From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Retirement Planning.
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If you are in your 50s or 60s and have little or no retirement savings, don’t panic. It’s not too late but you shouldn’t procrastinate any longer. You will have to be very creative with your planning but it can be done.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you have enough income when you reach retirement age:

1. Get a ball park idea of when you’d like to retire and then calculate how many years you will need to provide retirement income. You can calculate your life expectancy using this life expectancy calculator.


2. Next, decide how much money you need put aside for your retirement. This can be a ball park figure and most people project needing around 80 percent of their pre-retirement income.


3. If you haven’t already done so, track your spending to see where you can cut corners. Do you really need a cell phone with all the bells and whistles for every member of the family or would a phone for emergencies only work for you? Do you need hundreds of channels on your cable or satellite? Maybe you could pick a package with the ones you watch regularly and possibly never miss the ones you don’t watch. Any amounts you can save should be put into a savings account or some other area for savings.


4. Look at your bills and invoices to be sure you aren’t being charged for things you aren’t receiving. It’s surprising how my people never examine their credit card bills for mistakes. Another area to look at is your phone bill. Are you being charged for services you aren’t receiving or no longer need? If you make lots of long distance calls, you might also examine your long distance charges and see if you could find a carrier that is less expensive. If your cell phone contract includes unlimited long distance with no additional charge, you might use your cell phone for long distance calls instead of your land line. Do some brainstorming to see if there are other areas where you can save.


5. Set up a budget so that you can track your income and expenses. There are several good books on budgeting but I’ve found The Budget Kit to be very helpful. Setting up a budget now will prepare you for living on a retirement income.


6. Get out of debt. If you have credit card debt and are paying the minimum monthly payment each month, the interest is killing you financially. Each month, pay as much as possible towards your credit card statement. Try to curb your credit card purchases to only those items that are necessary and try to not take cash advances. Depending on how much you owe credit cards, a low interest loan might be the answer to getting out of credit card debt. This will only work though if you cut up all unnecessary cards and only charge what you can pay for each month on the one you keep. Once your debts are paid, put the money you normally spent on bills into a retirement savings account.


7. Determine how much Social Security benefits you might be eligible to receive at retirement age. You should receive a statement from the Social Security Administration prior to your birthday each year or you can request one from the Social Security Administration.


8. If your employer offers a retirement plan such as a 401k and you haven’t already done so, sign up to participate. Once you are a participant, contribute the most you can to this plan. If your employer offers matching contributions, try to contribute at least enough to receive these matching funds.


9. If you are living in a large, high maintenance home that is too big for your current family, consider selling and buying a smaller home. This is especially helpful if your home has appreciated and your mortgage is paid down. By moving into a smaller home you could save on utilities, taxes, insurance, and so on.


10. If at all possible, start a Roth IRA. Most persons with income earned from a job can contribute to a Roth IRA for themselves and their spouse. To see if you are eligible to open and contribute to a Roth IRA, look at Roth IRA Explained.


11. If you don't think you can use the above tips to have a sufficient amount of money saved for your retirement, you might want to consider a second job and save your income from it.


12. If you don't think you will have enough money put back for retirement, you might want to consider working longer before you decide to retire or getting a job after retirement to suppliment your income.

As you can see, there are many ways you can save for retirement no matter when you start planning. The key is to not procrastinate.