Can You Really Afford To Retire?

Retirement may still be a couple of decades or more away for you. Right now you’re busy living your life. It can be really hard to imagine what old age will be like when you’re still raising a family and striving to peak with your career. Sadly, it is a reality for people our age that the State may not be able to adequately provide for us. And if you’re self-employed, you may not even have a private pension fund sorted out yet.

This can be catastrophic for you if you do nothing. As much as you enjoy working and keeping busy right now, age will catch up with you. Things get tougher as we age both physically and mentally. You don’t want to have to work until the day you die, but that could be the reality for those of us who don’t prepare for life after seventy.

Don’t panic, though. There is still time to make a good financial future possible for you. Pension funds are something many people our age are worried about. Maybe you don’t trust that they will pay out, or that past mistakes within the industry will be repeated. If this is the case, perhaps you would prefer to manage your future finances yourself. If you’re wondering if a self-managed super fund is for you, take the 30 second SMSF quiz to find out more about it. These funds could be the answer for your future.

There are other ways you can build up your savings for the future. Investments that grow can be tricky to find. A good financial advisor is one that will clearly detail the risks involved. They will offer you several products and an easy-to-understand comparison of them. Some will be paid a commission for selling you the product. This could mean you don’t have to pay them a fee for their time.

Other ways to save for your future could include property investment. Bricks and mortar are often thought to be good investments as property prices tend to rise. Why not become a landlord, and use your rental income to pay off any mortgage? Landlords can be hands-off from the property management side of things if they pay a percentage of rental income to an agent.

Tax-free savings are a great way to earn some interest on your hard-earned cash. The interest rates aren’t very high but they tend to beat inflation by some way. However, the amount you can put into these accounts isn’t much. You can make the most of these by saving your maximum quota over several years, as you will enjoy interest payments on the full amount. Eventually, you might spend this money on health care services or another investment.

Retirement isn’t something that is easy to imagine when you’re still young. But if you don’t act now, you may not be in a position to support yourself later in life. The longer you have until your retirement, the more you can invest. Ensure your lifestyle is as financially comfortable as possible.