According to Bloomberg, a Government Accountability Office report found that 48 percent of people over 55 years of age have nothing saved for retirement. Three-fifths of people over 55 have no pension plan. Thus, they will be forced to rely upon Social Security benefits alone in their old age. Of those aged 35 to 64, about 41 percent expect to run out of money sometime during retirement.
Retirement planning is key. It is also important to find reliable and honest sources of retirement planning information. Sadly, we have likely all heard about scams and ponzi schemes that have ripped off consumers who were diligently trying to save for their golden years. Where can one find vetted information on retirement planning?
What is Retirement Planning? –
According to Investopedia, retirement planning actually encompasses several steps. You need to determine how much money you will likely need to save in order to stay in retirement, and you will need to determine how to amass that sum during your working years. You need to estimate how much you need for living expenses when you retire. You will also need to find out how to begin a retirement savings plan and how to manage risk.
Rightfully, Investopedia also reminds us that retirement planning is far more than a sum of money at the end of one’s career. Retirement planning also entails determining where you will live once you are retired, how you will spend your time and when it is safe to end all work.
Sources of Retirement Planning Information:
U.S. Department of Labor –
The U.S. Department of Labor has some really comprehensive guides on retirement. These include publications with information on how to continue to receive health benefits after you retire. In addition to the guides, there are a few tools, like the one that allows you to determine if you are ready to save money. The latter is quite comprehensive and will help you determine your goals for retirement, calculate your current net worth, determine how much you need to save in order to retire, determine your post-retirement spending plan and reduce all debt.
The best publication of the lot that puts all of the information together is the PDF titled, “Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning.” One would think that this PDF would be boring and dry. It is exactly the opposite. There is a page or so to read that has engaging graphics, then they have you fill out a retirement planning chart. This pattern repeats throughout the entire 68-page PDF. When you have read the PDF and filled out all of the charts, you will have comprehensively completed your early phases of retirement planning and can then move forward to researching your savings vehicles.
U.S.A. Retirement Website –
This website also has some important guides, like information on the most common options people use to save for their retirement, how social security works for those who are retired and how to protect your pension benefits.
Nerdwallet –
Nerdwallet has great articles on retirement planning as well as financial tools to help you determine how much money you will need in order to retire.
Fisher Investments –
You can find great content on investing and investments on the educational YouTube channel by Fisher Investments. There are both informational videos on general investing as well as videos on current economic news and how those relate to investing.
Good Financial Cents –
This blog is written by a Certified Financial Planner who teaches consumers all of the ins, outs and tricks of how to successfully plan for retirement.
Credit Donkey –
The goal of the Credit Donkey blog is to help everyone understand the principles of sound financial planning in layman’s terms. They review online savings accounts and IRA providers.
Frugal Rules –
The Frugal Rules blog is designed to help people who in the past have not believed they could possibly save and plan for retirement. The FR blog also reviews financial products. The nice thing about this blog is that there are many articles about frugal living that will help you find more money with which to invest.
Mr. Money Mustache –
Mr. Money Mustache retired in his thirties. He has a lot of great information on living a frugal lifestyle and retiring early while not running out of one’ s nest egg. This link is a really great article on how he proposes one follow in his footsteps.
The Penny Hoarder –
Another good blog that helps a variety of people move toward financial freedom is the Penny Hoarder. Like Mr. Money Mustache, they emphasize frugality. This article has some really great tips on how to start saving for retirement with tiny amounts of money that most anyone can put together.
Retirement Planning is really for everyone who is in their working years. The sooner one begins amassing retirement income, the sooner one can retire because of the compounding of interest. Some of the above sources are for people who may have struggled in the past to save for retirement, while other sources are for those who have more means to do so.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/retirement-planning.asp
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/workers-and-families/preparing-for-retirement
Laurie Flood on Freelance Writing 