Retirement

Achieving your financial goals doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes a plan, implementing the plan, adhering to the plan, and when necessary, adjusting the plan.

It can be incredibly rewarding to start and own a successful small business. But one thing that many small business owners may not think about is a retirement plan. 

Retirement is one of the biggest life changes we experience in our adult lives. Going from receiving a paycheck to living off the wealth you have amassed is no doubt an unnerving transition. 

Unlike Social Security, which people tend to think about many years before claiming, Medicare is almost an afterthought. As long as people are working and covered by an employer plan, they don’t think very much about how their health insurance might change upon turning 65 or leaving employment. This leaves them open to all kinds of potential mistakes.

As a financial planner who specializes in helping people make sure they have enough money to retire, I’m distressed when people put off their planning. Even though I get it!It’s hard to start planning for retirement. Perhaps you tried and gave up. Too hard. Too frightening to think about not having a job. But I don’t want you to mess yourself up and not be able to retire when you want. So, here are some of the most common reasons I hear for putting off retirement planning and my thoughts on moving past your reluctance. Who knows, you could even wind up enjoying yourself!

The stock market volatility in late 2018 and early 2019 was quite something, yes? A big crash in December was headlined as “The worst December since the Great Depression” – invoking an event that’s sure to strike fear into any investor’s heart. Then a historical rally in early 2019. It’s enough to make even the most die-hard market fan as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. But if your thinking has made you afraid to retire stop! I’ll show you how to set aside your fear and limiting beliefs and keep your retirement goals on track when the market is crashing. Ready? Let’s go.

You’d like to have an idea of when you can retire, right? You’ve told everyone you’ll be so ready. Sometimes you close your eyes and smile, imagining your retirement bliss. There’s just one problem. You’re afraid you won’t have enough money to retire without risking your standard of living.

Let me guess. You’re aching to retire, and you’d be counting the days…if only you knew how many you had left until you could afford to stop working. You punch numbers into your calculator. The answers make no sense but you scribble them down anyway. Maybe they’ll look better in writing. Nope. You wad up the piece of paper and throw it on the floor. “When can I retire?” you ask the empty room. You don’t know how much money you’ll need, or if you’ve already saved enough. And what about Social Security, didn’t you read something about maximizing your benefits? But how? Tension jackhammers your skull. Fear sweeps through you as you contemplate a future living out of a shopping cart. “Who can tell me, when can I retire?” you mutter. “And do I have enough money to retire?”

In my last article I promised I would show you some tools and strategies you could use to create an income stream for retirement that is both insulated from stock market volatility and allows your spending to increase so it can keep up with inflation.

I'll start by giving you the most important tool; your mindset.

The stock market had a big drop last week. In fact, it was the biggest decline since April.

Lots of people are frightened. But the question is, should you be?

A lot of that depends on where you are in your investment life. If you’re a younger person and retirement is far off in the future, it’s best to look at these declines as opportunities. But it’s a different story when you’re retirement age.