Start Plan for Your Retirement

Today, retirees are expecting to have it easier in retirement than they did during their working years.

Retirement is a fairly new phenomenon. When my grandmother retired, she went to live with one of my aunts and worked just as hard on the farm as she had done on her own before my grandfather died. She got a bit more racking-chair time with the babies, but there wasn't much play time.

Today, retirees are expecting to have it easier in retirement than they did during their working years. Many are planning on leisure time and travel. Unless you have enough moony set aside, that aren't going to happen!

According to the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) in Washington, D.C., 60 percent have never tried to figure out how much money they need to save for retirement. Even worse, 40 percent have not begun to save for retirement.

 

So how much money do you need? The first thing you need to review is your cash flow by accessing your financial situation. What does it take to maintain your current lifestyle? Is this the lifestyle you'll want in retirement? With a little bit of effort on your part, you will be able to calculate whether your savings are on track to worksheet from the American Savings Education Council.

If you are coupled, try doing the worksheet together or each of you do one on your own and then try together. If you finish the worksheet and the results indicate that you must save more than is available from your paycheck each week, redo the worksheet. This time, add part-time work if you left it off the first time or raise your projected retirement age from 60 to 65. This will increase your years of savings and your Social Security benefits. If this still doesn't work, raise the retirement age to 70.