Home » Adulthood » Plan for your Retirement

Plan for your Retirement

Retirement planning is simply planning and preparing for a future lifestyle to meet your goals, and financial obligations independently when you are a pensioner and are no longer working. It entails setting financial retirement goals and devising methods of saving, investment, and ultimately allocating money meant to sustain yourself and your family after retirement.

Financial planning for retirement is important as this will enable you:

• to be ready for life after your career
• to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances and emergencies
• to maintain your standard of living
• to leave a lasting legacy for your family.

Play Video

Steps for financial planning for retirement

Start Early

Time is the most valuable asset when it comes to financial retirement planning. The more time you have, the better your money will grow and more money you will receive to achieve more milestones.

Have a budget

Have a budget, which includes all of your current earnings and expenditure. Any surplus can go for your saving.

Adopt the Habit of investing first and spending later

You may wish to save, invest and spend from what is left rather than doing the reverse. Plan your investments after you receive your monthly pay, invest, and then spend from what is left.

Have a plan for unforeseen circumstances

Having a separate emergency account, if possible, with three to six months’ worth of salary which will allow you to cover any unexpected expenses without affecting your other investments, including for retirement.

Configure automatic transfers

Automatic transfer ensures that funds set aside for the future are transferred from your bank account to your investments on the same day each month, perhaps the day you get paid. There is no risk of you spending that money if you do it this way.

Set up an annuity

You can rely on annuity plans for guaranteed lifelong income to secure your post-retirement income.

Adjust investments as you get closer to retirement

As you get closer to retirement, you may want to shift your investments to lower-risk investments.

Maintain paperwork and involve family members

You may want to keep your family informed of all important paperwork and financial details. This is especially useful during emergencies and unfortunate events.

Review your investment regularly

Reviewing your investments at least once a year would be a good option. This can help you better adapt your plan and make quick decisions if you are not satisfied with your return.

Pay off your debts

While planning for your retirement, you can put your money towards paying down any debt you have first, especially if the interest rate is high.

Share this page

Setting long term financial goals

Today’s youth appear to be relatively savvy about money while some still consider that money management is not important.

Seeking advice before investing

You can consider enlisting the services of investment advisers before investing and ask them certain questions

Small and medium enterprises - Things to consider

Small and Medium entrepreneurs need to take the right financial decisions in order to maximise their investment and avoid any unnecessary loss.