When it comes down to it, you hear a lot about retirement. From emails, to TV advertisements, to friends talking, you really can’t seem to avoid the topic when thinking about your future. Now as we have said here on the show before, having a solid, flexible, long-term financial plan is critical to having a successful future, and that is absolutely true when you start to talk about retirement. However, we often get specific questions, usually along the lines of “How much do I actually need to retire?” or “Is there a way to find out exactly how much I’ll need for retirement?”.
“While everyone’s situation is different, the most important thing that you should be considering always seems to be the same thing: what are your individual needs for retirement?”
These types of questions really seem to be on everyone’s mind, and for good reason. Everyone wants that security to know exactly how much they’ll need in retirement, not only so they can plan and design their long-term financial plan, but also so they can periodically check up on their progress to see if they are where they need to be in order to meet their goals for retirement.
While everyone’s situation is different, the most important thing that you should be considering always seems to be the same thing: what are your individual needs for retirement? What are you going to need going when you stop working? Do you have a massive, expensive lifestyle that you wish to continue into retirement? Or do you just need the basics, and focus on maybe spending your golden years on things you never had the time to do when you were working. Another big factor that goes into decision-making process is debt. Do you have everything paid off going into retirement? or are you going to need to plan out all your payments for those debts when you stop working?
As frustrating as it can be to hear sometimes, everyone’s situation is different, and there’s no one size fits all answer that we can give out to everyone. Retirement is an important part of your life, and it takes a lot of effort to successfully develop a plan to be able to enjoy those years. For us, helping individuals design their own long-term financial plan, and make sure that we cater the plan to satisfy your specific needs is something we enjoy doing, and we’d love to help you plan for the best years of your life.
Episode #85: Paying Down Debt Before Retirement and Real Estate Hassles