If we boil things down to a simple two-part equation, retirement planning is all about managing inflows (income) during your earning years and outflows (expenses) during your retirement years. Of course, retirement means different things to different people at different points in their lives. Rather than a static state, retirement is a dynamic state, changing with life events, financial events, and even your own education as you learn more about concepts and products. The more information you absorb, the more comfortable you feel in being an active participant in the retirement planning process. Your plan for accumulating assets for retirement has to take all of this into account and be flexible enough to adapt to all kinds of changes. (more…)

After I retired, the most often asked questions from friends, former colleagues and even family usually were concerned with how I was spending my “spare time”. It seemed important to the questioners that I was doing something to occupy this new-found non-working time. So I found myself reciting long lists of things I did to fill my spare time, and my most common answer always included an assurance that I was really busy and didn’t have a lot of free time. The truth of it was, I had plenty of free time on my hands, but somehow I was uncomfortable saying so. (more…)

For many people what to do after retirement is a dilemma…make sure you have a plan beforehand.

How many times have you heard…She worked hard all her life and died the year she retired. That sadly can happen to anyone. You have a better chance of having a long, happy retirement if you plan and set goals for things you want to accomplish. (more…)