By Kevin M
Two of the most important components of retirement planning are a generous retirement savings plan and a mortgage free home. But if limited resources force you to make a choice, which goal should get the lion’s share of your extra income?
There are three basic choices:
1) Emphasize retirement and let the mortgage slowly amortize itself into extinction
2) Throw all extra funds at the mortgage, and once it’s paid you’ll have even more money to put into retirement
3) A hybrid plan where you try to do both at the same time
This isn’t a good solution-bad solution debate. There are plusses and minuses no matter which way you go, and fortunately all three can get us where we need to go. Which one we choose will depend largely on individual circumstances and preferences.
Continue reading Save for Retirement Now or Payoff Your Mortgage First? →
What Career Will You Have in “Retirement”?
By Kevin M
You didn’t read that title incorrectly—that’s the question I’m asking, What Career Will You Have in Retirement? For most people the answer to this question should be given at least equal weight with the more popular focus on retirement savings.
I’m not saying that we should de-emphasize retirement savings—quite the contrary. Most of us probably need to be saving more for retirement than we are, and that’s the basic problem. How much can we save between now and retirement while navigating the cost of living in an uncertain economy, and in unpredictable financial markets? Can we ever know for sure that we’ll have enough?
Continue reading What Career Will You Have in “Retirement”? →