Planning for Retirement

People need to plan for retirement so they will have money for travel, living and medical expenses, and to cover what Social Security will not.

Most people would want to have a little extra money to do whatever they want with after they retire. Some people like to travel to different countries or states to see the world. They have plenty of time to plan trips like this, so it would be smart to take advantage of that. They could go see the Grand Canyon or spend a week in Paris. Maybe their children or grandchildren want to go to college and they do not have a way to pay for it. If the grandparents plan for extra spending money in their retirement funds, they would be able to help out with tuition. Factoring in a little extra spending money to do or see things they have wanted to see is always a smart idea.

Projections of how Americans will fare, in retirement does not include huge health care costs. Unexpected illnesses may arise that could result in costing people a large amount of money if they do not plan for medical expenses with retirement. Most people do not have the knowledge when it comes to adding health care costs when they reach retirement age. According to a recent survey, ninety-two percent of workers said they do not know how much their health care cost would be in retirement or vastly underestimate the amount. Forty percent said they have “no idea”, and only eight percent were in the correct ball park estimating costs of $200,000 or more. Another fifty-one percent estimated less than $200,000 would be needed (D. Pitt 2011 Sun-Times Media). Sun-Times offers four ideas to help prepare for unexpected medical costs; work on developing a retirement spending plan, buy disability insurance, consider long-term care insurance, and to get healthy. When one buys disability insurance, it will replace some of the income due to illness or injury. Roughly nine percent of workers have already dipped into their retirement savings or...