Pay Yourself First!
Odds are that you won't win the lottery or receive a huge inheritance from a deceased relative that will relieve you from financial worries for the rest of your life...

Focus on You
The reality is that you have to take matters into your own hands when it comes to preparing for your retirement. If you haven't thought much about it yet, you really should start focusing on your future retirement needs very soon...

Go on Autopilot
Making automatic paycheck contributions to a 401(k) or similar retirement savings plan helps simplify your financial life. You can't spend money you don't have and you don't have to go to the trouble of transferring funds electronically or writing a check...

It's a Good Habit
As you watch your retirement savings accumulate over time, you may be motivated to save even more for your future retirement. It may become second nature to seek out ways to reduce your discretionary spending so that you will have more money to set aside for your retirement...


Switching Investments

When Your Retirement Is Drawing Closer
Making your investment decisions based on the number of working years you have ahead of you is key to successful retirement investing. So, too, is basing your investing decisions on your tolerance for investment risk...

When Your Tolerance for Risk Changes
It's important to have a long-term perspective as a retirement plan investor since the market can have periods of volatility. However, your tolerance for the market's fluctuations may change due to unforeseen financial occurrences throughout your life -- the loss of a job, the need to save for a child's college education, or a health crisis...

When Your Portfolio Needs to Be Rebalanced
You choose how to allocate the investments among the different asset classes in your retirement plan account by considering your time frame for investing, your tolerance for investment risk, and other assets you may own. However, any change -- up or down -- in one investment class can throw your allocations off balance...

Don't Have a Mid-Career Saving Crisis
Life can get in the way of saving enough for retirement, especially when you are busy with your job, family, and the other things that are important to you right now.

Dueling Goals
If one of your financial goals is to help your children pay their college costs, it's likely that those expenses will occur before you retire. You may even consider waiting to save more for retirement until after your kids' college tuition is paid...

No Time to Lose
You may reach your mid-career years and realize that life has gotten in the way and you don't have as much saved for retirement as you'd like. Don't panic. You still could have several years left to accumulate money in your plan account...

Put Your Plan to Work
It's easy to save more for your future. Once you decide to increase your contribution amount, that money will be automatically deducted from your paycheck each pay period and put into your plan account where you won't be tempted to spend it on anything else...


Frequently Asked Retirement Income Questions

When should I begin thinking about tapping my retirement assets & how should I go about doing so?
The answer to this question depends on when you expect to retire. Assuming you expect to retire between the ages of 62 and 67, you may want to begin the planning process in your mid-to-late 50s...

How much annual income am I likely to need?
Financial professionals typically suggest that many people are likely to need between 60% and 80% of their final working year's income to maintain their lifestyle after retiring. Low-income or wealthy retirees may need closer to 90%...

How much can I afford to withdraw from my assets for annual living expenses?
As you age, your financial affairs won't remain static: Changes in inflation, investment returns, your desired lifestyle, and your life expectancy are important contributing factors. You may want to err on the side of caution and choose an annual withdrawal rate somewhat below 5%;