"Can I retire? "My friends tell me the answer is --"I don't know." In addition it is a threatening question. It makes them nervous just to think that they may not have the time to grow enough assets. So "Penelope,-- go away". I hear them and I hear all of you who might agree with them, but as the founder of Wealthy Choices (R) LLC with over 20 years of advising people about life and money I have to say people are amazing. I am continually impressed by how clever you are. You are creative and you will figure out a path to retirement success, maybe with the help of a financial planner, or maybe just because you have bailed yourself out of lots of difficult situations. You will adapt whether there is enough money or not.
Money with laughter and praise
If you are 55 or older, you do not want to be shown one of those charts with an investment growing your money for 40 years. You don't feel like you have much time to increase your assets. Though you might want to live to age 100 as long as you were well, you are worried about funding that many years.
Retirement is a choice that not everyone wants, but if it is your goal then here is a temporary "do it yourself" process.
The sooner that you answer these six questions, the sooner you will have a reality check and the sooner you can make changes. The process can help you develop more options about improving your retirement outcomes.
Here are the six questions to ask.
1. If you strip your lifestyle to the bare bones, how much money would you need each month? (Click here if you want a handy cash flow sheet to itemize all your expenses.)
2 How much would you need each month to maintain a comfortable life style?
3 Have you always managed your lifestyle by having loans and credit card debt that took years to pay off? Will that work during retirement?
4 How much would you need if you moved to someplace where housing, heating, food costs,
etc. were less expensive?
5 How much income are you sure of receiving from Social Security and other sources?
6 How much income might you receive from investments? To help you with this estimate,
consider that each $50,000 of investable assets earning on average 5% in some hypothetical
investment might provide $329 a month for 20 years. Then the money would be gone.
Answering these six questions helps you gauge whether your money can sustain your
retirement. Yes, there are many more questions to ask, and more sophisticated analysis of
investments, health, inflation, risk, portfolio construction, real estate taxes, income taxes
and estate settlement costs. At some point you may want me or some other qualified person
to create a personal strategy for you.
If you want a strategy for retirement, just email me at penelope@wealthychoices.com or give me at 1 800 631 1970.