For many people, one of the greatest concerns in retirement is whether they have enough savings and retirement income. Don’t worry: AMBA is here to help. With insightful planning and smart strategy, AMBA can help you create your own retirement “paycheck” using various sources of retirement income. The following 6 tips can help you get started.
1. Understand Your Current Financial Situation
The first step in establishing a retirement paycheck is to thoroughly understand your current financial situation. This includes your savings, investments, potential Social Security benefits, pension benefits, and other additional sources of income you expect to receive in retirement.
2. Estimate Your Monthly Expenses
The next step is to determine how much your expenses will be each month. One of the biggest factors in this is determining your desired retirement lifestyle. Factors here include costs like housing, food, healthcare, transportation, and more.
And don’t forget to include the fun stuff! Discretionary spending like hobbies, entertainment, and travel are important to consider. These items – especially if they include big trips or perhaps a second home – can vastly alter a budget.
3. Identify the Gaps
Now compare your expected retirement income sources to your anticipated expenses. Do you have enough to pay for your desired lifestyle? If the answer is “no”, now is the time to review your monthly spending expectations and adjust accordingly. You might have to pare down that dream vacation or sacrifice other expenses to make it happen. Alternatively, are additional sources of income a possibility? Part-time work can help you bridge the gap.
4. Create a Strategic Withdrawal Plan
A tax-efficient, strategic withdrawal strategy can provide a steady stream of income and help ensure you don’t live beyond your means or outlive your assets. If you have retirement accounts with different tax characteristics – such as taxable, tax-deferred, tax-exempt, etc. – you’ll likely have the flexibility to minimize your obligations to Uncle Sam while optimizing your monthly income.
The benefit of a disciplined withdrawal strategy is that you can monitor your ongoing expenses and make alterations as needed and make your money last your entire lifetime.
5. Maintain a Rainy-Day Fund
An absolute must-have is an emergency fund set aside for unexpected expenses. This important step can help you avoid dipping into your retirement savings or selling investments to pay for unforeseen expenses.
6. Consider an Annuity from AMBA
Annuities are a smart and safe way to diversify your savings. You can potentially earn much more interest than CDs or savings accounts. Your association and AMBA’s Tax-Deferred Asset Protection Plan have excellent advantages, including tax-deferred accumulation of interest, a guaranteed competitive interest rate, multiple payout options, and a nursing home waiver.
Get more info at myambabenefits.info or speak with a knowledgeable representative by calling 1-866-610-4558 M-F 8am-6pm CT.