Beginning your retirement savings plan

If you are not sure how to begin your retirement planning, follow some of these steps first.

13:27 10 January 2014

Retirement planning may seem like a very complex and intimidating task, but there are a few steps that can make things easier and help simplify the process. There are always organisations and financial advisors who can give ideas of how to proceed in your planning. 

 

For now, here are just a few steps to get you started. 

 

Ultimate goal

Your ultimate goal is not just to be retired, but to know what type of lifestyle you want to have during your retirement. Do you want to travel a lot? Do you want to have your own business? Figure out how you want to live so you know how much you will need to save. 

 

Amount

Once you have an idea of how you want to live during retirement, you can use your current income as a starting guide. If you do not make enough now to support the lifestyle you envision, you know you will need to save more. 

 

Tools

Do not be afraid to use a host of online tools. There are many different types of retirement calculators available. They can help you figure out how much to save, how much you’ll have at the end of a certain amount of time — at least an estimate — and how much you should save each month. 

 

Flexibility

If you cannot contribute the amount of money you think you should in order to reach the goal, you may have to change the plan a little bit. You may need to plan to retire later, or adjust your lifestyle plans a little bit to compensate if changing the income or available funds is not possible. 

 

Growth

Try to make sure that your money is going into funds, which will give you a decent rate of return with the lowest risk possible. It never hurts to exceed your targeted savings amount for your retirement.