How to Design a Comfortable Retirement
Your life will often change in remarkable ways when you retire. You may find yourself going on more trips than ever before and spontaneously adding on new destinations as you travel.
Another thing that happens is that you quit using your alarm clock, preferring to get as much sleep as you like every morning. Yet all these things depend on your previous planning for a comfortable retirement.
Here are six ways to design a comfortable retirement:
1. Life Insurance
When you get life insurance, you will be taking care of your beneficiaries by leaving them with a large lump-sum payment because you have been paying premiums every month for a number of years.
If you’re concerned that they may not be able to maturely handle a large lump sum payment, then you can always arrange for them to receive installments.
The main thing is that they will be able to continue to thrive financially after you have gone. Naturally, it’s important to research the best life insurance companies. PolicyZip.com provides in-depth reviews of some well-known companies.
2. Set a Financial Goal for your Retirement
It will be much easier to begin the process of saving and investing if you have a financial goal that you’re trying to reach. Somehow it makes everything seem more concrete.
Marking out each benchmark you reach will also increase your sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
You can figure out how much you need to save for retirement by using a personal retirement calculator.
3. Start Saving
Now that you know how much money you’ll need based on your calculations, you have to figure out where to get it from.
An obvious place, of course, is from any surplus money that you receive or savings that you build. So, get into the habit of stashing away any extra money that comes your way. When, for example, you receive a tax refund or a salary bonus don’t treat yourself with this ‘found money.” Instead, squirrel it away into your IRA.
But don’t just rely on luck to build your savings; also create a budget to curtail your spending so that you can put away some money every month.
Once you have enough in savings, you can begin actively investing your money so that it grows at a faster pace.
4. Avoid Emotional Investing
When investing, it can be easy to fall prey to emotions based on market cycles.
When the market is doing well you might become euphoric and buy more stocks or pour more money into your existing stocks.
Then, when the market is doing poorly, you might pull out of stocks that have a potential to rise again.
If you find yourself becoming emotional about your investments, it may be time to give up individual stocks and start thinking about investing in managed funds.
5. Delay Your Social Security
If possible, you need to delay your Social Security payments. Although you’re eligible to get them at age 62, your benefits will increase the longer you wait. If you wait until age 70 your monthly benefits will have added up quickly.
6. Downsize Your Home
If you bought a big home because of your growing family, you probably needed the space. But after you retire, you may find that you don’t need so much stuff nor space. Moving to a smaller home will cut down on your maintenance costs.
Conclusion
By planning your retirement in detail, you will immediately create a sense of ease when it comes to retirement. Goals will encourage you to save and invest for your retirement and make other changes necessary to enjoy a comfortable retirement.