Retirement planning is the act of determining the best retirement income goals, understanding the relationship between your financial circumstances and your long-term goals, and then taking the appropriate steps and decisions to reach those goals. Retirement planning also includes sizing up future expenses, identifying possible sources of income, implementing a regular savings plan, managing investments, and protecting your wealth and future access to it. While retirement planning can be a time consuming and confusing process, once you have defined your retirement income goals and the specific steps you are going to take to achieve them, the planning process will be much more manageable. The most important thing to remember when planning for your retirement is to never get behind on your retirement planning.
One of the most important aspects of long-term retirement planning is to educate yourself on how to live longer and how to prevent certain medical conditions or life events from impacting your retirement planning and retirement savings. For example, if you are a person who has a pre-existing medical condition or other such condition, you should not rely on insurance to manage your expenses or to provide money for your long-term living needs. In order to truly set yourself free, you need to invest in yourself and your long-term goals. While insurance may provide some short-term relief, it should only be used as a way to cover living expenses and prevent any major medical expenses down the road.
Investing in an after-tax retirement account is a wise retirement planning decision. An after-tax portfolio will allow you to grow your portfolio with higher yields and more income while keeping more of your money in tax-deferred investments. An after-tax IRA is an excellent way to protect your wealth and increase your annual retirement account balance at the same time. An after-tax IRA is also an excellent way to increase your flexibility with respect to investing within the IRA.