Using AARP’s New Tool to Plan Your Retirement

I was given the opportunity this week to check out a new retirement planning tool by AceYourRetirement.org and although I was not paid for this article it does contain promotional material. I would never post about something I have not tried myself and I always give my honest opinion about any product I recommend.

One of our biggest goals over the past 10 years as a couple has been to maximize the amount we are able to put into retirement savings.  It is really easy for families to get sidetracked with everyday expenses and short-term goals such as upcoming vacations or maybe the kids have extra-curricular activities that need paying for and lose sight of the bigger picture. We have been focusing on retirement and ever so slowly our small nest egg has begun to grow. I am really glad we have been focusing on retirement too because my parents did not and now they are struggling to find ways to support themselves after some medical issues popped up.  I do not want to put my children through the same kind of stress so by maximizing our retirement savings I am hoping to prevent it. 

The fact that 2 out of 5 households do not save for retirement is very worrying.  Even small savings steps can pay off in the long run. Our family went from struggling to save 4% to get our full employee match eight years ago to reaching our goal of 10% this year and I am super proud of us.  It took a lot of hard work, determination and some aggressive debt repayment but I am finally feeling a little bit more secure about our future.  Some of our savings tips can be found here on the blog:

1. A New Beginning in Budgeting Part 1: Using Quicken to Build a Buffer
2. A New Beginning in Budgeting Part 2: Adjusting our Grocery Spending
3. A New Beginning in Budgeting Part 3: Reducing our Clothing Spending

Understanding your exact retirement needs can be confusing sometimes since there are so many ideas on what is the best approach. Here are some simple tips for helping you get started with easy-to-understand resources at AceYourRetirement.org. We follow many of these steps and I found a few more great ideas when I went through the AceYourRetirement.org website. It only took a few minutes too!

5 things to consider to help you maximize your retirement savings.

1. Minimize debt – but not at the expense of paying into your 401k or other retirement accounts. The less debt-load you have during your retirement, the more you’ll be able to make your retirement dollars stretch.
2. Don’t rely solely on Social Security – in fact people are often recommended to wait until up to age 70 to collect Social Security to allow benefits to grow more.
3. Consider whether downsizing your living quarters makes sense once children are grown and out of the house.
4. Make sure your beneficiary designations are up-to-date and talk to your spouse to make sure everyone is on the same page.
5. If you’ve been divorced but not remarried you may be eligible to Social Security benefits from your ex-spouse.
6. Enroll in a retirement savings plan. Even a little bit held out from each paycheck can really add up.
7. Never contribute less to your 401k account than your employer matches if they offer a matching program. Save more if possible and increase your savings by 1% per year whenever possible.

This time of year can often get pretty hectic with all financial goals flying out the window. Winter clothes, Christmas presents, and so on. But this year I’m already looking ahead at next year’s goals. The retirement calculator and tool at AceYourRetirement.org was great for personalized, simple tips on how to jumpstart my retirement savings. It was so helpful to me to see a couple areas that I could adjust to help improve the financial situation of our family.  Now that we have hit our goal of saving 10% we are looking to increase our retirement savings by 1% every year and try and eventually maximize our contributions. One of the ideas that AceYourRetirement.org mentioned for us was for me to start working again to maximize our Social Security benefits.  I have been thinking of going back to work part-time and this has motivated me to start looking for a job! I also love that they recommend you find a hobby to earn extra income during retirement. Just because you retire doesn’t mean you can’t earn extra income! 

Taking steps to take control of your retirement planning could have a positive impact in many areas of your life. Many times families save for their kids’ college and leave nothing for themselves to retire on.  This puts extra pressure on the kids to support their parents later on in life, something that many young adults may not be prepared both financially and emotionally to do.  More than half of people in their 40s and 50s say that feeling more confident about saving for retirement would help them feel less stressed (54%). And 46% would be happier knowing they are taking care of their family’s future. I know I feel better about our retirement path after working through the AARP website AceYourRetirement.org. You should check it out and see what easy steps they have for you!