The Right Time to Start Saving for Retirement
Saving for Retirement : The current financial crisis has left more than half of all Americans worried about their retirement plans. In fact, the average middle-class couple must plan on 70% of the income earned on a monthly basis by the husband and wife. The worrying has increased for the wife. Though she saved a good amount of money over the years, her earlier good habits have given way to bad financial decisions as she hasbits and pieces of information about her husband’s pension plans gone bad.
She’s always used to be the good shopper and wise financial manager. But she has just begun to watch her budget more closely because she has plenty of information from a former bank loan officer. She put on her white jacket and join her husband at lunch today and went around to ask him about his retirement plan choices. She discovered that he has a 401K, which the government will generally contribute to, and that from the accounts properly saved, he may be able to take his pension and still pay the bills.
His explanation brought a tear to his eye. He explained that he has tobacco and retirement accounts, and he is beefing up his accounts to take advantage of his current tax offset.
She looked at the numbers with a furrow in her eyes and asked, “You really want me to put up my own 401K?” He didn’t.
“I’m worried about our pension,” he told her. “Even if we pay cash instead of bonds, we’re probably running out of funds before we retire.”
My husband does appreciate the value of saving money from the very beginnings of their marriage. As he watches his income slip away from his future retirement choices, he may start to worry about his future and his children’s future and the quality of his grandchildren’s life.
“This is one reason that most couples put off having children,” says his 43-year-old niece, Trish. “They didn’t know anything about finances.”
Like so many families in the United States, The Smith family has never been able to focus on its 401K or Blue shares even though they could have done with a little more money. As restauranteur and retiree Bill knows, the money does add up-at least not on the surface.
“We’re wondering how to go from zero to 100 with the least expense and most green stuff you can put in your piggy bank,” says one of his friends. And indeed Bill and Trish Smith have been known to dress in the latest fashions because they want to show off their new clothes at the club each week. This has been happening since Bill was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer twelve years ago.
“I’m not worried making money is all that important,” Bill says. “I’m focusing on our health and saving our health insurance.”
This has been one of the most important lessons we’ve learned from my thirty years of work as an advising financial planner. My clients are always worried about money, but they always have a plan.
“I keep saying to people, ‘You need to start a long retirement plan and make it a broad one.”
Instead of turning retirement lounge into an notifications/chronicals usually far away, get neighbors talking about your grand plans for retirement. And if they live on the other side of town then make sure they have a state of the art receiver andchenille for all the bug-les!