Savings for Retirement:
The Decision Decade

Looking for ideas on how to increase your Savings for Retirement?

Please consider the Decision Decade:  5 years before and 5 years after Retirement

The idea of the Decision Decade comes from Michael Stein... that is, the five years before you retire and the five years after you retire.

To me, this is so darn logical and yet so many of us fall into this trap! We are happy, "rich", and just ready to enjoy retired life. Here is what happens:

Five years before retirement 

Just think... we are usually at our highest earnings level ever, the kids are out of the house, college has been paid for, mortgage may be paid off also. If married, you usually have two incomes too.

We are finally (though still working) footloose and fancy free in the finance department... woo hoo!

Yes, we know retirement is only a few years away, but we also want the nice vacations, high end cars, whatever we've always longed for. Heck, some join a Country Club and then wonder why they have such a hard time at retirement.

So, we make ourselves happy... after all, we owe ourselves, we worked all these years, we are almost at a "fixed income" in our retirement years, so now is the time the ENJOY LIFE.

Hmmmmmmmmm... what happened to SAVING FOR RETIREMENT?

Five years after retirement

Nothing changes... we are retired!

We are used to this new lifestyle we've gained in the past few years, and yet, we are retired and likely living on a lower income.

We have lots of free time suddenly, and almost everything we do costs more money -- travel, repairing and renewing the home, moving to a retirement community, and more travel.

We are newly retired and showing the world we've still GOT IT!(whatever "it" is!)

Bottom Line:

Five years before retirement is the best time to save. You have more income, more to invest, more to sock away for future years!

Just consider for one moment what FIVE YEARS of SAVINGS can amount to! Do a quick calculation:

$ 100 / week into savings
x 52 weeks per year
-----
$ 5200 saved each year
x 5 years
-----
$26,000 savings in five years...

Not much but thats only $100 per week.

What if you both did $100 per week for $50,000+ in five years? That's often just not possible, I know... but I simply want you to think about what you can save in a few last years of employment - instead of doing the opposite and increasing your lifestyle and expenses just before you retire.

Play with this... you can do this! Get used to living on less, many are doing this nowadays, and save, save, save!

Now, if you are spending lots in the first five years after you retire, that means you are spending NOW, but may not have the resources you need later.

Nobody knows what our future holds... investment losses, health care insurance premiums ever increasing, and simply the fact that you might really need the income in later life.

Just think about it.. watch your family and friends during the Decision Decade and call this to their attention too!!

Think twice...