Make Your Retirement Plan Last Longer
Everyone understands that planning for your retirement is something that you should do early since it gives you the best chance of setting yourself up for success. What most people don’t think about is having a plan to live in retirement.
Planning your retirement life before you get anywhere near retirement makes it possible to understand how much money you need and how to manage it well.
Make your retirement plan last longer with the help of an estate planning and administration attorney. James C. Provenza & Associates, P.C. can help you plan and manage your estate during retirement.
Retirement Plan is the Most Important Part of Estate Planning
Your estate plan shouldn’t start at your death. Rather, it should start when you retire, if not sooner. How you manage your estate determines how you live in retirement, including:
- Where you live
- What your budget is
- What you can keep and what you must get rid of
- What vacations do you take
- How long you can go without working
- How you maintain your lifestyle over years or decades.
Plan now for your retirement so that you can have the things that you want without the fear of losing them because you ran out of money.
Plan Ways to Adjust Your Budget
In retirement, you stop working and live on a budget to make your savings and other assets last. As long as you can stay on a consistent budget, you can stretch your plan out for as long as possible. However, things will change and the plan that you make today may not be sufficient in 30+ years. You need to plan ways to adjust your budget so that you can make ends meet. There are two ways to do this.
Know What Liabilities You Will Drop
If your planned budget is short on funds, plan ahead on what liabilities (i.e. things that cost you money) you will drop and in what order. For example, you have a luxury car, a large house, and a boat that you can not afford in your current retirement plan. You can do several things to lower your costs:
- Pay off or sell the boat to lower expenses or increase savings
- Trade the luxury car for a more affordable one
- Downsize your house to a more affordable option.
All of these options are focused on reducing costs and can even add to your savings. By adjusting your budget, you can make the rest of your planned lifestyle easy to maintain.
Raise Your Earnings
Unless your retirement plan rests entirely on savings, you should have income from assets that you own. Stocks, bonds, investments, and anything else that brings in money are essential parts of your retirement plan. If you are not making ends meet with this current situation, look for a way to raise your earnings.
Stocks, for example, can be sold to buy new ones that pay larger dividends or yields. This is an important part of the plan, but many people don’t think about it. An estate planning attorney can help you ensure that you can maintain your lifestyle by adjusting your earnings and budget accordingly.
Don’t Wait to Start Retirement Planning
Don’t wait to start planning your estate and retirement. Taking action now means better results in the long run. Contact James C. Provenza & Associates, P.C. at (847) 729-3939 or fill out our online form to schedule a consultation about your retirement.