12
Mar
Is Retirement Knocking On Your Door?
Posted by Cody, in Retirement
If you’re somewhere between the ages of 40 - 50 years old, retirement is probably in the forefront of your thoughts (or at least it should be). The kids are out of the house, you’re career is in its prime, it’s the perfect time to refine that retirement plan. It’s also the perfect time to make some costly mistakes! Prepare yourself by applying some (or all) of the following steps…
- Payoff Debt: If you haven’t done this already, you need to! Credit cards, vehicle loans, and other nondeductible debt should be the first to go. Once this is done, you should start sending all that extra money towards your mortgage.
- Re-visit Your Investments: At this point in your life, you might want to consider shifting your funds into more secure investments like certificates of deposit (CDs) or money market accounts. The interest rates may be lower, but hopefully you’ve made enough through prior investments that you’ll still receive a decent return on your money.
- Re-evaluate Your Life Insurance Plan: Over the years your life insurance needs change. Review your life insurance policy and make sure it fits your current situation. You don’t want to be paying more than you need!
- Learn About Long-term Care Insurance: The jury’s still out about whether it is smart to purchase long-term care insurance in your 40’s - 50’s (some feel this is a mistake because the company could disappear by the time you need to use it), but do yourself a favor and at least do some reading on the subject.
- Nudge Your Kids from the Nest: If your kids are still asking Dad and Mom for money, now is the time to say “No!” This might be hard for some, but you will be doing both you and them a favor by teaching them this life lesson.
- Enjoy the Best Years of Your Life!
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March 14th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
As someone who works in the long term care insurance industry, I am biased, but I have to agree that the AARP is finding out how shockingly ignorant the average American is about the costs and the payment forms for long term care.
The problem is, costs are growing as fast or faster than many people’s retirement accounts. They’ve worked their entire lives to build a nest egg to pass on to children or grandchildren and in the next 20 years, many of them, the majority in fact, will have to decimate all of their hard work by going in to long term care facilities which run up costs as high as $300 per day quickly.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Attn. Drew: I agree. It’s discouraging to think about all the people that have to drain away their hard earned money in a long-term care facility.