Retirement Archives - Page 13 of 13 - Making Sense Of Cents

Do I need a financial advisor?

Last Updated: April 12, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’m off today (and tomorrow), so this will be a nice, long weekend. I’m not sure what I’m doing today, probably just going to bum around. And I’m sure most of you noticed, but I changed my blog up a bit, how does it look? I’m still making changes, but I got tired last night and stopped. Let me know about any opinions you have! As I always say, any comments, good or bad, are always welcome.

Anyways, to get to the topic of this post, I’ve been thinking about getting a financial adviser. I recently received a pretty big bonus, and I also just realized that I got an extra $630 as well (I forgot to read a page that I got which explained my bonus), so my bonus amount is actually around $6,730. Also, I’m getting a big tax refund this year, so that will be another windfall in another couple of months.

So because of all of this money that’s pretty much landing in my lap, I would like to start investing more, as I have barely done this (because I have been paying down debts), and also to do other things with this money, but I’m not really sure what I should do.

Some of you are probably wondering, “Aren’t you in the financial services industry?” Yes I am, but I don’t handle these type of investments, just mainly large portfolios (lots of money and/or companies that people own). We don’t actually advise on how you should invest or spend money. It’s tough to explain what I do, one day I will make a post on it.

Anyways, I don’t have the slightest clue as to where to start with getting an adviser. I plan on eventually just doing all of this on my own, but for the beginning, I’d like to get at least some expert help to help me in a direction.

I do know that most of them get paid commission based on certain things though, so I think this is swaying my decision. I am not good with investing, I’ve thought about reading books, but honestly, I just don’t have a lot of time right now.

I know that financial advisers are trained and have great expertise with financial matters. They can help you with investing, retirement and anything financial related.

Where do I start though? Can anyone tell me what exact type of things they tend to help with?

Do you have an adviser? Or have you thought about it?

When do you think you’ll retire?

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 12 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Yahoo! Finance had an article the other day talking about how 25% of Americans expect to retire at the age of 80. This age is 2 years longer than the average U.S. life expectancy. 80 years old just sounds crazy to me, but I know this is what many people have to do now due to not saving enough or just the economy wiping out all savings.

“While respondents (whose ages ranged from 20 to 80) had median savings of only $25,000, their median retirement savings goal was $350,000. And 30% of people in their 60s — right around the traditional retirement age of 65 — that were surveyed had saved less than $25,000 for retirement. “

That quote scared me. 30% had less than $25,000!?! I can’t even imagine how these people feel.

When do you think you’ll retire? Do you plan on working a part-time job/gig while you’re in retirement?

I’m sure that I’ll be doing something, as I like to keep busy. I’d like to run my own non-profit or be heavily involved with a good animal shelter. I won’t be retiring for a REALLY long time, so it’s a little crazy to think about because it just seems so far away.

Retirement Costs in 13 Countries

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I constantly dream of retiring (who doesn’t), and I would either like to retire abroad or constantly be on vacation. I found an article on MSN about 13 places to retire abroad and their average living costs. I thought it was a good article since I want to travel or retire abroad.

There are a lot of things to consider when retiring such as:

Health insurance
Food
Utilities
Phones
Internet and cable
Cars/Transportation
Fun, entertainment and traveling
Personal (clothes, hair, etc)

Of course, all of this adds up like crazy, and it’s recommended that in retirement that you have around 70% to 100% of your past salary for your yearly expenses. Many people think that you should save less, but not everyone will have their homes paid off. I plan on having around 85 or 90% per year.

Here is what the article says about places to retire abroad (these are all per month):

Argentina – $4,000
Belize – $2,200
Brazil – $2,700
Colombia – $2,000
Chile – $2,500
Ecuador – $2,000
France – $3,000
Italy – $2,400
Malaysia – $1,600
Mexico – $2,500
Panama City – $2,500
Thailand – $1,200
Uruguay – $2,300

You can obviously find places for MUCH cheaper than this, but I think these costs are for living very well in most of these countries, while some are just average living.

Have you thought about your retirement? Is retiring abroad something that you’ve thought about?

Also, Daily Worth is having a $10,000 giveaway (5 winners will each win $2,000). Sign up under my link. All you have to do is enter your e-mail!

Secrets of Early Retirees

Last Updated: April 7, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Everyone wants to retire early right? Retirement seems so far away for me (and it is) but I still want to retire early. But am I prepared?

Yahoo! Finance had an article about early retirees and I thought it would be helpful to compare myself and see where I am.

1. Do you save for retirement outside of just your workplace plan? I save, most of my retirement fund is from my work though, because I’m trying to pay down debt first.

“69% of early retirees do this vs. 60% of those who plan to retire after 65 and 49% of those who say they’ll never retire.”

2. Do you defer a high percentage of their salary into a retirement plan? No. I feel like I’m already failing at this article.

“Early retirees defer a median of 10% vs. 6% for those who plan to retire after 65 or don’t plan to retire.”

3. Did you start saving at a young age? I started saving awhile back! This is something that I did not fail at. I expect all of my debt (besides my mortgage payment) to be done in a couple of years, and then I will start heavily saving and investing.

“The median age early retirees begin saving is 25 vs. 30 for those who will retire after 65 and 31 for those who never plan to retire.”

4. Do you have a thought-out retirement savings strategy? No I do not. All I’ve really thought about is that I want to retire.

“71% of early retirees have either a written plan (16%) or a non-written plan (55%), while just over half of those who plan to retire after 65 do and just one-third of those who will never retire do.”

5. Are you very involved in managing and monitoring your retirement accounts? I monitor them all the time. Nearly everyday.

“71% of early retirees say they are very involved vs. 58% of those who will retire after 65 and just 45% of those who say they will never retire.”

6. Have you saved the same amount or more since the recession began? I have saved more. Considering I was only around 18 when the recession started, of course it’s more.

“71% of early retirees are doing this compared to 61% of those who will retire after 65 and just over half of those who never plan to retire.”

How are you doing? What are your retirement plans?

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