Life starts in your 50s: Late retirement planning options for you

If you are getting ready to retire and you are not ready, you can still engage in retirement planning.

07:01 12 December 2013

Sometimes time can creep up on you. You think you have enough time to plan for your retirement and then you turn around and find it is right around the corner and you have nothing planned. You do not need to worry. You still have retirement planning options available even if you are 55 years old.

Unfortunately, at this stage you have lost the element and benefits of time. Most people start their retirement plans when they are in their 20s and 30s. The result is the ability to use compounding interest to increase their retirement fund.

Here are a few things that you can do to help yourself catch up on your retirement planning.

• Cut back. You may be surprised at what you consume and how much you can cut back and still enjoy life. This gives you a twofold benefit. The first is that it adds to your available savings for retirement and second it lowers the cost of living. This means your money will go further.

 

• Consider working after retirement, even part-time. The more money you have available once you have determined a comfortably maintainable lifestyle, the longer you will have the monthly income you need.

 

• Downsize. If you no longer have children in your home, consider selling it and finding something smaller, suitable for a single person or couple. The money earned from the sale can go a long way to increasing your savings. The biggest part of retirement planning is to find the lifestyle you can comfortably maintain.

 

• Shift your retirement date to increase the length of time you are invested in equities.

Retirement planning should begin when you are young but if you did not plan then, you can still plan now.