Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Knowledge Is Power When It Comes To Your Finances

By David Icbene


Planning for retirement can seem a bit complicated with 401Ks, allocations, investments, taxes and other confusing terms and concepts. Saving money, though, is a concept that anyone can understand, and that is the bedrock for retirement planning. The good news is that it is never to late or too early to start planning. Read on for some tips on how to start.

Retirement

Discuss financial goals with your partner. This is especially important if you are thinking about getting married. Do you need to have a prenuptial agreement? This may be the case if one of you enters the marriage with a lot of prior assets. What are your mutual financial goals? Should you keep separate bank accounts or pool your funds? What are your retirement goals? These questions should be addressed prior to marriage, so you don't find out at a later date that the two of you have completely different ideas about finances.

If your goal is to set yourself up financially for retirement, you should consider hiring a financial advisor. A financial advisor has the necessary tools to help you to know exactly what you need to be saving each month, in order to reach your personal goals. They can also set you up with the best financial products available.

If you are behind, as many are, when it comes to saving for retirement, get in gear and start catching up. Adding a little extra than you normally would to your retirement plan, can catch you up faster than you think it will. Especially, if it concerns your 401k, because your employer will match a certain percentage of your contribution.

Burn used cooking oil in your older diesel vehicle! There are entire web pages and forums devoted to doing just that. The first diesel engine, after all, was designed to run on peanut oil. Just make sure you research your options and take the precautions you need to insure you don't damage your engine.

Retirement

Contribute to a retirement account and plan for the future! You want to have a nest egg so that you are not living on social security in your old age and you have something to leave your children and love ones. Give what you can to your retirement and if possible see if your employer has any retirement benefits or accounts available.

Get a Roth IRA for your retirement because this type of account, allows you to put money aside for your retirement and not pay any taxes on it. Most people qualify for these accounts, and it is very easy to convert your current IRA into a Roth account. Ask your financial institution about these accounts.

Look at your personal finances on a regularly basis. If not done more than once a year, it should at least be done yearly. This is particularly true if you have an investment portfolio. Reorganize your investments periodically to maintain a balanced portfolio. Be mindful of your retirement goals and the strategy you have in place for investments. Take a look at your investments, and see if anything needs to be restructured.

Taking control of your personal spending and saving habits is a good thing. It's times like these that we are reminded of what is really important and how to prioritize in life. The ideas presented here are ways that you can start to focus on the important things and less on the things that cost you needless money.




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