Many people start dreaming about their retirement years almost as soon as they start working. Their days will be filled with hours on the golf course, lounging in the pool or playing in the garden. This is a great goal and many people are able to do exactly those things when they retire. However, chances are that you will only be able to attain this type of lifestyle is to use a retirement planning professional to help you put the proper plan in place. A CFP (Certified financial planner) can help you develop a strategy to achieve your financial goals whether it is for your retirement or saving for your children’s college fund or both.

Not having a proper plan is the biggest mistake that people make when it comes to retirement. They just think that if they save as much as they can, it will all magically happy like it is supposed to when they turn 65. If that is your entire plan, chances are that it would not work out. It is important to be very realistic about how much money it will cost you to live at retirement.

It is easy to say that your costs will be reduced because you would not have the commuting costs or other expenses that are related to working. However, you will also likely have new expenses. Many retired people like to travel more when they are not burdened with having to be at the office five days a week. If you plan to spend every day on the golf course, that will cost more money too. To properly plan for your retirement, you should look at exactly how much money you will likely spend and compare that to your expected income at your retirement age.

When people start looking at the types of numbers we just discussed, they usually forget to take into account the cost of inflation. You are looking at the costs that you will incur when you are actually retired, not the costs of today. It is important that you allow for inflation when you look at your numbers. Another common mistake that people tend to make when they are planning for their retirement is to assume that they will live an “average” number of years. This seems to make sense, but it does not take into account what will happen if you live 10 years longer than average. The amount of money you will need to have saved to live in retirement for 10 years is much different than the amount you need to have if your retirement spans 20 – 25 years. What will you do if you run out of money? This needs to be considered when you are planning for your retirement.

The final big mistake that people make when they are thinking about their retirement planning is making the assumption that Social security will take care of most of it. This is easy to fall back on because it is a government program, but there is no guarantee that social security will be there when it is time for you to retire. You should not plan on it being available. Then, if you retire and it is still there, it is like a bonus.

Ellie Lewis recently spent time searching the term Littleton CO CFP to locate an office in her area. She and her husband scheduled an appointment with a Littleton CO Retirement planning professional.

For more information about CFP (certified financial planners) go to
http://www.staibfinancialplanning.com/ .

Author Bio: Ellie Lewis recently spent time searching the term Littleton CO CFP to locate an office in her area. She and her husband scheduled an appointment with a Littleton CO Retirement planning professional.

Category: Finances
Keywords: Littleton CO CFP,Littleton CO Retirement planning