Retirement is the golden reward after a lifetime of hard work, but it’s not always sunshine and roses. If you haven’t independently planned for your retirement, you may find that you cannot continue to support yourself just on your pension alone.
Worse is that there may not even be a pension program for young people today to retire on.
What this means is that now, more than ever, independent retirement and wealth planning must be done ASAP. You could be just at the start of your career, mid-way through, or nearing the end. You cannot take back the time you previously had, but you can make the most of today by using these top tips to help you grow your wealth in time for your retirement:
Get a Bespoke Financial Plan
One of the easiest ways to start maximizing your wealth and planning for your retirement is to use a certified financial planner. On top of helping you take advantage of existing programs and tools to naturally put you in a better financial position, they also offer wealth management solutions that include options like investment planning, estate planning, and retirement income planning. While investments naturally are not a 100% guaranteed way to increase your wealth, they can be a key part of strategy.
Start Compounding Interest
Compounding interest is your best friend. It’s one of the best and easiest ways to start growing your savings, with minimal risk. Now, technically, a savings account that lets you earn compounding interest is still a type of investment, but your money is invested in very stable stocks, which reduces the interest.
Maximize Your Retirement Accounts
Another easy and simple way to start preparing for your retirement is to start maximizing your retirement accounts. Focus particularly on:
- Your Employer-Sponsored 401(k): Match your employer’s maximum limit to double your retirement saving efforts.
- Your Individual Retirement Account (IRA): Have an advisor help you choose the right IRA for you so you can benefit from tax-free growth and withdrawals.
- Health Savings Accounts (HRA): Health issues increase as you get older. Use an HRA to help you save and pay for those costs.
Start Budgeting
The years (even decade) before your retirement is the perfect time to start saving. One of the easiest ways to save is to simply start better budgeting. Sometimes, this will mean just cutting back on some spending; in other cases, it will mean things like remortgaging to a better rate so you pay less overall.
Keep Up To Date with News and Legislation
Financial recommendations, rules, laws, and programs are constantly changing. You will want to either keep up to date yourself or rely on your financial planner to keep up with those changes. This is how you’ll know to get your money out of a certain program if it doesn’t continue to work for you in the future.
Consider Renting Out Your Home
Another option you have that can help you grow your wealth is to consider buying a second home (or renting it) and then renting out your family home. This is an alternative that’s particularly useful if you’ve paid off or mostly paid off your property.
Why? One, because it gives you consistent monthly income so long as you have a tenant. Two, you continue to hold on to a very valuable asset that you can sell on if you need to alter on (rather than at the start of your retirement).