It’s very possible that you may live to regret it. It is hard to think about your retirement years when you are still in your thirties or younger.
After all retirement seems so far away. It could be another 30-35 years before that time comes around so it’s easy to think, what’s the rush?
Many over 50s and the already retired can tell you that this time of life comes around much faster than you plan for.
Investing for your future
When you are young you think you have lots of time to invest and save for that time in your life when you will no longer be bringing home a pay cheque. Many tend to think it’s not important to concern yourself about retirement investments when you are young. So you make the decision to live life having and do what you want, at least for now. You know that you can make up for it by saving extra later…right!
Don’t delay saving for retirement
While leaving saving until later may have seemed like a great idea at the time, things come up and you find there never seems to be anything left over to save. Especially once you have established a lifestyle of live for today. The problem is that sixty and sixty five has a way of creeping up on us way quicker than we could possibly foresee leaving many of us unprepared and low on funds.
Plan for Retirement
It’s not until you are about to retire or have already retired that you can feel the full impact of your earlier choices. There are those that have looked ahead by doing financial planning, investing and saving and now are able to relax and can enjoy their retirement years. And those that didn’t that struggle to make ends meet.
Retirement income – what will you do?
If you haven’t planned well you could be continuing to work way past retirement age. If this is the case hopefully you are fortunate enough to have a job. There is no doubt about it finding a new job once you are over 50 is not easy. On the other hand taking your finances seriously while you still have time to prepare for retirement you can be planning on living a decent lifestyle.
Retirement Activities
Different people have different ideas of how they want their retirement be. Some want a simple retirement while others want excitement, new experiences, see new places and a chance to do things they have never done. If you’re into an active lifestyle there are a lot of things that you can enjoy in your retirement years but you’ll need the funds to be able to do a lot of them. Maybe you’re a golf addict and your retirement plans will include lots of golf which may include touring and playing all your favorite golf courses so make sure you have not only the time but the resources too.
Retirement planners can help
Picture it you can retire from your regular job earlier than most because you’ve made some smart financial choices. Maybe you don’t want to quit work altogether but you want to set up a business of your own which may even be in your home.
Be prepared for unexpected expenses
Just because you retire unexpected expenses don’t stop. While you still have your regular expenses others crop up like birthdays, Christmas and even weddings of close family members where you want to be able to give gifts to others. Imagine you get the wedding gift list and see your name next to wall water fountains and you need to come up with some extra cash to pay for this gift. You’ll want to spoil your grandkids, or even yourself. Everyday living is one thing but don’t forget those extras you’ll need to be prepared for even if you are not the golfing and traveling type.
Do you need to be like Scrooge?
Think about the story of Scrooge, you can wake up and find that you still have the time to make a difference to your own life for the future or you can try to have it all now and suffer the consequences later. Don’t be one of the struggling retirees trying to make ends meet. Talk to a financial planner and see what you can still do. You will probably have many reasons to take your retirement savings seriously. Be ready to enjoy your time off when it comes up -you deserve it!
Enjoy your Retirement whenever it comes!