Financing the Golden Years: How to Cover Costs When Retiring
Retirement should be a time for relaxing, but many seniors aren’t able to spend their golden years as they’d like. Instead of having this time to enjoy themselves, many seniors have to keep working to earn money.
Whether you’re planning for retirement or facing it now, there are ways that you can make your golden years more financially stable.
Here are just for methods for you to get started.
Rely on Your Savings
Reportedly, 26% of American adults have no savings in the bank. This is not only a problem for retirement, but it means that these Americans have nothing to fall back on during hard times.
Everyone should be putting aside income little by little every paycheck. If your workplace offers matching of any kind for a 401(K), then you should take advantage of it.
Matching, even in small amounts, is basically free money to help bolster your finances while you save for the future.
You can also put your money into CD savings accounts and specialized trusts that will help your money grow faster over time.
While this information may not come in time for everyone, those who can need to start saving now.
Invest in Passive Income
Though everyone stands to benefit from a passive income, anyone preparing for their retirement should start earning passively.
This passive income refers to an investment that continues to accrue money without the individual having to actively work.
This can be anything from a franchise or book, investing in the stock market, to even the basic trusts and investments mentioned above.
Investing in stocks, real estate, and development projects, however, are some of the fastest methods to gain passively with the least amount of work.
This makes these options ideal for those who are coming up on or currently in their golden years.
File for Social Security
Many Americans rely on social security for retirement though aren’t fully aware of everything involved in accessing this resource when the time comes.
Social Security benefits typically are calculated off of an individual’s highest-paid 35 years of work.
The age that individual files for their Social Security will affect how much money they can collect every month during retirement.
Essentially, this means that an individual with enough credits may be able to file by the age of 62 while others that aren’t able to file as early will have to wait until 70.
As identifying the best age to file can be particularly complicated, it is recommended that those considering social security for retirement speak to a professional like Todd East Attorney at Law to determine what needs to be done to take advantage of these benefits.
Downsize Your Home
Seniors can save money and earn more by downsizing their home. Homeowners that are empty nesters can downsize to an apartment and make money by leasing their homes with a site like Airbnb.
By consistently renting out their homes or even a room, this can be a great way to start an investment in real estate that provides valuable passive income.
Even if you don’t have time to manage the property yourself, you can use some of the profits earned from the rent to hire a property manager to do the work for you.
This way, your old home can easily become a great source of truly passive income, while also giving you a smaller home that will require less maintenance on your part during your retirement years.
Retirement should be planned for years in advance. By actively working towards saving up for retirement, generating new streams of income, and taking advantage of Social Security benefits, seniors will be fully prepared for their retirement when the time comes.
Category: Retirement