• Planning your Retirement Strategy with More Cunning

    People figure that it is a pretty sharp retirement strategy to seriously question the wisdom of putting it off. What if they don’t make it long enough to enjoy all the promised extra benefits? What if they plan to work five years past the minimum retirement age of 62, but they check out just a year later at 63? That would be a life wasted, with no enjoyment at all, wouldn’t it?

    Well, not exactly. If you are weighing risks that finely, it might occur to you that living to 80 would be the bigger risk in all of this. Living to 80, with no money. You could really go and put your claim in for your Social Security check the moment you hit 62, all the way until you reach 70. But the longer you stay away from it, the bigger your reward.

    The very least you could do, would be to wait until the minimum retirement age to apply (and that is not the same as the time you make up your mind to really stop working). What kind of retirement strategy would it be to lose a third of your potential Social Security benefits?

     
  • Where to Invest Money for Retirement

    Although the equity markets have shown some stability over the past year or so many investors are still wondering and asking themselves the question – Where to invest money… And if you do decide to re-enter into the market here are some facts that you need to know…

    The first thing you should know is to use a fee only broker versus a commission based broker. The advantages of fee only services is that they will give you an independent assessment of your portfolio and make recommendations that are in your best interest. Whereas a commission based broker gets paid in both a up and down market.

    When investing in mutual funds make sure that you research and invest in funds based on the fund manager’s performance and not just the family of funds, for example. You want to invest in a fund whose fund manager has a proven track record over a five, ten year history.

    A Roth IRA is another place to invest money. It is actually the second best thing to a 401K. Actually some people will argue that it is better. Imagine investing $500, and then watching it turn into one million after 50 years. Now that is ideal! This is where to invest money if you have it, because it is more beneficial than a traditional IRA.

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