Why Think About Your Retirement Now?

Retirement is something I think about. It's always in the back of my mind. I recently was married to my lovely wife and now I'm thinking about her retirement as well. I look at my folks as they are from a different era. They're single-minded goal was to buy a house and pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible. They paid off their mortgage in the seventies and have since been living mortgage free and debt free ever since. Mom and dad never made a lot of money. They are both immigrants and barely made twenty thousand dollars each a year. But they have a much different lifestyle than most people do today. I can remember from day one that mom always cooked. It was only on special occasions that we would go out to eat. To this day dad has a huge garden and fruit trees scattered all around the yard. Where other people may plant a flower in a pot dad would plant basil, parsley or a tomato plant. There were two benefits to this lifestyle. First of all you save a ton of money when you grow and raise most of the vegetables and fruit that you eat. Secondly it tastes better. I can honestly say that I couldn't buy one good peach this year. Leave them out to ripe and they rot instead and if you do get a chance to eat one there's no flavor. You may think what does this have to do with retirement and investing? When my parents worked, their jobs usually had some type of profit-sharing, matching, IRA or 401k program. Although they didn't make much money they saved all they could and over the years it started to add up. With that fact coupled with no debt and social security their doing ok. They still don't do much as far as going out or going away, but it fits their lifestyle, so their happy. How about you? You most likely have a mortgage if you own or paying rent if you don't, which in this case you're paying someone else's mortgage. Our lifestyle choices start to add up; just like my parents frugal choices led to some sense of financial stability in their retirement years, not thinking ahead for your retirement might lead to financial uncertainty. There are so many investment vehicles today to choose from such as, insurance products, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and annuities. Which may be right for you will depend on many factors that are important to you; do you want to leave something for a loved one who may be left behind? Do you want to take some risks and bet on the stock market for a possible larger ROI (return on investment)? Or do you just want to ease yourself into retirement preserving your current lifestyle? I'm almost the big 4-O and although my retirement has always been in the back of my mind it's fast becoming more urgent. If you're like me and cashed out your IRA's and savings and now have very little compared to what you would like to have then this is something that you need to consider. I encourage you to do more research and get as much information as you can. Find out what matters to you and setup and appointment to talk with a specialist to get your questions answered today.