Your Wealth Puzzle » Health Care

Who Wants To Be Ready For Retirement?

yourwealthpuzzle — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:16:00 +0000

Are you financially ready for your retirement? You want to be ready, don’t you? Or do you want to be one of those individuals who have to keep working when they retire?

Since we are living longer now a days, retirement for most of us will be one of the longest periods of our life. For some of us, our retirement years could be over 20 years. With that in mind, you may need almost as much money during your retirement years as you do during your working years.

If you use the process of investing, you will be ready for retirement. 401k investing is a combination of many puzzle pieces; individually the pieces are not as powerful as they are combined.

Dollar cost averaging, asset allocation, account diversification, 401k retirement account maxing, 401k retirement plan matching and IRA investing all work together like a puzzle. These individual puzzle pieces when put together create a beautiful picture for you called your retirement. Let’s get you ready.

Getting You Ready For Retirement

You earned millions!! Where did it all go?

Giving you some reality.
Over your working lifetime you will have earned millions of dollars.
You may need that much for 20 + years of retirement life.
From your very first job – projected out until you retire – it’s safe to say that you will have earned millions of dollars.
You did not keep it all – so where did it go?
Your earnings went to pay for taxes, inflation, living expenses, insurances, savings and investments.
Be realistic.
Your monetary needs will change only slightly when you retire.
In retirement you will still need money for taxes, inflation, insurances and living expenses.
When you retire, expenses do not just go away.
In retirement sometimes expenses increase.
You may need to pay for health care, health insurance, travel expenses or other fun expenses that you didn’t have to pay for before.
Your retirement investments will have to pay for all of those expenses.
Start saving for your retirement, now!!

You can’t get it back, moving forward.

It’s gone.
The money you have earned and spent over your life time - – is gone.
But there’s hope.
Start managing the money you do keep like a pro.
How you manage the money you do get to keep is crucial to getting you ready for retirement.
Money management is done best under a process.
Money professionals and wealthy individuals all use a process to accumulate wealth, so should you.

Use The Process of Investing: It Works.

Dollar Cost Averaging – buys your investments on sale.

By dollar cost averaging you are investing the same dollar amount on a regular basis regardless of market conditions.
This process buys some investments at a high price and some at a low price.
The highs & lows are averaged together – your money is well spent.
The pro’s dollar cost average.
Dollar cost average regardless of what you hear about the market and the economy.
When the market is down, you are actually buying your investments on sale….so getting more for your money.

Proper Asset Allocation – lowers the impact of market dips.

Asset allocation is the percentage split between the different investment styles within your investment accounts.
Aggressive, moderate and conservative are the different investment styles.
These investment styles are called asset classes.
401k accounts are usually invested in mutual funds.
Cash or a cash equivalent are conservative.
Bonds are conservative.
Balanced funds are moderate.
Large cap funds are moderate.
Mid cap and small cap are aggressive.
And international funds are definitely aggressive.
Spreading your 401k contributions among the different asset classes will lower the impact to your account balances when the market drops.

Good Diversification – helps lessen the effect of market swings.

If you spread your investments between cash or a cash equivalent, bonds and stock investments, you will have a diversified portfolio.
Staying diversified will help smooth out the upward and downward swings the market puts your investments through.
Market swings can cause your investment returns to fluctuate.

Maxing Out – gets you tax benefits.

To take advantage of the tax benefits, max out your 401k contributions every year.
Your taxable income drops.
You keep more of your money in your pocket.
More money in your pocket gets you ready for retirement at a faster pace.
You are accumulating money for retirement that doesn’t get taxed until you withdraw it.
When you do withdraw it, you should be in a lower tax bracket, so taxes will be less.

Employer Matching – gets you FREE MONEY!!

If your employer offers to match your 401k contributions…FREE MONEY!!
With an employer match, your employer is handing you free money.
You cannot turn down free money.

Individual Retirement Account’s – other retirement options

IRA’s can be a supplement to your 401k investments.
An IRA can be used as a retirement investment if your employer does not offer a 401k retirement plan.
Your contributions can be tax-deductible.
Your earnings on the account balance can be tax deferred.

How you manage your money throughout your lifetime will determine what kind of retirement you will have. Getting ready for retirement is not about what you make but what you keep.

Good money management means keeping more of your money in your pocket. With more money in your pocket, you will accumulate wealth quicker; and be ready for retirement with relative ease.

Getting ready for retirement can sometimes be a bumpy ride. Things get in the way of accumulating your wealth; job changes, unexpected expenses; unplanned for situations. If you follow the process of investing that we discussed, you should be able to smooth out the bumpy ride.

What’s Your Magic Retirement Number?

yourwealthpuzzle — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:27:56 +0000

Your magic retirement number is 80. If you don’t have 80% of your pre-retirement income in savings and retirement investments - – - – - don’t retire!!

Unless you plan on working throughout your retirement years, you will run out of money if you start your retirement with anything less than 80% of your pre-retirement income saved up. Your 80% of savings and investments will need to carry you through your entire retirement years. This 80% you should include any social security benefits you may receive plus all your retirement accounts (401k accounts, IRA accounts, Simple IRA accounts, pensions) If you go into full retirement with no part-time work, and investments that equal less than 80% you will be in for a lot of surprises.

Why 80% is your magic retirement number:

Full Retirement is a long time: you will need 80% of your pre-retirement income.

Most people retire in their mid 60′s; on average, males live to about age 83; females to about age 92.
On average, most of us will be in our retirement years for almost 20 – 30 years.
Your retirement years will almost be as long as your working years.
Unless you plan on working during your retirement years, you will need to have enough money saved up to carry you through your full retirement of 20 – 30 years.

You will be older: you will cost more - you will need your magic retirement number

Higher health care costs.
Increased health insurance costs – insurance companies will charge more because you will be older.
You will not get health insurance through work – you may have to pick up some of the premiums.

More available time in retirement: you will spend more

The luxury of having more available time will cost more.
At retirement you will have a new life style.
Increased visits to your family and friends, increased travel or spending more time on your hobbies.
Additional activities mean additional costs.

Don’t be fooled, everyone assumes that when they retire, their expenses will decrease – they don’t. The only expense that will decrease may be your work clothes and transportation costs. In retirement most people see an increase in their expenses; and the savings on work related costs that did decrease is not enough to offset that increase.

Market fluctuations: the market swings do not stop at your retirement.

Drops in the market can impact your retirement nest egg.
When you are no longer contributing, market fluctuations can cause your portfolio to dip so low that you may not rebound quick enough
Market costs still exist when you retire.
Investing and trading fees still exist.

When you retire, although you may wish it to be so, the market does not stop its upward and downward swings. If you have 80% of your pre-retirement income saved up, your portfolio swings should not affect your lifestyle.

Withdrawals: things will change when you retire, but your need for money will not.

The money you need to live on will lower your account balances; more will be going out of your account than coming into it.
Your contributions stop when you retire.
Your distributions start when you retire.
Tax deferred benefits stop.

You should now have a better understanding of your magic retirement number. You should now know why you will need to have at least 80% of your pre-retirement income accumulated before you even think about retiring? You will need a lot of money at retirement; make sure you have plenty of it before you retire. Do not retire if you are in debt. You will just be working during your retirement to pay off that debt. If you can hold off until you are debt free, your retirement years will be a lot less stressful.

Occupational Health Hazards

yourwealthpuzzle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:04:31 +0000

An occupational health hazard is something that can cause harm if not controlled. Based on that definition of an occupational health hazard, there are numerous hazards present within the work place today.

Occupational health hazards can include but are not limited to: Environmental: for example – noise or lighting, vibrations Physical: for example – slips and falls, collision Mechanical: for example – cutting, shearing, moving machine parts, entanglement Biological: for example – bacteria, virus Chemical: for example – acids, fumes Pyschological: for example – work related stress.

The one common, reoccurring issue created by all of those occupational health hazards is absenteeism. The trickle down effect from absenteeism can be devastating to an organization. If left to fester it can negatively affect the entire organization in many ways.

Absenteesim creates a domino effect in the workplace. Absenteeism due to occupational health hazards results in low productivity and low morale. And then that results in possible downsizing.

Occupational Health Hazards

yourwealthpuzzle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:02:49 +0000

To help reduce or even prevent occupational health hazards within the workplace you need to have strong, solid occupational health programs in place. Programs specifically designed to monitor and measure good safety and preventative practices. Good occupational health programs are ongoing. Good occupational health programs should include on-site workshops. Workshops that cover training, safety, risk, stress, wellness.

In addition to workshops, on going occupational health programs should include periodic risk assessments. These assessments will identify hazards, evaluate the risks and determine the required actions. Also included in a strong occupational health program are health assessments. These type of assesments will monitor and measure any health risks that may be present in the work place. With the proper procedures in place cccupational health hazards can be prevented or at least reduced in the workplace.

Consult with your health care professional today for more information about the occupational health programs that are available.

Occupational Health Programs

yourwealthpuzzle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:01:23 +0000

Wellness, prevention, work, safety, stress…..what do all of these have in common??? – - – your occupational health!! We all want to work in a health & safe workplace. Today employers are implementing occupational health programs to help moral in the work place.

Whether you work in an office, a factory or at a construction site, you are affected by your work environment. And you want that work environment to be healthy and safe. You don’t even think about it but you can be affected by lighting, or noise level or even air quality in your work place today.

In offices carpal tunnel is becoming more common due to the heavy use of computers. In factories or at construction sites, bending and lifting can cause sprains and strains. These spains and strains can come in many different forms……they can be to your muscles or your eye sight. We all take safety for granted. We all want to work in a healthy & safe workplace.

So how do we create a healthy & safe workplace? A very effective method often used by company’s today is to incorporate on-site occupational health programs into the work environment. Talk to your health care provider for some occupational health programs available in the market place.

Occupational Health Programs

yourwealthpuzzle — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:58:59 +0000

Occupational health programs incorporated into the work place today can have astounding results. These programs can increase productive, moral and safety. These programs can be used on a voluntary or mandatory basis depending upon company policy and the general work atmosphere. The intent of such occupational health programs is to monitor & measure the safety of the work environment.

Some examples include:

On-Site Training for Safety Programs Risk Assessment programs that evaluates the safety of equipment Health promotion programs such as

Wellness Workshops;

Stress Management Workshops Health Screening programs such as Drug & Alcohol Screenings.

Your occupation should not jeopardize your health. Your employer doesn’t want your occupation to jeopardize your health. So by creating the proper occupational health programs and keeping them in place to monitoring and measure – your health and the health of the other employees in your workplace will be healthy and safe.