Building a golden nest egg for your retirement years
In my last blog post, I compared the current trends in life expectancy with the increasing costs of living. Having read it, you may be thinking “I want to know how I can build up a gold nest egg for my retirement years”. That is what this post is all about!
Creating your own gold nest egg doesn’t need to be complex or time-consuming – and it will help your financial future significantly in retirement if done correctly. You just need to have a plan of action and some patience (as well as investing!)
The remainder of this post will highlight some key points that can play an important role when building up your own nest egg.
1. Financial Planning and Budgeting
The first step towards building up a nest egg is to make sure that you are smart with your money and have a plan for the future. Too many people just go through the motions of “saving for retirement”, but spending more than they earn is a sure way of losing your nest egg over time. What you need to do instead is find out what kind of retirement income you require, set those goals, and then work hard at increasing your savings for future years until you reach them! This is where financial planning comes in.
Bear in mind that financial planning is vital for all families, whether they plan on retiring early or not. Those who don’t plan for their futures will have a much harder time transitioning into retirement and will be more susceptible to the problems associated with debt. In other words, you need to budget in order to save up your gold so you can enjoy it during your golden years!
2. The importance of debt-free living
Most people eventually use credit cards and loans when they need money, but this is a terrible idea if you want a comfortable retirement! Credit card and loan payments can quickly turn into a financial burden in the future, especially if interest rates increase over time. Instead of relying on credit, you should contribute extra money to your nest egg in order to make it grow faster!
3. Diversifying your investments
Diversification is another great way of ensuring the growth of your savings over time. By investing in a number of different assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate, you can reduce the risk that you will suffer large losses if one particular asset drops significantly in value. In fact, studies have shown that the safest portfolios are made up of at least 6 different assets – spread out over 3 categories. This is why I always recommend using a diversified portfolio when investing!
4. Reaching your goals
Finally, you need to be sure that you can reach your retirement goals – and that means saving as much as possible! There are plenty of different tools available to help you maximize your savings, such as an IRA that offers tax-deferred growth or the ability to invest pre-tax dollars into a 401(k). If you are faced with a dilemma between paying off debt and getting there faster, just remember that the return on investments is not linear. A higher initial investment will mean a larger nest egg in the long run!
If you don’t want to rely on Social Security for your retirement income, creating a gold nest egg is crucial to ensure that you have enough money saved up to last through your golden years. With the tips outlined above, you should be able to find new ways of making money and increasing your savings – all while avoiding credit card debt! Building an initial nest egg of $1 million should be less than 20 years if you start early and are frugal with your money.
What are some other ways that can help me reach my goals?
While saving extra money is important, there are even more ways to reach your retirement goals faster. For example, you can increase your income by learning to invest in stocks with $50 or less, or potentially retire early by taking advantage of retirement accounts like a 401(k). You can also spend more wisely by spending less on things like food and clothing, and moving to a smaller house that’s easier to maintain.
What do you think? Are there any tips that I missed? Feel free to share them in the comments below!
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Please conduct careful due diligence before investing your money. The ideas mentioned in this post are not endorsed or promoted by the companies mentioned. Full disclosure: I receive a small commission if you open an account at some of the following websites through links on this site and fund it with $250 or more. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Opinions are my own.
Posted by Harsh Agrawal at 8:56 AM 2 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Labels: Debt Free , Early Retirement , Financial Planning , Investing Tips , Retirement Planning
In my last blog post, I compared the current trends in life expectancy with the increasing costs of living. I also talked about how this trend will cause the cost of retirement to increase significantly, even in places where life expectancy is increasing.
In addition to this issue, there is the matter of rising taxes. The current tax system puts a strict cap on investment returns and penalizes all forms of income besides wages. As a result, there is something like an anti-worker bias in the taxation system that gradually decreases how much can be saved in any given year. This also has an impact on long-term savings since all the money earned over the years does not get taxed (quite literally).
This is the topic of my latest blog post in which I talk about how a new type of retirement account can be used to help you manage these increasing costs as well as the impact on government spending.
My hope is that the ideas presented here will help you create a game plan for achieving your financial goals. Please read it and let me know what you think.
Conclusion
When I was a student, I always assumed that the US government would try to make things easier for its citizens to prepare for retirement. After all, this seemed like a no-brainer in terms of economics – the more people are able to save early on, the lower the overall costs of Social Security and Medicare will be. But sadly, I was wrong.
The tax system is not helping people save at all. Instead, it forces individuals to spend more so that they are taxed less – a trend that increases spending and taxes and has come at a cost of trillions of dollars over the years.