{"id":4001,"date":"2020-05-05T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/?p=4001"},"modified":"2020-08-09T22:31:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T05:31:06","slug":"achieving-financial-security-for-women-in-retirement-plan-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/achieving-financial-security-for-women-in-retirement-plan-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving Financial Security for Women in Retirement: Plan Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know that women live longer than men. If you\u2019re a woman, you\u2019ll live, on average, six to eight years longer than men.\u00a0 Because you\u2019ll live longer, planning for your retirement is particularly important. Creating financial security for women in retirement<\/strong><\/a> requires planning ahead. Here are just a few important ways you can plan ahead to achieve financial security in retirement.<\/p>\n

Think About Your Ideal Retirement<\/b><\/h2>\n

Retirement means many different things to different people.\u00a0 Is it a house near a beach in Hawaii?\u00a0 Is it two apartments, one on each coast, so that you can spend more time with your kids and your grandchildren?\u00a0 Is it lots of travel, to exotic destinations around the world? What does a happy retirement look like to you?\u00a0 If you think today about what you\u2019d like your retirement<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to look like tomorrow, you\u2019ll be able to develop a plan that will give you the best chance of making it a reality.<\/p>\n

Find an Advisor<\/b><\/h2>\n

An advisor can help you make smart decisions that will ensure you\u2019ll have a secure retirement. Working with an advisor who specializes in building financial security for women can help you create an effective plan to reach your goals. Approach the process of finding an advisor like you would picking a doctor or other trusted professional.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you should take lightly.\u00a0 Unfortunately, people often end up with an advisor who approached them socially, or who was referred to them by a relative, friend, or colleague.<\/p>\n

You should find an advisor who meets some important objective criteria (fiduciary, independent, fee-only, credentialed, and experienced), whom you trust, and with whom you have a good personal rapport.\u00a0 If you\u2019re unsure where to start your search, consider the websites for the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the Financial Planning Association<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, or the CFP Board<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Want to learn more about retirement planning? Contact our team at Springwater Wealth today to learn how we can help you develop a plan for your financial future.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Build Yourself a Budget<\/b><\/h2>\n

Because you\u2019re likely to live a long life, your living expenses will have the biggest impact on the success rate of your retirement plan<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 To achieve financial security for women, it is important to create a plan and make a spending projection for retirement.\u00a0 Where should you start?<\/p>\n

A good place to start is understanding what you\u2019re spending now. Today, you have both fixed expenses and variable ones.\u00a0 Fixed expenses are things that don\u2019t vary much, if at all, from month to month, while variable expenses are things that you can pretty easily put off for a while, or skip completely.<\/p>\n

How will today\u2019s expenses change when you\u2019re retired?\u00a0 You\u2019ll probably spend a lot less on some things, and a bit or a lot more on others.\u00a0 Will your overall spending decrease, stay the same, or go up when you\u2019re retired?<\/p>\n

One thing to keep in mind is that every dollar you don\u2019t spend today will be a dollar that you\u2019ll be able to spend in retirement.\u00a0 So, if you\u2019re really looking forward to your retirement and the opportunity to travel, spend time with your family and friends, or give back to your community, think about how you can reduce your spending today, and save more for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Understand Social Security and Your Benefits<\/b><\/h2>\n

Social Security benefits are an important resource for creating financial security for women, as they account for nearly half<\/a><\/span><\/strong> of a woman\u2019s retirement income, on average.<\/p>\n

You can take your Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62.\u00a0 However, your full retirement age (\u201cFRA\u201d) benefit is the age at which your benefits are unreduced.\u00a0 That age depends on when you were born.\u00a0 You can determine your FRA by looking on the SSA\u00a0website<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 If you take benefits before your FRA, they will be reduced.\u00a0 Alternatively, if you wait to take them, they will be increased.\u00a0 You can wait up to age 70 before taking your retirement benefits.<\/p>\n

Since you can receive a higher benefit by waiting, why would you ever take your benefit early?\u00a0 Well, not everyone has the financial resources available to provide income in retirement before their delayed Social Security benefits begin.\u00a0 And some people recognize that their cumulative lifetime benefits will be lower if they claim early, but for a variety of reasons they\u2019d like to have the income now.<\/p>\n

Whatever your preference, you can plan ahead to achieve financial security in retirement by understanding Social Security and your benefits, and knowing when you should claim them.<\/p>\n

Peace of Mind<\/b><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re like most women, you don\u2019t want to be a burden on your family as you get older.\u00a0 Fortunately, there are things you can do today to ensure that you achieve financial security in retirement without having to rely on family.<\/p>\n

First, make sure you have a good estate plan<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0in place today.\u00a0 An estate plan consists of a will, a power of attorney, a health directive, and possibly a trust.\u00a0 Your estate plan will ensure that your wishes are carried out if you\u2019re ever unable to make decisions for yourself. An estate plan is a crucial element of financial security for women in retirement, so don\u2019t neglect this step.<\/p>\n

Also, if you have a family history of health issues later in life, you may want to consider buying long-term care insurance<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (\u201cLTCI\u201d), particularly if those family health issues are cognitive or memory-related.\u00a0 Long-term care insurance will reimburse you a daily amount for services to assist you with certain predefined \u201cactivities of daily living.\u201d\u00a0 The cost of care has increased faster than overall inflation, and LTCI can help you pay for that care if you think you\u2019ll need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know that women live longer than men. If you\u2019re a woman, you\u2019ll live, on average, six to eight years longer than men.\u00a0 Because you\u2019ll live longer, planning for your retirement is particularly important. Creating financial security for women in retirement requires planning ahead. Here are just a few important ways you can plan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,7],"tags":[66,117,118,119],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}