Early retirement might sound like an impossible dream. We all hope that if we work hard enough and save our money right that we can have a long retirement filled with travel and time doing what we love. There are many benefits of early retirement. It can allow you to relax and experience improvements to your health, and discover new opportunities to pursue the things you are passionate about.
The opportunity to experience early retirement doesn’t have to be a dream. While it will take dedication, financial planning for retirement can allow you to retire on your timeline, and with the savings you need to have the lifestyle you want. Keep reading to learn the steps you can take to make early retirement your reality!
The Best Early Retirement Age
The best early retirement age depends on the person. Some may dream of retiring at age 30 so that they can pursue the opportunity to start a business. Others may want to retire 5 to 10 years earlier than what is typical so that they can have more time to travel.
Whatever early retirement means to you, the right early retirement planning can help you achieve this goal. Beginning the process of planning for retirement sooner rather than later will give you more time to grow your retirement funds, maximizing your savings so that you can maintain your lifestyle in retirement. This will also ensure that you have all of your financial independence early retirement opportunities available to you.
How To Retire Early
Planning for early retirement can sound like a daunting task. A retirement plan advisor can help you plan for every aspect of retirement, from investment accounts to early retirement tax planning. If you are looking to start your early retirement plan, here are some steps that will get you started. These steps will allow you to create a strong early retirement plan that meets your needs and offers the financial independence you deserve.
Contribute to your workplace retirement plan
A great way to grow wealth for retirement is by investing in employer-sponsored plans such as a 401(k). By maximizing your contributions, yon can get the most out of these plans and reach your retirement goals faster.
Avoid withdrawing from your retirement accounts
Withdrawing from your retirement accounts can be a major setback in your early retirement plans. Not only does it decrease the savings available to you in retirement, it can also cause a major tax hit if withdrawn from an account such as a Roth IRA. If you are able to, try to avoid withdrawing from your retirement accounts early.
Calculate your total savings needs
One of the first steps you should take when early retirement planning is to calculate your total savings needs. This will depend on the type of lifestyle you have now and how much you believe your lifestyle will change when you retire. This may increase your expenses beyond what they currently are pre-retirement, so you will want to take this into account when you calculate your total savings needs.
Allocate your savings
Allocating your retirement savings is a useful part of early retirement planning. This can help you to clearly see where your money is being spent, allowing you to cut unnecessary expenses and plan for every component of retired life. You will want to allocate savings to areas such as health insurance, travel, groceries, unexpected expenses, and more. Early retirement tax planning is also wise at this step, so you can allocate some savings toward tax expenses.
Invest for growth
Investments are a key part of your early retirement plan. Investments can provide passive income that allows you to maintain your lifestyle even when you stop working. Owning property, investing in stocks, and having a Roth IRA are all great investment opportunities that can offer high growth. However, when it comes to investments you will want to make sure you do early retirement tax planning to make sure you don’t lose your retirement funds.
Make Up for Missed Benefits
Optimizing your Social Security benefits is a great way to make your retirement funds last. By waiting beyond the minimum age to collect your Social Security, you can collect a higher payment and benefit from inflation increases. Letting your benefits grow is a great way to improve your revenue stream and make your early retirement a success.
How Are You Preparing For Retirement?
Early retirement is an exciting prospect that can provide you with many benefits. While it may feel like a fantasy, by taking the appropriate steps you can achieve the early retirement of your dreams. These steps include making wise investments, allocating your savings, and calculating your total savings needs.
The freedom of retirement will allow you to pursue travel or other unique opportunities that life has to offer. If you are looking to retire early but unsure of where to start, you can take advantage of financial advisor retirement planning services. These services include a custom financial retirement plan that will make your early retirement goals a reality.