Good retirement advice can cover a broad spectrum of topics, including 401k’s, IRA rollovers and IRA investments in general.
But good retirement advice should not just reflect on retirement investments. Good advice should also be about your financial habits. This is for the simple reason that how you handle your money today determines what your retirement will look like.
The best retirement advice you can hear today is that everything you do in one way or another effects your retirement. Let’s look at some more retirement advice:
Good Retirement Advice Looks Like This:
Understand Your Financial Habits:
Believe it or not your every day financial habits effect your retirement. Investing for retirement is a process, not a one time deal. The process revolves around what you do with your paycheck. How you spend will determine if you have any money left over to invest. If you develop good, solid financial habits, you will have more money available to invest.
Your Financial Habits
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Start planning for your retirement when you start your first job.
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You may be passed this stage, if you are, teach your children that lesson.
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Second bit of advice, it’s not what you make but what you keep that matters.
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Every dime you spend, is one less dime you have save.
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That sounds very elementary because saving and investing is elementary; people make it complicated.
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Frivolous spending can develop into such a bad habit.
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Before you know it, the things you spent on frivolously are no longer frivolous items but necessities.
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And this started because of weak financial habits.
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The easiest bad habit to develop is spending vs saving extra money received as raises or bonuses. -
It’s also the easiest bad habit to correct.
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Before you got that raise or bonus, you were somehow able to do okay. But when you get that extra money you suddenly seem cash strapped.
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Just keep on the same budget you had before the windfall and invest that new extra money.
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It is so easy to fritter away extra income vs investing it.
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There are many, many habits we develop as individuals.
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Don’t be overwhelmed by financial habits you may notice that you practice.
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Just take the first step, just review your current financial habits and start making small, minor adjustments.
Investment Advice:
Investing for your retirement is not a one-time deal; it is a process. Most processes take time and need continual attention and work.
401k retirement accounts and IRA investments, including IRA rollovers, are parts of your process. You need to properly managed the process if you want good results. We will very briefly discuss some investment advice that you can use to get started.
Managing Your 401k Retirement Account
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If your employer offers a 401k retirement plan and you are not contributing to it, you are missing one of the best opportunities.
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Growth is one way to judge the success of your 401k retirement account.
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Investment returns are one way to achieve account growth.
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Another way to achieve growth is through employer 401k retirement plan matching.
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You are missing a growth opportunity if your employer matches your personal 401k contributions limits and you are not making any 401k contributions, because you are losing out on free money.
Managing Your IRA Investments:
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An IRA investment is a good investment if you do not have a 401k retirement plan at work.
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IRA’s are also good for rollovers.
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IRA rollovers can be from prior employers if you change jobs.
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IRA rollovers can be from your 401k retirement plan when you retire.
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Depending upon your income level, you may be able to invest in a 401k retirement plan and an IRA. Check with your tax adviser.
Good retirement advice can sometimes seem endless. Everyone has their own interpretations and ideas about what constitutes good advice. We just hope you learned enough about retirement investments and financial habits to formulate your own ideas and move forward at a pace that works for you. So unless you just love to work and plan on working forever, take the time today to start reviewing your retirement investments and your financial habits.
