Are you saving towards retirement? If so, is the money coming out of your pay check before you get it? If you answer ‘Yes’ to both questions you are doing well. You are saving the way you MUST save for retirement.

If you answer ‘No’ then you are looking ahead to a bleak old age unless you do something – now. Only in your twenties? Well, that is the best time to start putting money into your retirement fund because the money has a long time to increase in value – and believe me, over 30 years even a few dollars can turn into a decent amount of money.

Quite simply, if you are  not saving you are wasting money because every time you put some money into a retirement fund, the government puts some in – well, actually, they give you a tax rebate, which is the same thing. Also, if your employer runs a pension fund, the firm usually puts some money into it each time you do so. A retirement fund is a win, win situation.

So let’s start saving. Now, are you saving enough. Most people save 3-6% of their salary and put that into their retirement fund, but these days that is not enough. Why not? Well, it is reckoned that to end up with enough to live on, with the current expectations of inflation – higher in the future than in the past – you will need to save more like 11% of you pay for retirement.

If you are struggling with a big mortgage this amount may seem a lot. But are you putting too much into your house? For a start, are you getting the best deal on your mortgage. If you can trim something off the payments without paying for the rest of your life – definitely not recommended – and put that into your retirement fund, you will be better off.

How much are paying for your car? If you can’t save enough for retirement, consider getting an older care with lower repayments. Then, put some more money into your retirement fund. You will be glad you did.

Whatever you do with your money, try to put a bit more into your retirement fund. I don’t recommend you put more than 11% into the fund, because you want to have some savings outside your pension fund ir retirement fund.

Retirement
Retirement

Disclaimer

The information on this web site does not constitute an offer in any way. It gives general information, but is not financial advice. The aim is to help you decide what to do about your retirement plan, and the importance of saving for retirement. You should consult a retirement planning adviser with a proven record before setting up a retirement plan.

Discover more about saving for retirement at Retire When U Like.

When the stock market is in turmoil, you are likely to ask yourself whether your pension or retirement fund, whatever the type, is safe. If you are heavily invested in individual stocks, you may have cause for concern.

The fact is that when the stock market falls, some stocks fall, some stay where they are, and some go up. Generally, it is the more conservative stocks that do well when the market as a whole do badly. Most do badly, and a few do well – maybe 10-25% of the listed stocks.

Your fund is likely to be invested conservatively – unless you have asked for an aggressive approach. So should you find out what your manager is doing? It is always  a good thing to know what your fund is doing, and to ask questions about it. If you don’t know how to do this ask the committee of your 401 (k) fund. Of course, if you manage it yourself you will know what is happening.

If the Dow drops 1,000 points, you can expect to lose quite a bit of money – on paper at least – unless your fund manager is very shrewd. Often, so long as you hang on, the fund will bounce back, but not always.

The problem is whether to sell out or to wait for a recovery. Or maybe to buy government bonds.

There is a dilemma facing fund managers. Although interest rates may be going down at present, the trend is for them to go up, and that is bad for investment in Treasury Bonds. This makes the timing of buying of bonds tricky, and encourages manages to go for higher yielding bonds which may not be very safe.

One alternative for fund managers is to hold a lot of cash on deposit while they see what is happening. The trend in interest rates may be up, but this could be the end of the trend!

Either way, your fund will not lose money in a money fund, but in the long term will lose out to inflation. therefore, putting retirement funds’ cash into money funds is a goods tactic in the short term, while the fund managers take stock.

So what should you do? Never sell when the market is in a panic – you will get a bad price for whatever you sell. Be patient. Your retirement fund will have 10, 20 or even 30 years to run, which gives time to recoup your losses. Also, a steady move to a more conservative balance to your fund should be the way your fund is managed. In other words, if you are 25 the fund manager can be more aggressive than when you are 40, and by the time you are 60, the fund manager should be very conservative, conserving the funds you have.

Bear these points in mind if you are tempted to get out of your pension, and turn into some other investments. And whatever you do, keep saving into your retirement find.

Retirement
Retirement

Disclaimer

The information on this web site does not constitute an offer in any way. It gives general information, but is not financial advice. The aim is to help you decide what to do about your retirement plan, and the importance of saving for retirement. You should consult a retirement planning adviser with a proven record before setting up a retirement plan.

When you work offshore, you are generally in a much better position than the folks back home when it comes to saving. Unless you are unlucky you will pay less tax, and will be paid more for the inconvenience of living overseas.

But you do not get the tax breaks available to people in your home country, so you will need to invest carefully. One problem is that there are many so-called ‘expatriate investment specialists’ who are not really very knowledgeable. They just assume you are making a lot of money, and that you don’t need to invest it carefully.

So where should you start? Make sure you do save a sizeable proportion of your income, and invest it in a variety of funds, preferably offshore funds that like you, are not subject to US taxes. But be warned! There are some funds operating in places where there are few regulations on how they invest, and on the management fees they pay themselves.

As with any investment program, your offshore retirement fund should include a spread of investments, including Treasury bonds and equities, either directly, if you have the time and inclination, or through funds operated by well-established companies. You will find that many of the best fund management companies operate some offshore funds, and these are generally worth looking at.

A spread of investments including property

One of the best investments you can make is in property – in a home for yourself in your home country, unless of course you do not want to go back there ever. Most people do want to go back, and if you invest in a home in the USA in a good area, probably costing a little more than you would normally do, you will benefit from the general long-term trend for housing to go up ahead of the inflation rate.

The third aspect of your retirement fund should take advantage of the potential gains in foreign currencies. At present, the USA dollar is weak, and has a lost a lot of value against the other main currencies, such as the Euro and British pound. As an expatriate, you will be much aware of this than most people, so do find ways of benefiting from any gains in foreign currencies. However, it is not easy to invest directly into currencies, so you need some expert help here. As with any investment for retirement, you need to spread your money among different currencies, and to do that with professional advice.

All in all, make sure that you spread your investments, and that your funds are managed conservatively, as this is your retirement fund we are talking about.

Retirement
Retirement

Disclaimer

The information on this web site does not constitute an offer in any way. It gives general information, but is not financial advice. The aim is to help you decide what to do about your retirement plan, and the importance of saving for retirement. You should consult a retirement planning adviser with a proven record before setting up a retirement plan.

Children are bad enough when they are kids, but when they grow up they can be worse. Now I know I am about to retire, but I found out that the 60th birthday party invitations they had sent out said  “come to my dad’s birthday before it’s too late!”.

What a cheek! Sometimes I think the way they behave, I will live longer than them - only joking. Anyway, after that I was not sure what to expect. Thought maybe they would decorate a coffin or something.

Well, it turned out that the 60th birthday party invitations were the big joke and the actual event was not too bad.  When I looked at the 60th birthday party invitation, however it didn’t even hint at how smart and luxurious it would be. 

It was strictly a high-class event, without any of those tired jokes about how old I was.  They had quite a good band, there was plenty of drink, good friends and family - some whom I had not seen for ages. My kids got them to come - some came a long way - without me knowing about it. It  really was a great night, and I will remember for  years, despite the awful 60th birthday party invitations. I guess what I liked was it it was all about friendship and kinship, and how we had helped each other over the years.

SInce my party, I have had quite a few 60th birthday party invitations for my friends’ parties. When a weird invitation arrives in the post I don’t wince and say ‘how awful’. I just look forward to the event. See, the 60th birthday party invitations my son got printed were pretty second-rate, but the event was fun, classy, and we all had a great time.

If you ask me, the children on the person who is becoming 60 want too much novelty around.  If you are buying invitations for a 60th birthday party, they do not have to be anything special - but I think most people who are celebrating their 60th will want a tasteful 60th birthday invitation.  The party is special, and your friends family know that, so you do’t have to ram it down their throats.. 

It is important that you celebrate the beginning of the declining years of someone who you greatly admired and respected when they were young and more energetic. In any case, these days 60 is not that old - people in their 60s go sailing, play golf, treck, run, do marathons, climb mountains, and all sorts of things. This is now considered the age of fun - time to do as you please, and most of us can do what we want. Of course, I’m assuming that the 60 year old you are sending out invitations for is healthy. Even then, look on the bright side when you look for 60th birthday party invitations - and think yourself lucky that the person in question has friends and family nearby and not scattered around the globe.

Retirement
Retirement

People tend to think of young people having a blast on vacation, but so do older people. When you retire you don’t have to worry about getting back to work in two weeks or whatever, nor do you have to worry what’s going on while you are away. And you have time to study the travel guides before you go.

So I recommend you save enough each month  to give yourself a decent vacation now and again. These days, Cost Rica is a good place to go. It is not expensive, the people are friendly, and you can tour around at your leisure.

Of course,the thing to do is to get all the Costa Rica travel guides you can before you go, and learn about it prior to your trip. This will save you a lot of time, and prevent your getting ripped off. These days, the answer is to go onto the Internet where you will find a Costa Rica travel guide, or any travel guide for that matter. You need to log onto Google or Yahoo, then just type in where you want to go and start reading. It might take a bit of time to getr the best ansswers, but you will.

Of course, any Costa Rica travel guide on the internet is biased - quite frankly almost everything is! The stuff put out by the government is obviously biased, and so are those put out by local tour agents! Not to worry, if you look carefully you can find a Costa Rica travel guide that gives you plenty of information, and you can compafre it with others to get an idea of what it is like there. Just remember that teh Costa Rica travel guides, like most others were written by people who want you there!

You will find quite a few Costa Rica travel guides in a short time, and after you have read a few you will know where you want to go.

It is also a good idea to visit a few travel agents to see what Costa Rica travel guides they have. Of course, they will want to arrange an expensive trip for you, but just tell them you haven’t made up your mind yet, and shop around for the best deal. In any event, once you’ce got the travel guides you can plan your trip more easily. You might like Costa Rica so much you will want to retire there - well, that is quite easy to arrange these days - but first, get that Cost Rica travel guide.

Retirement
Retirement

The biggest problem facing you when you plan your retirement fund – or start taking the money – is inflation. You may have fallen for government statistics that show inflation is low. Don’t believe it! The official figures understate inflation, probably by 70-100%. In other words, if they say inflation is 3%it is probably 5%. Over 15-25 years, inflation at even 3% will have a serious effect on your savings.

What’s worse is that a lot of the things that put fun into your life keep going up more than inflation – basically, anything that involves labor, from hairdressing, restaurants to golf clubs. Also, we can expect the price of gasoline to double over the next five years – and it will go even higher than that in 10-20 years time. This is not dependent on inflation but on the falling reserves of oil under the ground. What oil is there is less accessible, so it costs more to bring to market.

Here’s the problem: when you  are talking about retirement, you are looking ahead a long time. Even if you are 50, it will be 15 years before you retire, and by that time almost everything you buy could cost twice as much as now. You are probably expecting to live to 80 or more, and that is 30 or more years on from now if you are 50. Think back to what things cost 30 years ago and you will get a shock.

So if you are saving for retirement, try to save double whatever seems a reasonable amount at today’s prices. One way to do this is to use a retirement calculator.

But what should you do when you retire? The normal thing is to buy an annuity which will pay you a guaranteed sum for the rest of your life. This will be a constant amount each month, but your spending power will decline each year.

Don’t put all your money into one annuity

I would never put all my money into an annuity. Keep some back and do something else with it. Of course, you need to consult an independent investment advisor, but your best bet is to put some money into bonds and some into conservatively managed funds. This is not time to take high risks, but you do want a fund or funds that will keep ahead of inflation. That is not too difficult so long as the stock market is strong, and you have the bonds to guard against any weakness in the stock market – and over a period of 20 years, there will be periods of weakness.

Retirement
Retirement

Disclaimer

The information on this web site does not constitute an offer in any way. It gives general information, but is not financial advice. The aim is to help you decide what to do about your retirement plan, and the importance of saving for retirement. You should consult a retirement planning adviser with a proven record before setting up a retirement plan.
 

Whatever type of retirement fund you have, be it 401k 403b, Roth IRA or plain old IRA, you want to spread your risk.

Stocks go up and go down. Treasuries and government backed bonds are very safe, but they also go up and down in value, although you will always get a reasonable return. You can lose your shirt in futures and commodities. Gold is attractive, too. So what should you do?

Most people start off with investing in mutual funds, or they rely on a professional adviser – by the way professional means that he gets paid for doing that job, so don’t assume a professional adviser is an expert. Mutual funds generally invest in stocks, but it is certainly a good idea to have a proportion of your retirement fund invested in high-quality bonds – and the older you get the higher the quality you need.

Stocks can be risky

Recently, managers and investors alike have realised that markets do go up and go down, and so they have sought to diversify out of stocks, or in some cases out of the USA. Diversifying overseas is either risky – in new markets like China and Korea – or is a currency play. Why? because the leading markets in the USA, UK, Europe and Japan tend to move in the same cycles – and it is long term cycles that you need to watch for your retirement fund.

Hedging helps

An alternative is a hedge fund. But these are very risky. However, some of the leading mutual fund companies, like Fidelity and Vanguard, are now offering funds which has some hedging.

What is hedging? Hedging is betting with some of your money that the price will go down,and with some that the price will go up. Of course, you put more money where you think the market is going, and some against it. If the fund manager is right, the value goes up, and he is wrong it goes down a little. In the long run, a good manager, with good investment tools and research, can consistently make profits whatever the market does.

Therefore it is a good idea to have a small portion of your retirement fund in a fund that is involved in hedging in a conservative manner. This is a good way to get into commodities – any other way is far too risky unless you have money to throw away, and if you do, you won’t be putting it into a retirement fund. Investing in hedged funds and commodities is not something to undertake on your own – you need to seek the advice of a good financial adviser.

Retirement
Retirement

Disclaimer

The information on this web site does not constitute an offer in any way. It gives general information, but is not financial advice. The aim is to help you decide what to do about your retirement plan, and the importance of saving for retirement. You should consult a retirement planning adviser with a proven record before setting up a retirement plan.

Cut the fees and get more retirement cash

Are you paying too much in fees on your IRA  or 401 (k) retirement fund?

If you are paying too much in fees for your 401 (k) retirement fund, you could lose 15-20% of the total benefits over the years you are saving. In fact, an increase of 1% will rob you of 17% of your total savings. This is  a huge amount, and you lose it because as your retirement fund builds up so the fees increase - they are usually a percentage of the total fund.  Make sure you keep as much as you can, and don’t let the fund managers and advisors get it!

To get the amount of retirement money you thought you were going to get you might need to postpone retirement by two or three years, and I’m sure you don’t want to do that.

Legislators complain that there are too many hidden fees, or fees with weird names that no-one can understand, which makes it difficult for people to understand what they are paying. Make sure you do not fall into this trap.

As a result, it is likely that very soon the Federal government will insist that all fees are disclosed to the client in one figure. This way, the market will be more competitive and you have a chance of getting more of your money - that’s what we want.

Some fund managers and advisers welcome the proposed changes and think it is high time the consumer had a more open market in retirement funds. They realize that it will help consumers, and that if they show they ave low fees, they will get more clients. Expert say it is not difficult to show the exact amount being paid.

Once people can see what they are paying in fees, and what they are likely to get when they retire, the market will be more open to competition, which is good for us all.

Retirement
Retirement

To save for retirement get deals on hotels

You want to save money for retirement, then make sure you don’t waste money. Get a good deal on aany hotel you stay in. Once you are retired you will want to be sure you can get good deals on hotels, too,, so here are some tips.

First, if you are going for a short break, goduring the week you can get great hotel deals and will not have to tend with the crowds.

Here are some thihns we did to save money on travel. We wanted to go to festivals in the surrounding areas. Most festivals start on Fridays. We have found that if we stay overnight on Thursday night and attend the festivals early in the day on Fridays we do not have large crowds to deal with and we get better hotel deals. We arrive home late on Friday nights, but then we have the weekend to get things done around home.

When there is not a festival or event of interest going on we pick an area that we have never visited before or one of our favorite areas and call to see what kind of hotel deals we can get. Often hotels are willing to give you a price break if you are booking a room for more than one night. We also found that you can get great hotel deals at area casinos. We are not gamblers, but there are often great restaurants at the casinos and also activities that are going on in the surrounding communities. The rates at the casino hotels during the week are less than half the cost than during the weekend. Many casinos also include golf or gaming packages with the hotel deals.

Two weeks ago we invited our neighbors to take a mid week trip with us. They are retired so taking time off was not an issue. They had never visited the river bluff area of the state. We left early on a Thursday morning and took our time driving the four hours to our destination. We stopped at shops that looked interesting and also had lunch along the way. We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon. We checked in and asked the clerk for a recommendation as to what we could do, and that was very helpful.

The last important tip is not to go away in the business holiday season at the end of July or August - avoid those months whatever you do. And don’t go away at Easter either if you want good hotel deals.

Retirement
Retirement

So you wan to retire at 50 or maybe 55, and can’t bear the idea of working past 60. Well, if you are in either a boring or a stressful job, I don’t blame you.

But look, if you have a good salary and want a good retirement income you will need to have a nest egg of about $750,000. Of course, it should be in a tax-free or tax-deferred retirement fund like a 401 k or Roth IRA or similar. If you are not saving in one of these, you are wasting money.

Also, you need to make sure that you are not spending a lot of money in fees to maintain that account - over 30 years, if you are paying too much you could actually lose $20,000-$30,000. Giving up coffee at Starbucks will not save that sort of money.

In reality, you will need to save a large chunk of your to retire early, or make a fortune gambling on the stock market, or maybe have a part-time job. Some high flyers are able to save 50% of their salary - they are usually earning over $150,000 a year.

Here are two more ways to save a lot of money:

1. Move to a smaller house and put the money you save in mortgage payments straight into your retirement fund

2. Run an old car, and walk or cycle short distances. Over 10 years, you can save over $50,000 this way.

These two strategies, will certainly help you save a good deal more money than you are now, especially if you make sure that you are not overcharged by your fund managers.

Of course, you need a good fund manager - one who will put you in funds that will do well in good times or bad.

Finally, you can consider swapping the job you do not like for one you would enjoy. That way you would not be in such a hurry to retire!

Retirement
Retirement