Plan Well to Retire Well

You have to learn to plan well to retire well. Year-end is usually the budget time for organisation and companies and it could be also the right time for personal planning. As I have said in my previous posts, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Face Your Fear

I asked my young son “Why are you broke before the end of the month?” and he shakes his head with the answer “I don’t know”. Then, after pondering a moment, he said “Maybe because I earn too little, I am going to look for a better paying job.” Well, that may be somewhat true but frankly speaking, no matter how much you earn, it will never be enough unless you put up a good financial plan.

When asked to write down all his monthly expenses, his response was “No way, I am not going to shock myself”.

I felt this is the common fear people faced when its time to financial plan. I would advise all to take the bull by the horns and go for it. Face your fear and find out where you are wasting your money and what is causing you not to be able to save.

Take Time to Save Now

Dream your dream and reach out for the sky. Every success begins with a dream. I find saving as the best way for a novice investor to start creating wealth but it usually start with a dream, a need to save.

a) Obstacles to overcome

There are usually many obstacles on the road to success. Do not fear these obstacles as they are the experiences that you need to achieve success. Find them and overcome them one by one and they will make you stronger by the day.

b) Make time work for you; time makes a difference

If you were to save $100 a month and can earn a 5% interest, how long will it take you to achieve the goal of $10,000. You can find the calculator by typing “how much will be savings be worth” in any search engine to help you do the calculation.

c) Interest adds up

If you want to achieve your saving goals faster, instead of just $100 a month, you can work harder by taking up a part-time job over weekends and put all the earning into this saving plan. Lets say you earn $400 a month and you add this to your original of $100. See how much faster this will grow by using the calculator again.

Learn about compounding interest and how it can work for you.

Convert Your Dream into Reality

List the financial goals you want to achieve for yourself and work towards those goals. Remember, you have to write it down; better still if you let people know of your goals. Be specific; know what your goal is, how much money it takes to achieve that goal and when you want to accomplish it.

Again you will need to write out your plan and how you plan to accomplish your goal.

You need to plan well in order to retire well. Today is a good time to start your planning. Never put off what you can do today till tomorrow.