Determine Your Retirement Needs
Consider factors like where you want to live, what you’ll do with your time and how you’ll pay for life’s necessities. These should be factors that you have previously considered as you near retirement, but as you get even closer, it’s important that you add more detail to your strategies. It’s also important to consider how long your retirement may be so you can plan accordingly. Think about the expenses you plan to incur, as well as the different income streams you might have and how to best use them.
Saving for Retirement
Social Security
You’ll also need to decide when you want to sign up for Social Security benefits. While you are eligible to begin claiming Social Security at 62, most experts suggest that you wait.
As you can sign up for Social Security anytime between the ages of 62 and 70, the longer you wait to sign up the more advantageous it could be for you.
At 70 you qualify for the maximum monthly benefits.
You will need to decide if your other income streams can allow you to wait for as long as possible or if you might need to begin drawing from Social Security earlier than 70 years old.
Retirement Needs
What I see every day is people stuck in retirement because they weren’t educated early enough. They thought they were prepared… until the real bills started.
The truth is, there are hidden costs nobody prepares for:
• Health costs keep rising
• Most dont have enough savings
• And a 401(k) is not a retirement plan — it doesn’t account for any of these additional expenses
If you want to avoid being caught off guard later, get educated now. The earlier the better!
Create a withdrawal Plan
It may seem counterintuitive to start planning to withdraw the funds you worked so hard to save and invest. But hopefully, your retirement is what you’ve been saving for.
There are tax considerations for withdrawing the funds, just as there were considerations for adding the funds and maximizing your contributions when you were doing the bulk of your wealth accumulation.
Depending on the type of retirement accounts or plans you have, you might consider rolling the funds into a different type of account – one that can help you minimize the taxes you’ll pay and allow you to take out the funds more conveniently.