Retirement Planning
Your Goals and Budget

Start your retirement planning now. How close are you to retiring or how early/soon do you want to retire? Have you thought about what you want to do when you retire? What you want to do is just as important as what your budget will be.

Your pre-retirement budget will include all the living expenses and other bills you anticipate you will have. But it also needs to include funds to do anything else you want to do when you retire. Do you want to travel or have a hobby you want to do, include a budget for these.

I am in my pre-retirement stage and need to be thinking of everything that will be needed when I finally do retire. The first thing that should be done is perhaps a goals list, which includes being debt free for the most part. Pay off all those loans, that will free up a big part of your budget so you won't need quite so much income monthly. When was the last time you added up all those loans (not including your home payment) and credit cards? What do you pay out each month? Just imagine if you don't have to worry about them in your retirement. You could live on less and make your retirement accounts last even longer.

What else could go on your goals list? How about what you plan on doing in your retirement years. Do you plan on traveling or starting a new hobby? Now would be the time to start researching what they will cost you. Perhaps even buying now what you need or starting a savings account for what you may want for your hobby to get it started. Planning on traveling? Start saving now for that travel trailer you may want.

Now back to that retirement budget. Now is also the time to think about what you will need each month from your retirement accounts to cover your bills. I know when I started thinking about this I forgot a few items I didn't even think about. Start now and create that list of possible bills, what you estimate each bill will cost. Estimate a little high, better high than too low. I would build my retirement budget the same way I do my current budget. And again I would visit this budget often also, making changes as needed.

Some of the items we need to include in our pre-retirement budget are rent/mortgage payment, utilities, home taxes, insurance for home and vehicles, what about the annual vehicle tags, I even have a budget for maintenance for home and vehicle, internet, phone, don't forget doctors co-pays and medicines. You will just have to estimate what you think your budget may be for these items, again budget a little high and what you don't use could be your fun money or back into a savings account for a future use. Don't forget to include groceries, incidentals, how about a holiday fund (an account to buy your gifts for giving out of). Yes all of these may be a part of your retirement budget. If you plan on retiring early you may need a health/dental insurance insurance budget,if don't have coverage elsewhere, at least to cover until your Medicare kicks in. In my budget I have also set aside an emergency fund budget, just in case something comes up I may not have thought about.

By having this retirement budget in place and revising it every so often, you can see what you are going to need each month, year at retirement. This budget will also help to decide if you are saving enough now so you can retire early.

Start your retirement planning now and make your retirement a comfortable and stress free one.

457 - Deferred Retirement Plan
Roth Ira Accounts
Retirement Calculators (Coming in the near future)

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