Retirement Planning

The prospect of a comfortable retirement is like the proverbial carrot dangling in front of us, encouraging us to keep going in hopes of a future reward. The only difference is that, unlike the carrot that is always just too far away to reach, a comfortable retirement is actually attainable.

While this is encouraging, achieving your retirement goals will not happen automatically. As with most other things, the two key things that you need to do are to:

• plan ahead
• follow through with your plan

Unfortunately, there is no retirement planning resource, including this one, that will provide you with the self-discipline and self-motivation you need to achieve your retirement goals. Only you can determine how important retirement is to you and what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve it. We can, however, provide you with the information and tools you need to understand retirement planning issues. Based on this information, you can then create a retirement plan that works for you.

At this point, you will be happy to learn that you are already well on your way in the retirement planning process. Unlike you, most people have done little or no planning for retirement. This is very understandable. It's hard to be concerned about what will happen 30 or 40 years from now when you are just trying to stretch your resources to meet your needs today.

It may be hard, but it's an absolute necessity to consider how you will support yourself (and anyone else you need to support) during your retirement. With people living longer and retiring earlier, you may wind up spending as much as a third of your life in retirement. It may be unsettling to think of yourself as growing older, but it's frightening to think about living without your current paycheck for 20 or 30 years of retirement. Even if you manage to save some money, you should still consider whether it's enough to provide adequate support in an unpredictable economy for a quarter century.

Once again, nobody can guarantee you financial independence following retirement. However, this goal can be more than just a dream with proper planning and commitment on your part.

To help make your retirement dreams a reality, we provide you with the following information.

• Overview of Retirement Planning: If you aren't yet fully convinced that retirement planning is an option for you, find out more information on the importance of retirement planning. Then, follow up with a look at how retirement planning is an ongoing process throughout your life. Finally, you should take stock of what you have and what you will need for your retirement.
• Saving for Retirement: Here we discuss the various available options for you to start saving money for retirement. Not only will you learn about each type of retirement plan, but you will also learn the pros and cons of each.
• Special Situations in Retirement Planning: Special situations or considerations may impact retirement planning. We not only warn you of the most common situations, we also tell you what you need to know to get through them.