Your Guide Planning Retirement

We all need a guide planning retirement. In this discussion I try to give you some guidance.

Please note: I am not a financial advisor. I retired in 2001. I've got nothing to sell to you. What you get on this site is based on my own experience and research, what I observe that is happening to colleagues and friends that retired, and the experience of visitors to this site.

In my opinion your first step is to take stock of your current situation.

What's your current annual income?
How many years until retirement?
How much have you saved to date in a retirement account?
What's your lifestyle like? Are you prepared to tone your lifestyle down when retired?
Based on family and health history, what's your life expectancy?

Next you need to use the above information and calculate how much capital you're going to need by your retirement date. We review some retirement planning calculators .

I sincerely hope the results of your calculations look good. However, for most people it would look most depressing. I know. I was there!

The next step is to see if you would be able to liquidate some of your assets in future. Perhaps free up some home equity by scaling down.

How does the calculation look now?

If the results still look bleak there are only two more things you can do to save more towards your retirement account:

Increase your income! Usually very difficult to achieve. Investigate the possibility of starting a business from home in your spare time.
Stop consuming! Very difficult at first, but it gets easier in time. That's the route my wife and I took when I turned 50.

But the good news is:

You've taken the first step! After you've gone through the above exercise you are aware of the reality and the challenge. Many people go into denial when confronted with retirement planning reality. Don't do that. Take control of your own retirement planning.

Visit the various discussions on this Web site. Learn from the experience of others. In particular, work through our discussion on retirement financial planning .

You cannot rely on this Web site for your retirement planning decisions. You'll need a qualified advisor for that.

But be better informed, better prepared, and retain control of your own retirement planning. Become your own guide planning retirement.

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