mother and father or other "old people" might do. But you know what? With many "baby boomers" either already in the middle of retirement or viewing it in the near future, "Generation X" will be the next generation of folks to reach old age. Sure, it is a ways off, but those in their 30s and 40s ought to begin focusing their investment planning on retirement and ensuring they've got the type of retirement they are working hard to have. Here are some tips on planning for retirement:
Retirement life in the foreseeable future will be different than the retirement in the present day. It will likely be better in some ways, and worse somewhat. However, the retirement planning for today's workforce needs to be far different than it was in the past.
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 more than 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 time of time right now than a generation or two in the past.
Social Security and Retirement - Mount Prospect, Illinois
On the down side, Social Security is going to be a far less reliable 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 former employer. More and more, retired people will have to depend on their financial savings to pay for the expenses of living and medical health insurance.
With folks living for a longer time and needing more money to do so, retirement planning is an essential activity even for those people who are halfway to the common retirement age of sixty-five. It could be a daunting task to plan for a few decades into the future, particularly with bills, housing costs and mortgages to pay right now, but procrastinating will not make it any less difficult.
Putting even just a small amount of cash into a savings account that functions as a retirement savings plan can pay off in the future. The interest you get on money in a savings account will allow your preliminary investments to grow to something sustainable. A savings account will give you a place where you can accumulate 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 good approach that can surely 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 and also all the interest that collected over the lifetime of the bond. That's a significant amount of money for a 20- or 30-year bond-money that can provide a great foundation for retirement. And a municipal or government bond is as safe an investment that you can ever make.
401K and IRA With Retirement - Mount Prospect, Illinois
Nevertheless, the best approach when it comes to retirement planning is to put funds in a 401K plan at your workplace or in an IRA opened with an investment house. For those for whom a 401K isn't a retirement planning option, 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 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 Mount Prospect, Illinois area.