Saving for Retirement: Why Flexibility is Important
Are you ready to start preparing for your future, in terms of retirement? If you are, you should get planning right away. In fact, the sooner you start planning for your retirement, the better off you are likely to be. That is why most men and women are encouraged to start saving for their retirement years when they are in their early twenties or thirties.
When saving for retirement, you will want to create a detailed, yet realistic goal. After all, you need to know how much money you should save. Even if you are young, like in your twenties or early thirties, outlining your retirement goals and aspirations are important, despite the fact that they may later change.
To determine how much money you should save for retirement, there are a number of important questions that you first need to ask yourself. Where do you want to live? Do you need to relocate to get to that destination? What type of home or living arrangement do you see yourself as having? What hobbies or activities would you like to take up? Do you want to start a small business in retirement? If so, start estimating the cost of these. When doing so, also take into account the standard cost of living, such as the basic needs of shelter, food, and transportation. Inflation should be accounted for as well.
Once you have completed the above mentioned step of determining how much you need to save for retirement, you will want to expand that amount. You should always save more money than you need. Why? Because there are no guarantees with retirement or an age increase. Your retirement spending plan should account for flexibility, as there are some events that can arise that call for you to be flexible with your spending.
As previously stated, inflation should be taken into consideration. The cost of goods and services will only continue to rise as you age. Not accounting for this rise can cause you to not have enough retirement money. Online, you can find a number of tools that can help you calculate the estimated inflation rate at your time of retirement. Keep in mind, however, that these are only estimates. A financial advisor can also provide you with these numbers.
Next, it is important to remember that your health may start to worsen after retirement.
Many senior citizens reach a point in time when long-term care is needed. Even if you are sixty years old and in good health, please remember that can change at just about any minute. Are you prepared for that change, if and when it arrives? You should be. The cost of long-term care should be included in your retirement savings. If you are retiring with your spouse, examine the cost of long-term care for each of you. Unlike living comfortably with one another in an independent living retirement community, the cost of long-term care can be expensive.
Flexibility is also important as your family situation can change as well. Do you have children? If you do, do not rely on your children to help make it through retirement financially. Even if your children are in good financial standing now or when you first enter into retirement, that can easily change. It is expensive to raise a family, as you likely already know. You do not want to put your children’s health, family, or finances, at risk; therefore, you should make sure your retirement savings plan is flexible and able to account for many of the unexpected events that life can throw your way.