Thoughts On Retirement

Thoughts on Retirement We work all of our life thinking about one day retiring and reaping the benefits of our labor. Mass amounts of information exist both in print and online related to retirement. Unfortunately one of the biggest things I’ve noticed is that this materiel is written by people/companies that are trying to sell insurance, investments or other financial packages. I find most of what they write to be geared to making their ‘product” look attractive. While much of this information can be extremely useful for planning your retirement, I think your best source of information will come from people that have already retired.

First off, don’t count on Social Security to be the foundation of your retirement. Treat it as added income. The future of Social Security surviving is constantly in question. Let it be extra income, not something you count on to survive.

A key factor to keep in mind is your retirement income isn’t going to be anything like the income you have from working! Accordingly a key to retirement is having less debt. Big or multiple mortgages or car payments might have been easy to handle while working but will be totally unmanageable on a retirement income. Reducing your monthly debt is more critical and easier to do than trying to increase your income. Things to consider:

1. Your mortgage is likely your biggest monthly expense. Downsizing your home might result in a lower mortgage. Very few people retire without a mortgage these days.

2. We all love our nice cars, but consider selling what you have and getting into a car without a payment or at least a lower payment.

3. Credit cards afford us the opportunity to do things now and pay later. They also eat up a bunch of your retirement income. Pay them off, keep one card for emergencies with the goal of not keeping a balance on it.

I’ll write more on this topic in future postings. Input from readers is solicited.