Can you retire when you planned?

Retiring is one of the things that we look most forward to as we get older. We look forward to a time when we can relax and do the things that we never had time for or never did. Retirement isn't something that you can just jump into blindly but you have to prepare for it for several years. There are lots of things that you have to consider so let's take a look at some of them and how you can find out if you can retire when you planned on it.

With the economy constantly changing and prices going up and down and more up it is hard to know if you are prepared or if you will have enough when you do get closer to retiring. You will want to talk with your financial advisor to see how much you should have saved up and where it should be kept. Every single person is different and will need a different amount. Because people are living longer there is a greater need for more savings and a better way to use money. When you go to talk with your financial advisor, bring along your an average of all your expenses from the last couple years and the average amount of income you have gotten in the last few years. Also have a list of things that you will need to pay for when you retire and a list of your bills that you will have until you pass away.

If you don't have a financial advisor, it is a really good idea to get one or to at least talk with someone at your bank or financial office. There are things that you can do but they have years of experience and have people talking to them all the time about their finances and will be able to see things that you may not be able to.

Be sure to:

• Find out how much you will need. Plan on living for a long time. Don't plan on passing away at 80 but plan for longer. It is better to have more money than you need than to just run out when you are 85 and have to go to work again. There are lots of websites that will help you calculate the amount you will need. Don't use this as a definite amount but use it as an estimate.
• Find out what you will have to pay. Make a list of all of your expenses now. Cross out ones that you won't have when you retire, things like lunch money for eating out with your office friends, and subtract money from things that you won't need that much of, like gas money to get to work. Give yourself plenty of cushion. Don't make this a strict budget, but one that has a lot of wiggle room. You might want to visit the grandkids who are 1,000 miles away every couple months and might need the gas money for that.
• Make sure that you are contributing to your 401k as much as possible. You should increase the amount you are contributing every few years so that you are adding more and more as you get older.
  
• Pay off debt and don't get into more debt. You want to be as close to debt free as you can when you retire. You don't want to have to worry about a house payment or a car loan when you are older. You want to use that money to buy a new house or a new car with cash. Going into debt will only make your retirement account smaller and will make you more strapped for cash as you get older and older.
• Start planning your retirement as early as possible. You want to start a 401k plan as soon as you can too. The longer you put in money the more money you will have in the end. Even if you can only put in a small amount at the beginning it will still help.