Retirement

Retirement Planning

First off - buying lottery tickets is not a retirement plan.

Retirement planning should be in everyone’s head the minute they get their first job. If everyone would start saving from their first paycheck ever received from an employer then people would have excellent nest eggs when they retire. The earlier you start investing for your retirement, the more money you will have when you retire. Nowadays, we need to start thinking about our own retirement income because who knows about the government and if Social Security will be there.

Spend some time in the different areas of this site to learn about budgeting your money, then saving it and investing it into stocks, real estate or even a business.

The main retirement plan is the 401k. If your employer has a 401k for you to be in get into it ASAP and put as much as you can into it. If your employer does not have a 401k then I suggest getting into a Roth IRA.

Definitions:

401k

A 401k plan is offered by a company to its employees to save for retirement. Investing in a 401k comes straight from your paycheck with pretax dollars. Also some companies will have a match meaning if you put in 3% of your dollars then they will put in 3% of there own dollars. If a company offers any type of match take advantage of every percent they want to give because it’s like getting free money.

Roth IRA

An IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. A Roth IRA is another type of retirement savings for individuals that are looking for other investment choices if they want more then just there 401k. You invest after taxed dollars and your money will grow tax free. Meaning when you withdraw money in retirement you do not have to pay taxes on that money.

Traditional IRA

The Traditional IRA is a savings plan that offers certain tax advantages for individuals to plan for retirement. Contributions made to a Traditional IRA are made with pre-tax dollars. The plan grows tax-deferred. Now when you take money out of this when you retire you will have to pay taxes on the principal and gains.

SEP IRA

The SEP IRA is a retirement plan designed to benefit self employed individuals and small business owners. Sole proprietorships, S and C corporations, partnerships and LLCs qualify.

Keogh

A tax deferred pension plan available to self-employed individuals or unincorporated businesses for retirement purposes.

Social Security

All I have to say about social security is don’t solely depend on this for your retirement. You MUST save for your own retirement too like in a 401k, Roth IRA, Rental Property, etc.

If you want more info here is the site for Social Security

Simple IRA

A Simple IRA plan is a Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees. Because this is a simplified plan, the administrative costs should be lower than for other, more complex plans. Under a SIMPLE IRA plan, employees and employers make contributions to traditional Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) set up for employees (including self-employed individuals), subject to certain limits. It is ideally suited as a start-up retirement savings plan for small employers who do not currently sponsor a retirement plan.

403b plan

A 403b is similar to a 401k. A 403b is a type of retirement plan available to employees of government-funded education institutions such as public schools, some non-profit organizations, and self-employed ministers. See Link for more information

457 plan

A 457 plan is a retirement / pension plan that provides benefits to government employees as well as employees of tax-exempt organizations. Employees participating in 457 plans are allowed to defer their compensation on a before-tax basis via regular payroll deductions. Money placed in these accounts grows on a federally tax-free basis until withdrawn.

Annuity

An annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company, under which you make a lump-sum payment or series of payments. In return, the insurer agrees to make periodic payments to you beginning immediately or at some future date. Annuities typically offer tax-deferred growth of earnings and may include a death benefit that will pay your beneficiary a guaranteed minimum amount, such as your total purchase payments.