Retirement Its Sooner Than You Think Honestly

Retirement - It's Sooner Than You Think!!

Many people hear "retirement" and think— what? 401K? Roth vs. Traditional

IRA? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds? Do they?

Or do many people put money away according to the suggested amount and

then simply hope that when retirement comes all will work out?

One report I read estimated that 66 million Americans have put away a

Whopping $0 towards retirement.

Many people are still thinking there might be a thing called Social

Security around when they retire. Social Security: as of 2004, the average

annual Social Security retirement benefit is approximately $11,000. That is not

a lot to live on folks. Plus, we all hear the news periodically that there might

not be any Social Security around when we get older and need it.

And as a further WAKE UP call, I found a calculator which estimated

(without Social Security):

• a couple at 40
  
  

• bringing in $90k a year (together)
  
  

• with very modest investments
  
  

would need to save an additional $2,690,000.00 ( yes 2 million +) in order

to retire at 65-- OR – plan on working an additional 29 years!!

Now before you get overwhelmed and click over to another article—lets put

our heads together and simply cover a few very very basic start up basics.

1) Standard Of Living: You need to know at what standard of living you

will want to live during retirement.

2) Basic Living Expenses: You will need to calculate the cost of basic

living expenses (at that level) i.e. electric bill now of $200 = what in 2030?

3) Hobbies and Leisure Activities: Know what type of hobbies, and leisure

activities you will keep busy with and what their cost might be then.

4) Family Visiting / Travel: Realize that more and more children move away

when grown. So while they work out of state—YOU may need to do the traveling to

see them. Plan for these costs.

5) Convalescent Care (nursing home costs) provincially run about $100/day

median. You will need to multiply that times the same 4% inflation rate. Then

multiply that times the number of years before you may need it—to approximate

how much you may need to afford for your housing when you need assistance. Truth

be known—WE need to plan to handle that cost ourselves, rather than think our

children will be able to take on that kind of additional cost.

You will need to total yearly amounts. You will need the approximate

yearly cost to live (at your desired level) during regular healthy retirement.

And, you will need the total yearly amount of costs to live in assisted or full

care living facilities ( for each – you and mate).

Multiply each yearly amount by the number of years you might be living in

that circumstance. Example: Retire at 65. Live healthy retirement- 15 years (so

15 x yearly cost of healthy living) . Live assisted – 8 years ( so 8 x yearly

cost of living in care).

You now have two totals that when added together equal your estimation of

the total dollar amount you will need to draw from in order to live after

retiring. NOW you are ready to begin planning your investments in such a way

that you can achieve that TOTAL number by the time you retire.