The following article was originally written in the Spring of 2008. Obviously, the recession has had an impact on many the ideas listed here. The article has been updated where needed, but the basic thrust of the text was left because some folks remain unaffected by the current recession. The rest of us, retired or still working, look forward to the day when our retirement investments begin to recover.
Most people retire from the full time jobs between the ages of 55 to 70. Women tend to retire earlier than men, however the lines are becoming more blurred. More and more women take up satisfying careers and choose to continue working full time, particularly if they had taken a couple of years off to have children. Type of occupation also plays a role in when a person will retire. Manual labor workers tend to retire earlier, no doubt due to physical exhaustion, while corporate workers will often stay on until a later age.
Retirement is a major life turning point and one that must be carefully planned in advance, if you are to live your dreams once you have all that spare time on your hands.
The government pension, such as Social Security, can help fund retirement. This government payment is not particularly generous but it helps with the necessities of life. Company pensions are another common source of retirement income. Unfortunately, many people rely solely on pensions to live during their retirement years, not realizing that it will likely put them into hard ship and unable to fulfill some of their cherished retirement plans such as travelling. Nonetheless pensions are an important retirement resource and should not be overlooked.
What you do when you retire is limited only by your imagination and your budget. Some people choose to work part time either for money or for fun, others choose to travel. Some simply buy a nice car and enjoy each day at home in a relaxing manner. Whatever the case, retirement is a joyful time that can allow you to spend more time with family and friends.
Early Retirement
For years Americans have dreamed to taking early retirement. Many have become more savvy about investing and financial planning, just so they could live life on their own terms while they were still active and healthy.
If you invest wisely in your 20s, 30s, and 40s, there is no reason why you can not retire in your 50s or early 60s and use your investments to provide you with income. Over the past few decades many business owners opted to retire early and handed over control of the business to another family member, while still depending on some the profits to help fund their retirement years..
Retirement is something to look forward to provided you plan for it. Regardless of your age now, there are actions you can take to ensure that you will have the time and money to enjoy life to the full.
A cautionary note: During the current recession other sources of income like IRAs, 401Ks and home values have taken a beating. Hopefully they will begin to recover in the coming months or years. Normally these are good resources to have for retirement, but they are suffering along many investments during the current recession. Because of this many folks who thought they could retire early with ample resources are finding that they must continue to work for a while longer.
