Making Sure Your Retirement is Ready For You

Before you know it, you'll be ready to retire. Retirement means a lot of different things but there's one thing that's for sure:you'll need money to do it. Too many people turn a blind eye to their retirement funds and cross fingers and toes, hoping they will have enough to live on. Unfortunately the reality is that there are retirees who need to work in order to make ends meet. To avoid that pitfall, employees need to rely on themselves and the help of asset protection professionals.

Figuring Out Your Retirement Number

A million dollars doesn't go as far today as it did a few years ago. Inflation, cost of living – it's all eating away at your income. Your 401K may have been worth more a few years ago but now it's probably a shadow of its former self, thanks to a tough economy. According to CNN Money, the rule of thumb is that you'll need 70 percent of your current income to retire comfortably. If your current income is barely paying the bills, that 70 percent will more than likely change to more than 100 percent. A woman aged 35 expecting to retire at 67 can expect to live another 20 years or more. Currently earning $36,000 yearly, shewill need at least $2.5million to live comfortably, provided nothing really bad happens.

Everyone Needs to Protect Their Assets

During those 30 years, she could experience divorce, bankruptcy, litigation, incapacitation, all of which can make her goal that much more out-of-reach. That's why working with an asset protection agency can help mitigate the potential damage from those unexpected events. Protecting assetswas once seen as the playground of the elite who had the money to open Swiss bank accounts. The truth is, it's a tool for anyone who has anything of value to protect.

One way to protect yourself is to set up trusts where you don't directly own assets but are in control of them through the trust. You could even get insurance to make sure your bills are paid if you are unable to work for the short or long term. If you are a business owner, protecting yourself by forming a corporation is one thing you can do. Make sure you have the necessary liability insurance so that plaintiffs can't go after your personal assets as well. Because the U.S. is such a litigious country where people can be sued for any perceived grievance, it's a good idea to make an inventoryof all you can lose and take steps to protect it.

Steps to Help You Get There Faster

Relying on an employer to match your company retirement plan is just one road. That's why you should rely on it as a sole means of retirement income. Any full suite asset protection agency will provide you with the means to pursue parallel investment goals. You can open up an IRA and add some extra money in your account every month. Learning how to invest long term in different vehicles like stocks, bonds, money market mutual funds, even real estate can help you build significant income that will allow you increase your level of comfortable retirement. If these sound like extra work, you are right. Blindly investing the company's financial plan is no way to achieve your goal. Becoming knowledgeable about the different vehicles available in the U.S. and global markets means you're in a better position to make more informed choices.

At the end of the day, educating yourself is the best investment you can make. If you're able to ask the right conversation and ask the right financial questions, you'll be in even better shape before retirement than a lot of your colleagues.