All of us realize by now that we had better get serious about saving for the future. At the beginning of one’s work life it is always a great idea, though it is rarely put into practice, to start planning for retirement. It may sound a bit odd to try to plan something forty, or more, years in advance, but time surely does move quickly! When we first go to work we are excited about being able to afford all the things that we want. We may feel that we are in control of life’s grand arena. The future, we feel, can only get better because we see only opportunity and we can’t see potential disastrous events in the financial part of our lives.

Let’s look at our life at the time of retirement. We’ve done our best in the job of raising a family, we’ve paid all the bills for all those years, and we are ready to start a well deserved vacation. We have certainly earned our rest and we look forward to a life of ease. All this is well and good but we still live in a society that operates on money, the more, the better. Most people feel more comfortable with lots of money. However, since we have stopped working full time we don’t have a steady paycheck coming in the way we did for the previous several decades, we can easily find ourselves in a bind.  The cost of living keeps rising but we must now live on a reduced income. Have we saved enough money to live comfortably?

Retiring comfortably requires preparation. We are wise to set up a solid nest egg at the beginning of our work life; we want this to build steadily throughout our working years. Next, it is very wise to find another source of income, like a part time job, to bring in a steady paycheck. Big or small, it doesn’t have to be as large as your working paycheck; all amounts are welcome! In addition to bringing in more money, it is a good idea to cut back on expenditures wherever possible. Get a smaller car, a less expensive house, eat at home (the food’s better there), choose hobbies and other activities that don’t put pressure on the bank account. For example, instead of going bowling with the guys, which includes beer, pizza, and gas for the car, try staying home, invite the neighbors, and have an evening playing cards, or watching rented movies. The beer costs less in the supermarket, and the rented movies are cheaper than going to a movie theater.

1. Create as large a nest egg as possible.

2. Get a part time job (or other source of income).

3. Reduce or eliminate as many expenditures as possible.

4. Apply for Social Security, you’ve earned it.

5. Get creative with your hobbies, can you make a buck with them?

6. Make a game of saving money whenever possible.

7. Turn out lights when you are not in the room to save on the utility bills.

8. Never put all of your eggs in a single basket. You have worked too hard for your money to lose it.