Financial Planning and Saving for Retirement
How much money will you need to have for the retirement you envision? Where will it come from? The recent rocky economy, talk of Social Security reform, and a few high-profile pension fund failures have many Americans thinking more seriously about how they will fund their retirement. For years, financial planners have talked about retirement income as a “three-legged stool” that stands on Social Security, employer-related pension or retirement plans, and personal savings. Healthy and active, more people are adding a fourth leg to that stool—part time work.
This section provides resources that provide an overview of financial planning and saving for retirement and then explore each leg of the retirement income “stool.”
Overviews of Financial Planning for Retirement
The following resources offer broader overviews of retirement financial planning.
Retirement, Lesson 13 in Money 101 the financial planning “course” from CNN/Money offers a brief guide to the financial basics of planning for retirement. In addition to looking at basic investment strategies such as IRAs and 401(k)s, the article provides tips on what to do when you switch jobs and a Retirement Savings Calculator. If you want to see how well the information stuck in your mind, take the end-of-lesson quiz.
Savings Fitness: A Guide to Your Money and Your Financial Future prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. profiles the complete planning process.
Investing in You First: A Guide for Baby Boomers, Handbook 1 in the National Endowment for Financial Education series, covers financial planning step by step.
Retirement Tips from the IRS. Short and sweet, these tips also provide links to Social Security and other federal resources related to Retirement Plans.
Prepared by Remar Sutton & Associates for Elevations Credit Union January 2005. Reviewed and updated June 2007. All rights reserved.
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