Five Steps To A Comfortable Retirement – Without Winning The Lottery!
Keywords: retirement, retirement planning, financial planning, financial planner
You’ve probably heard about the Nebraska meatpackers who won the largest lottery jackpot in the United States last week. One winner replied “I’ve been retired for about four days now” when asked what he would do with his winnings. His response did not surprise me; I’m sure my reaction would be similar!
What does surprise me is that many Americans believe that they cannot retire comfortably unless they win the lottery. A survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 27% of Americans believe that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is to win a sweepstakes or lottery.
Fortunately, building a comfortable retirement nest egg is easier than you think. Here are five steps to help you build a comfortable retirement:
1. Start early! If you started saving $100 a month beginning at age 18, you would have over $500,000 by age 65. The power of compounding is great, and the earlier you start saving, the greater the benefit.
2. Have a plan. The best way to ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement is to plan how much you will need to retire. You can’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.
3. Participate in company sponsored retirement plans. Many companies offer matching contributions to your 401K or other retirement plan contributions. This is free money – take it!
4. Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, that fits your goals and risk tolerance. Studies show that your investment return is determined primarily by the allocation of your assets, not the individual investment selections you make.
5. Keep your costs down. Invest in no-load, low cost mutual funds (or other investments). Lowering the expenses in your portfolio by just 1% can equate to 20% more money in your portfolio after 20 years.
Although winning a large lottery certainly can’t hurt, following the steps above should send you well on your way to a comfortable retirement.
Kristine A. McKinley, CFP, CPA, and founder of Beacon Financial Advisors, offers financial and tax planning on an hourly, fee-only basis.
To sign up for free financial planning tips, worksheets, checklists and more, visit www.beacon-advisor.com
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Juggling Retirement And College Savings (1)
McKinley, CFP, CPA, and founder of Beacon Financial Advisors, offers financial and tax planning on an hourly, fee-only basis. To sign up for free financial planning tips, worksheets, checklists and more, visit www.beacon-advisor.com.
401K Or Roth IRA - Which Is Better? (2)
As long as you follow the rules, you may never pay taxes on the earnings in a Roth IRA. If you expect to be in a higher tax bracket when you retire, this could result in substantial tax savings.
Cash Flow Planning For Solo Professionals (3)
Complete the first 3 steps. You have to understand cash flow planning, track your cash flow, and project your future spending needs before you can improve your cash flow.
Top 5 Missed Tax Deductions (4)
Chances are you donated those items to Goodwill or a similar non-profit organization. The value of donated items (clothing, furniture, etc.) is deductible. You will need to get a written receipt and assign a value to these items, but the tax savings are worth the effort.
You Know It, You Love It -- Write About It! (5)
You start thinking, "Man, is it really worth this much pressure?" It doesn't have to be like that. You really can write, even if you don't think you're a writer.
5 Ways To Make Money Online (6)
Dropshipping means that the inventory is stored at the wholesaler company. You collect the customer information and payment, give it to the dropshipping company and they ship the product to the customer.
What Are The Benefits Of Drinking Espresso (7)
Keywords: coffee, espresso machine, espresso, how to use your espresso machine, gourmet flavored coffee beans, how As long as you do not drink too much, espresso is good for you. But just why is espresso good for you?
Graphic Designing ... How Do I Do It? (8)
From just a little bit of research, and practising, I became an expert in my field of graphic design, and you can too! Tom Mansell is a top internet marketer and professional graphic designer.
What You Need To Do To Become A Navy Officer (9)
The Navy might bring it back but not now. If you want to go officer at your age you really need to go that way from the beginning. It would be a lot easier on you.
Finding A Good Writer To Make Money With Articles (10)
It is important to keep in mind that there are several different types of writing and each writer might be highly skilled in one area, yet lack in another. For example, there is creative/fiction writing, biographical writing, news writing, general informational article writing, critical writing, copy-writing, poem/verse writing, technical writing, medical writing, essay/report writing, and sports writing.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Retirement Plans For Solo Entrepreneurs (1)
This is important because it allows you to save substantially more than a SEP IRA, if your compensation is less than $220,000 per year. A solo-401K is not appropriate for small business with employees or expecting to add employees.
Understanding The Techniques Professionals Used To Achieve Great Digital Photography (2)
In the past, pictures were taken in black and white. Color has changed all that so contrast is also something that needs to be understood by the photographer. This can capture depth and emotion making each photo artistic in nature.
Basic Facts About Children And Dieting (3)
Monitoring Your Child's Diet for Hazards Before starting your child on a strict diet, which should only take place under the supervision of a doctor, there are some things you can do to positively affect your child's eating habits.
The Imperfection Of Perfect Credit Behavior (4)
Even if you've had great credit in the past, you can undo it by not using your credit enough. The good as well as the bad fade away over time, and the companies that issue credit do prefer recent activity as an indicator to old activity.
2007 Honda CR-V Review (5)
Although its competition, such as the Toyota RAV4, the Mazda CX-7 or the Hyundai Tucson, may offer either more space, a better driving experience or lower prices, Honda CR-V, especially the 2007 model, remains a top choice of the customers in search of all these features and extra safety guarantees.
Stay Organized With A Garage Storage System (6)
Thin metal shelves that hang from the ceiling can also be used to create an extra garage storage system as they can be hung over the space normally occupied by your vehicle.
The Convenience Of The Digital Audio Book (7)
When we engage in reading a book or anything else for that matter you need the undivided attention of your eyes as well as your brain in order to follow the story line and not have to read the same page couple of times, which implies that you cannot do anything else besides reading.
Planning Your New Business: Feasibility Analysis Part Three (8)
While it can make for a hard-to-ignore testimonial, word of mouth can also be turned against a business. A single disappointed customer will generally talk to more people about their disappointment rather than any good experience they had.
What's Going On In Your Workplace Online? (9)
This can tell you who is productive and who is not. You can retrieve e-mails, websites visited, time logs for computer based activities and more. This can help you reward top performers and weed out the slackers.
Should Young Adults And Kids Use Tanning Beds? (10)
They are generally more susceptible to the invasion of foreign substances such as diseases and radiation; exposure to harmful things for an extended period of time is sure to cause adverse reactions, faster than if they had the stronger, tougher bodies of adults.
Permalink to Five Steps To A Comfortable Retirement – Without Winning The Lottery!